EpaperLHR_21-10-25

Monday, 25 October, 2021 I 18 Rabi-ul-Awwal, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 116 I 12 Pages I Lahore Edition

PAKISTAN OBLITIRATES INDIA g

Secure comprehenSive 10-wicket win in t20 opener

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AkiStAni openers mohammad rizwan and Babar Azam set a record of pakistan’s best-ever partnership against india in t20is. Both the pakistani stars achieved the milestone during the world cup in high voltage clash against india. they made a record of pakistan’s best-ever partnership without losing any wicket against the arch-rivals.

Babar and rizwan break the 9-year-old record made by mohammad hafeez and Shoaib malik when they scored 106 runs for the 4th wicket in 2012 at Bangalore.

Both the players also posted the highest ever partnership for any wicket by any team against india in t20is surpassing 133 by David warner and Shane watson. pakistan dismissed indian skipper virat kohli as pakistani pacer Shaheen Afridi delivered the perfect slow bouncer to send kohli back to the pavil-

ion for the first time in t20 matches.

Afridi claimed three wickets for pakistan in the thrilling contest against arch-rival india.

Giving comment on his performance, Afridi said that it taking early wickets was always the plan. pakistan wicketkeeper mohammad rizwan took a superb catch propelling his name to one of the top twitter trends as he achieved the milestone of 100 t20 catches.

During ongoing high voltage match between pakistan and india at the Dubai international cricket Stadium, wicketkeeper mohammad rizwan crossed the milestone of taking 100 catches in t20 cricket by catching Suryakumar Yadav. rizwan took a phenomenal catch off a hassan Ali delivery to dismiss Suryakumar Yadav in the sixth over of the t20 world cup match against india.

Leaping to his right, rizwan caught the ball, putting india under further pressure and achieving yet an-

Balochistan CM Jam Kamal steps down from his post

chief minister of Balochistan Jam kamal khan Aylani on Sunday evening decided to step down from his position, provincial minister for Sports, Abdul khaliq hazara, confirmed the news.

According to sources, kamal’s resignation has been accepted by Governor Balochistan, the Governor house Secretariat confirmed.

Following kamal’s resignation, the provincial cabinet of Balochistan has been dissolved and now, a session of the provincial assembly cannot take place until the appointment of a new chief minister. it is pertinent to mention here that Balochistan Assembly Speaker mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo had fixed october 25 for voting on the no-confidence motion against the cm Jam kamal khan.

Following the announcement, the disgruntled members of the BAp and the opposition — who had gathered at Bizenjo’s residence, celebrated their triumph by flashing a victory sign. earlier in the day, four “missing” lawmakers of the provincial assembly had returned to announce that they would be joining the group of the Balochistan Awami party’s (BAp) disgruntled members, enabling the party to secure the required number in the provincial assembly to oust the Jam kamal khan-led government in the province. the four mpAs, who had gone missing on the day when the disgruntled group had tabled the no-confidence motion in the assembly, arrived in Quetta on Sunday and declared their support for the group.

Addressing a press conference in the provincial capital, the group proved its majority as 39 out of the 65 lawmakers were present at the venue. ppp’s leader and former chief minister of Balochistan, Sanaullah khan Zehri, have also thrown his weight behind the disgruntled group. Speaking on the occasion, the splinter group’s mir Zahoor Buledi thanked ppp cochairperson Asif Ali Zardari for the support.

Speaking on the development, Leader of opposition in the provincial Assembly, malik Sikandar Advocate, had said that Jam kamal will have to “go home at all costs” because the splinter group now has the required number to oust him.

“All 40 members have decided to go to the provincial assemble together to cast the vote of no-confidence against kamal,” Sikandar had said, adding that the party will decide on a future course of action once Jam kamal is sent packing. “the upcoming government will be better than kamal’s government,” Sikandar had promised.

A day earlier, Balochistan chief minister Jam kamal, while expressing his confidence, had said that out of the 41 members of the Balochistan Assembly, 80% stand with him in opposition to the no-confidence motion moved against him two days back. taking to twitter, cm kamal had said 80% of coalition lawmakers in the provincial assembly — including from BAp, pti, Anp, ADp, Jwp, ppp, Azad, and Bnp-A — support him. “why do we count opposi-

tion as part of this coalition? if they stick to this policy, then they should announce themselves as part of the opposition too,” cm kamal had written. earlier, with the addition of four “missing” lawmakers of the provincial assembly, the group of the Balochistan Awami party’s (BAp) splinter group has secured the required number in the provincial assembly to oust the Jam kamal khan-led government in the province. while addressing a presser in the provincial capital, the group proved its majority as 39 out of the 65 lawmakers were present at the venue. ppp’s leader and former chief minister of Balochistan, Sanaullah khan Zehri, have also thrown his weight behind the disgruntled group. Speaking on the occasion, the splinter group’s mir Zahoor Buledi thanked ppp cochairperson Asif Ali Zardari for the support. it merits mention that Balochistan Assembly Speaker mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo had fixed october 25 for voting on the noconfidence motion against the cm Jam kamal khan.

Speaking on the development, Leader of opposition in the provincial Assembly, malik Sikandar Advocate, said that Jam kamal will have to “go home at all costs” because the splinter group now has the required number to oust him.

“All 40 members have decided to go to the provincial assemble together to cast the vote of no-confidence against kamal,” Sikandar said, adding that the party will decide on a future course of action once Jam kamal is sent packing. “the upcoming government will be better than kamal’s government,” Sikandar promised.

A day earlier, Balochistan chief minister Jam kamal had said that out of the 41 members of the Balochistan Assembly, 80% stand with him in opposition to the no-confidence motion moved against him two days back. “why do we count opposition as part of this coalition? if they stick to this policy, then they should announce themselves as part of the opposition too,” cm kamal stated. News Desk

other milestone for pakistan. twitterati instantly lauded the remarkable catch. here are some of the tweets praising rizwan: it is pertinent to mention here that this is the only match of the world cup for which 100 per cent tickets were sold on the first day in a very short time. even if the quality of mariati s arguments is tested, the national Shaheen can fly high and they have the full potential to crush the indian warriors. india is second in the icc rankings while pakistan is third with a difference of only 5 rating points. pakistan has played a significant role in the history of t20 world cup.

Both the teams have won the world cup once, while traditional rivals have the honor of being runners-up only once. the Shaheen have the experience to play in the semi-finals.

Babar Azam is also second in the individual

rankings. the psychological advantage of the national skipper is that he snatched the top position from virat kohli who is now at number four. president Dr Arif Alvi and prime minister (pm) imran khan on Sunday congratulated pakistan cricket team for clinching ten wicket victory against india in the t20 world cup in Dubai. in a tweet on social media platform twitter, the president said, “congratulations Green Shirts. total wipeout. A win by 10 wickets. You make us proud. A good match. tremendous batting by mohammad rizwan and Babar Azam. what a pleasure to see total dominance. Going towards a good ending.” in a tweet, the prime minister said, “congratulations to the pakistan team & esp to Babar Azam who led from the front, as well as to the brilliant performances of rizwan & Shaheen Afridi. the nation is proud of you all.” News Desk

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Monday, 25 October, 2021 | LAHORE

NEWS

No slogaNeeriNg agaiNsT NaTioNal iNTeresTs, heads of armed forces shoUld Be allowed: shehBaz

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NewS DeSK

ML-N President Shehbaz Sharif has said on Sunday that sloganeering against heads of the Pakistan Army’s various wings was against the national interest and must not be allowed.

It is pertinent to note that PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz had referred to the recent controversy over the appointment of the Inter-Services Intelligence director general and had alluded to Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, without naming him.

Following her speech, a person

appeared at the dais and named the ISI chief, asking the crowd to shout slogans against him.

Shehbaz stated making such slogans against the heads of the army’s institutions in public rallies was “not only against the national interest but there should be absolutely no permission for this”.

He also disassociated himself and the PML-N from the individual who had incited the crowd to shout the slogans, saying that “the one who said the slogans in Faisalabad has no relation with our party — they are not a worker of our party or an officeholder — I say this unapologetically and there is no need for

this matter to be repeated.”

Shehbaz went on to say that “The clouds of a new cold war are once again lurking in this region of ours. Afghanistan is our neighbouring country [and] it is the whole nation’s prayers that there is peace and prosperity in Afghanistan […] this thing is decided that this time the whole nation, including the PML-N, will not allow Pakistan to become part of a foreign conspiracy.

“The whole nation is united and we won’t allow a speck to come on Pakistan’s defence and security,” the PML-N president said.

While jeering at the government over

burgeoning inflation, he said people had been economically devasted due to rising inflation and unemployment. He said inflation was the top issue of Pakistan at the moment, Shehbaz went on to say that he heard that the prime minister took along a delegation of 80 people to Saudi Arabia, adding that this was yet another occasion when the premier “took a u-turn”.

He said the rupee was undergoing devaluation, stressing that the trend needed to be stopped.

“If this imported inflation continues to wreak destruction, even our unity won’t be able to save Pakistan,” he concluded.

Performing Umrah, Imran prays for peace, prosperity of Pakistan, Ummah ISLAMABAD Staff RePoRt

Bajwa lauds UN, recalls Pakistan’s peacekeeping efforts on anniversary ISLAMABAD INP

While extending his best wishes to the United Nations on its 76th anniversary, Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa recalled Pakistan Army has got an illustrious history of serving humanity for maintaining peace and sacrifices of our troops speak volumes of their unwavering resolve for global peace. “Pakistan Armed Forces extend best wishes to the UN on its 76th anniversary,” the Inter-Services Public Relations tweeted on Sunday. The tweet further quoted Gen Bajwa as saying: “Pakistan Army has distinguished history of serving humanity for peace. Sacrifices by our men bear testimony to our unwavering resolve for global peace in line with our Founding Father’s vision.” The anniversary of the founding of the world body is observed on October 24 every year. The UN officially came into existence on October 24, 1945, when its Charter, agreed on four months earlier, came into force. The United Nations Day was first observed on October 24, 1948, celebrates the ratification of the charter about three years earlier. Pakistan became a member of the UN on September 30, 1947. It has actively participated in its peacekeeping efforts in different regions of the world. It is also one of the largest contributors to the peacekeeping personnel, participating in 70 missions globally.

Torkham border crossing reopens KABUL Staff RePoRt

Torkham border crossing point which links Afghanistan and Pakistan has been reopened and those having travel documents can cross it, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, a spokesman for Afghanistan Foreign Ministry, said.

“The Torkham gate is reopened and those Afghans have passport and Pakistan visa can cross the border,” Balkhi said in his Twitter account. Pakistan announced in May to close all its borders with Afghanistan for pedestrian movement in order to contain the transmission of Covid-19 from across the border into the country. The restrictions were initially announced for the last week of the month of fasting and the first week of Eid ul-Fitr during which Pakistan expected an influx of Afghans into the country. The ban was, however, later extended for an indefinite period. The reopening of the crossing point has been announced in the wake of the visit of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi who visited Kabul on Thursday. During Qureshi’s one-day visit to Kabul and his meetings with officials here, matters pertaining to mutual interests including reopening border crossing points and enhancing trade and economic cooperation came under discussion, according to local media reports.

Imran Khan and First Lady Bushra Maneka-Khan performed Umrah pilgrimage along with an accompanying delegation late Saturday, the first day of the prime minister’s three-day visit to Saudi Arabia.

Khan prayed for the peace and prosperity of Pakistan as well as the Muslim community.

After his arrival in Medina in the evening, the prime minister proceeded to Al-Masjid an-Nabawi where he paid his respects at Roza-i-Rasool, offered prayer and prayed for the progress and prosperity of Pakistan.

Khan, on arrival in Jeddah, was received by Deputy Governor of Makkah Prince Bandar bin Sultan while in Medina, he was welcomed by Deputy Governor Prince Saud Bin Khalid AlFaisal.

The prime minister arrived in Saudi Arabia on a three-day visit to attend the launch of the Middle East Green Initiative Summit being held in Riyadh.

He is visiting the kingdom at the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. He will also participate in the Pakistan-Saudi Investment Forum and meet the top Saudi leadership. He is also expected to have a meeting with members

of the Pakistan community residing in Saudi Arabia. Khan is accompanied by

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Energy Minister Hammad Azhar and his

adviser on environment protection Malik Amin Aslam.

On UN Day, Pakistan calls for implementation of Kashmir resolutions ISLAMABAD aPP

As the international community celebrated United Nations Day Sunday, Pakistan reiterated its call for the world to work towards the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions on the Jammu and Kashmir dispute.

“It is deplorable that these universal ideals still continue to be defied with impunity across many parts of the world — nowhere more egregiously than in the Indian-occupied Kashmir,” Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in his message on the 76th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations.

He said the just struggle of the people of occupied Kashmir to realise their inalienable right of selfdetermination, guaranteed under several resolutions of the UN Security Council, is being suppressed with brutal force by an occupying power, Qureshi explained.

He said Pakistan stood ready to work hand in hand with fellow UN member states to continue pursuing the noble ideals of the UN Charter for attaining peace, progress and prosperity worldwide.

“As the most representative inter-governmental organisation, the UN is best placed to address the common issues faced by humanity including the contemporary triple challenge of the Covid-19 pandemic, the accompanying economic crisis, and the threats posed by climate change,” he said.

The foreign minister said inspired and guided by the vision of its founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan had always upheld the principles of the UN Charter.

The country had maintained a firm and abiding commitment to multilateralism, with the UN playing

a central role in the promotion of international peace and security, sustainable development and human rights for all.

Qureshi said that from being a top troopcontributing country to UN peace operations since 1960 to hosting one of the oldest peacekeeping missions, United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP); from hosting millions of refugees for decades to extending its support for just causes all over the world, Pakistan had been an ardent advocate of international cooperation, dialogue and peaceful settlement of disputes.

During the last two months, he said Pakistan

played a key role in facilitating the evacuation and relocation of diplomatic missions, international organisations including UN agencies and entities, and others from Afghanistan. Pakistan continues to support the UN in the delivery and transit of humanitarian supplies to the Afghan people, he added.

The foreign minister said the UN Charter embodied a collective determination to uphold international law and peaceful co-existence. It also provides for the development of friendly relations among nations, based on respect for the principles of equal rights and selfdetermination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.

Monday, 25 October, 2021 | LAHORE

BalTisTaN UNiversiTy vc graNTed iNdefiNiTe exTeNsioN PosT-reTiremeNT ISLAMABAD

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GhuLaM abbaS

N another example of malpractices in government universities, the vice chancellor of a new public university, Baltistan University, has managed to get an indefinite extension after retirement through the varsity Senate in violation of the rules.

As per details, Vice Chancellor Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan, who completed his term on May 31, 2021, holds the position even after four over months of retirement as he has been given an extension till the appointment of a new VC, which is still awaited.

A faculty member who is part of a group of staff members who have filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) against illegal appointments in the university informed Pakistan Today that the VC, who had earlier made a failed attempt of approaching a local court in GB for extension, used the forum of the varsity’s Senate, members of which were all of his choice, to get the unlawful extension.

It is pertinent to mention here that as per normal practice, acting charge is given to the senior most faculty member in absence of the VC. A university Senate member, former IGP Sindh Afzal Ali Shigri, when contacted, informed that Dr Khan was given the extension when the members were informed that in case of giving acting charge to a faculty member, ongoing development work of the university may be affected with investigation agencies like FIA and

NAB jumping in, resulting in a delay in executing work on new building of the university.

However, his justification was rejected by sources at the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Higher Education Commission where officials privy to the matter said that the VC and registrar had been using delaying tactics in the appointment of a new head from the beginning.

Meanwhile, in a recent letter to the registrar of the university, a copy of which is available with Pakistan Today, the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs has warned that in case of further delay on the appointment of a new VC, the matter would be taken up with the president of Pakistan, who is chancellor of the university.

“The process of advertising the post and holding interviews for a new VC should have been completed even before the retirement of the existing VC.

Pm directs re-opening of 83,741 public complaints to provide relief ISLAMABAD

Unfortunately, the existing VC, who had also facilitated the illegal appointment of the registrar, a matter which has been challenged in the court, has played his role in coordination with the registrar to delay the process to protect their own interests,” a faculty member of the university said on condition of anonymity.

However, Registrar Wasimullah Jan claims that the decision was taken as there was no professor in the faculty at that time. He said the search committee formed for appointment of a new VC is looking at the process.

On the other hand, when contacted, Qasim Naseem, a local journalist, who has been made head of the committee, claimed that the delay in appointment was made by HEC and the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs. According to him, the post has been advertised recently.

Meanwhile, the Audit Report 202021 of the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP), a copy of which is available

Fawad announces special visas for Sikhs planning Kartarpur visit DUBAI

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tLtP

Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has directed the officials concerned to re-open 83,741 public complaints filed through the Pakistan Citizen’s Portal against different institutions and departments to ensure relief to the masses.

According to the Prime Minister’s Performance Delivery Unit (PMDU), the prime minister has also directed for reopening 2,549 complaints in which partial relief was provided. Out of these total complaints, 43,351 pertaining to 773 federal government entities and 40,415 other complaints related to a total of 2,450 provincial institutions would be re-opened, the PM Office media wing said in a press release on Saturday. At the federal level, the highest number of complaints, a total of 3,181, were received against IESCO which would be re-processed, PMDU said. While at the provincial level, 1,606 complaints related to Punjab Highway, 412 to PDA in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 874 complaints against KSWP in Sindh, and 130 complaints are linked to secondary education in Balochistan. All steps would be taken to ensure resolution of public complaints, the press release quoted the PMDU.

with this scribe, has also identified a number of irregularities in the varsity’s administrative and financial during the past year.

According to the audit, the VC has pocketed millions in Travelling Allowance and Dearness Allowance (TA-DA) whereas it also made paras about unauthorised expenditure incurred on maintenance of a house rented in Islamabad as camp office of the university. The report says payment of inadmissible allowance of Rs4.6 million was made to the VC. It further highlights irregular higher monthly payment of Rs2.982 million to nine project related consultants and directors against their approved salary under Finance Division rules.

The report also identified the illegal appointment of registrar and treasurer, as well as selection of members of syndicate and academic council.

Meanwhile, the VC himself has advertised various posts in the university, which according to senior faculty members is a violation of rules as well.

According to complaints forwarded to the HEC, the vice chancellor is continuously advertising the positions to facilitate blueeyed persons while the under construction buildings are becoming victim to negligence. “The most interesting thing is that the project director is a cousin of Dr Muhammad Naeem Khan,” a complainant claims.

According to him, despite being a new federal university, the Dr Naeem did not shy from using his post for personal gains and fame and has been violating the university charter from the beginning.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that the government will offer special visas and hotel packages to Sikh pilgrims in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries who are eager to visit Kartarpur to mark the birth anniversary of the founder of their faith.

“For the Sikh community here, I especially want to say that we will hold a special three-day festival this year on the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak. We will arrange three-day visas for our Sikh brothers here who wish to come to Pakistan and felicitate them. Hotels are also giving special packages,” Fawad said during a media talk in Dubai, adding that Pakistan plans to commemorate the event starting November 18. “A special film focusing on Baba Nanak’s travels will also be released next month,” he said.

Furthermore, Chaudhry applauded overseas Pakistanis for making substantial contributions to the country’s economy, saying they have sent the highest remittances to Pakistan in history during the last fiscal year.

“If the economy is surviving at this point, it is because of the contribution of overseas Pakistanis,” he said. The information minister continued the

MINISTER CREDITS OVERSEAS PAKISTANIS FOR SURVIVAL OF COUNTRY'S ECONOMY government has made it a priority to address the issues of Pakistanis living abroad, adding that nearly 20,000 prisoners involved in petty crimes in the Gulf region had been brought back to their country. He maintained the current administration in Islamabad was also keen to install an electronic voting system for overseas Pakistanis ahead of the next elections. “We want our nationals living abroad to cast their votes as well,” he added.

Located in Punjab province, Kartarpur is said to have been established in the 16th century by Guru Nanak who laid the foundations of Sikhism.

The government opened a visafree border crossing and corridor connecting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, where Nanak was buried, to the border with India to allow Sikh devotees from the neighbouring country to visit the place without securing travel permits.

Rebranding the Cuptaan CIty NoteS M a NIazI The rumination of Facebook may provide an object lesson for the PTI. Facebook is facing all sorts of bother in the USA and Europe, and may be considering a name change, a rebranding. The US authorities have rather huffily said that no name change will avert legal proceedings, and the PTI might face the problem that the voter might not be impressed by a name change.

Just like the IMF was not impressed by the name change of Shaukat Tarin. No, I don’t mean he had to submit to being renamed Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, or some other such puerile attempt to fool the IMF, but that he arrived in Washington as Finance

Minister, but after the expiry of the six months he had to find a seat, he becamePM’s Adviser on Finance. The IMF negotiators presumably didn’t allow this to influence them. They still were obdurate about releasing the latest tranche. Apparently, they were not impressed by being made privy to the secret of reverse swing.

In cricket, Michael Slater was arrested for domestic violence, Slater was junior to Imran, but he was a bat of some calibre. He was a team-mate of Matthew Hayden, currently Pakistan’s batting coach. Hayden is probably not fully recovered from the problem of handling Azam Khan, who is the son of Moin Khan, the former keeper, opener and captain, who also got in trouble sometime ago for domestic violence.

I don’t think cricketers are a particularly violent breed of men, though legendary

England opener had his commentating career cut short after an incident involving his live-in girlfriend. It seems a batsman’s problem, though, for no one has accused Imran orof having laid a hand on any of his three wives . Of course, if he tried anything on with his present wife, he could end up with a doll having pins stuck in it.

Of course, that is not something he wants talked about. The whole PTI is coming down like a ton of bricks on Asma Shirazi for having mentioned this in a piece she did for the BBC. Somehow, I suspect that the problem is not what she said, but that she said it on the platform of the BBC, even though as we have been told so often, no one knows the West like Imran.

Or is the objection to the content of what Ms Sherazi said? She said that no needles

NEWS

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Pml-N leader shaista Pervaiz to contest Na-133 by-election LAHORe PPI

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to field Shaista Pervaiz Malik for the NA-133 byelection to be held on December 5. Shaista is an MNA on a reserved seat for women. The NA-133 seat fell vacant after the death of her husband and PML-N leader Pervaiz Malik, who had defeated PTI leader Ejaz Chaudhry in the 2018 general election with a margin of some 12,000 votes. The Election Commission of Pakitan (ECP) has announced the date for the by-election on this seat on December 5. Candidates have been advised to file their nominations by October 25 whereas scrutiny of the nomination papers will be conducted on October 30.

“No government or authority shall post or transfer any official in the district where the schedule for by-election in NA-133 is announced till the publication of name of returned candidate. No government functionary or elected representative including a local government functionary shall announce any development scheme for the constituency where election is under process till December 5,” the ECP notification states.

harnai earthquake death toll increases to 21 QUeTTA INP

The death toll in the earthquake that shook Harnai on Thursday increased to 21 after one of the injured people succumbed to his wounds. According to rescue officials, a man, 70, who was injured in a house collapse, passed away at the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Quetta, according to the deputy commissioner of Harnai, who added that the rescue operation is almost complete but teams are still visiting villages in far-off areas. The ISPR revealed that around 300 relief packages comprising tents, blankets, and food items have been dispatched to the suffering families. On Friday, Provincial Minister for Public Health Engineering, Noor Muhammad Damar, said that the death toll in the earthquake is far greater than that stated whereas the number of injured persons had also been under-reported. Urging domestic and international agencies to respond immediately, he said that the people in the affected areas needed urgent relief.

Addressing media persons in Quetta, he said that provincial and federal governments should step up efforts for rehabilitating the survivors and providing them with adequate financial aid to help them repair or reconstruct their houses destroyed or damaged in the earthquake. As many as 200 houses had been destroyed in floods in Harnai, Damar revealed. “The provincial government has announced to pay compensation to owners of all such houses, but survivors were still awaiting payment of compensation.” The minister added that after making hectic efforts, he had been able to get the provincial government to approve a payment of Rs5,000 per house. “This is a dismal amount which will achieve nothing. This time around, the survivors need to be paid at least Rs3 million or Rs4 million so that they could begin rebuilding their houses and shops.” It may be recalled that a 5.9 magnitude earthquake jolted Harnai on Thursday at 3am. The epicenter of the earthquake was near Harnai and its depth was 15km.

Tremors were also felt in other parts of the province, including Quetta, Pishin, Sibi, Muslimbagh, Killa Abdullah Sanjavi, Zhob, and Chaman. Roofs of several houses collapsed in Harnai, causing a large number of casualties. Right after the earthquake, a power outage struck the area right. An emergency has been imposed at both private and public hospitals in the province.

stuck in any dolls, no goats’ or pigeon’s blood, would ward off the effects of inflation.. Well, msybe she only meant to hint to Mr Tarin how he was to run his ministry.

He was prescient, for he had set as one of the conditions of accepting office becoming a minister and not just an Adviser, and being found a seat fast. Well, the seat has not yet been found, has it? The government, it seems, can’t get one of its senators to resign, butis lying on unseating Ishaq Dar for not taking oath. That could involve legal complications, which seems to be already happening.Dar says he would love to take oath, but it has been stayed by the Supreme Court.

By the way, does anyone know the caste of the DG ISI-designate? I suppose it’s as relevant to the issue as pigeon’s blood or voodoo dolls, but I’ve been prompted by a social media post in which congratulatory messages had been included by Warraich, Dogar, Arain, Gujjar and Sheikh biradari associations to one of their biradari’s distinguished sons.

The list is of the country’s most

distinguished castes, but is hardly exhaustive. Of course, the DG-designate can’t belong to all of those biradaris at the same time, so all but one must be on spec.

And it seems that there are no associations congratulating the new Peshawar Corps Commander, even though that is a distinguished enough post.

An organisation chief proclaiming his biradri affiliation is Saad Rizvi, whose Tehrik Labbaik Pakistan is on the streets, protesting, to get the French Ambassador expelled, no matter what biradri he belongs to.

And the government also doesn’t care what biradri the country belongs to. It objects to The Economist have declared Pakistan the country with the fourth highest inflation. It objected that some countries were not considered, such as Haiti, Malawi, Sao Tome e Principe. Botswana, Zambia, Georgia, Guyana, Kazakhstan. And other nuclear powers with large armies. I suppose those are all countries with which Imran wanted us compared, when he promised to establish pride in Pakistan abroad.

04 NEWS 25th October 2021_Layout 1 10/24/2021 9:20 PM Page 1

Monday, 25 October, 2021 | LAHORE

04 NEWS

PAkIStAn mAIntAInS beLow 2Pc covId 19 PoSItIvIty RAte FoR oveR A week COUNTRY PASSES MILESTONE OF ADMINISTERING 100M VACCINE DOSES

Several flights at Lahore airport cancelled over ‘operational issues’

APP

A number of flights inbound and an outbound flights at the Allama Iqbal International Airport, including one from the United Arab Emirate (UAE), were cancelled on Sunday as airport staff cited operational issues. As per details, there was a shortage of planes of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) due to which some of the outbound flights could not operate as per schedule.

Another flight operating from Sharjah to land in Lahore has been canceled, while one Karachi-bound Lahore flight too was axed. Separately from other private airlines, one to-and-fro flight between Lahore and UAE and one between Lahore and Qatar, as well as a private flight to the port city were also canceled. Moreover, another private flight to Ras al Khaimah and one backand-forth flight to Karachi were also among the flights that were called off.

FIA nabs 13 ‘smugglers’, seizes 350,000 Saudi Riyals peshawar INP

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed on Saturday to have arrested 13 alleged currency smugglers during raids in Peshawar over the past three days. FIA deputy director Riaz Khan relayed that 350,000 Saudi riyals have been seized from the arrested smugglers. He said a passenger who was to smuggle foreign currency to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) arrested at Peshawar’s Bacha Khan Airport. During interrogation, he added, the suspect disclosed the names of his associates involved in illegal currency trade. FIA later arrested them as well and recovered 163,500 Saudi riyals from their possession, Khan said, adding that 13 currency smugglers have been rounded up over the past three days with a total of 350,000 riyals recovered from their possession. A case has been registered against all the arrested men with investigation launched.

AKISTAN reported a coronavirus positivity rate of less than 2 per cent for the ninth consecutive day, according to government data released by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Sunday morning.

As per details, 43,522 Covid-19 tests were conducted across the country in the last 24 hours, of which 591 returned positive.

The country has mostly recorded less than 7,00 daily infections during the week.

The NCOC said that the rate of positive cases during the last 24 hours was 1.35 per cent, adding that the country’s positivity rate has remained below 2 per cent since October 16.

Similarly, the number of active cases is continuing on its downward trend as well and was recorded at 23,917 as of Sunday.

Earlier this week, active cases in Pakistan dropped below the 25,000 mark after more than seven months, while daily coronavirus infections fell to their lowest level in a year.

Covid-19 infections are decreasing in Pakistan, with 611 new infections reported on average each day, making 10 per cent of the peak — the highest daily average re-

ported on June 17. it is pertinent to mention here that the number of deaths from the ongoing pandemic in the country has risen to 28,377 after 18 people died from the virus on Sunday, while the total number of cases has reached 1,268,536.

Earlier on Saturday, the government announced that over a 100 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in less than nine months whereas 68 million people have got at least one dose of vaccine out of whom 38 million have been fully vaccinated.

In this regard, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Faisal Sultan said in a video statement that with the passage of time the pace of vaccination had increased and in the current month up to 1 million doses were being administered daily.

“We have passed a major milestone of administering 100m doses of vaccine. This success could not be achieved without support of a number of departments and stakeholders. Firstly, I would thank the people of Pakistan as they participated in the vaccination campaign. The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) did a marvelous job. Moreover, federal and provincial ministries and departments cooperated for the campaign,” he said.

Vietnam’s envoy urges increasing Pak-Vietnam trade to $1bn isLaMaBaD

Monitoring report

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Monitoring Desk

Vietnam Ambassador to Pakistan, Nguyen Tien Phong on Sunday urged for increasing the bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Vietnam up to $1 billion in the next two years.

“The two countries have great potential to increase bilateral trade, which is being discussed on both sides,” the Vietnamese ambassador said.

He said that presently, bilateral trade between the two countries stood at about $700 million which was far below its potential, adding that the two countries have vast potential for bilateral trade in agriculture including tea, black pepper, cashew, coffee, cotton, seafood, and dairy items.

“Manufactured products such as phone and phone’s parts computer and computer’s parts pharmaceutical, electrical and electronics and other technology equipment, rubber, steel sector and various chemicals are also in the potential trade list,” he said.

The Vietnamese envoy said that new avenues for mutual cooperation in trade between the two countries can be opened by including trade sectors in other new sectors as well.

BILATERAL TRADE BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES CURRENTLY STANDS AT ABOUT $700M

He said that Pakistan exports to Vietnam during 2020 which totaled $136.67 million included cotton, plastic, raw hides and skins other than fur, leather, residues, wastes of food industry, animal fodder, cereals, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, aquatics, invertebrates, Pharma-

ceutical products, tanning, dyeing extracts, derivatives, and pigments.

On the other hand, Pakistan imports from Vietnam totaled $437.95 million during 2020, including electronic equipment, man-made filaments, coffee, tea, mate and spices, sea foods,

Govt striving for polio-free Pakistan as top priority: Buzdar Lahore APP

Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has reiterated that a polio-free Pakistan was a mission and among the top priorities of the government for which all-out resources were being utilised.

In his message on World Polio Day, the Punjab CM said the administration had also been activated in antipolio campaign along with the Health department.

Paying tributes to the services of polio workers and said that they were heroes and front line workers, Buzdar said he was personally monitoring the antipolio drive.

He termed the war against polio, a war for the better and polio-free future of the nation’s children and appealed the parents to get their children vaccinated against polio.

Meanwhile, the chief minister termed the opposi-

CMYK

PUNJAB CM TERMS OPPOSITION’S RALLIES FUTILE, ANTI-NATIONAL tion’s rallies and protest a futile and meaningless activity, saying that none of them have been sincere with people in the past nor will they be in the future.

Buzdar condemned the opposition’s attempt to divide the nation in such a situation, adding that the opposition did not care about the people or the country. “The opposition should realise the seriousness of the current circumstances and avoid spreading chaos,” he added.

He further said that such activities were putting national interests at stake for gaining political millage.

“The present scenario demands unity, brotherhood and solidarity as there is no room for the politics of selfinterest in the current circumstances,” he concluded.

edible vegetables and certain roots and tubers, iron and steel, rubbers, miscellaneous chemical products, fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and aquatics invertebrates, he said.

The envoy said that the main reason for the decline in bilateral trade volume between the two countries, apart from the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, was a lack of mutual awareness between enterprises of the two sides.

Replying to a question, he said that talks on further progress on the proposed Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between Pakistan and Vietnam were likely to take place in mid-November this year.

He said that in the meeting would discuss bilateral trade and investment, the PTA and also the agreement on investment promotion protection.

He said that after signing of the PTA, talks on the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) are also expected.

Regarding multilateral trade in Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Pakistan’s trade interests with this trading bloc, the Vietnamese envoy said that Vietnam, being an active member of ASEAN, would play its full role in paving the way for further ASEAN-Pakistan trade cooperation.

Monday, 25 October, 2021 | LAHORE

NAB AmENDmENT ORDINANCE 2021 CHALLENgED IN LHC N ATIONAl Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Bill 2021 has been challenged in lahore High Court (lHC) Saturday.

According to details, the plaintiff said that the NAB Amendment Ordinance is against the decisions of apex court. The ordinance cannot be released for a single person, he added. Federal government and others have been made party in the plea.

President promulgates NAB Amendment ordinance 2021 President Dr Arif Alvi had promulgated NAB Amendment Ordinance 2021 paving way to extend the tenure of anti-graft watchdog. later, addressing a joint news conference along with Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain, Minister for law, Farogh Nasim said the President of Pakistan will appoint Chairman National Accountability Bureau after consultation with leader of the House and leader of the opposition in the National Assembly.

Farogh Nasim said the government is bringing in a presidential ordinance to introduce some amendments in the NAB laws for more transparency and clarity.

He said the matter will be referred to a

parliamentary committee to be constituted by the Speaker National Assembly with equal representation from the treasury and the opposition benches if the consultation with the Prime Minister and the Opposition leader does not remain consensus oriented. He said a provision has been inserted in the new ordinance deleting the word non-extendable.

The law minister said now the current and retired chairmen of NAB, with

new names will be considered for their appointment as the next Chief of the anti-corruption watchdog. He said it will enhance pool for the selection of NAB chairman. He said that the current Chairman will continue to perform his duties till appointment of a regular NAB chief and he will enjoy full powers as a regular chairman can have. Farogh Nasim said that the Supreme Judicial Council will be the forum to remove NAB chief in

case of any misconduct. The law Minister said that role of NAB Prosecutor General is being enhanced in the new ordinance to take independent opinion on a case to ensure fairness. He said the Prosecutor General will advise the NAB Chairman to continue or withdraw an investigation on substantial grounds.

Farogh Nasim said the Supreme Court had directed to enhance the number of existing NAB courts to 90 for which a large pool for selection of judges was required. He said under the changed framework, retired district and additional district judges and serving or retired special courts judges, provided their age is less than 68 years, can be appointed as NAB courts judges in consultation of the Chief Justice of Pakistan.

Farogh Nasim said bureaucracy, private persons, and business community has been excluded from the ambit of NAB and now FBR will deal all tax related matters. He said procedural laps on part of bureaucracy, with no illegal monetary gains, have been excluded from NAB s purview. He said that NAB will require prior permission of the Governor of State Bank for proceeding against the decisions taken by the banks and other financial institutions. INP

Pakistan, Sweden warn Afghanistan hurtling towards collapse

DUBAI/ISLAMABAD reuters

Afghanistan will shortly collapse into chaos unless the international community acts rapidly, Pakistan and Sweden ministers warned.

Afghanistan plunged into crisis after the hardline Taliban movement drove out the Western-backed government in August triggering the abrupt end of billions of dollars in assistance to its aid-dependent economy.

“The country is on the brink of collapse and that collapse is coming faster than we thought,” Sweden Minister for International Development Cooperation Per Olsson Fridh told Reuters in Dubai.

He said economic freefall could provide an environment for terrorist groups to thrive, but that Sweden would not channel money through the Taliban, instead boosting its humanitarian contributions through Afghan civil society groups.

Many countries and multilateral institutions have

halted development assistance but increased humanitarian aid since August, reluctant to legitimise the new Taliban rulers.

Minister for Information and Broadcast Fawad Chaudhry later told Reuters that direct engagement with the Taliban was the only way to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe, and called for billions of dollars of Afghanistan assets frozen overseas to be released.

“Are we going to push Afghanistan into chaos or are we going to try and stabilise the country?” he said in Dubai.

Engagement would also encourage the protection of human rights and the establishment of an inclusive, constitutional government, he said.

Pakistan has deep ties with the Taliban and was often accused of not severing them as the group battled the US-backed government in Kabul for 20 years — charges denied by Islamabad.

Fridh said the Taliban had so far failed to prove they had shed the oppressive policies that marked their previous period in power from 1996-2001.

He also said conditions were not right for European countries to reopen embassies in Kabul. Instead, the more diplomatic activity would take place in Qatar, an important interlocutor between the West and the Taliban.

Fridh met Qatar officials in the capital Doha this week.

But Chaudhry said it was time the United States, China and other major powers set out a framework for formal recognition of Afghanistan’s new rulers and for the removal of United Nations sanctions on Taliban members, including some members of the new government.

This, together with direct economic assistance, was the only way to avert instability, he said, adding: “The watch on this bomb is already clicking.”

NCOC daily update: 591 new cases, 18 deaths from Covid-19 ISLAMABAD staff rePort

Pakistan reported 591 new Covid-19 cases over the last 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said on Sunday.

The number of overall confirmed cases has risen to 1,268,536, according to the NCOC, the department leading the campaign against the pandemic.

Another 18 people lost their lives due to the coronavirus over the last 24 hours in the country, taking the overall death toll to 28,377, according to the NCOC, adding that 1,614 are in critical condition.

During the previous 24 hours, 737 patients recovered from Covid-19, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1,216,242, said the NCOC. Sindh province is the worst-affected province by the pandemic with 467,425 infections, followed by Punjab which has reported 438,989 cases.

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NEWS

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corporate corner

DRC successfully resolving public disputes ISLAMABAD: The Dispute resolution council (DRC) of capital police formed by its chief is working efficiently to resolve public disputes and providing relief to them, a police spokesman said on Sunday. So far, the dispute resolution council received 26 applications during last 6 weeks related to disputes of various nature out of which 17 have seen resolved, he said. He added 45 percent cases were related to family matters and similar of monetary issues whereas 10 percent cases were of miscellaneous nature. To provide relief to the people, DIG Operations Afzaal Ahmad Kausar told that the council has been set up in Islamabad which is looking into the cases of civil nature including domestic and monetary disputes and other case of miscellaneous nature. The The councils is responsible for amicably resolving the disputes through a proper fact-finding process and work as a jury in the conduct of contested investigations. He said that the burden on policemen would also decrease and they may get time to effectively handle cases of criminal nature. The applications related to civil nature, domestic issues, property and monetary cases are forwarded from IGP, DIG (Operations) and SSP (Operations) office to the council and its members try to resolve them after listening to both parties. All Station House Officers (SHOs) have been directed to forward cases of civil nature to the council as the purpose is to provide maximum relief to the citizens through such bodies. The DIG said that such bodies would help to improve the policing culture and provide immediate relief to the people. Pr

POWER SUSPENSION SCHEDULES FOR 25th OCTOBER 2021 According to Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO)’s spokesman, System Maintenance/Development Work is in process.

Therefore power supply of below mentioned feeders/areas will be temporary suspended as per given schedule: On 25th October from 09:00 AM to 02:00 PM, Chowk Pandori, Khawaja, Basharat, CS Shah, Muslimabad, Gulzar Shaheed, Pirudhai, Bagh Sardar, Khayaban-e-Iqbal, Zia Masjid, Highway, G-8/2, Sports Complex, Azad, Athal, F-10, G-10/2, I-9/4, New Exchange, Atwar Bazar, Railway Road, Rahara, PHA-1, CM Pak Zong, Bahria Enclave, Isolation Hospital, Sunny Bank , Cecil, Gharial, MCM, TDCP, Bluwara, Treat, E Block, Faizabad, Nora Road, Tamamasamabad, Liaquat Bagh, Major Masood, Sarafa Bazar, Quaidabad, Azizabad, C/Cross, Kamal Abad, Nogzi, Faziya-1, Faziya-II, F-17/1, F-17/2, Top City, I-16, Rata, Haider Road, Tipu Road, Bostan Khan Road, CBR-II, Model Town, MSF, Humayun1, Kalyal, Dhamyal, Shah Jeewan, Chungi No. 22, Nadar, Khawaja, Panjar, New Mandra, Industrial, Sukho, Raman, CB Khan, Nawazish Shaheed, SS Suri, Burhan, Shafi Chauhan. , Hussainabad, Valley, New Musa, Hatian, Power Channel Company, Nad Topa, Kachehri Triple Circuit, Attock Rural, Sony, Kasran, Methal, Mort, Khor, Mahfooz Shaheed, Gul Muhammad, Laniwala, F-5 Jeddah, Zebar Shaheed , F-3 Gul Afshan, Shukrila, Mandi Bhalwal, Shamsabad, Chapran, Akram Shaheed, F-8 Civil Line, Jakhar, Dina-3 Rohtas, Dina-1 Bakrala, Mumtaz Shaheed, Domealee, Citi Housing, Sandal, City Sohawa, Mill Awan, Galyana, Islampura, Bhoon, Ara Bazar, Megan, Sarpak, Dhadial Express, Mulhal Mughals, Daulatullah, Sarkal, Kachehri, PD Khan, Rawal, Jalalpur, CS Shah, Dandot, Laila Town, Neela, Dhala, Kot Gala, Kot Shera, Main Bazar, Akwal, Bilalabad, Multan Khurd Feeders, From 08:00am to 05:00pm, Multi Archard, Barahma, Dharik feeders, From 10:00am to 03:00pm, Gharial Feeder, From 10:00 AM to 05:00 PM, Pindi Point, Barin, Public Health, Gharial, PAF, Upper Topa, Lora, Patriata, Company Bagh, Cecil Restaur, Lora-2 Abbasi, MCM, TDCP Feeders, From 08:00 AM to 04:00 PM, Shams Colony, Azharabad, CWO, Golra, Charing Cross, Westridge Feeders, From 08:00 AM to 01:00 PM, Chakri, Arsalan Poltry Farm, SPD, Padial , Gagan, Chahan, Mahota feeders and surroundings will remain closed. IESCO management apologizes to its esteemed customers for the power outage. If the work is completed ahead of time, the power supply can be restored even before the scheduled time . Pr

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Monday, 25 October, 2021

06 COMMENT

Rising debt concerns for developing countries

Polio down But many dangers threaten recent progress

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AKIStAN has reason to celebrate, what with only one case of polio being recorded this year, as was noted with some satisfaction on Sunday, which was World Polio Day. Perhaps the outbreak of a couple of years before was reflective of the initial confusion in the government on this issue, but it seems that the change of Focal Person has made enough of a difference, and allowed the country to see light at the end of the tunnel. Most encouraging of all is the fact that the wild virus is longer found, which is an indication that once person-to-person transmission is stopped by widespread vaccination, the disease may be eliminated. After the elimination of polio in Pakistan, Afghanistan would be left as the only country where the disease was present. therein lies a danger for Pakistan. Polio eradication efforts in Afghanistan have received a setback from the instability there, particularly after the taliban takeover there, because aid agencies working on polio eradication have withdrawn their workers for safety reasons. Apart from vaccinations, the presence of wild polio viruses are expected to proliferate there. With a full-blown economic crisis facing the taliban, it may be too much to ask that they focus on polio eradication, but that should not mean that Pakistan should be reinfected. that would mean more stringent border controls than presently exist.

Pakistan has domestic problems too. First all, it must ensure full coverage of its children. the antivaxxers have by no means disappeared, and indeed can be expected to be strengthened in Afghanistan, making for a toxic mess with a potential for spillover here. the problem in Pakistan is that it faces so many other crises that the government may not give the problem the attention it deserves, and thus prevents the country from being part of a historic achievement for all Mankind. But until that is achieved, there must be no let-up in the intensity of vaccination drives. one of the problems created by the delay is the birth of another generation of susceptible children, who must be vaccinated lest they become the unwitting cause of the survival of the poliovirus. their vaccination must be a priority for the government, as this crisis is perhaps bigger than others, for its toll is to be counted in crippled citizens who will be around for an average of three-quarters of a century.

Companies can get rid of unsustainable debt, but not countries

Dr. Omer JaveD ‘Poorer nations were more fragile before Covid19, had less scope to stimulate economies, and are on the wrong side of the vaccine divide’ – Excerpt from a recent Guardian published article ‘The next global emergency? Deepening debt in the developing world’

by Larry Elliott

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ItH higher inflationary push, mainly at the back of a supply-chain crisis, and high commodity and energy prices, and on the other hand, a drop in growth forecasts primarily due to returning covid-19 waves, has raised concerns regarding stagflationary pressure. overall, this has led to a greater push towards a tighter monetary stance going forward.

While a higher policy rate may make it difficult to boost economic growth, and will make it harder to reach needed boost in supply– although at least a substantial choking in supply chain may also be artificial, with greed playing a role here– with further negative consequences on already rising absolute poverty levels, the other big worry is in the shape of the health pandemic resulting in a debt pandemic as well.

The Guardian economics editor, Larry elliott, in the same article highlighted the difficult debt situation facing developing countries, and how it has evolved over the years, as follows: ‘Problems have only gradually surfaced. In the first phase, developing countries borrowed money, some of it from multilateral institutions, some from individual countries and some of it from the private sector. At the time, this seemed relatively safe because the world economy was growing and demand for the commodities produced by low-income countries was strong. the assumption was that debt interest payments would be met by fu-

Tilting at windmills

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veN though Prime Minister Imran Khan is exercised about obscenity, to the extent that the recent Cabinet meeting was devoted to the subject, the recent PeMrA issuance of a directive on dramas was hardly to be expected, though the main objection, its manifest lack of effectiveness, may not be a negative for Mr Khan. After all, his other bugbear, corruption, has not led to any signal recoveries, just a string of politicians getting bail from the courts.

However, PeMrA does not seem to have learnt from NAB, and is doing Mr Khan’s will. the problem is that his will is not clear. the directive against showing any display of affection or intimacy, even between couples supposed to be married, is not clear.

For a start, it should be remembered that the Pakistani media is already both conservative and cautious, and sponsors have always preferred to err on the side of caution. Pakistani dramas have been venturing into edgy territory of late, and been dealing with the sort of subjects which apparently cause people like Mr Khan discomfort, like sexual abuse and domestic violence.

Mr Khan’s own government has a poor record of handling the rising tide of abuse of minors, crimes against women and instances of criminal assault. that there is a problem is not denied, but this is not the solution. Any pimply-faced youth with a mobile has access to pornographic websites which leave Pakistani dramas far far behind. In the face of that, PeMrA, and with it Mr Khan, are like nothing so much as the little Dutch boy of legend, who stuck his finger into a dyke to stop a flood. He was unsuccessful. It is unlikely that Mr Khan will have better luck. It seems as if Mr Khan is trying to satisfy an urge to do something about an issue of which he has very little understanding, because he has not studied, merely picked up some clichéed opinions.

There are no shortcuts

mOhammaD ali alvi

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overty is the manifestation of prevalent social injustice in society. the more the social injustice the higher the poverty. It is not confined to one state as it is a global dilemma.

According to oxfam, the world’s richest one percent has twice the wealth of the rest of the world. on the contrary, nearly half the world lived on less than $5.50 a day, the World Bank reported in 2018. Around nine percent of the world population still lives in extreme poverty earning less than $1.90 a day, a figure expected to rise as an aftermath of the covid-19 pandemic.

Pakistan is a multi-ethnic, multi-linguistic. Multireligious state. Its unity is in its diversity. However, social injustice is like a menace to it. And, it is in the best interest of the state to provide equal access to opportunities, facilities, education, health and other essentials. otherwise, poverty as a result of social injustice can hamper the progress of the society, create resentment in different sections and lead to disturbance in its socio-political fabric.

A couple of days back, I was sitting with my friend who hails from a village in South Punjab. Debating on a topic, he pointed out the lack of facilities and opportunities in his area and compared it with someone living in a more developed area. I could feel the anger and frustration in his voice.

Here, it is pertinent to mention that he is literate and belongs to a well-off family. Multiply this anger and resentment for uneducated and underprivileged people and factions.

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Arif Nizami (Late) Founding Editor

Yousaf Nizami M. A. Niazi

Umar Aziz

Joint Editor

Joint Editor

Executive Editor

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is Jubilee Debt Campaign’s head of policy, and was quoted in the same article by Larry elliott as saying: ‘“the G20 are asleep at the wheel as the debt crisis intensifies in lower income countries.” Jones also said. “the current rise in global interest rates will worsen the crisis, preventing countries from recovering from the pandemic. the G20 urgently need to compel private creditors to take part in debt restructuring.”’

For dealing with the source of the debt crisis coming from the private sector, it is indeed important to put in place a sovereign debt restructuring mechanism (SDrM). Larry pointed out in this regard in the same article ‘over the years, advocates of a SDrM have noted that companies have a legal way to rid themselves of unsustainable debts but nation states do not.’ Moreover, Larry indicated ‘one possible option would be collective action clauses that would bind all creditors to a restructuring deal in the event that a sizeable majority– say 66 percent– were in agreement. In those circumstances, individual creditors would be unable to hold out for a better deal.’

A recent Guardian article ‘Covid pandemic has pushed poor countries to record debt levels– World Bank’ quoted the comments of chief economist of the World Bank as: ‘Carmen reinhart, the World Bank’s chief economist, said: “economies across the globe face a daunting challenge posed by high and rapidly rising debt levels. Policymakers need to prepare for the possibility of debt distress when financial market conditions turn less benign, particularly in emerging market and developing economies.”’

The writer holds PhD in Economics degree from the University of Barcelona, and previously worked at International Monetary Fund.Prior to this, he did MSc. in Economics from the University of York (United Kingdom), and worked at the Ministry of Economic Affairs & Statistics (Pakistan), among other places. He is author of Springer published book (2016) ‘The economic impact of International Monetary Fund programmes: institutional quality, macroeconomic stabilization and economic growth’.He tweets @omerjaved7

Alleviating poverty by fixing the economy

Getting PEMRA to issue directives won’t end obscenity

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

ture export revenues. then, commodity prices crashed in the mid-2010s and the [World] Bank and the IMF started to voice concerns. the pandemic ushered in a second phase because, while no part of the world was left untouched by covid-19, poor countries were hit harder than developed nations. …When the US Federal reserve starts to raise interest rates the third phase will begin. Many poor countries have borrowed in US dollars, and the cost of servicing these loans– already high– will increase still further as the Fed tightens policy. that will be the point of maximum danger.’

World Bank Group president, David Malpass, on one of the days during the 2021 Annual Meetings on october 13, 2021, highlighted with regard to the difficult debt situation as follows: ‘the debt challenges are confronting many countries. on Monday, we released the annual IDS [International Debt Statistics] report. And it showed a 12 percent increase in debt for the low-income countries, reaching $860 billion. We need new systems to push that along, because so many countries are in external debt distress or at high risk of it. We need a comprehensive approach, including debt reduction, swifter restructuring, and more transparency in order to make progress on this problem.’

In the IDS 2021 report, Malpass highlighted the debt situation of Debt Service Suspension Initiative (DSSI) eligible countries as: ‘According to the latest data, total external debt stocks of low-income countries eligible for the DSSI rose 9 percent in 2019 to $744 billion, equivalent on average to one-third of their combined gross national income. Lending from private creditors was the fastest-growing component of the external debt of DSSI-eligible borrowers, up fivefold since 2010. obligations to private creditors totaled $102 billion at the end of 2019. the debt stock of DSSI-eligible countries to official bilateral creditors, composed mostly of Group of twenty (G-20) countries, reached $178 billion in 2019 and accounted for 27 percent of the long-term debt stock of low-income countries.’ Having said that, the lacklustre performance of DSSI was highlighted by tim Jones, who

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Karachi – Ph: 021-35381208-9

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Poverty has nothing to do with caste, creed, ethnicity, locality or language but if not addressed properly and dealt with generosity, it creates a division in the form of different classes based on these identities.

Analysts describe the economy of the state as the blood in a human body. For a healthy body, blood needs to be circulated without any disturbance. When blood accumulates at a point it forms clots which can turn into cancer. Accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few is the cancer of a society. the non-circulation of capital leads to poverty which in turn leads to other social evils.

According to World Bank estimates, the poverty in Pakistan increased from 4.4 percent to 5.4 percent in 2020, while around 39 percent of the total population lives in poverty when measured using a lowermiddle-income poverty line of $3.20 a day. the most important cause of poverty in Pakistan is economic instability. Pakistan’s chronic economic problem and lack of political stability has led to social injustice and ultimately poverty.

Social poverty alleviation programmes can only aid the poverty alleviation process but cannot be a long-term initiative unless basic issues in the economy are resolved.

According to government estimates, the poverty level is decreasing in Pakistan. For example, the poverty level in the country declined from 36.8 percent in 2010-11 to 21.9 percent in 2018-19, according to the HIeS survey.

But, without economic stability and removal of flaws in our economy, we cannot root out poverty given the amount of increase in the population.

Pakistan is the fifth most populous country in the world now with a population of 220 million and an annual growth rate of 2.4 percent. According to the UN estimates, Pakistan’s population is estimated to reach 403 million in 2050. Given the amount of population growth, only a sustained approach can help in the eradication of poverty.

Both the trade surplus and revenue collected in the form of different taxes are very important for a state.

Pakistan is an agrarian country. Its major exports to the world are agricultural products, textiles, sports and leather goods. Pakistan’s exports as a percentages of GDP in 2019 was 10.1 percent while the average for lower-middle-income countries is 24.7 percent and for South Asian countries is 17.5 percent. Furthermore, as

Islamabad – Ph: 051-2204545

these exports are lower value-added products, it results in a negative balance of trade or trade deficit.

Similarly, for taxation, Pakistan relies on indirect taxes which adds to the burden of the vulnerable section of the society. According to the FBr data, the share of indirect taxes increased from 61.3 percent in 2010-11 to 67.9 percent in 2019-20. on the contrary, the direct tax collection decreased from 38.7 percent in 2010-11 to 32.1 percent in 2019-20, according to a newspaper report. the higher indirect-to-direct tax ratio creates imbalance, adds to the woes of the poor and leaves behind those who need to be taxed. Inflation as a result surges which creates problems for the unprivileged and depreciates the living standard of a common man.

Pakistan, because of its economic vulnerability, reached out to the IMF 22 times since its inception. Almost every government reached out to the IMF for assistance but still, no worthwhile progress is visible. the cost of reaching out to the IMF is paid by the poor in the form of taxes. the current petrol price hike is a recent example. the price was increased per the IMF demands which insisted on a collection of 610 billion from the petroleum development levy during the current fiscal year. other than that, Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio is around 10 percent which is one of the lowest in the entire region. the low tax-to-GDP ratio also results in indirect taxation. For example, the revenue target for the current fiscal year is rs 5.8 trillion and rs 3.6 trillion will be collected through indirect taxes.

If poverty is to be alleviated completely and the living standard of the people is to be raised, Pakistan has to solve its economic woes.

It needs to diversify its exports by focusing on high-tech products that will result in a positive trade balance and trade surplus. It needs to focus on direct taxes by improving its tax collection and by getting more people to pay income tax and avoid tax evasion rather than relying on indirect taxes. And with that, it needs to increase its spending on education and health to make sure all have access to quality education and health facilities.

It needs to diversify its exports by focusing on highTech products that will result in a positive trade balance and trade surplus.

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Web: www.pakistantoday.com.pk

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The writer is a freelance columnist

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

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Monday, 25 October, 2021

COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan.

E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan today exclusively

Reviving the spirit of freedom

Abuses of Human Rights in Jammu and Kashmir

Dr muhammaD akram Zaheer

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INCe 1947, Article 370 had0 given Jammu and Kashmir a semi-autonomous constitutional status. Under its provisions, the region had freedom in all matters except its legislature, constitution, flag and communications, foreign affairs and defense. ending this status is a fresh attempt to eradicate the Kashmiri people, their rights and the linguistic, social, cultural, economic and political existence of the local people. the legality of the special status solution is being challenged by legal and constitutional experts in India, who have opposed the country’s Supreme Court decisions in recent years. With the recent abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A, India has allowed permanent resettlement of non-Kashmiris in Kashmir. the Constitution of Kashmir first defines membership and settlement. NonKashmiris are now allowed to buy property, keep it and settle in Kashmir permanently.

Under these changes, for example, Gujars (Bakarwal) in Kashmir are immediately at greater risk. they migrate seasonally with the animals to look after the animals and the land.

Indian laws regarding land as a sole property will not allow them to live on land as they have historically done. these changes will also lead to population rearrangement in Kashmir.

Kashmiris have long speculated that India intends to settle military and paramilitary families in Kashmir as well as establish semi-permanent military colonies in Kashmir. Indigenous peoples from Asia, such as Kashmiris, have long faced threats to their existence and inherited rights, especially “relative” land rights, as colonial relations between indigenous peoples and settler states make land encroachment profitable. this will make indigenous peoples aliens.

Since 5 August 2019, India cancelled all access and communication with Kashmir. the Internet, cell phones and landlines have been cut off, and 14.7 million people cannot access essentials such as food and medical aid as India moves to gain full control of its territory using military force. Apart from the extremely rare media, Kashmiris have not been able to communicate with each other or with the outside world. the entire area of Jammu and Kashmir is basically under siege.

Kashmiris are additionally targeted because they are primarily Muslim and culturally and linguistically distinct. the Indian Government has gained so much control over the social media that their accounts are suspended on the pretext that they have written anything against Hindutva ideology or Hindu fascism. they cannot write freely about how the Indian regime uses its power to oppress and suppress Kashmiris, and cannot upload the photos of the Kashmiri freedom fighters, particularly BurhanWani. this is how their voices stand suppressed and they are unable to demonstrate their inhuman situation oN A wider spectrum across tHe globe.

Now the families of those who joined the freedom struggle at their own will are being harassed and intimidated even during nights. the Armed Force Special Power Act (AFSPA) gives the Indian army full impunity to barge into houses and kill inhabitants when they feel it necessary. this law has been misused so many times where innocent people were brutally killed and the killers did not face a trail.

Coming to the roads, no vehicle including ambulances and other emergency services are allowed to ply on the National highway, which is an important lifeline and the main thoroughfare for every state, which the army travels on. this thing causes the backing up of local vehicles that may stretch to a few miles. this creates extreme problem to the commuters particularly patients, doctors, officegoers, nd so on. they have cut down forest trees and thereby converted the hills into nude mountains. Many of the wild animals got killed due to their habitats’ destruction.

India has been successful in creating a false narrative over the last 70 years across mainland India. thus only a handful of Indians have their voices of dissent heard over the Kashmir issue. the rest, the vast majority, think that Kashmir is their property and whosoever from Kashmir differs from their opinion should be treated as a terrorist. Another thing needs to be debunked regarding the purge of Kashmiri Pandits. they were evacuated in the wake of militant insurgency in Kashmir under Governor Jagmohan. the regime was hell-bent on targeting Muslims subjects only. Jagmohan with Indian army and the Ikhwanis at his disposal assured the Pandits to leave Kashmir as soon as possible and see how he committed the genocide of Kashmiris which eventually did not happen at all. Now those Pandits are showcased by politicians only to fool the world about what they underwent in Muslim-majority Kashmir.

Kashmiri Muslims are seen as a threat all over India. they have been partially eliminated through military force and economic coercion.

Kashmiri youth have been convicted and held in

state custody for stone-throwing. ther are “reform” programmes to protest their grievances and they are made to seek the Indian Army’s pardon. this treatment is in violation of the United Nations Convention on the rights of the Child.

Demands for genocide have already been made in Nazi Germany, rwanda and elsewhere. the UN Convention on Genocide says it should never be allowed again. the convention also states that endangered groups must be protected. there is reluctance to use the term genocide to describe the events that took place in Kashmir over the decades. But the legal definition of genocide is enough. the Kashmiri people have been subjected to population migration on their lands by foreign groups through the establishment of collective permanent settlements by foreigners. the external group is the Hindu nationalist Indian state, led by the BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP), and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. the media, academics, and legal and political analysts have never touched on indigenous rights, as stated in the UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, when Kashmir is being debated.

But an indigenous rights framework is needed to carefully assess the various rights violations facing Kashmiris. India is violating several international human rights conventions and declarations it has signed which apply to Kashmir. there has been a terrible silence by the world leadership on the ongoing crimes in Kashmir. Kashmiris have been the guardians, gardeners and custodians of Kashmiris’ land, water, each other and inhuman life. regardless of the colonial boundaries, the most important thing is what Kashmiris want as an independent indigenous people. Under the UN declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, India has a duty to consult with local people, rather than making decisions that affect them unilaterally, and give them the highest priority to self-government and self-determination. If provided an opportunity. In 1948, the UN resolution on Kashmir would have ratified the right of Kashmiris to determine their own future. the world is not taking cognizance of the Indian brutality in Kashmir. It is because of the fact that India with its huge population is their greatest product consumer, be it arms and ammunition, social media, food products, oil, and so on. therefore, the countries who have their interests in India cannot raise their voice against India. If they happen to say anything and ever condemn any Indian cruelty, then India snitches their voices.

The world is not taking cognizance of the Indian brutality in Kashmir. It is because of the fact that India with its huge population is their greatest product consumer, be it arms and ammunition, social media, food products, oil, and so on.

The writer has a doctorate in political science and can be reached at akramzaheer86@yahoo.com

toDAy is the day when PAF surprised our enemy India by shooting down their fighter jet infringing into our territory. this sudden lightning strike brought down the Indian fighter jet and gave the enemy a clear message that any adventure will be met with a response it would never forget. that was the day I saw the spirit of unity and vibrance in our nation momentarily. However, overall, we have not been able to do justice to the hard-earned freedom we got in 1947. While many countries after getting freedom from the colonial powers have progressed forming strong and stable economies, we have been marred with poor leadership that failed to move the country in the right direction. For example, South Korea has emerged as the strongest economies in the world, but we on the other hand failed to capitalize on the momentum and spirit of freedom. I remember during the days of the freedom movement, no matter how hard life was, we would find time and energy to participate.

I used to walk five miles to my school, return to help my parents with chores such as grazing animals and fetching water but still found time and energy to attend rallies held by the Muslim League. We were so charged up to imagine that we would soon have a country of our own.

Unfortunately, the selfish and power-hungry leaders, who grabbed the reins of the country after the demise of the Quaid failed to channel that energy and guide the country in the right direction. their selfish behaviors, constant bickering, and wrangling for power over the past seventy years have disheartened the masses. Losing hope, people have given up and are not willing to toil for the country. they like their leaders wish for the short-cuts to success and want everything the easy way. I wish and pray that our leadership realizes that they need to be the role models for newer generations to ignite the spirit of hard work to achieve success for themselves and their country. reviving the spirit of the freedom movement, despite all the hardships, everyone must work hard and keep hopes high to transform the country into a strong and vibrant economy that thrives among the world nations.

Raja Shafatullah ISlamabad

Unfavourable conditions IN the year 2021, Pakistan continues to face economic and political. In these following days of price hike, the government is terribly criticized with allegations by the opposition and reinforces a fraught environment. Further, the opposition gave a deadline to Prime Minister to resign and step down or get ready to face a march in the capital. otherwise, if both conditions are not fulfilled so PDM can be attentive for Long March toward Islamabad. even these conflicting views continue to escalate pressure on government. It is very greatly emphasized by the PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari that resignations card are our nuclear option which should be given soon. And along with Sindh government give a response to resign which should again restart fresh election rather they refuse to accept the selected. the ongoing political dilemmas are once again bring unfavorable conditions and unpreventable crisis. And remember that these resignations will no more affect government's from power. baRkatullah tuRbat

TCF doing good work tCF (the citizens foundation) is such an organization which is rendering its services in entire Pakistan for the purpose of quality education. It aims at providing quality education in less privileged areas. tCF was established in 1995; In this short period of time, it has changed the lives of many poor students and has made innumerable doctors and engineers. It has more than thousand branches in Pakistan and more than one lac students. It has assisted poor students a lot by taking small amount of fee monthly and providing excellent education.

Not only this, it also helps students in availing scholarships and prepares its students for the test of different universities spontaneously. the overwhelming services of such foundations and schools must not be over looked; they should be appreciated for their efforts. Long live, tCF. WaSEEm ahmEd hub

Role of charities PUNJAB Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has lauded the role of the leading charities and corporate sector in Pakistan in lessening the miseries of the deprived people during the anti-coronavirus lockdown imposed last year. Punjab Governor stated this as he along with Azad Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan conferred 13th CSr Awards on 75 different companies and organisations for showing excellence in the field of corporate social responsibility during last one year. the Punjab Governor on behalf of the present government assured fullest support to the corporate entities doing philanthropic work. He said the corporate organisations through their CSr initiatives had been helping out the government in its drive to uplift the socio-economic status of the underprivileged segments of society. He said the government always required assistance from bona fide charities and corporate sector to manage disastrous situations like the coronavirus pandemic. the governor mentioned that he personally had led the initiatives with the help of the welfare organisations to assist the poor people during the lockdown imposed last year against the spread of coronavirus. He mentioned that the quality of work undertaken by the charities to do welfare projects in the country had been far better than that of the development projects completed by the government. He mentioned that his own charity had installed water projects to benefit two million people with 10 times less cost than similar water supply schemes of the government. Speaking on the occasion, AJK President lauded services of National Command and operation Centre owing to which coronavirusrelated sufferings remained much less in Azad Kashmir area. He mentioned that Azad Kashmir had so far witnessed just 296 deaths due to Covid-19 out of around 10,000 cases of coronavirus. He appreciated the role of CSr works in alleviating the miseries of the needy people.

ShakIl QuREShI lahoRE

08 WORLD VIEW 25tht October 21_Layout 1 10/24/2021 9:44 PM Page 1

Monday, 25 October, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

The ILLusIon of ArAb nATIonALIsm

GeopolitiCal futureS

T

Hilal KHasHan

HE Arab uprisings briefly resurrected the idea of Arab nationalism.

During the 2011 Pan Arab Games in Qatar, spectators sang the unofficial Arab national anthem, the lyrics of which promote the idea that Arabs cannot be separated by artificial borders or religion because the Arabic language unites them all.

But the euphoria of the moment soon dissipated, as the reality of factionalism set in. Despite various attempts at unity, Arab nations have time and again failed to act collectively or agree on common interests.

FALSE BEGINNINGS: The first Arab nationalist movement was launched in Beirut in 1857. The Syrian Scientific Society ushered in a short-lived Arab cultural and intellectual renaissance. Failing to attract a broad audience, it fizzled out as the First world war began. It was essentially an elitist organization of primarily Syrian and Lebanese Christians and a few Americans and Britons living in the area. (Secular Arab nationalism appealed to Christians because it meant they could be integrated as full-fledged citizens.)

Decades later, the Young Arab Society was established in Paris in response to the 1908 Young Turks’ coup against Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid. The group demanded a democratic transition, administrative autonomy for Arabs and the designation of Arabic as an official language on par with Turkish.

The repressive policies of the Ottoman

ARAB IDENTITY HAS NEVER BEEN WELL DEFINED military governor of Syria led the Young Arabs to demand independence for the Arab provinces in west Asia, paving the way for the British-backed Great Arab Revolt in 1916. The world order that emerged after the First world war gave rise to the present-day states of the Arab East, while the independent countries of North Africa emerged in the aftermath of the Second world war. western imperial countries created the Arab states in their current format to ensure their continued fragility and dependence on the west for their security.

Arab identity is not an ethnic marker. It emerged during the Abbasid caliphate as a political dividing line between Arab caliphs and their Persian subjects in the ninth century. To be considered an Arab, it was sufficient to claim to be one and to speak the Arabic language. Arab nationalism was mostly limited to pride in the community’s achievements, especially the spread of Islam and the Arabic language outside the Arabian Peninsula. Arab regimes’ obsession with staying in power prevented them from cooperating, ensuring that state nationalism superseded pan-Arabism.

THE MYTH OF THE GREATER ARAB WORLD: The idea of the Arab world – a region extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Persian Gulf in the east and the Indian Ocean in the south – was introduced in the early 20th century by Sati alHusary, Iraq’s minister of education during

the reign of King Faisal I. At the time, his conceptualization of Arab nationalism remained mostly a sentimental attachment to religion and language. Indeed, Arabs took pride in their identity and culture, but didn’t extend their sense of unity to the economic or political realm.

In 1920, Faisal established the Arab Kingdom of Syria. A few months later, a French force – which also included Moroccan cavalry and two Algerian battalions – defeated the poorly equipped and understaffed Syrian force in the Battle of Maysaloun near Damascus, claiming Syria as a French mandate. This delivered a crippling blow to Arab nationalism, preventing Damascus from becoming a pan-Arab hub and dooming its prospects of functioning as a central state capable of influencing Arabs everywhere.

Unlike nationalism in Europe, Arab nationalism didn’t develop because of a technological breakthrough in production that ushered in an industrial age. It didn’t give rise to an inclusive political community that superseded sectarian, tribal and clannish identities. Arab leaders, hoping to win popular legitimacy, promoted public displays of Sunni orthodoxy instead of treating faith as a private matter – which alienated Islamic heterodox sects and Christians. For example, Egyptian Vice President Hussein el-Shafei, who served under President Gamal Abdel Nasser, tried to attract Egypt’s Coptic Christians to Islam. In the 1970s, Libya’s Moammar Gaddafi urged Lebanese Maronite Christians to embrace Islam to end the civil war.

Arab nationalist thought contributed to reviving religious dogma. In Sudan, for example, President Jaafar Numeiri transformed from a secular Arab nationalist to a religious zealot, introducing sharia throughout the country, including in the non-Arabized and non-Islamic southern region.

Is Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb a hoax?

ANCIENT INDO-ARYAN AND MEDIEVAL INDO-MUSLIM SEGMENTS STAND OUT AS BEING THE MAJOR INFLUENCES ON THIS CIVILIZATION

CounterCurrentS

V

Dr ram Puniyani

ISHwA Hindu Parishad General Secretary Milind Parande recently stated that “The very idea of Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb (term used for confluence of Hindu and Muslim cultures in the country) is irrelevant, what exists is one culture, and the rest can simply merge into it. The Hindu cause has to be prime.”

Many notions are being circulated that it is romanticized nostalgia propagated by the elite.

It has no base in history. As such there were tensions in communities in history and according to some; Islamic conquest has been the story of bloodiest acts oppressing and massacring Hindus in particular. Many have also been citing temple destructions by Muslims kings, conversions and Jizia as the foremost examples of the atrocities of Hindus.

It is very true that the notion of Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb has emerged in the nineteenth century onwards as a description of the earlier interaction and emergence of syncretic trends in the country. while India is one of the most diverse countries with nearly 4600 communities, (there is no racial purity due to thick social interaction at all the levels), with nearly 18 major languages and 700 dialects, 8 major religions and multiplicities in costumes and cuisines. It is living thriving culture created by the people from last several centuries. Dravidians, Aryans, Mongoloids, Semitics are the foundation of our ethnic diversity. Ancient Indo-Aryan and Medieval Indo-Muslim segments stand out as being the major influences on this civilization.

Indo-Aryan interaction contributed to the Vedic culture with its lasting influence and the Indo-Muslim interaction is what is popularly

known as Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb. with the rise of sectarian nationalism and it’s narrow, selective presentation of the past; the kings are seen through the prism of religion, unmindful of the fact that most of the things being attributed to Muslim kings are just part of the truth.

In the British introduced communal historiography, both Muslim and Hindu have glorified the kings of their religion and looked down upon the kings of ‘other religion’.

The atrocities attributed to Muslims kings, temple destruction and forcible conversion in particular are being equated to holocaust by communal forces. The war amongst kings irrespective of their religion did lead to killings, be it the Kalinga war in which Ashoka was one of the king, be it the AkbarRana Pratap and others of this type, the tragedy of ordinary peoples’ death in wars was the price paid for kings’ ambitions of expanding their rules.

Interestingly, history, objective and scientific one, tells us that Hindu kings’ assaults in the name of Dharmyudh, Muslim kings battles in name of Jihad and Christian kings doing crusade fall in the same category of empire expansion. In this narrative while Aurangzeb and odd other Muslim king will be cited to have killed his relative for the sake of power, the killing of his cousins by Ashoka for power or the very recent, comparatively, killing his brothers’ family by King Gyanendra will be underplayed. while kings had the lust for power and wealth, the popularized versions of history relates it to religion alone. It is due to this that destruction of Kashi Vishwanth by Aurangzeb is presented as persecution of Hindus, while hiding the fact that same Aurangzeb gave many donations to many temples some of which are Lord Krishna in Vrindavan, Mahankaal in Ujjain and Kamakhya Devi near Guwahati. The fact that he destroyed a mosque in Golconda for the sake of wealth is also generally hidden under the carpet. One can go on and on this.

The misconception that Islam was spread by sword is another major reason cited to exemplify the persecution of Hindus. The major reason for conversion to Islam was social interaction and longing to escape the Varna-Caste atrocities on the castes low on hierarchy, and those who were untouchables in particular.

This propagation that Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb is a myth is being spread parallel to the social and political hegemony of sectarian nationalism. This narration whitewashes the

presence of Hindu officials in Muslim courts, Todarmal, Birbal with Akbar, whose commander in Chief was Raja Mansingh. It projects Rana Pratap as great Hindu nationalists and hides the fact that his army had large number of Pathan soldiers and Hakim Khan Sur was one of his generals. This can be described ad infinitum about most of the Muslim and Hindu kings.

Indo Muslim interaction at all levels of social life are scattered throughout. In Mumbai there are two Dargahs, Haji Ali and Haji Malang. The plaque at Haji Ali says, ‘Sant Ma Hajiani’, ‘Ma Hajiani ki Dargah’. This is frequented by large number of Hindu and Muslims both. The Haji Malang Dargah has Pandit Vishnu Ketkar as the Chief priest (Mujawar). Similarly, Hindu Bhakti saints like Kabir had large number of Muslim followers.

The interaction of Persian and Hindi (Avadhi in particular) led to emergence of Urdu; a unique Indian language in which starting from Chandrabhan Brahman down to likes of Munshi Premchand contributed to its richness. Many Mughal emperors drew Sanskrit scholars to their courts. Dara Shikoh in his own way lived and talked of Ganga Jamuni Tehzeeb when he wrote the book ‘Majma-Ul Baharayn’, comparing India to the great ocean comprised by two seas, Hinduism and Islam. The Persian cuisine like Biryani and sweets like Jalebi became part of our plate and continue to stimulate our palette.

The cross celebration of festivals Holi in sufi saints Daragahs, and Divali in the emperors courts as ‘Jashn-e-Charagan’ (Festival of lamps) was the norm. Hindus participated in the Moharrum with zeal while Muslims shared the joys of Hindu festivals.

Even down South in Adilshahi kingdom, Ibrahim the Second compiled a book, KitabE-Naurang with 59 poems; the first one of these is invocation of Goddess Saraswati.

Similarly, in literature the likes of Rahim and Raskhan contributed to literature in praise of Lord Krishna. And not too long ago likes of Ustad Bismillah Khan played Shehnai dedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses.

These are just a little sample of the richness of interactions. The sectarian culture with its political ascendance cannot have any of it. For them as VHP General Secretary is asserting all have to merge into Hindu culture as defined by them and so questioning Ganga Jumna Tehzeeb, which is the integral part of our culture and tradition.

LACK OF COLLECTIVE ACTION: This factionalism and self-interest blocked any attempts at genuine cohesion. The Gulf Cooperation Council was created in 1981 by six Arab nations – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Oman – ostensibly to integrate their economies and defense capabilities. But the group failed to achieve its stated objectives, and relations among the member states were marred by conflict. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are still entangled in ongoing border issues. And in 2017, three of the member states (plus Egypt) imposed a three-year blockade of Qatar.

The idea of establishing the Arab Maghreb Union – an alliance among Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania and Libya – appeared in 1956 after Tunisia and Morocco won independence from France.

But this too failed to inspire a sense of unity.

Morocco’s invasion of Algerian-held territory in 1963 started the Sand war, which permanently soured relations between the two countries. Their dispute over western Sahara further deepened tensions, and last month, Algeria severed diplomatic ties with Morocco. The five countries held their first summit in 1988, but the heads of state have not met since Algeria closed its border with Morocco in 1994. The AMU has reached 30 multilateral agreements, but only five of them have been ratified.

The 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided parts of the Fertile Crescent into French and British mandates, dampened the Arab nationalist drive. Unlike Iran and Turkey, where a strong central state promoted cohesion and solidarity, Arab nationalism did not have a country committed to advancing its cause and creating a unified pan-Arab entity. It failed to take off mainly because the core Arab states were distracted by their own problems with corruption, des-

potism, economic stagnation and military adventurism.

Arab nationalist movements splintered, giving rise to leftist and Marxist political parties. The Lebanese Communist Party, for example, dissociated itself from Soviet internationalism to participate in guerrilla warfare against Israeli troops in south Lebanon.

George Habash, who founded the Arab Nationalist Movement in 1951, renamed it the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

This Marxist-Leninist movement orchestrated high-profile terror plots in Israel and a series of airplane hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Awakening of the Arab Nation,” a book written in 1905 by Maronite Christian Naguib Azoury, predicted a clash between Arab nationalism and Zionism – which would not end until one of the two movements defeated the other. Azoury’s prophecy came true in 1967, when the Six-Day war dashed all hope for a pan-Arab nation as concerns turned to recovering the territory captured by Israel. The defeat allowed ethnic and religious minorities in the Arab region, which had for the most part failed to articulate specific demands, to contest state authority and press for autonomy. They became militarized and presented far-reaching policy demands in Algeria, Sudan, Iraq and beyond.

Arab identity still exists in a narrow sense as a reminder of past glory and a common culture. It is a symbolic force that has no mechanism for collective action across the region. Having lived under a succession of religious empires, Arabs did not undergo a necessary transformation to facilitate the triumph of nationalism. In the Arab region, religion remains the decisive social force and the driver of collective action.

Hilal Khashan is a professor of political science at the American University of Beirut.

Lebanon braces for more violence THE MILITARY EVENTUALLY MOVED IN TO MAKE ARRESTS AND SECURE THE AREA

I

Stratfor WorldvieW

n the Lebanese capital of Beirut, a deadly gun battle between militias has raised the risk of future violence. On Oct. 14, unidentified assailants opened fire on Hezbollah and allied al Amal protesters who were marching to Lebanon’s Palace of Justice to demand the removal of the judge investigating the August 2020 Beirut port explosion. The shooting reportedly started when the mostly Muslim demonstrators marched through a largely Christian neighborhood in the Lebanese capital, leaving at least six people dead, including members of al Amal and Hezbollah. The attack then triggered hours of intense sectarian clashes in downtown Beirut, marking the worst day of sectarian violence in the city in more than a decade. The military eventually moved in to make arrests and secure the area. But while it appears this latest round of violence has ended, there are a number of possible triggers that could easily incite the next flare-up.

Hezbollah and al Amal blamed the Lebanese Forces (LF), a Christian-dominated party with its own militia, for the apparent pre-planned attack against their supporters, though LF officials have denied involvement.

Political events that would increase the risk of violence by undermining the norms that have helped mitigate sectarian tensions include: The weakening or end of the alliance between Muslim and Christian members of parliament. President Michel Aoun’s Christian-dominated Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) and Hezbollah are major partners in the Muslim-Christian alliance that controls the majority of seats in parliament. In the wake of the sectarian violence in Beirut, Aoun will likely face increased pressure from the Christian community to abandon this alliance, which will increase tensions among its members. Should this severely weaken or collapse the alliance, it could put Hezbollah and FPM armed supporters on the opposite side of protests and even clashes.

The collapse of the still-new Lebanese government. Prime Minister

Najib Mikati’s government currently has the backing of both Muslim and Christian parties. If just one of these parties withdraws support for Mitaki amid public pressure to punish Hezbollah in the wake of the Oct. 14 Beirut clashes, it would plunge the country back into political paralysis. This could radicalize public sentiment in Lebanon into favoring more assertive, even violent, tactics to pressure the political elite to reform.

Disruptions to the ongoing investigation into the Beirut port explosion.

Mikati’s government might seek to weaken the court probe of the port blast in reaction to pressure from Hezbollah.

But such actions would enrage large parts of the population, especially Christians in Beirut, who want those responsible to be held to account.

Other potential flashpoints that could further deteriorate the security situation on the ground include: Funerals for those killed in the Beirut clashes. The public funerals held for the slain militia members will carry the greatest risk of turning violent, as these events will also serve as a political display of strength and be the site of calls for revenge. In August 2021, Hezbollah funerals were ambushed by individual gunmen, and such incidents could be repeated in the coming days.

More protests. Additional street demonstrations are likely — both potentially at funerals and against the Beirut port explosion probe, either of which could lead to more clashes. If the court, led by assertive Judge Tarek Bitar, continues to seek to arrest prominent leaders who refuse to cooperate with the Beirut port investigation, it will likely inflame tensions, raising the risk of more rallies that turn violent.

Acts of revenge by victims’ family members. The families of those killed in the Oct. 14 clashes may take it upon themselves to seek revenge for their deaths. Such personal vendettas could worsen sectarian relations, especially if the fighting spreads to involve wider militias. The August 2021 killings of Hezbollah members were sparked by personal disputes as opposed to greater political tensions.

Monday, 25 October, 2021 | LAHORE

NEWS

09

UmaR URgES US-baSED inStitUtion to invESt in REgional ConnECtivity ISLAMABAD

t KP Finance Dept identifies over Rs4bn in inactive bank accounts PESHAWAR Aziz Buneri

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has identified Rs4.60 billion in dormant accounts belong to various administrative departments. As per details, the amount has been in these accounts for many years and now the provincial government has decided to transfer them to active bank accounts. According to sources, the money will be handed over to the finance department after which it will be used for government expenses. A few years ago, the provincial government had identified more than Rs180 billion in the accounts of subsidiary departments. Similarly, a few months ago, more than Rs30 billion were found stashed in inactive bank accounts of government departments.

App

HE United States International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC) can assist in financing regional connectivity projects of Pakistan, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar has said.

“With expanded portfolio and flexibility, it can play a significant role in financing public sector and public-private partnership projects in Pakistan,” he said in a meeting with the Acting IDFC Chief Executive Officer Dev Jagadesan on Saturday.

Appreciating IDFC’s longstanding interest and continuous assistance in

Pakistan, the minister urged the USbased institution to explore investment opportunities in areas of climate change through the private sector in the country.

He highlighted that there was immense potential to cooperate for eradication of the Covid-19 pandemic, especially through procurement and production of vaccines.

On the occasion, Jagadesan briefed the minister about IDFC’s mission and priorities, including its engagement in Pakistan.

He shared that IDFC was keen to work with the private sector entities interested in exploring business opportunities. The two sides discussed ways and means to enhance projectbased cooperation.

20 departments from Punjab set to partake in Dubai Expo 2020

Pakistan says US attempting to derail CPEC KARACHI AnAdolu Agency

Pakistan has accused the US of colluding with its archrival India to sabotage the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The rare direct charge came from the head of the CPEC Authority, Khalid Mansoor, who is also a special assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan, at a seminar organised by the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) in Karachi on Saturday. Washington has long opposed the $64 billion project, calling it a “debt trap” for Pakistan, but this is the first time Islamabad has reacted bluntly. New Delhi, an archrival of Beijing and Islamabad, has also opposed the project, which is part of Beijing’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, viewing it as against its strategic interests in the region. “From the point of view of the emerging geostrategic situation, one thing is clear: the United States supported by India is inimical to CPEC. It will not let it succeed. That’s where we have to take a position,” Mansoor said. “There’s no way Pakistan will forgo any of its benefits. It has more than once burnt its fingers in (the Western) alliance in the past,” he said, adding that attempts to dilute Beijing’s strategic influence in the region will not succeed. The West, he went on to argue, views CPEC as a symbol of China’s political ambition. “That’s the reason CPEC is seen suspiciously by both the United States and Europe […] They view CPEC more as a move by China to expand its political, strategic, and business clout,” Mansoor added. Islamabad, he said, has discussed the possibility of Afghanistan’s inclusion in the CPEC with the Taliban government, but gave no further details, including Kabul’s response. Signed in 2015, the CPEC aims to connect China’s strategically important northwestern Xinjiang province to the port of Gwadar in Balochistan, through a network of roads, railways, and pipelines to transport cargo, oil, and gas.

LAHORE shAhAB omer

The Punjab government has stepped up measures to ensure the participation of 20 departments, including agriculture, construction, livestock, industry and trade and energy, in the Dubai Expo 2020.

A press conference was held at the Directorate General of Public Relations (DGPR) here on Saturday in which Provincial Minister for Industry and Commerce Mian Aslam Iqbal, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister for Information Hassan Khawar, CEO Punjab Board of Investment Dr Arfa Iqbal and other officers attended.

Addressing the press conference, the provincial minister said that 20 departments including industries and trade, energy, agriculture, construction and communications and livestock would participate in the Dubai Expo at different times.

Iqbal informed that this important event [Dubai Expo] would highlight the country’s soft image and investment opportunities in Punjab.

“The Punjab government is sending 25 talented youngsters registered as new startups to the Dubai Expo at its own expense and these talented youngsters will share their ideas at the Dubai Expo. Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar to inaugurate investor portal at Dubai Expo organized by Punjab

Board of Investment and Trade. Pakistan to host international business conference at Dubai Expo and seminars, panel discussions and other events will be held. Dubai Expo to be fruitful in bringing new investment to Punjab,” he added.

Iqbal further added that support was being provided to export oriented SMEs and the positive results of investor friendly policies were emerging as per the vision of the Prime Minister and the Chief Minister Punjab.

“Billions of rupees in new investments in Punjab’s special economic zones and industrial centers and investments in Punjab’s Special Economic Zones is an alternative to exports. Punjab government takes concrete steps to facilitate business and Punjab is the first province to talk of abolishing NOC for investors. The Dubai Expo will be a useful event in improving the country’s image and promoting investment,” he said.

Responding to questions from media, Iqbal informed that rising global prices of petroleum products have also affected Pakistan.

“Expensive input also increases business costs and the government has increased the subsidy price of wheat to the benefit of farmers to the tune of Rs1100 billion. A 20 kg bag of flour costs Rs1,100 in Punjab and Rs1,600 in Sindh whereas sugar in Punjab is available at the cost of Rs90 per kg while in other provinces it is more than Rs110. Sugar prices

PPAF signs agreement with partner organisations to uplift SMEs ISLAMABAD stAff report

The Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) has entered into a financial agreement with seven partner organisations to implement the Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress (GRASP) project.

The GRASP project aims to uplift small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by improving the business environment, promoting access to finance, and updating the

policies and laws in 22 districts of the two provinces.

The agreement was signed during a special ceremony held in Islamabad on Saturday.

PPAF is a core partner of the International Trade Centre (ITC) in implementing the six-year project which is designed to reduce poverty in Pakistan by strengthening small-scale agri-businesses in Balochistan and Sindh.

The partner organisations include

Strengthening Participatory Organization (SPO), Research and Development Foundation (RDF), Taraqee Foundation, Thardeep, Balochistan Rural Support Programme (BRSP), Goth Seengar Foundation, and Sindh Agricultural Forestry Workers and Coordinating Organization (SAFWCO).

They have been taken on board to implement the rural mobilisation and matching grant, as well as micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) mapping in the selected districts.

fall due to the import of sugar,” he maintained.

Iqbal informed that Punjab plays the role of elder brother by purchasing wheat and meeting the needs of Islamabad and other cities.

“The Sindh government should realize its responsibility instead of throwing the rubble of inflation on the federal government as price control is the responsibility of the provincial governments. We had face difficulties during Covid-19 pandemic, however, the government has given special incentives to the textile and construction sector. The effects of rising economic activity reach lower levels and the government is introducing a large program of targeted subsidies for the weaker sections under the Ehsas program,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan pavilion at the Dubai Expo 2020 attracted more than 100,000 visitors over a period of just 18 days, making it one of the busiest pavilions of the mega event since it started on October 1.

The announcement was made in a tweet on the Pakistan pavilion’s official Twitter account on Thursday.

“The 18th of October marked our 100,000 visitors’ milestone. On this joyous event, we would like to take this opportunity to express our deepest gratitude to the team who [have] operated round-the-clock behind the scenes to bring such an abundant flow of visitors,” the tweet said.

Monday, 25 October, 2021 | LAHORE

10 FOREIGN NEWS

France sUccessFUlly laUnches cUtting-edge military commUnications satellite PARIS

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AFP

RANCE has successfully launched a state-of-the-art satellite into orbit, designed to allow all of France’s armed forces across the globe to communicate swiftly and securely.

Paris created a space force command in July 2019, amongst concerns that rival countries were heavily investing in space technology, seen as a new military frontier.

The satellite “is designed to resist military aggression from the ground and in space, as well as interference,” French air and space force spokesman Colonel Stephane Spet told AFP. The Ariane 5 rocket carrying the Syracuse 4A satellite took off from Kourou, in French Guiana late Saturday, with the mis-

sion accomplished 38 minutes and 41 seconds after takeoff.

The satellite can survey its close surroundings and move itself to escape an attack. “Thanks to its state-of-the-art equipment (anti-jamming antenna and digital transparent processor on board), Syracuse 4A will guarantee a high resistance to extreme jamming methods,” launch provider Arianespace wrote in its mission description.

Marc Finaud, an expert in weapons proliferation at the Geneva Centre for Security Policy, told AFP the satellite was also protected against the electro-magnetic pulses which would result from a nuclear explosion. “This is the final warning scenario, if deterrence fails,” he added.

In March France began its first military exercises in space to test its ability to defend

its satellites, calling them “a first for the French army and even a first in Europe”.

The French government accuses Russia of having brought its intelligence-gathering satellite Olymp-K, also known as Louch, into close proximity of the French-Italian military satellite Athena-Fidus in 2017, in what Defence Minister Florence Parly called “an act of espionage”.

Last year, the US claimed that Russia had conducted a non-destructive anti-satellite weapons test from space.

In March, French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said there had been other similar incidents since, but gave no details.

Investments in France’s space programme are set to reach 4.3 billion euros ($5 billion) over the 2019-2025 budget period — although that is a fraction of the amount spent by the United States or China.

Facebook dithered in curbing communal, hate content in India NEW DELHI the AssociAted PRess

Uzbek leader expected to secure second term in office TASHKENT ReuteRs

Uzbekistan votes in a presidential election on Sunday in which incumbent President Shavkat Mirziyoyev faces no genuine opposition and is almost certain to win a second term. Mirziyoyev’s predicted victory will allow him to deepen his largely successful reform campaign and likely lead to Uzbekistan opening up further to foreign trade and investment — while retaining a highly centralised political system. The 64-year-old leader has rebuilt the resourcerich country’s ties with both Russia and the West which had become strained under his predecessor Islam Karimov, Uzbekistan’s first post-independence president. Mirziyoyev has also reined in the powerful security services and oversaw a release of a number of political prisoners who had ended up behind bars due to Karimov’s zero-tolerance approach towards dissent. Still, there are no real opposition parties in the mostly Muslim nation of 34 million and the four candidates running against Mirziyoyev have been nominated by parties that support the president.

Mirziyoyev’s has pledged to cut poverty through rapid economic growth and gradually decentralise decision-making by devolving some powers to district councils. Due to Covid-19 concerns, voters are required to wear masks and observe social distancing at polling stations staffed with medical workers.

Polls are set to close at 8:00 pm local time (1500 GMT) and preliminary results are due on Monday.

Facebook in India has been selective in curbing hate speech, misinformation and inflammatory posts, particularly anti-Muslim content, according to leaked documents obtained by The Associated Press, even as its own employees cast doubt over the company’s motivations and interests.

From research as recent as March of this year to company memos that date back to 2019, the internal company documents on India highlight Facebook’s constant struggles in quashing abusive content on its platforms in India and the company’s largest growth market.

Communal and religious tensions in India have a history of boiling over on social media and stoking violence. The files show that Facebook has been aware of the problems for years, raising questions over whether it has done enough to address these issues.

Many critics and digital experts say it has failed to do so, especially in cases where members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, the BJP, are involved.

Across the world, Facebook has become increasingly important in politics, and India is no different.

Modi has been credited for leveraging the platform to his party’s advantage during elections, and reporting from The Wall Street Journal last year cast doubt over whether Facebook was selectively enforcing its policies on hate speech to avoid blowback from the BJP. Both Modi and Facebook chairman and CEO Mark Zuckerberg have exuded bonhomie, memorialised by a 2015 image of the two hugging at the Facebook headquarters. The leaked documents include a trove of internal company reports on hate speech and misinformation in India. In some cases, much of it was intensified by its own “recommended” feature and algorithms. But they also include the company staffers’ concerns over the mishandling of these issues and their discontent expressed about the viral “malcontent” on the platform.

According to the documents, Facebook saw India as of the most “at-risk countries” in the world and identified both Hindi and Bengali languages as priorities for “automation on violating hostile speech.” Yet, Facebook didn’t have enough local language moderators or content-flagging in place to stop misinformation that at times led to real-world violence. In a statement to the AP, Facebook said it has “invested significantly in technology to find hate speech in various languages,

including Hindi and Bengali” which has resulted in “reduced the amount of hate speech that people see by half” in 2021. “Hate speech against marginalized groups, including Muslims, is on the rise globally. So we are improving enforcement and are committed to updating our policies as hate speech evolves online,” a company spokesperson said.

This AP story, along with others being published, is based on disclosures made to the Securities and Exchange Commission and provided to Congress in redacted form by former Facebook employee-turned-whistleblower Frances Haugen’s legal counsel. The redacted versions were obtained by a consortium of news organizations, including the AP. Back in February 2019 and ahead of a general election when concerns of misinformation were running high, a Facebook employee wanted to understand what a new user in the country saw on their news feed if all they did was follow pages and groups solely recommended by the platform’s itself.

The employee created a test user account and kept it alive for three weeks, a period during which an extraordinary event shook India — a militant attack in occupied Kashmir had killed over 40 Indian soldiers, bringing the country to near war with Pakistan.

In the note, titled “An Indian Test User’s Descent into a Sea of Polarizing, Nationalistic Messages,” the employee whose name is redacted said they were “shocked” by the content flooding the news feed which “has become a near-constant barrage of polarizing nationalist content, misinformation, and violence and gore.” Seemingly benign and innocuous groups recommended by Facebook quickly morphed into something else altogether, where hate speech, unverified rumours and viral content ran rampant.

The recommended groups were inundated with fake news, anti-Pakistan rhetoric and Islamophobic content.

Much of the content was extremely graphic.

One included a man holding the bloodied head of another man covered in a Pakistan flag, with an Indian flag in the place of his head. Its “Popular Across Facebook” feature showed a slew of unverified content related to the alleged retaliatory Indian strikes into Pakistan after the bombings, including an image of a napalm bomb from a video game clip debunked by one of Facebook’s fact-check partners.

“Following this test user’s News Feed, I’ve seen more images of dead people in the past three weeks than I’ve seen in my entire life total,” the researcher wrote.

It sparked deep concerns over what such divisive content could lead to in the real world, where local news at the time were reporting on Kashmiris being attacked in the fallout. “Should we as a company have an extra responsibility for preventing integrity harms that result from recommended content?” the researcher asked in their conclusion.

The memo, circulated with other employees, did not answer that question. But it did expose how the platform’s own algorithms or default settings played a part in spurring such malcontent. The employee noted there were clear “blind spots,” particularly in “local language content.” They said they hoped these findings would start conversations on how to avoid such “integrity harms,” especially for those who “differ significantly” from the typical US user.

Even though the research was conducted during three weeks that weren’t an average representation, they acknowledged that it did show how such “unmoderated” and problematic content “could totally take over” during “a major crisis event.”

The Facebook spokesperson said the test study “inspired deeper, more rigorous analysis” of its recommendation systems and “contributed to product changes to improve them.” “Separately, our work on curbing hate speech continues and we have further strengthened our hate classifiers, to include four Indian languages,” the spokesperson said. Other research files on misinformation in India highlight just how massive a problem it is for the platform.

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia targets net zero emissions by 2060 RIYADH Agencies

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince said on Saturday that the world’s top oil exporter aims to reach “net zero” emissions of greenhouse gases, mostly produced by burning fossil fuels, by 2060 – 10 years later than the United States. He also said it would double the emissions cuts it plans to achieve by 2030.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his energy minister said Saudi Arabia would tackle climate change, but also stressed the continued importance of hydrocarbons and said it would continue to ensure oil market stability.

They were speaking at the Saudi Green

Initiative (SGI) ahead of COP26, the United Nations climate conference in Glasgow at the end of the month, which hopes to agree deeper global emissions cuts to tackle global warming.

The United States, the world’s secondbiggest emitter, is committed to achieving net zero, meaning that it emits no more greenhouse gases than it can capture or absorb, by 2050. But China and India, the world’s biggest and third-biggest emitters, have not committed to this timeline. Amin Nasser, chief executive of the state oil giant Saudi Aramco, said it was counterproductive to “demonise” hydrocarbons.

He said Aramco aimed to expand its oil and gas production capacity while also achieving net zero emissions from its own

operations by 2050.

He called for more global investment to ensure adequate crude oil supplies.

Prince Mohammed said in recorded remarks that the kingdom aimed to reach net zero by 2060 under its circular carbon economy programme, “while maintaining its leading role in strengthening security and stability of global oil markets”.

He said Saudi Arabia would join a global initiative on slashing emissions of methane by 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, which both the United States and the EU have been pressing.

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in a phone call with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, welcomed the kingdom’s initiatives to reduce emissions, state

media said.

‘HYDROCARBONS STILL NEEDED’: U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is due to attend a wider Middle East green summit in Riyadh on Monday.

The SGI aims to eliminate 278 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year by 2030, up from a previous target of 130 million tonnes. The crown prince said the SGI initiative would involve investments of over 700 billion riyals ($190 billion) in that time period.

Saudi Arabia’s economy remains heavily reliant on oil, although the crown prince is trying to promote diversification. Energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the world needed fossil fuels as well as renewables. “It has to be a comprehensive so-

lution,” he said. “We need to be inclusive, and inclusivity requires being open to accept others’ efforts as long as they are going to reduce emissions.”

He said the kingdom’s younger generation “will not wait for us to change their future”. He said net zero might be achieved before 2060 but the kingdom needed time to do things “properly”.

Another Gulf oil producer, the United Arab Emirates, this month announced a plan for net zero emissions by 2050. The non-profit Climate Action Tracker consortium gives Saudi Arabia its lowest possible ranking, “Critically insufficient”. Saudi Arabia’s first renewable energy plant opened in April and its first wind farm began generating in August.

Monday, 25 October, 2021 | LAHORE

SPORTS 11

T20 WorlD Cup: SHoAiB AkHTAr jeerS AT ArnAB GoSWAMi on inDiAn MeDiA

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NEwS DESK

ORMeR fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar on Sunday jeered at Indian journalist Arnab Goswami on an Indian media, referring to him as “Serena 5th Floor” Arnab Goswami.

Speaking to Indian journalist Sudhir Chaudhry, Akhtar said Pakistan never used India as a political issue, adding that Indian politicians, on the other hand, used Pakistan to score brownie points with the masses.

When Sudhir retorted by telling the fast bowler that Prime Minister Imran Khan lashes out at Modi fre-

Milan defender Hernandez clear to play after coronavirus MILAN ReuteRs

AC Milan defender Theo Hernandez has recovered from Covid-19, the Serie A club said on Sunday.

The full-back tested positive for Covid-19 on his return from international duty with France two weeks ago and missed Milan’s last three games. Milan top the Serie A standings following their 4-2 win at Bologna on Saturday, and Hernandez could return to the team for the home game against Torino on Tuesday.

Boxing Day Ashes Test could see 80,000 crowd as Covid-19 rules ease MELBOURNE AFp

How many spectators, if any, would be allowed into the cavernous Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the third Ashes Test has long been up in the air. But with the nation’s second-biggest city re-opening on Friday after more than 260 days under lockdown since the pandemic began, Victoria state Premier Dan Andrews was hopeful it will be jam-packed. “I want to see 80,000plus people at the Boxing Day Test on day one, that’s what I want to see,” he told reporters in flagging a further planned easing of Covid restrictions. “We are determined to deliver that. It won’t be easy. I think selling the tickets will be pretty easy. But we are very confident that we will be able to deliver that.” The crowd for last summer’s Boxing Day Test against India was capped at 30,000 per day due to the pandemic.

The five-Test Ashes series will start in Brisbane on December 8 before moving to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and ending in Perth. Cricket Australia said in July that venues would be sold to full capacity, except the 100,000-seat MCG, given the city’s battle against Covid-19. Victoria state, in which Melbourne is situated, recorded almost 2,000 new cases and a further 11 deaths in the past 24 hours, but it is rapidly nearing an 80 percent vaccination rate when more freedoms have been promised. Andrews’ comments will encourage not only cricket fans but Australian Open organisers, with the first tennis Grand Slam of 2022 due to start on January 17 at Melbourne Park. The tournament was hit hard this year with limited crowds and a five-day snap lockdown called mid-event. But whether a full contingent of tennis stars will make the trip to Melbourne remains to be seen. Last week Andrews warned that unvaccinated players were unlikely to get visas, throwing defending champion Novak Djokovic’s participation into serious doubt. The world number one has publicly voiced opposition to vaccines and refused to say whether he has been jabbed against coronavirus.

quently, and cited Ramiz Raja’s recent statement on Indian businessmen controlling cricket in Pakistan, Shoaib responded by saying: “Chaudhry sahab, that is our prime minister talking. The prime minister is in office. He will say these things.”

“I am talking to you about our media. Our media does not focus on war-mongering.

“I am complaining to you about the [Indian] media in general. The common man watches the media. If you gauge our media, there may be one or two [anti-India] news items.

Over there, you have that ‘Serena Fifth Floor’ Arnab Goswami. I don’t

know what he is,” said Akhtar, laughing.

Akhtar said all Goswami does is do programmes that are anti-Pakistan. “So much hate? Have we ever thought about where we will go from here?” he asked.

The former bowler said that the India he has personally witnessed is very vast and liberal, adding that the Hindus there are peace-loving and very receptive of Pakistanis.

“This is the India that I know,” he said. Akhtar’s “Serena” reference stems from an exchange that unfolded last month.

Goswami’s blunder was just one of a string of embarrassing attempts

by leading Indian TV channels to somehow blame Pakistan for the Taliban’s rout of the Afghan government — what Shoaib Akhtar was referring to in the Zee News programme.

In early September, as the battle of Panjshir raged on in Afghanistan, leading Indian TV channels were left red-faced when they aired “exclusive footage” of the Pakistan Air Force dropping bombs on anti-Taliban forces in Panjshir.

Readers around the world had a hearty laugh when it surfaced that the footage was not exclusive at all as it was extracted from the video game, Arma 3.

West Indies women to play three ODIs in Karachi KARACHI ppi

The West Indies (WI) women team will visit Pakistan for three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) in November.

As per details, the matches will be hosted at Karachi’s iconic National Stadium on November 8, 11 and 14, following which both sides will travel to Zimbabwe for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup Qualifier to be held from November 21 to December 5.

According to a PCB information on Sunday, as part of the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) efforts to increase the reach and viewership of the women’s sport, the three ODIs – which will start at 1000 – will be live-streamed through PCB’s YouTube channel around the world.

This will be Pakistan women’s third bilateral series in 2021 after they toured South Africa in January-February and West Indies in June-July. Stafaine Taylor’s West Indies will arrive in Karachi on 1 November for what is a reciprocal tour. The top three of the 10 teams will qualify for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022, which will be played in New Zealand.

Commenting on the development, PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja said: “We are delighted to announce the West Indies women’s tour to Pakistan in November. This will be a great series for the promotion, publicity and growth of women’s cricket in Pakistan, besides also providing both sides excellent opportunity to prepare for the World Cup qualifier.”

“West Indies women’s tour will be followed by their men’s side who will visit Pakistan for three ODIs and three T20Is in December. So, the Pakistan cricket fans can brace for some exciting and entertaining cricket in women’s and men’s cricket later this year.”

Meanwhile, the national women’s selection committee – which includes Urooj Mumtaz and Asmavia Iqbal, has announced an 18-strong squad for the upcoming ODIs and the World Cup Qualifier.

Batter Javeria Khan will lead the contingent, which has been devised after considering the performances on the last two tours and the recent Pakistan Cup Women’s One-Day. Pakistan Women for West Indies ODIs and World Cup Qualifier: Javeria Khan (captain), Aiman Anwar, Aliya Riaz, Anam Amin, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Fatima Sana, Iram Javed, Kainat Imtiaz, Maham Tariq, Muneeba Ali, Nashra Sundhu, Nida Dar, Omaima Sohail, Rameen Shamim, Sadia Iqbal, Sidra Amin and Sidra Nawaz (wicketkeeper)

The support staff includes Fizza Abid as team manager, David Hemp as head coach, Arshad Khan as assistant coach, Kamran Hussain as assistant coach, Saboor Ahmad as strength and condition coach, Zubair Ahmad as analyst), Dr Riffat Asghar Gill as head physiotherapist and Rabia Siddiq as physiotherapist.

The national women’s team’s camp for the series will begin from October 23 and will run till November 5 at the Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre, Karachi.

At the conclusion of the camp, the team will shift to the team hotel.

South Korea’s Ko edges Lim in playoff to win BMW Ladies Championship SEOUL ReuteRs

World number two Ko Jin-young staved off a spirited challenge from Lim Hee-jeong on Sunday to seal a dramatic playoff victory in the BMW Ladies Champi-

onship in Busan and become the 200th South Korean champion on the LPGA Tour.

Ko set the LPGA International Busan course alight with an eight-under-par 64 in the final round that had eight birdies, including one in the 17th, to grab a share of the top spot.

But Lim made a par on 18 to stay level at 22-under overall, forcing a playoff.

The 26-year-old Ko made another gain in the first playoff hole — the par-four 18th — after a superb approach shot and overnight leader Lim could only manage a par to hand the championship to her compatriot.

“I wasn’t that nervous going into the playoff. I think I was feeding off the confidence I had during the round,” Ko said of her first-ever playoff.

The victory is the 11th of Ko’s career and follows her wins in the Volunteers of America Classic, the Cambia Portland Classic and the 2021 Cognizant Founders Cup this year.

She is projected to become the top-ranked women’s golfer in the world replacing American Nelly Korda.

“I wasn’t too conscious of that. I always feel if your game is in good form and you keep at it, you can reach that ranking,” Ko added.

“I felt if I worked hard I might have a chance this year. So I did return to that spot earlier than I expected. I’m going to do my best so that I can maintain that position.”

It was a disappointing finish for the 21-year-old Lim who came into the final round of the $2 million event on the back of a course record 198 after 54 holes.

Ko, who was second after three rounds, briefly claimed the outright lead following the 12th hole when she sank a 10-foot putt and was neck-and-neck with Lim for much of the day.

Having fired six birdies on the front nine, she raised her game after a brief dip to complete the parfour 17th hole in three shots to improve her title hopes. Ko’s composure made all the difference in the sudden-death scenario as Lim was unable to force a second playoff hole.

Monday, 25 October, 2021

prayer timings

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

4:48

11:48

3:00

6:08

5:26

6:47

TLP won’T go ahead wiTh isLaMabad March, To head hoMe in ‘day or Two’: MinisTer LAHORE/ISLAMABAD staff report

Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) party won’t proceed with its proposed long march on Islamabad as a late-night dialogue between a government team and the leadership of the proscribed group bore fruit, Minister for Interior Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed announced Sunday.

Workers and supporters of the hardline religious group would “continue their sit-in until Monday or Tuesday” but won’t head towards the capital, he confirmed to a local publication.

Blocking roads and firing projectiles, TLP began its protest on the eve of Eid Milad un-Nabi on Tuesday, demanding the release of its detained leader Saad Hussain Rizvi.

Rizvi was arrested in April amid demonstrations against France over the publication of blasphemous caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (P.B.U.H.).

Subsequently, on Friday, violent clashes erupted between security forces and its supporters in Lahore, killing at least two policemen and two demonstrators, according to a police tally. The violence came at a time when Prime Minister Imran Khan was visiting Lahore.

The following evening, thousands of supporters of the party departed Lahore, clashing for a second straight day with police who lobbed tear gas into the crowd.

The minister said that detained workers of the party, along with those placed on the Fourth Schedule, would be released. He said under an agreement signed with the TLP in April, the demand of the expulsion of the French ambassador will be taken to Parliament for debate.

Minorities free to practice religion: top judge KARACHI inp

Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed said the citizens of Pakistan, including minorities, were free to practice their beliefs. He expressed these views while speaking as a chief guest at the Navratri festival of the Hindu community at Durga Shiv Mandir near Circuit House in the city of Hyderabad. Navratri is a major Hinduism festival held in honour of the divine feminine. The top judge said the rights of all the people were guaranteed in the constitution which would be ensured at all costs. He said the several cases relating to minority worship places, including temples, had come before his court. He assured the attendants all the temples under purported illegal occupation would be vacated and returned to the community. “A sense of tolerance and religious harmony should be instilled in our society so that the people are allowed to live and profess their religion freely without any fear,” Justice Ahmed said. He further observed the founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, had categorically said the state of Pakistan will ensure the religious freedom of all the people.

Like their Muslim counterparts, the Hindus of Pakistan also enjoy constitutional protection, he added. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf MP Ramesh Kumar Vankwani hosted the judge during his visit. At the end of the event, the community presented traditional gifts to Justice Ahmed.

Ahmed and Minister for Religious Affairs Noor ul-Haq Qadri represented the government during the meeting held at the headquarters of Punjab Safe Cities Authority in Lahore.

Federal and Punjab ministers Ali Amin Gandapur, Basharat Raja and Chaudhry Zaheer ud-Din, Senator Ejaz Chaudhry, Punjab police chief Rao Sardar Ali Khan, Chief Secretary Kamran Ali Afzal, Additional Chief Secretary

(Home) Zafar Nasrullah Khan and Lahore Commissioner Umar Sher Chatha participated attended the meeting.

Inspector-General of Police Khan briefed the meeting as to the strategy of the law enforcement agencies to handle the protestors.

Ahmed further said a delegation from the proscribed group will arrive at the Ministry of Interior on Monday for talks.

“We will resolve their issues in a day or two,” he said.

Ahmed was in Dubai to watch Pakistan open their T20 World Cup campaign against archrivals India tonight but had to return home on Saturday after Prime Minister Khan directed him to monitor the security situation.

The minister will hold a news conference later today to divulge details of the talks with the group.

The TLP has a history of staging protests and sit-ins to press their demands. The party gained prominence in the 2018 general elections, campaigning on a single issue: defending the blasphemy law, which calls for the death penalty for anyone who insults Islam.

It also has a history of staging violent protests to pressure the government to accept its demands.

Pakistan succumbs to IMF pressure, accepts new conditions: report Pakistan’s talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have not failed as the country has accepted most of the Fund’s new conditions.

According to the report, Islamabad will have to comply with the IMF’s news conditions, including increase in tax revenue, and ensure the implementation of a privatisation programme to secure the IMF loan programme.

“The IMF suggested that we review our economic targets and comply with conditions related to the power sector reforms,” the news outlet quoted its sources in the ministry of finance as saying.

The report said that the Fund has rejected the ministry’s plan and its board will pronounce the final decision regarding the resumption of Pakistan’s loan programme.

However, the Ministry of Finance has said that Pakistan has accepted most of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) new conditions and any reports suggesting that talks have failed are ‘premature’ at this stage.

Finance Ministry Spokesperson Muzzammil Aslam said in a tweet on Saturday that Pakistan will have to ensure the implementation of a privatisation programme to secure the IMF loan programme.

The spokesperson said dialogue with the IMF team is still underway, adding that a formal announcement on it will be issued as soon as talks conclude.

He said Pakistan will have to comply with the IMF’s new conditions if it wants the loan programme to be restored. “The IMF suggested that we review our economic targets and comply with conditions related to the power sector reforms,” he added.

The government will have to take measures to increase tax revenue, he said, adding that the IMF has rejected the ministry’s plan and imposed conditions that would see an increase in interest rates and fixing the market rate of the dollar. The IMF board will make the final announcement regarding the loan program, added the spokesperson.

The statement came after local media reported that

Pakistan and the IMF have failed to finalise the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) that would have concluded the Sixth Review under a $6 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF).

The government had found itself in a very tough situation with respect to the international money lender’s demands. There are risks attached for Pakistan either with or without the IMF loans.

Earlier on Monday, it was reported that a deadlock had persisted between Pakistan and the IMF as the global lender had put forward harsh conditions for the release of stalled loan, asking Islamabad to undo unnecessary tax holiday facility and raise the tax collection to Rs6,000 billion.

It was also reported that the talks between the IMF and Pakistan were not going in a smooth way as the Fund had asked for the abolition of unnecessary tax holidays and imposed a condition to raise tax revenue to Rs6 trillion.

The technical teams of both sides had failed to build consensus on gas and electricity prices. agencies

Pakistan’s earns $419m from iT services’ export in 2MFy22 ISLAMABAD app

Pakistan earned $419.992 million by providing different information technology (IT) services in various countries during the first two months of financial year 2021-22 (2MFY22).

This shows a growth of 46.32 per cent when compared to $287.030 million earned through provision of services during the corresponding period of fiscal year 2020-21 (2MFY21), the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) reported.

During the period under review, computer services grew by 40.06pc as it surged from $223.200 million in July-August FY21 to $312.612 million during JulyAugust FY22.

Among computer services, the exports of software consultancy services witnessed increase of 56.19pc, from $72.681 million to $113.517 million while the exports of hardware consultancy services also rose by 568.83pc from, $0.077 million to $0.515 million. The export and import of computer software related services also rose by 29.01pc from $57.012 million to $73.552 million whereas the exports of repair and maintenance services surge to $0.192 million from $0.071 million.

In addition, the exports of other computer services increased by 33.72pc going up from $93.359 million to $124.836 million.

Meanwhile, the export of information services during the period under review increased by 110.42pc by going up from $0.480 million to $1.010 million.

Among the information services, the exports of news agency services increased by 224.89 percent, from $0.233 million to $0.757 million whereas the exports of other information services also increased by 2.43pc, from $0.247 million to $0.253 million.

The export of telecommunication services also witnessed an increase of 67.91pc as these went up from $63.350 million to 106.370 million during the year under review, the data revealed.

Moreover, among the telecommunication services, the export of call centre services increased by 36.02pc during the period under review as exports increased from $19.892 million to $27.058 million whereas the export of other telecommunication services also increased by 82.5pc, from $43.458 million to $79.312 million during the period under review, the PBS data revealed.

Customs Intelligence wing unearths valuation fraud worth billions ISLAMABAD

T

shahzad paracha

HE Pakistan Customs Directorate of Intelligence and Investigation has unearthed a valuation fraud worth billions of rupees within the department.

Sources said that Customs Intelligence has sent a report to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman on the fraud allegedly committed by senior officers who are now working on important positions in FBR Headquarters, Islamabad.

They said that Customs collectors of Quetta Customs reportedly fixed very low and nominal advance assessable values of certain imported goods, including dry fruits and tiles during the last five to six years whereas the Directorate of Customs Valuation had already determined higher values of the goods.

Sources said that collectors disregarded and ignored the values in violation of the provisions of Section 25-A of the Customs Act, which had conferred on collectors and directors of valuation until 2019, the power to determine advance assessable values of imported goods subject to certain conditions given in Section 25-A. However, the officials abused these powers causing massive revenue losses; subsequently, these powers were abolished and omitted in the Finance Act, 2019.

Interestingly, the allegedly corrupt officers managed to get their powers restored in the Finance Act, 2021 even though the omission in 2019 and then re-insertion of the same power in the law in 2021 was an obvious attempt to assimilate a valuation fraud that had already caused losses.

Sources also said that member Customs Appellate Tribunal Karachi had directed FBR to conduct an inquiry against the Saeed

Jadoon, now member Customs Policy, in the scam but no inquiry is known to have been conducted in the matter so far. Jadoon was collector Customs when this fruad committed.

Sources said that after the re-insertion of the abused power in the law in June, this year, the Custom Wing has now formulated an SRO to legalise the valuation fraud committed by collectors in Quetta during the last few years.

Reportedly, the draft SRO placed on FBR’s website for public input, gives present and future collectors of Quetta and Peshawar unbridled liberty to continue the same valuation fraud which had prompted a change in the Customs Act in 2019.

This scribe approached Member Customs (Operations) Tariq Huda and FBR spokesperson of FBR for comment but no response was received from them till the filing of this story.

Published by Arif Nizami at Qandeel Printing Press, 4 Queens Road, Lahore, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 042-36300938, 042-36375965. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk