Issuu

Friday, 22 July, 2022 I 22 Zil Hajj, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 381 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition

PoLItIcaL ManeuverIng gaLore as Punjab braces for cM’s eLectIon

LAHORE

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HE provincial capital was abuzz with political activities on Thursday as rival political parties heads held meetings to finalize strategies as the province’s administrative fate set to be decided in less than 24 hours. The PTI and its key ally, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), held a parliamentary party session at a hotel in Lahore to check their number game and devise a strategy for the Punjab CM’s election. PTI Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said that 186 members were present at the session that was later also addressed by party chairman Imran Khan. It is pertinent to mention that 186 is the number of MPAs whose support the chief minister’s candidates would have to demonstrate in the crucial election on Friday (today). In the meanwhile, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf

(PTI) Chairman Imran Khan warned against manipulating the Punjab CM’s election, saying the public will not be “in control” if the election for Punjab chief minister is manipulated. “Don’t think for one moment that the people will sit idle in case of manipulation of the polls,” Imran said while addressing his supporters via video link on Thursday. “I want to make it clear that the PTI will not tolerate theft of the public’s vote with their own money,” he added. The former prime minister accused his rival political parties of using money to buy loyalties ahead of the crucial poll. Various posts on the PTI’s Twitter account also showed rallies and gatherings of the party’s supporters that were addressed by its leaders in various cities. Meanwhile, PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari visited and held a meeting with PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain at his Zahoor Elahi Road residence. Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad

Asif on Thursday said that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz and its allied parties were making all out efforts to take the democratic process forward in a transparent manner. The PML-N believed in promoting democratic tendency in a positive way and free and fair Punjab by-elections were an example to that, he said while talking to a private news channel. He said the government sacrificed its political gains over national interest and took difficult decisions to revive fragile economy and bringing stability in the country’s economy. About the CM Punjab’s elections, the minister said that Hamza Shehbaz would remain the chief minister. The government would complete its constitutional tenure and general elections would be held in 2023. CH SHUJAAT ADAMANT ON MAKING ELAHI PUNJAB CM: PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain on Thursday reiterated his support for Pervaiz Elahi for the slot of Punjab Chief Minister (CM). In the face of rumors and hectic efforts by PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari, Ch Shujaat Hussain thrown his weight behind Pervaiz Elahi and directed the party members to vote for the Punjab Assembly speaker in the election of provincial chief minister. Shujaat Hussain, while clearing the air around CM Punjab’s election, said that Pervaiz Elahi was the PML-Q candidate for the position of Punjab chief minister, directing the party members to support and vote for him. On the other hand, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah said that politically aware PTI lawmakers whose conscience is “alive” will never vote for PML-Q leader Cha Pervaiz Elahi in the chief minister’s election on Friday. “It is likely that the PTI [MPAs] who are politically aware would not vote for Pervaiz Elahi… they [PTI] would call him the ‘biggest dacoit’ of Punjab and now you are asking your own people to vote for him,” he said while addressing a press conference in Islamabad on Thursday.

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50 PTI MPAs may go against Elahi in Punjab CM election: Sanaullah Federal Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah said Thursday that as many as 50 Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) lawmakers can vote for PML-N’s Hamza Shehbaz tomorrow (Friday) as Punjab Chief Minister candidate in a run-off election. Addressing a press conference here in Islamabad, the Interior Minister said: “Not five, but 50 PTI MPAs can either vote against him [Hamza] or stay away from casting their votes.” The minister pointed out that

any of the MPAs not showing up for the elections would be due to “Elahi’s incompetence”. Rana Sanaullah said that PML-N will exercise all political and legal options to win Punjab CM re-election. “Imran Khan bought loyalties of MPAs by using plane after the general election of 2018, but it would not be called horse trading as per Khan’s reasoning,” added Sanaullah. “The ones in PTI, who still have a conscience, will not vote for Elahi,” the interior minister said. news desk

ISLAMABAD Aftab Sultan, a former director-general of the Intelligence Bureau, was Thursday appointed chairman of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for a “non-extendable period of three years”, the notification of his appointment said. According to media reports, approval for Sultan’s appointment was given in a meeting of the federal cabinet “after consultation between [the prime minister] and Leader of the Opposition” Raja Riaz Ahmad, a Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) turncoat. Members of the ruling coalition are understood to have opposed the ap-

pointment, however, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) held a series of consultations and they finally agreed on his appointment. Sultan, who belongs to the fourth police common, has thrice served as the IB chief, most recently in 2018, and remained head of Punjab police between April and May 2013. In February 2018, Imran Khan, chairman of the PTI, accused Sultan of assisting the PML-N in selecting its candidates for the general elections. Sultan, Khan had said, was a member of the Sharif family’s “gang”, which was why he had been given an extension of service for a third time. He alleged the IB chief had been told by the PML-N leadership to “minutely ob-

ISLAMABAD staff report

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb Thursday said Imran Khan was a “liar, hypocrite and thief, who stole elections and is now taking out his anger on the chief election commissioner (CEC)” due to the foreign funding case against him. In reaction to the statement of Pakistan Tehreek-eInsaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, she said Imran had used money to steal votes in 2018 general election and then in the elections of Senate, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and Daska in Punjab. She said buying of loyalties was the political handiwork of Imran Khan as his members in the assemblies had expressed their lack of confidence in him. She said CEC Sikandar Sultan was not former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman Javed Iqbal, who would succumb to Imran’s blackmailing and threats. Imran was asking for an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance) from the Chief Election Commissioner, she remarked. Imran Khan wanted to become prime minister, chief election commissioner, NAB chairman NAB, chief justice of Pakistan, director general FIA and IG Police all at once, she added. The minister said one should understand the difference between the vote of no- confidence, and the buying and selling of votes.

more inside

Rupee continues slide to land at new low of 227 against dollar STORY ON BACK PAGE

Imran warns of ‘uncontrollable public anger’ if poll gets engineered STORY ON BACK PAGE

Former top cop appointed NAB boss staff report

‘Liar, hypocrite’ Imran stole polls: Marriyum

serve” which PML-N candidate could win their constituencies. Interestingly, Sultan himself is a suspect in a reference NAB approved in 2020 against former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for allegedly illegal purchase of 73 high-security vehicles for the security of foreign dignitaries. The suspects are accused of favouritism and illegal use of vehicles, causing a loss of over Rs1,952 million to the national exchequer. The post of NAB chairman was lying vacant since last month after then-chief retired Justice Javed Iqbal relinquished charge of his office on June 2 on expiry of the ordinance through which he was given an extension till the appointment of his successor.

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Friday, 22 July, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS

TAx ombudsmAn dIrECTs Fbr To PLuG LooPHoLEs In Pos rEGImE ISLAMABAD

shahzad paRacha

Ax Ombudsman has directed FBR to enforce effective monitoring and enforcement mechanism plugging all loopholes in point of sale (POS) regime. FTO’s recommendations were made while conducting a complaint lodged against FBR’s negligence and inefficiency in the point of sales. The complainant pointed out a few postpaid tax transaction receipts which were not verified. Further, in POS the tax was being charged on eatables despite being a non-scheduled item as per price

control Act 1977. Not only the tax was illegally being charged .It was not being paid into government exchequer as well . The complainant believed that it was the prime responsibility of FBR to plug loopholes in tax collection. The hearing was attended by Chief POS FBR, Chairman PRAL, and Second Secretary IT, FBR and the complainant. The representatives of FBR/PRAL/RTO stated that system upgradation is an ongoing process which PRAL is already doing .It’s enforcement is responsibility of field formations which need to be more vigilant whereas Secretary POS informed that the points raised by the

complainant regarding postpaid vs prepaid tax system are a policy issue and cannot be commented upon by FBR. However, it has been observed that after putting in place a system of postpaid tax, by PRAL, FBR could not train and motivate its field officers to monitor and enforce the system effectively. FBR’s statement that a procedure for tier 1 retailers had been introduced, without reporting incidents of enforcement of such rules, was mere eyewash, FTO observed. Mere installation of a system or rolling out defective software was not enough unless effective and efficient monitoring and enforcement follow up

was not put in practice. FBR’s negligence in enforcing the PSO system was thus obvious. The Federal Tax Ombudsman had further directed FBR to evolve an efficient mechanism in the POS regime; a list of credible authorized vendors for sale/installation of software should be published. Dr. Jah also recommended that all Chief Commissioners must ensure that the registered and functional QR code must be visible in all the invoices and also directed I&II-R to trace and proceed against TIER 1 retailers who were found involved in tax evasion through non issuance of verifiable tax invoices .

Pakistan’s GDP growth to recover slightly in FY23: ADB MonItorIng report The Asian Development Bank has projected that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in Pakistan was expected to moderate in FY2022 (ended 30 June 2022) on fiscal tightening measures to manage growing demand pressures and contain external and fiscal imbalances. The growth in Fiscal Year 2023 is projected to recover slightly supported by structural reforms, the ADB said in its Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2022 Supplement. The report added that Pakistan’s inflation was marginally revised up for FY2022 and substantially so for FY2023. In addition to the effects of elevated global energy and food prices, the government’s efforts to revive the stalled International Monetary Fund (IMF) program had meant raising power tariffs

and withdrawing subsidies in the oil and power sectors. The Asian Development Bank (ADB) also lowered its economic growth forecast for developing Asia and the Pacific to 4.6% this year due to slower expansion in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), more aggressive monetary tightening in advanced economies, and fallout from the continued Russian invasion of Ukraine. The outlook compares with a projection of 5.2% issued by ADB in April. The bank also raised its forecast for inflation in the region, amid higher prices for food and fuel. Developing Asia and the Pacific are continuing their recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Many countries are easing mobility restrictions, which is strengthening economic activity. However, growth has slowed in the PRC, the region’s largest

economy, due to disruption from new COVID-19 lockdowns, as well as weaker global demand. “The economic impact of the pandemic has declined across most of Asia, but we’re far from a full and sustainable recovery,” said ADB Chief Economist Albert Park. “On top of the slowdown in the PRC, the fallout from the war in Ukraine has

Pakistan condemns India’s continued persecution of Yasin Malik ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

Pakistan on Thursday strongly condemned India’s continued persecution of Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik forcing him to announce hunger strike unto death. “Pakistan strongly condemns India’s recent move of implicating Hurriyat leader Muhammad Yasin Malik in two more fictitious cases, which have been crafted around incidents that took place more than 30 years ago and have been reopened under the draconian Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act (TADA) in a clear attempt to perpetuate Yasin Malik’s political victimization. “Mr. Yasin Malik is already serving out a life-sentence awarded to him after a sham trial by an Indian court on May 25, 2022,” a Foreign Office statement issued here said. Regrettably, it added, Yasin Malik was also being denied the right of personal

appearance in the ongoing trial, in complete contravention of legal and democratic norms. “Once again, India has employed judiciary as a tool to damage the morale of the Kashmiris by making their true leadership a target of flagrant prejudice. Left with no legal recourse and faced with blatant denial of his rights, Mr. Malik has taken the desperate decision of going on a hunger strike unto death from 22 July 2022,” the statement remarked. Foreign Office statement said that the inhuman incarceration of Yasin Malik, his sham trials under fabricated cases, his fallacious conviction and the malfeasant attempts at defiling the legitimate struggle of the Kashmiris for their right to selfdetermination as “terrorism” was nothing but further corroboration of India’s known credentials of being a serial violator of human rights and usurper of the fundamental rights of the Kashmiri people.

added to inflationary pressure that’s causing central banks around the world to raise interest rates, acting as a brake on growth. It’s crucial to address all these global uncertainties, which continue to pose risks to the region’s recovery.” The PRC’s economy is poised to expand 4.0% this year, compared with an earlier forecast of 5.0%. ADB also lowered its growth outlook for India to 7.2% from 7.5% amid higher-than-expected inflation and monetary tightening. Inflation in developing Asia and the Pacific is predicted to accelerate to 4.2% this year, compared with a previous forecast of 3.7%. However, inflation pressure in the region as a whole is still lower than elsewhere in the world. For 2023, ADB lowered its economic growth projection for the region to 5.2% from 5.3%, while raising the inflation forecast to 3.5% from 3.1%.

IHC stops ECP from action against Imran, Asad in KP LG polls case newS DeSk The Islamabad High Court (IHC) barred the electoral watchdog on Thursday from taking action against Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders Imran Khan and Asad Umar till August 22 in the case pertaining to the notices issued to them during the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) local bodies polls. The ECP had issued notices to the former prime minister and planning minister for violating the code of conduct and participating in a rally during the local bodies elections held in March this year. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders had challenged the notices of the ECP in the IHC. During today’s proceedings, the high court extended the order to prevent the ECP from taking action against Imran Khan and Asad Umar until August 22. Acting Chief Justice of the IHC Aamir Farooq heard the case, in which the assistant counsel told the court that PTI’s lawyer Barrister Ali Zafar could not appear in the court today due to his busy schedule. The court adjourned the hearing till August 22 due to the unavailability of the counsel. On June 14, Imran and Umar were given a ‘last chance’ to present their arguments on the issue of a fine imposed by a district monitoring officer (DMO). The assistant counsel for the two leaders appeared before a three-member committee chaired by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Sikander Sultan Raja. During the hearing, the assistant counsel said that the matter is pending in the IHC, to which the CEC replied that “this case has nothing to do with the case of Islamabad High Court”, and added that the ECP is merely hearing an appeal filed against a fine imposed by DMO. “The election commission is not punishing you that you would have to refer to the Islamabad High Court. If the appeal is withdrawn today, the election commission will end the matter,” he added.

Pakistan finally develops standards for motorcycle helmets ISLAMABAD Ghulam abbas

Though the institutions concerned have failed to developed and implemented safety standards for vehicles in the country during the past 75 years, the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) has finally developed safety standards for helmets of motorcycle riders. As per available documents, the Automobile National Standard Committee, which is looking into formation of standards for the auto sector, has recommended “Pakistan National Standard for Helmet” for inclusion as a mandatory items’ list at Pakistan Standard and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA). Once the proposed standard is included in the mandatory list, the national standard body would be authorized to check the manufacturing of helmets as well as the imported ones. According to official sources, the PSQCA, an attached body of the ministry, had started developing the safety standard of helmets on the direction of Lahore High Court

(LHC) after noticing the increasing number of accidents of the two-wheelers causing losses to lives on a daily basis. Though there are hundreds of different types, colors and shapes of helmets available in the market both locally manufactured and imported, almost all of them do not meet the safety standards. They, as per the officials, are substandard, making no difference in riders’ safety. Earlier, the officials claim, tests and study were conducted by the MoST which revealed that millions of helmets both locally manufactured and imported are not up to safety standards. Not only are the helmets poor in quality but in most of the accidental cases, they have proved to be dangerous for the wearers. As per the study in around 24 cases of motorcycle accidents in Karachi, the lives of riders were lost due to serious injuries to the head due to substandard helmets. The study further suggests that the safety standards used in the making of such helmets in the world are largely ignored in Pakistan.

The issue of safety of motorbike riders was first raised by Young Doctors Association in Punjab who approached LHC in 2018. Despite lapsing over three years, the concerned ministry and departments were unable to implement a safety standard of helmets in the country. Following LHC directives the sale of fuel (petrol) to motorcycle riders was banned in various cities including Karachi, Rawalpindi, Lower Dir and Quetta. However the same could not continue to be implemented for lack of government’s interest. The safety and quality issue of helmets was first discussed in a Technical Committee of PSQCA in Lahore in 2018, in which all stockholders including the motorcycle manufacturers were invited to give their input on the safety of motorcycle riders. A number of safety methods in the helmet including required density of form inside the helmet and 6 critical points which could be life-threatening in accidents if ignored during manufacturing etc were discussed in the said meeting.

PML-N set new tradition of impartiality in Punjab by-polls: Kh Asif ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Thursday said the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) set new tradition of impartiality in the Punjab by-elections held on July 17 to safeguard the respect and sanctity of vote and democracy in the country. The PML-N leadership was using power as a public trust and did not indulge in victimization of political rival although their predecessor Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadership maligned and targeted political opponents as if it had their prerogative, the minister said while addressing a joint press conference flanked by Finance Minister Miftah Ismail. He observed PTI Chairman Imran Khan was giving government to “thieves” in Punjab and sacrificing his 178 members of the Punjab Assembly (MPs) to satiate his lust for power. “He is accusing us [PML-N] of horse trading and claiming a single stamp

paper verified by the same advocate which is insane to be considered as a proof,” he alleged. The minister claimed that it was the first election that bore no accusations of rigging, adding, “Similarly the Daska by-election is another example of free and fair election, which has been won by Nausheen Iftikhar despite political maneuvering of the then PTI government.” Chief Minister Hamza Shehbaz’s government had held the fairest elections in the 20 constituencies of the Punjab Assembly, Kh Asif maintained. “The party popularity declines politically in elections as it’s part of the process because democracy does bears stagnation rather entails change. There is no defeat of our narrative and it has no impact on our image,” he added. These elections, he said were contested on the basis of families or individuals and not parties like at one constituency a PMLN candidate contested independently due to difference of opinion. “The result of 20 electoral constituencies contested claim that PML-N government gave respect to vote and

circumvent its tainting through any sort of intrusion”. The PTI government thought out its tenure used the public trust for victimization of its rivals, adding, “I and Miftah are victims of that but we have no regrets and neither blame any.” He mentioned that the former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) head possessed bad repute and he did not want to narrate it publicly. “The Federal Cabinet has appointed a police officer of good reputation from the Police Service as NAB head and no one can question his personality and moral repute,” he added. He underlined that the PML-N government would use the power as a trust of public and not for perpetuating its government and July 17 (by-elections) was its greater example. “We have up held respect of vote and guarded the honour of democracy in the country on July 17,” he said. Since the past 20 years, Dollar had gained the highest exchange rate where the

depreciation of Pakistani currency was 12% whereas Dollar and Euro had gained same exchange rate alongwith Pound also facing the burden of rising inflation, he told the media men, adding, “Ukraine War is the major cause of it. The local currency depreciation has more external factors as compared to internal ones”. The PML-N and her allied deliberately took power instead of giving up as due to rising inflation there was sure default of national economy and IMF would have left the country in the lurch. “At the cost of political popularity, the PML-N faced it deliberately to avert default of the country’s economy as it would have been greater than the free fall of exchange if left unattended. Pakistan’s economic revival is above all and important than anything else and we are ready to pay any cost for it,” he insisted. The minister said from April 11 till the moment, the PML-N government had taken all measures sincerely without any political motives. “We could have resigned or announced early elections but have taken the

responsibility of bringing stability in the country,” he added. Responding to various media queries, Kh Asif said the political parties should have room for correction and revalidation and July 17 experience would help PML-N bring improvement in its conduct. The economic liberalization introduced by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif improved the situation which was pursued in 1997 and in 2013 as well. Pakistan had huge internal resources that demanded better management and fixing of all leakages to reduce economic drains and exploit streams of economic opportunities, he added. He informed that the Gulf countries like Qatar, Kuwait and others had showed interest in certain government entities whereas the government had prepared a draft legislation required for government to government engagement. He mentioned that the state institutions’ no interference was actually their functionality under their constitutional limits which should be welcomed and respected by all the political parties.

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Friday, 22 July, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

FAzL CrITICIsEs ImrAn KHAn For ‘vIoLATInG’ ConsTITuTIon

newS DeSk

AKISTAN Democratic Movement (PDM) president Maulana Fazlur Rehman has strongly criticised former prime minister and PTI Chairman Imran Khan for ‘violating’ the Constitution of Pakistan. Addressing a press conference in Banu, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief said that the former premier wished to divide the country into three parts. “Ending the Imran Khan-led government was crucial for the country’s survival,” he added. He further said that President Arif Alvi and PTI

Chairman have violated the constitution and should be punished. Maulana Fazl also urged Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to direct Rana Sanaullah to take action against the ex-premier. Fazlur Rehman warned Imran Khan that they will warm the atmosphere so hot for him and his followers that they will not be able to stand on their feet. He also urged the people of Pakistan not to support Imran Khan and stand with the loyal forces of the country. The PDM president added that the government should not accept all conditions of International Monetary Fund (IMF), asking how the rulers will provide relief to the common man.

GIDC: Courts restrains SNGPL from gas supply suspension to industrial units peSHAwAr aziz buneRi

A Peshawar Civil Court on Thursday issued restraining order, forbidding SNGPL from severing gas supply to industrial units on account of nonpayment of Gas Infrastructure Development Cess (GIDC). Counsel for the petitioner Ishaq Ali Qazi argued in the court that the petitioners have approached the civil court in light of the Peshawar High Court orders on a petition challenging collection of GIDC. He told the court that the Supreme Court of Pakistan

moonis Elahi says number game completed for Punjab Cm election LAHore staff RepoRt

Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Moonis Elahi has asserted that the number game for Punjab Chief Minister (CM) election has been completed. Talking to media persons, the son of Punjab Assembly Speaker Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi has said that PML-Q has the support of more than required lawmakers ahead of the Punjab Chief Minister (CM) election. “The government will see its defeat this time,” Moonis Elahi said, adding that their tactic of offering money to lawmakers will not work. It is pertinent to mention here that polling will be held tomorrow in the Punjab Assembly for the election of the new Chief Minister. The polling will be conducted after the Lahore High Court ordered recounting of votes. Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) leader Pervaiz Elahi is the candidate for the chief ministership on behalf of PTI and allied parties.

mango festival draws massive crowd at Pakistani HC in London ISLAMABAD staff RepoRt

The Pakistan High Commission in London, as part of the Mission’s economic diplomacy and to mark the country’s 75th Independence Anniversary celebrations, organized ‘Pakistan Mango Festival’ at its premises on July 20, 2022. UK’s Trade Envoy for Pakistan, Mark Eastwood MP was the guest of honour who, together with the Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK, Moazzam Ahmad Khan, inaugurated the festival. A large number of mango lovers from various walks of life attended the event. They included British Parliamentarians, Diplomats, UK Government officials, businesspersons, major retail owners, travel & food writers, media representatives, members of diaspora and British friends of Pakistan, a press release issued by the High Commission in London said. Prominent varieties of Pakistani mangoes i.e.,Sunera, Fajri, Anwar Ratol, Desi, Chaunsa, White Chaunsa, Black Chaunsa, Lal Badhsa, Sindhri and Pallet were showcased during the festival. Guests were served with freshly cut mangoes, salads, milkshake, lassi, desserts and ice cream. They appreciated the taste and vast variety of the Pakistani mangoes on display. Trade and Investment Minister Shafiq Shahzad welcomed the participants. The High Commissioner, during his remarks, highlighted that Pakistani mangoes were unique due to their flavour, aroma and richness. He said with over 250 varieties, Pakistan was the 6th largest producer and 4th largest exporter of mangoes.

has already declared in its judgments that the government wanted to recover Rs300 billion in the head of GIDC, which has been received. “But now it is necessary to determine how the industrial units which have not received GIDC fund from the consumers after these orders are to be relieved in the whole process.” Advocate Ishaq Qazi cited bank accounts, saying these accounts proved petitioners had not received any such funds from consumers in the name of GIDC. Therefore, the government should not receive GIDC fund from factories in the light of Supreme

Court of Pakistan judgment, he requested the court. He informed that the Sui Gas authorities are sending GIDC arrears notices to the industrial unit in the electricity bills. In this regard, NEPRA and the Peshawar High Court have also declared that civil courts will determine whether the amount has been transferred to national exchequer and if not received from the public, how these industrial units will be bound to pay the amount to the government in the head of GIDC. The court directed the Sui Northern authorities not to disconnect gas supply to these industrial units and sought a reply on the next date of hearing.

Biden tests positive for Covid, ‘very mild symptoms’ newS DeSk President Joe Biden tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, his administration announced, saying the 79year-old leader was experiencing “mild symptoms” and would carry out his full duties while isolating at the White House. Biden had been due to travel to Pennsylvania during the day, the latest in a series of trips around the country as he seeks to revive waning Democrat fortunes ahead of midterm elections. “He is fully vaccinated and twice boosted and experiencing very mild symptoms,” the White House said in a statement, adding that Biden had begun taking Pfizer’s anti-Covid pill Paxlovid. “Consistent with CDC guidelines, he will isolate at the White House and will continue to carry out all of his duties fully during that time.” Biden is reported to be in good general health, but his age will heighten concern over the impact of Covid.

Politically he is in a tough phrase of his presidency, facing November midterm elections that are forecast to be painful for his Democratic Party, and declining personal approval ratings. According to a study conducted by Quinnipiac University in the state of Connecticut and released Wednesday, Biden’s approval ratings have hit a new low, with only 31 percent of Americans satisfied with the way he is running the country. Biden had planned to spend more time on the ground in the United States in the coming weeks after a period of intense overseas travel, including a NATO summit in Spain and a controversial trip to Saudi Arabia. Biden’s predecessor Donald Trump had tested positive for coronavirus in October, 2020 — in the middle of their bitterly fought election race. The news that he and the first lady, Melania Trump, had both contracted the virus was a shocking development at a time when the pandemic was still unfolding across the globe.

Job regularization: Contractual employees of KP universities protest at Bani Gala ISLAMABAD Ghulam abbas

Prompted by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government decided to regularize thousands of teachers following their protest outside former prime minister Imran Khan’s house in Islamabad, the contractual employees of public sector universities in the province have also gathered in Bani Gala to demand regularization of their jobs. A day after the thousands of young teachers who got regularized after a protest outside Khan’s house on Wednesday, the university employees have decided to camp outside the Bani Gala house until their demands accepted. Talking to media, Secretary Information All Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Universities Contract Employees Association (AKPUCEA) Dr Latif Shinwari claimed that there were at least 8000 teaching and non-teaching contractual employees of the universities waiting for regularization for years. Of the contractual employees, he said, every university had about 30 PhD degreeholders who had been in the job for the past about 13 years and still waiting for regularization. The thousands of teaching and nonteaching employees of 28 public sector universities in the province have now decided to protest for their rights, pattern on such a case in Punjab was addressed by the former PTI government in the province in April 2019. “Only representatives of 28 universities are here now but in the coming days, in case the issues remain unresolved, thousands of employees both from men and women universities would gather outside Imran Khan’s house in Islamabad,” Shinwari said. In a written demand made to Imran

Khan, Chairman of ruling party in KP (PTI) the association has informed that KPK and Punjab Assemblies had imposed a restriction that there will be no extension in the contracts of the contract employees beyond 3 years. But instead of relieving their employees, both KP and Punjab assemblies passed “Regulation of Services Act” in 2018, to save the services rendered by contract employees in both provinces. On the basis of this act, all contract employees (other than universities’ employees) were regularized both in KP and Punjab. The exclusion of university employees from regularization caused panic and unrest among the contract employees of both Punjab and KP universities. In 2019 Contract Employees crisis in Punjab was however solved in response to a complaint lodged in Pakistan Citizen Portal by Punjab universities contract employees. “As there is a set precedent, we humbly appeal that all universities of KP also adopt the KPK Regularization Act 2018 as a policy in the same as the Punjab government did two years ago,” the employees said in the letter. The protesting employees at Bani Gala said that unfortunately some of the universities in KP had sacked the contractual employees. Many of the employees were unable to get fresh jobs due to age factor and they had no other source of income. Since the public sector universities are practically left at the mercy of vice chancellors, the employees had been left with the only option to launch a protest campaign for acceptance of their demand They demanded the provincial government to implement The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Employees (Regularization of Services) Act, 2018, saying that after the approval of 18th Amendment it was the duty of the provinces to resolve such issues.

NEWS

Pak-Canada Parliamentary Friendship Group in senate holds meeting with Canadian Parliamentarian newS DeSk The meeting of the Pakistan-Canada Friendship Group in the Senate with the Canadian House of Commons Member, Sameer Zuberi was held here at the Parliament House on Thursday to explore new avenues for further broadening the bilateral ties between Pakistan and Canada. The meeting discussed a host of issues, inter alia, including travel advisory of Canada with respect to Pakistan, Islamophobia and high rate of visa refusal to Pakistani students and traders and other matters of mutual interests, said a press release. Deputy Chairman Senate Mirza Muhammad Afridi chaired the meeting. Senators Eng Rukhsana Zuberi, Danesh Kumar, Azam Khan Swati, Rubina Khalid and the Parliamentary delegation of Canada led by Canadian MP and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Canadian Parliament, Sameer Zuberi attended the meeting. The Pakistani Panel briefed the Friendship Group on the improved security situation in the country and the priority areas of the new government to introduce structural reforms in the key sectors and institution-building. The panel also highlighted FDI-friendly policies available in the automobile, energy, telecom, manufacturing and tourism industry in Pakistan, from which Canadian companies can benefit. Deputy Chairman Senate, Mirza Muhammad Afridi said that as Canada pursues a path to diversifying its partnerships, Pakistan is one of the emerging economies in Asia offering tremendous opportunities. Pakistan seeks to revive the full spectrum relations in political, trade, investment and development fields with Canada, he added. He also informed the Canadian MP that the existing trade relations between the two countries need to be given a boost and allowing genuine traders to visit Canada to meet with their counterparts can provide the required impetus to trade relations between the two countries. The Canadian MP, Sameer Zuberi briefed the senators on their endeavours to promote friendship between the parliamentarians of the two countries and remarked that Canada recognizes the economic importance of Pakistan. The meeting also discussed the future roadmap for bringing close together the people of the two countries. Senator Eng Rukhsana Zuberi stressed that bilateral trade between Pakistan and Canada needs to be increased and the private sector should be encouraged in a push to boost trade ties. Afridi underlined that both countries enjoy exemplary ties but the bilateral trade needs to be increased for which linkages, information, exchange of trade delegations and holding exhibitions are of vital importance. He also extended an invitation to the Canadian Parliamentary group to visit Pakistan and urged the Canadian business community to form linkages with the chambers of Pakistan. Senator Azam Swati commended the leadership of Canada for upholding and setting standards of Human rights. He also urged Sameer Zuberi to present a soft image of Pakistan in Canada.

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Friday, 22 July, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

04 NEWS

PTI To challenge ecP decIsIon on sIndh lg Polls PosTPonemenT KARACHI

Staff RepoRt

HE Pakistan Tehreek-iInsaf (PTI) rejected the decision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to postpone the local body elections in Sindh as it vowed to contest the decision before the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday. The second phase of the polls was to originally take place on July 24 in 16 districts of Karachi and Hyderabad: East Karachi;

West Karachi; South Karachi; Central Karachi; Malir; Korangi; Kemari; Hyderabad; Tando Mohammad Khan; Matiari; Tando Allahyar; Badin; Dadu; Jamshoro; Thatta; and Sujawal. The Met Office, in a statement issued on Wednesday, warned that various parts of Sindh, including Karachi, were forecast to experience another spell of heavy rains from July 23-26. Hours after the agency issued the statement, the commission announced postponement

till August 28 of the second phase, with a statement citing the forecast and the upcoming month of Muharram as the reasons behind the delay. Addressing a gathering in Hyderabad Thursday, Ali Zaidi, president of the party’s Sindh chapter, said the party condemned the decision, adding the commission had made itself controversial. Former Sindh governor Imran Ismail stated the postponement of elections and the NA-245 poll is a sign of the PPP

‘Humanity over rivalry’ says Indian woman as she re-visits Pakistan home after 75 years ISLAMABAD ReuteRS

As 90-year-old Indian woman Reena Varma stands on the balcony of the house in Rawalpindi where she was born, visiting on Wednesday for the first in 75 years, she recalls her playful childhood. “I would stand here and sing,” said Varma, as her eyes filled with tears. “These are tears of joy.” Varma has vivid memories of the day she and her family left the small, three-storey home tucked away in the narrow alleys of the garrison city, where residents showered her with rose petals on her arrival.

She also danced with some of the residents who beat drums as she entered the street, where she said she used to play from dawn to dusk. Her family were among the millions whose lives were thrown into turmoil by the partition of colonial India into two states when British rule ended in 1947. One of the biggest mass migrations in history was marred by violence and bloodshed as about 15 million Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs swapped countries in a political upheaval that cost more than a million lives. “I’m very happy to see that the house stood intact,” she said after spending several hours in-

side recalling memories of a childhood spent with her parents and five siblings. At one point, she burst into laughter over being unable to climb a staircase without a support, saying she had once tackled it “like a bird” countless times a day, according to a member of the family that now lives in the house. LONG WAIT FOR VISA: Varma’s family fled to the Western Indian city of Pune shortly before the partition. She was 14 years old at the time. The rest of the family all died without seeing their former home again. Pakistan and India have fought three wars since 1947 and

and MQM-P’s defeat. He claimed the buyers and sellers of consciences are fleeing Sindh elections by setting up a market in Punjab and that the “thappa” mafia has escaped yet again today. On the other hand, PTI leader Khurram Sher Zaman stated at a press conference in Karachi that the ECP had failed to conduct transparent elections. He said that the election commissioner should resign, adding that MQM-P and PPP had rigged the election ahead of time. relations have remained tense, making travel between the two countries near impossible. But after decades of attempts to get a visa, Varma crossed into Pakistan last week by road at a border crossing near the eastern city of Lahore. The India Pakistan Heritage club run by Imran William and Sajjad Haider, which works to highlight the shared heritage of the two countries and reunite families separated by partition, helped with the process of finally getting permission to travel. Varma urged both countries to ease their visa regimes to enable people of both countries to meet more frequently. “I would urge the new generation that they work together to make things easy,” she said. “We have the same culture. We have the same things. We all want to live with love and peace.”

At UN, Pakistan urges focus on children’s plight in occupied Kashmir UNITED NATIONS Staff RepoRt

Pakistan has urged Virginia Gamba, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, to remain focused on the suffering of children in Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, observing New Delhi was committing “horrifying crimes” against children in the Muslim-majority region. “Children and youth are routinely detained and subjected to torture and ill-treatment in order to elicit intelligence or extract confessions that they are associated with the Kashmiri groups struggling for the self-determination which was promised by the Security Council,” Munir Akram, Pakistan’s permanent representative at the UN, told the 15-nation Security Council. Speaking in the annual debate on “Children and Armed Conflict”, the envoy said: “In a world still afflicted by Covid-19 by protracted and new conflicts, and by a food, fuel and financial emergency, it is evident that we must do more to protect our children and ensure their safety, welfare and prosperity.” Earlier, Gamba, while introducing the report of the Secretary-General, said the abuses children were subjected to over the last year were as grievous as they were many. In his remarks, Ambassador Akram cited the secretary general’s report which urged New Delhi to undertake preventive measures to protect children in occupied Kashmir, including by ending the use of pellets and illegal detention, both in the Himalayan region and in several prisons across India. Since August 2019, when India passed legislation to annex the disputed territory, an estimated 13,000 children and youth have been arbitrarily captured by the 900,000-strong army deployed in Kashmir, Akram said. “The list of such horrifying crimes is long,” he said. He recalled Islamabad released a comprehensive dossier covering accounts, corroborated by audio and video evidence, of 3,432 cases of war crimes, including those committed against women and children, perpetrated by senior military officials since 1989.

Daily Covid-19 report: 599 new cases, three deaths ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Pakistan reported 599 new Covid-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the Ministry of National Health Services said on Thursday. The overall tally of the infected people climbed to 1,548,394 across the country after adding the fresh cases, according to data released by the ministry. A total of 30,455 people died of Covid-19 in Pakistan, with three deaths over the last 24 hours, according to the ministry’s statistics. On Wednesday, 21,315 tests were conducted throughout Pakistan whereas the positivity ratio stood at 2.81 percent. There are 170 patients who are in critical condition.

Friday, 22 July, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

NEWS corporate corner power suspension schedules for today 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 22 nd July, From 07:00 AM to 12:00 AM, Japan Road, River Gardan, Angori feeders and surroundings will be 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 and the surrounding power will be cut off. pr

IIUI Rector calls on President Dr Arif Alvi

CovID sURvIvoRs lIkely to DeveloP heARt DIseAses, DIAbetes In 3 Months

ATIeNTS who contract Covid-19 face a higher risk of developing cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, particularly in the three months following infection, according to a new study. Scientists are increasingly recognising Covid-19 as a multi-system condition that can cause disease throughout the body, likely by triggering pathways that cause inflammation. Researchers from the King’s College London, UK, analysed anonymised medical records from more than 428,000 Covid patients, and the same number of control individuals,

to probe whether Covid patients developed new cases of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases at higher rates than those who have never had the disease in the year following infection, Medical Daily reported . The analysis, published in the open access journal PLOS Medicine, showed that Covid patients had 81 per cent more diagnoses of diabetes in the first four weeks after contracting the virus and that their risk remained elevated by 27 per cent for up to 12 weeks after infection. Covid was also associated with a six-fold increase in cardiovascular di-

agnoses overall, mainly due to the development of pulmonary embolism (blood clots in the lungs) and irregular heartbeat. The risk of a new heart disease diagnosis began to decline five weeks after infection and returned to baseline levels or lower within 12 weeks to one year. However, the researchers also noted that Covid infection is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disorders and diabetes, but fortunately, there does not appear to be a long-term increase in the incidence of these conditions for patients who have contracted the virus.

KP, Japan & UNDP launch policing plans for merged areas ISLAMABAD: Prof. Dr. Masoom Yasinzai, Rector, International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) and Dr. Hathal Homoud Alotaibi, President IIUI, called on H.E. Dr. Arif Alvi, the President of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and Chancellor, IIUI at Aiwan e Sadr on Thursday. In the meeting, President Dr. Arif Alvi stressed that linkage of academia with industry is a prerequisite for the country’s progress and applicable research according to the market trends is the need of the hour. He said Offices of Research, Innovation and Commercialization and Business Incubation Centers launched by HEC must be well utilized by all the universities to know the market requirements and contemporary trends. The President of Pakistan emphasized that skilled youth is imperative for the country's bright future and we must focus on technical education and vocational training. IIUI Chancellor also urged the universities to broaden the scope of their education systems by promoting virtual dissemination of knowledge in order to increase the number of graduates in the country. He also advised IIUI to double the educational shifts in the University. The president of Pakistan said that the university needed to equip its students with soft skills, such as critical thinking, effective communication and teamwork, besides providing technical/hard skills. pr

Based on these findings, the team recommends that doctors advise their patients who are recovering from Covid to reduce their risk of diabetes through a healthy diet and exercise. “The information provided by this very large population-based study on the longer-term effects of Covid-19 on development of cardiovascular conditions and diabetes will be extremely valuable to doctors managing the millions of people who have had Covid-19 by now. It is clear that particular vigilance is required for at least the first 3 months after Covid-19,said co-author Ajay Shah from the varsity. news desk

Political maneuvering galore as Punjab braces for CM’s election continued from page 01

iSLamaBad staff report

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) Police, government of Japan, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on Thursday launched the policing plans for the merged areas of the province. The first ever policing plans were introduced for seven districts of merged areas that included Bajaur, Mohmand, Khyber, Orakzai, North Waziristan, South Waziristan, and Kurram. The plans provide a road map for the smooth transition of the post–merger local policing system to the formal policing and justice system in the merged areas, a news release said. The plans also present a context-specific framework to de-

liver people-centred policing services through collaborative partnerships with local communities and other agencies of the criminal justice system. Furthermore, the plans also propose recommendations to federal, provincial, and district-level decision makers in addressing resource and capacity gaps.

The launch event highlighted the importance of joint efforts between KP Police and development partner to foster a peoplecent policing system in the merged areas. The efforts were crucial to restoring public security services, rule of law, sustainable peace, and development in the region.

First graduation ceremony of Afghan refugee students for year 2022 held ISLAMABAD: First graduation ceremony for the year 2022 was held where Afghan and host students were given certificates on completion of different courses including Computer, English language, Beautician, Tailoring and Culinary Arts. UNHCR and Commissionrate of Afghan Refugees (CCAR) participated along with the Afghan refugee as well as host community providing an example of social cohesion. Ms. Tammi Sharpe the Deputy Representative of UNHCR was the Chief Guest whereas guest of honour from CCAR was Mr. Fareed Ullah Jan, Commissioner Afghan Refugees. Graduates in their speeches thanked to the UNHCR, CCAR and Inspire Pakistan for providing support and expressed their gratitude to the teachers for providing illuminating knowledge for their bright future. Ms. Tammi Sharpe on her speech at the occasion especially focused on the students where she guided them towards the right direction and path to walk ahead and to continue and pursue their dreams without compromising on small issues and hardships. Mr. Fareed Ullah Jan praised the hard work of graduates and gave them recognition for a job well done. He praised the teachers for motivating students throughout the course period. On this occasion, Mr. Qaiser M. Siddiqui, Cofounder and CEO Inspire Pakistan. pr

CDA launches operation against illegal housing society ISLAMABAD: The management of Capital Development Authority (CDA) has conducted an operation against the illegal housing society Ghori Town and sealed the management offices of all phases of the society. Enforcement Directorate, Planning Wing, Islamabad Police and other relevant departments also participated in the operation conducted on Thursday. According to the details, the management offices of the society were sealed as they were being used for illegal purchase and sale of plots in violation of the provisions of Capital Development Authority Ordinance 1960, ICT Zoning Regulation 1992 and ICT Building Control Regulation 2020. In this regard, the Capital Development Authority administration through a public notice warned the general public to avoid buying plots in an illegal housing schemes and to ensure that the sponsor of the society has obtained NOC from CDA after fulfillment of required terms and condition. In this regard, citizens can also check the latest status of housing societies and details of approved layout plans from Capital Development Authority's website www.cda.gov.pk. Furthermore, through a public notice, the management, sellers, builders, developers, advertisers, promoters, estate agents etc. of all phases of illegal housing in Ghori Town have also been warned to refrain from buying and selling in the society. In this regard PTCL, IESCO and SNGPL have also been requested not to provide their service connections in illegal housing societies. pr

SOPS FOR PA SESSION TO ELECT CM PUNJAB: Secretary Punjab Assembly Muhammad Khan Bhatti has issued SOPs for the crucial Punjab Assembly session on the directives of the Supreme Court to hold elections for Punjab chief minister. According to the SOPs issued by the secretary, the members of the Punjab Assembly (MPAs) and staff have been directed against bringing guests inside the assembly. “The speaker’s box, officers’ box and visitors’ gallery will remain close and only the media gallery will remain open,” the secretary said, adding that media will be allowed to cover the election from the gallery. The MPAs have been directed to carry NICs and leave their phone outside the assembly premises. “The police will only perform administrative affairs outside the gate of the assembly secretariat,” he said. It is pertinent to mention here that the Supreme Court issued detailed order regarding Chief Minister (CM) Punjab’s election on July 22. The 10-page detailed order from the three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Umar Ata Bandial was written by Justice Ijazul Ahsan.

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Friday, 22 July, 2022

06 COMMENT

More than just some by-elections

Living on hopes While moving in opposite directions

The power of government is under challenge

perception is being gradually formed that the government has not succeeded in handling the economy. The rupee continues to fall, hitting the lowest ever rate of Rs 228 for a dollar. While the common man groans under the heavy burden of inflation there is also panic in the market. even a section of the PML(N) leadership is unhappy with Finance Minister Miftah Ismail’s conduct of the economic policies. Despite the IMF and Pakistan having reached a staff-level agreement last week, the bailout package continues to be delayed for reasons that need to be removed. In case the IMF board meeting is not held before the end of this month, it can only be scheduled in the second half of August, leaving Pakistan to face the turmoil. Right from the beginning the coalition government has faced a dilemma. It wanted to take the bitter pill proposed by the IMF while simultaneously keeping the public anger in check. This required a tightrope walk for which the PML(N)-led government was not prepared. For a while Dr Ismail toyed with the unrealistic idea of retaining the fuel subsidies as “the nation cannot endure it (i.e removal of subsidies).” At times he indulged in bluster to keep up the people’s morale. Dr Ismail claimed that the country needed $41 billion over the next 12 months and “I think it will happen.” If the Finance Minister hoped that with improvement of ties with the USA, international financial institutions and friendly countries would open their coffers to aid Pakistan, he was sadly mistaken. There is a perception that the government has yet to fulfill some of the undertakings given to the IMF without which the IMF’s executive Board cannot meet to consider the bailout passage. A notification by the government for increasing the electricity prices and the decision to impose Rs10 per unit levy on petrol and Rs5 per liter on high speed diesel from August 1 are still pending. Pakistan had undertaken to secure $4 billion financing from friendly countries. This turned out to be a false hope. Again. Pakistan has yet to send the letter of intent to the IMF detailing the actions undertaken to qualify for the loan tranche. While going for the no-confidence move, the PML(N) leaders had claimed they were doing so not for the party’s interest but for the state. They are now double-minded, causing problems for both.

At Penpoint

he PML-N and the PTI will probably not conduct an in-depth analysis of Sunday’s by-election results, because they will go into an election for the Punjab CM, with the PTI nominee, Ch Parvez elahi, now likely to win. So many by-elections were conducted that it was arguably a snapshot of general election results, and certainly an in-depth opinion poll. The result also confounded an apparent media consensus that the PML(N) would win big. With hindsight, that seems based on the fact that the provincial governments have traditionally been able to manage ‘positive results’. Perhaps most worrisome for the PML(N) is that the seats it lost had included a majority where the PTI had also lost in the general election, to an independent. That independent had joined the PTI, but had believed that this would save them from being unseated if they voted against the party whip in the CM’s election. In a way, the PML(N)’s acceptance of the results was not just a formality, for the PTI had made it clear it would not accept a defeat. It had made so much noise about rigging, down to naming a ’Mr X’ as responsible for the rigging operation, a thinly veiled reference to a local agency commander. The PI has done very well and can claim that the electorate has bought into its narrative. The PTI has actually won in eight of the nine constituencies where independents had won, defeating PTI candidates, in the 2018 general election. One of the murkier factors was how incumbency played out. The outgoing MPA was defeated in 17 constituencies (only one won; two had not contested), indicating that incumbents would be turfed out. But whose incumbency? It could be argued with equal validity that people voted against the MPA’s previous performance during the PTI government, against the party which had given tickets, the PML(N), or simply that the electorate had decided to punish the most salient feature of their tenure, their vote for hamza. A casualty has been the power of the government. There does not seem to have been an incumbency advantage. In that respect, the big winner seems to be the election Commission of Pakistan, which got the byelections held without any visible interference. This time around, there were no suspicious disappearances of presiding officers, while the local administration has not been accused of any wrongdoing anywhere. Along with the government, the agencies are a big loser in terms of their reputations as influencers. Much of their power was because politicians accepted their ability to get them victory, which was why some accepted their desires about which party to support. Pre-

Passport ranking Poor ranking reflects problems that continue

he Pakistani passport has been ranked the fourth worst in the world, a rating it has retained from last year, according to the henley Ranking Index, which is based on the number of destinations which do not require its holders to obtain a prior visa. While the ranking reflects in part diplomatic activity, because such visa-less or visa-on-arrival arrangements have to be pursued by diplomats, the ranking is really determined by how the country itself is doing. And that is where Pakistan falls down. The first issue is that Pakistan is hardly a good tourist destination, mainly because it is seen by the rest of the world as unsafe. The improvement in the law and order situation in recent years was not communicated abroad by any government, and the resurgence of terrorism will have a negative impact on Pakistan’ image, and thus on the chances of any improvement in Pakistan’s passport ranking. Another important avenue is the shying away of the business traveler, basically because the security threat makes an investment here dangerous, thus making the country not worth visiting, not to mention that the same reason makes the traveller stay away. That the ranking is low is basically a reflection of the perception that Pakistan is a dangerous country to come to. Only if enough people want to visit from abroad, that they build up pressure on their own governments to ease visa restrictions, will Pakistan’s diplomats be able to make visa-less deals. This is something for which all parties must share responsibility, for none has done much to address the fundamental problems that have caused this situation, even though all have had a turn at ruling. Unfortunately, the ranking seems as low on the government’s list of priorities as the main reason for it, a poor law and order situation. It thus seems unlikely for the government to do much about the situation, and thus likely that the Pakistani passport will continue to get scant respect.

The USA will not find the going easy SohAIl AhMed SooMro

he new Cold War has reached a new height. China has been challenging the unipolarity of the USA on every front. Countering China has become the supreme interest of the USA in the 21st century. Many scholars are of the view that the new Cold War cannot end in a similar fashion as the last: the downfall of the erstwhile USSR. Against the backdrop of dissolution of the USSR, many authors came up with sweeping statements that communism had thrown up the sponge. In this relation, Francis Fukuyama was on the forefront who compiled his exposition in his notable work,The end of history and the Last Man. he concluded, "The end-point of mankind's ideological evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as the final form of human government." In fact, the war against communism has never ended as China has turned up against the USA. China is the potential competitor which makes this game challenging for the USA. however, there are many factors that distinguish China from the USSR. First of all, there is a difference in the nature of power. The former USSR was obsessed with defence and a major chunk of the economy was diverted to make it a global military hegemon. The excessive focus on defence hampered its economic growth significantly. On the contrary, China is keeping on expanding her economic influence globally through the Belt Road Initiative (BRI). According to available statistics, the average defence spending of the former USSR was relatively above 15pc of the GDP. however, Chinese defence spending is merely below 6pc. Owing to high defence spending and low human development, the erstwhile USSR lost the confidence of its own people. Quite the opposite, Chinese economic focus has improved

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However, this by-election, though vital, is something of a sideshow. The real issue is whether there are elections in time for the next government to appoint the next COAS. To allow this, elections must be held by around October 30. That date would require a dissolution by around this time.

The writer is a member of staff

China is not the USSR

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

M A NIAZI

election rigging was carried out at the microlevel by these means, particularly where there were close fights. Where the fight was one-sided, agencies would have to offer other inducements for support, such as inclusion in Cabinets. however, one of the things highlighted by the current by-elections is the increase in the size of constituencies, which means that the concept of a narrow margin has changed, and with it the ability of any outside force, such as an agency, to influence the results. The PTI has either got to treat the results as proof that victory without the agencies is possible, or that the agencies are back on its side. It will suit it to claim that it has won back the support it had lost. While the PTI leadership (and the agencies) only know the truth, the party base will have to be convinced that there is life after dismissal. It was ironic that the Supreme Court had issued the detailed judgement in the case of the National Assembly Deputy Speaker’s ruling before the by-election, in which it had firmly rejected the existence of a foreign conspiracy to remove the PTI government. however, the electorate in the by-election constituencies bought into that narrative, of a US conspiracy. It should be remembered that such a narrative resonates with people. Anyone rebelling against this would gain support, not just because of the narrative, but because it provides an explanation of, in the Shakespearean phrase, ‘why we are underlings.’ The readiness to even express it was bound to be popular, not to forget the snook that was cooked at both the military and the judiciary, which hitherto have been not only invincible, but also beyond criticism. It would be going too far to see this as an anti-establishment vote, particularly since the party getting the vote wants the establishment on its side. By-elections have previously been fought on local issues. True, local issues matter in single-member constituencies, particularly where candidates revise party loyalties from election to election. While impossible to eliminate entirely, party narratives are de-emphasized by candidates who were members of the party not too long ago, and who have jumped ship to another. The candidate has to radically revise his positions, but so do his followers. Thus, for them, the candidate’s espousal of a party is evaluated according

to whether that party will form the government, and whether their man will become a minister or not, with the accruing benefits (usually monetary). Thus, it becomes of more importance whether a candidate visited to condole a death, than what party he belongs to. however, these by-elections were fought on more political lines. The PML(N) will probably do more soul-searching than the PTI, but the big question is how to fight the general election. It has become clear that Maryam Nawaz was not able to spearhead the campaign, and the pressure will build for Mian Nawaz himself to return, and that too able to campaign. Indeed, that might be the sole object of retaining the federal government. Another thing that has happened because of the result, is that early elections have become that much more likely. Things are up in the air. Getting the Punjab government is an objective of the PTI, but considering how the government has been exposed as toothless, is there any point? how much will he be able to do in the remaining 13 months of the tenure? It perhaps should not be forgotten that Ch Parvez’s first tenure as CM ended with a comfortable PML(N) victory. Of course, if national elections take place without the Punjab dissolving Ch Pervez might be able to give ‘’positive results’. however, the forces that the PTI is trying to convince might feel that early elections should be held. Will those elections be held early enough to let the new government appoint the next COAS? Though the Punjab government does not make that appointment, the effect of the Punjab being in the hands of the opposition is perhaps too volatile to rate speculation. however, this by-election, though vital, is something of a sideshow. The real issue is whether there are elections in time for the next government to appoint the next COAS. To allow this, elections must be held by around October 30. That date would require a dissolution by around this time. Any later dissolution would leave he caretaker government to make the appointment, though it could extend the incumbent’s tenure so that the elected government could make the appointment. These b y-elections make such a dissolution more likely.

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her soft power even beyond the boundaries. In the similar vein, the nation of around 1400 million lifted roughly half of the population from poverty unprecedentedly. In the second place, Professor Amitai etzioni, the renowned US Sociologist, said, "China has always emphasized regional dominance peacefully, but the USSR flagrantly ran after global dominance by hook or by crook." historically, China has never tried to invade any nation except a few border incursions in the recent past. Deng Xiaoping, the 'Architect of Modern China',formulated peace and development as the tenet of Chinese foreign policy. Time and again, he used to quote the Chinese proverb ‘hide your strength, bide your time.’ Resultantly, Chinese global standing and credibility have ameliorated and turned it into a robust state. The Soviets followed the ideology of Vladimir Lenin: the Comintern Policy. It was based on expanding communism globally with diverse nations. Consequently, it expanded to the Baltic region in the west and took over Central Asian nations in the south. Another difference is that of national identity and nationalism. The former USSR was composed of diverse nations. Therefore, there was a dire need to evoke a sense of unity among them, but the multinational USSR failed to create a clear national identity. To the contrary, China consists of a single nation. According to statistics, around 92pc of the population of China is ethnically han. This ethnic cohesion is an enormous tool for creating a sense of national integration. Moreover, the people of China are bound by the mixture of ideologies including communism and Confucianism. This makes a striking difference between them as far as national identity and nationalism are concerned. Apart from this, the nature of communism is another factor that distinguishes China from the USSR. The Soviet model of communism was top-down in nature, but it is down-to-top in the case of Beijing. In

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order to make any ideology thrive, it is imperative to go through a sustained process by every section of society. Peasants brought about the communist revolution in China. The lower and lower middle class population had understanding about the ideology at first hand. Nevertheless, communism in Russia was imposed by an educated middle-class and political elite. Consequently, it went beyond the comprehension of lower strata of society. All in all, its effectiveness ebbed away with each passing day. Last but not least, in the face of domestic and external crisis, the Soviet Union often used repression as a tool to suppress voices of dissent, but China has constantly reformed whenever there arises any problem. There were periods of reform, both mild and radical, in the USSR, but the chronic institutional inflexibility persisted and inexorably shook the foundations of the Soviet regime both economically and ideologically. By contrast, the Chinese believe that “reform and opening up” includes many social, economic, and political aspects, and it is an ongoing process, rather than a mission that has been accomplished. The new Cold War for the USA can never be as simple as the former one was. The USSR was fraught with fault-lines whose exploitation proved to be plain sailing for the USA. In the wake of the new Cold War, the competition is thrilling between the global powers. As both competitors have relatively strong economies. China has been enhancing her clout by dint of economic partnership literally with the rest of the world. To an extent, the USA’s all-time partners (european allies) keep China in their good books. The USA leaves no stone unturned to bring down China, be it Indo-Pacific competition, or human rights violations in Xinjiang province among others. Correspondingly, China treads the path sensibly which makes the equation complicated for Washington. The author retired as a Commodore from the Pakistan Navy. He can be reached at msohailyz@gmail.com

Email: editorial@pakistantoday.com.pk

06-07 Comments - 22nd July 2022_Layout 1 7/22/2022 1:05 AM Page 2

Friday, 22 July, 2022

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

With us or against us

Balochistan needs a paradigm shift A province deprived of development despite its riches

SAMI UllAh KAKAr

T is ironic that despite being home to abundant natural resources-such as coal, copper, gold- Balochistan is still far behind other provinces. A democratic state knits different sections of society with an unbreakable bond to stay united but Pakistan seems to lack such a bond. There is a growing disparity between the provinces regarding political stability, education, security, infrastructure, provincial and territorial human rights. Such a great glaring gap between provinces undermines the solidarity that a democratic country requires. With the mileage of being a geo-economically and geostrategically important province of Pakistan, Balochistan has been embattled with a rampant democracy and leadership crisis since its absorption in Pakistan in March 1948. Convinced of being historically wronged, the inclusion of Balochistan in the country was not smooth and all Baloch stakeholders were not in favour. Due to the arbitrariness of the state policies, the Baloch have been resorting to extremism; by picking up arms against the state machinery as they first did in 1958 in a bid to reclaim identities and rights after being unheard and crushed through the military. They have lost many family members to unabated state violence since the inception of pAKistan. however, the Baloch view their fight as one against repression and for self-determination. educational institutions are major military hubs. Since the State deployed FC in Universities, the line between educational institutionS and Military barracks has been so blurred as to have eventually disappeared. State Installed military personnel in educational institutions like the University of Baluchistan are a threat to the cognitive learning of the students. Unwanted presence of military and FC personnel in educational institutions is an attempt to push back the already underdeveloped nation into the abysmal darkness of ignorance. In addition, the deteriorating human rights scenario has further aggravated in Balochistan. The resurging woes of enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings are fretting the people and adding insult to injury in the human rights crisis. Degrading and manhandling Baloch protesters will definitely add impetus to unprecedented events like the attacks in Karachi University, and on the Karachi Stock exchange, and will have the effect of definitely marring

peace and harmony in Balochistan itself. history is witness that no one in the province has been given rights easily, without having had to take the channel of hunger strikes, or blocking roads for many days. Protests of teachers demanding hike in salaries, of students against administrative injustices, of families of Baloch missing persons, have always been met with brutal torture and manhandling in Balochistan. Kidnapping, threatening, torturing, jailing and killing activists is now a normal response to protesters who have genuine grievances. Moreover, the religious minority, the Shia community has also faced the heavy-handedness of the state. Quality education is an indispensable element in the progress and prosperity of a nation. But, unfortunately, education has never attained the attention that it deserves. education in Balochistan is in shambles because of the dearth of attention, poor infrastructure, absence of teachers, and lack of separate schools for girls. Political leaders are intentionally silent and don’t want to equalise education standards because it would end their perks and privileges. The State has failed to provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of five to 16 years in the war-torn province, even though this is a fundamental right enshrined in Article 25A of the Constitution of Pakistan. According to All Pakistan Labour Federation President Sultan Muhammad, over 15,000 underage children in Baluchistan were working at the construction sites, coalmines, garbage collection centres, and automobile workshops. They were either orphans or belonged to poor families, and were compelled to work to support their elders. The right to life is an inalienable right of citizens enshrined in Article 9 of the Constitution which has been in peril since these citizens have become aware of such a privilege as fundamental rights. Pashtuns and Baloch has been victims of genocide and their alleged killers did not leave any trail behind. In a fateful incident on 8 August 2016, the legal fraternity in Balochistan was decimated, which is a painful memory. With the passage of time, Balochistan is running short of democratic leaders because they are brutally killed for upholding and supporting democratic values. Shaheed Usman Kakar aka

Usman Lala, a great anti-imperialist, was killed in cold blood inside his home in Quetta. he remained a vibrant voice of Baloch-Pashtun concerns since his arrival in politics. In his untiring political struggle, he played a vital role in upholding the banner of democracy, federalism, supremacy of constitution and rights of the oppressed nations. Karima Baloch, living in exile, was very concerned with state atrocities towards the Baloch nation. She fought against the ruthless state machine and against a deeply segregated patriarchal system that leaves no role for women outside the home’s four walls. her voice was allegedly silenced in Toronto, a city in Ontario, Canada. Rain is a blessing of the Almighty, but the ill-preparedness of the province for the rains, was a blessing in disguise. Due to the unpreparedness of the Balochistan government, the latest bout of rains has killed 64 and injured 49, according to reports of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority. Women and children have been killed and hundreds left homeless in the province. Sad to say, the natural calamity that devastated Balochistan again side-lined on the mainstream media. Since calamity has maligning lives of people across Balochistan, one can conclude that nature &and the powerful mistreat the vulnerable all the same way. The panacea is to remedy one’s vulnerabilities; then nature and the powerful will bestow upon you their respect.. Political engineering by the state and unrestrained military Intervention in the province, lack of civilian supremacy, depoliticisation of youth and precluding them from entering and participating into political spheres are the major consequences of the systemic instability in Balochistan. To establish lasting peace in Balochistan, needs a holistic strategy which shall move beyond rhetoric. An experienced and legitimate government at the centre and a truly representative setup for Balochistan is the panacea of all woes, unlike the one headed by artificial construct with political naivety. In the meanwhile, The aggrieved Baloch community leaders should be calmed and persuaded to take the democratic route to address the issues faced by their people to put an end to this contagious conundrum of hate, disgust and killings.

To establish lasting peace in Balochistan, needs a holistic strategy which shall move beyond rhetoric. An experienced and legitimate government at the centre and a truly representative setup for Balochistan is the panacea of all woes, unlike the one headed by artificial construct with political naivety. In the meanwhile, The aggrieved Baloch community leaders should be calmed and persuaded to take the democratic route to address the issues faced by their people to put an end to this contagious conundrum of hate, disgust and killings.

The writer is a freelance columnist

The catchphrase ‘with us or against us’ has once again gained traction in the Western capitals in the aftermath of Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine; so has India’s protracted fence-sitting. There has been the proverbial tug-of-war between the contending parties. But, as the conflict continues to polarise the world, India’s hesitation in taking sides has started to exasperate its key Western sponsors — the United States and its european allies. Despite their strategic convergence in the Asia-Pacific region, the Quad, New Delhi’s muted stance on the crisis is increasingly becoming a cause of particular concern for the US. President Joe Biden has described India as the only country among the Quad members that is “somewhat shaky” in acting against Russia. During his visit to New Delhi, US Deputy National Security Adviser Daleep Singh also alluded to potential “consequences” for countries attempting to undermine US sanctions. The West has responded with unprecedented sanctions and relentlessly rallied for Russia’s complete economic isolation. however, India has shied away from boarding the sanctions bandwagon and abstained from successive United Nations resolutions reprimanding Russia. New Delhi has increased its oil imports from Russia by circumventing international sanctions. It has received 34 million barrels of discounted Russian oil since Feb 24. According to Kpler, a Paris-based data analytics firm, Russia’s Ural crude oil imports are now the second-largest source for India after Iraq, when the US and its allies are rallying hard for a united front against Russia. More importantly, India’s heavy reliance on Russian military hardware and its blossoming strategic partnership with the US has created a strategic dilemma for New Delhi. Going by the figures released by Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation, India has ordered Russian weapons worth approximately $70 billion since 1991. Similarly, India’s strategic partnership with the US dates back to 2001, when it began to pursue the latter for cooperation in three crucial areas known as ‘Trinity’’. It included easing restrictions on dual-use high-technology goods, civil nuclear cooperation, and civilian space cooperation. The same was reiterated in January 2004 at a joint press conference by president George Bush and prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that “the US-India ‘strategic partnership’ included expanding cooperation in the trinity areas as well as expanding dialogue on missile defence.” The cooperation was later converted into a ‘quartet’ and further expanded as the Next Steps Strategic Partnership (NSSP). The collaboration through NSSP helped to establish enhanced cooperation in the fields of dual-use, space and nuclear technology, which led to the signing of ‘Agreement 123’ between the two countries in 2008, giving India an undue advantage in the realm of nuclear technology and adversely affecting the state of strategic stability in the region. The US has been relentlessly promoting India at the cost of Pakistan as a ‘net security provider’ in the region. It is due to American patronage that India has been granted membership in three of the four international export control groups: the Australia Group (AG), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), and the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA). The US has also been lobbying for New Delhi’s permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and its inclusion in the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). As a result, the bilateral trade between the US and India stood at $119.42 billion in 2021-22, making the US surpass China to become India’s top trading partner. Likewise, the Indian diaspora makes up the second-largest immigrant group in the US, becoming a source of sizeable remittances for India. But, despite numerous strategic concessions, technological facilitation, and favourable trade regimes, India has proved to be an unreliable strategic partner for the US. So, will India be able to prolong its ‘wait-and-watch’ policy and cater to its partners — the US and Russia — at the moment? The big question for Washington is: whether it should continue its alliance and support for India despite its double-dealing or, to put it bluntly, back-stabbing? Farah Khan Abro Islamabad

KU VC imbroglio ThIS is with reference to the report ‘Academics call for fresh ad to appoint KU vice chancellor’ (July 15), which, at best, has presented one side of the story. The fact of the matter is that after the death of Dr Ajmal Khan, the former vice chancellor (VC) of the University of Karachi, on May 5, 2019, the Universities and Board Department of the Government of Sindh published an advertisement for the vacant post and asked the applicants to apply before July 15, 2019. When the university published a corrigendum to the said advertisement, senior faculty members challenged it in the Sindh high Court (ShC) which, on Jan 26, 2021, declared the corrigendum illegal. Later, the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) also upheld the ShC judgment, and the corrigendum was set aside. Subsequently, a new search committee was formed, which recommended the names of three most suitable candidates for the post. Now that the provincial chief minister has interviewed the three candidates and a final notification is expected soon, some individuals, especially those who could not make it to the final stage, have started misleading the public, and are demanding a fresh start altogether. This is a completely misleading narrative, which the said report propagated while ignoring the facts and the views of those concerned. Contrary to what the report implied, the procedure and the guidelines set by the higher education Commission (heC) for the appointment of VCs apply to the University of Karachi just as they do to all other universities in the country. According to these rules, an applicant needs to have at least five research papers published in the preceding five years. One would do well to recall the removal by the Islamabad high Court (IhC) from office of Dr Altaf hussain, a VC of the Federal Urdu University, on the basis of this very rule. Now, after four long years, when the process of notifying a full-time VC is on the verge of completion, a few individuals are trying to have the entire process start afresh in their own vested interest. Factually speaking, any attempt at re-advertisement will be in violation of the ShC and SCP judgments cited above. Over the last four years, the University of Karachi, which is a premier seat of higher learning in the country, has suffered a lot in academic, financial, administrative and all other aspects under temporary VCs. It deserves to get a full-time VC without any further delay. It will be rather unfotunate if that does not happen soon. Dr Tausif Ahmed Khan Karachi

08 WORLD VIEW 22nd July 22_Layout 1 7/22/2022 12:11 AM Page 1

Friday, 22 July, 2022

08 WORLD VIEW

How EU lEadErs makE THEir ciTizEns sUffEr THE falloUT from THEir failEd rUssia policy WESTERN LEADERS ACCUSE RUSSIA OF 'WEAPONISING' GAS - BUT, IN REALITY, IT'S THEIR OWN SANCTIONS WHICH HAVE CAUSED THIS CRISIS THE WEST CAN EASILY END ITS ENERGY CRISIS BY LIFTING SANCTIONS IT IMPOSED ON RUSSIA

rT/rachelmarSden.com

raChel Marsden

N a Bastille Day interview, French President Emmanuel Macron told citizens to “prepare ourselves for a scenario where we have to do without Russian gas entirely.” At the same time, Macron accused Moscow of using the fuel as a “weapon of war,” echoing the spin emanating from a European Union leadership that obscures the real reason the bloc is facing an energy shortage that’s driving up the cost of living. This crisis is entirely selfinflicted. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen accused Russia of energy “blackmail” at the end of April, citing the state-owned Gazprom’s announcement of a halt in gas deliveries to Poland and Bulgaria for failing to pay for in rubles. What von der Leyen – and now Macron – conveniently omitted was that it was the EU’s own anti-

Russian sanctions, adopted in a knee-jerk and ideologically-driven fashion at the outset of the Ukraine conflict, that represent the root cause of these disruptions. The West quickly adopted a strategy of targeting and sanctioning various aspects of the Russian financial system, including banks and foreign reserves, cutting it off from the SWIFT global transaction system – and then had the gall to complain that Moscow was asking for payment for its gas exports in its own currency to mitigate the hassle of navigating a system from which it was effectively blocked. “Export your gas but good luck trying to get paid,” is hardly a reasonable expectation. It wasn’t Russian President Vladimir Putin who called on the EU to cut off Russian gas. Rather, it was his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky, who has constantly pushed for ever more Western sanctions on Russian fossil fuels. And the West has only been to happy to recklessly indulge him to the detriment of its own citizens. Earlier this month, Zelensky even admonished Canada for agreeing to return repaired turbines for reintegration into the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline that provides gas to Germany, and demanded that Ottawa reverse its decision. Canada had earlier faced

the dilemma of violating the West’s own anti-Russian sanctions by virtue of even returning the critical parts – even though the pipeline is so vital to EU industry that the bloc's leaders have even been freaking out about its scheduled maintenance shutdown. Why would you be so worried about Russia failing to turn the tap back on when you’ve been saying repeatedly that you’ll gladly do without it “for Ukraine.” But even in defending the return of the turbines, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cited the same ridiculous Western establishment propaganda of Russia’s “weaponization” of gas, when in reality it’s the West’s own sanctions that have wreaked energy havoc and caused all this drama. “We have seen Russia consistently trying to weaponize energy as a way of creating division amongst the allies,” Trudeau said. So if Canada doesn’t violate its own sanctions and return the turbines to Germany, then Putin wins. The Olympic level rhetorical gymnastics required by Western leaders to justify violating their own failed sanctions are second only to their recent defense of firing up coal plants again, and redefining fossil fuel energy as “green,” amid the current shortages. EU leaders are calling for an end to Russian energy imports, citing their decision

to sanction their own gas supply as a reason to expedite a transition to unproven renewables. But rather than take responsibility for the fact that they set fire to their sails and are now stranded in the middle of the ocean while awaiting the manifestation of their renewable energy transition fantasy, they’re blaming Russia for their own shortsightedness and trying to spin it as a withholding of energy orchestrated by Moscow. Russia is only too happy to sell its fuel to whomever wants to buy it. And if the EU sanctions were lifted, the Western energy crisis would end. But that would mean admitting to a failed policy. So, instead, we’re being told that it’s all Putin’s fault, but also that the best way to stick it to Vladimir Putin is to take short, cold showers and to reduce “night lighting,” as Macron has recently suggested. Western leaders aren’t just taking their citizens for credulous fools with their ridiculous propaganda as cover for their own failures, but they’re treating the livelihood of the average person as collateral economic damage in their hopeless bid to isolate Russia. They've convinced themselves, from their ideologically-isolated elite bubble, that they represent the entire world. But they’re mostly just fooling themselves. Even the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, admitted to a rude awakening re-

VD Savarkar’s project to establish Hindutva not as an ideology but as history AN EXCERPT FROM ‘HINDUTVA AND VIOLENCE: VD SAVARKAR AND THE POLITICS OF HISTORY’ BY VINAYAK CHATURVEDI

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Vinayak ChaturVedi

HE ubiquity of Hindutva has ensured that everyone in India will have Savarkar’s ideas in mind for the foreseeable future. For Savarkar, Hindutva was never meant to be understood as bounded by national borders; his ambition was always planetary. Anyone with an interest in South Asia also knows that neither Hindutva nor Savarkar can be ignored today, no matter where they live. The challenge for all of us now is navigating the intellectual and political terrain to think with and against his ideas. Vinayak Damodar Savarkar is a difficult figure. As an intellectual founder of Hindu nationalism, he has emerged as the most controversial Indian political thinker of the twentieth century. His arguments for Hindutva transformed political debate by rethinking the concepts “Hindu” and “Hindustan.” He is remembered as an anti-imperialist who simultaneously longed for the resurrection of the lost Hindu Empire of centuries past. He is celebrated and condemned for his roles as a nationalist, a revolutionary, a political prisoner, and president of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha. He gained notoriety for his programme to “Hinduise Politics and Militarise Hindudom” while also arguing for permanent war against Christians and Muslims. He was never forgotten – and for many, never forgiven – for his associations with the murderers of MK Gandhi – the Mahatma. The consequence: Savarkar is declared a martyr by some and condemned as the enemy by others. The historical significance of Savarkar’s life is acknowledged and ac-

cepted by those familiar with modern South Asian history. Less is known about the corpus of his work. His prolific writings have certainly not received the attention of those of his contemporaries or interlocutors. Moreover, there is a lack of awareness of how much Savarkar actually wrote in his lifetime. The fact that his interpretations, conceptualisations, and ideas were at the epicentre of key debates that shaped the landscape of Indian political thought in the twentieth century is generally overlooked or simply ignored. There is no agreement about how his work should be represented or remembered given his polarising status within India. As a result, the reception of Savarkar’s ideas remains penumbral... I begin this book with a simple observation: Vinayak Damodar Savarkar struggled with defining Hindutva. The publication of Essentials of Hindutva in 1923 marked an important conjuncture in the development of the conceptual history of “Hindutva.” Savarkar was not the first to use the concept: it was already a part of Bengali vocabulary in the nineteenth century. Chandranath Basu is identified as the individual who invented or conceptualised “Hindutva” – a term he discussed in his book Hindutva (1892). However, Savarkar was undoubtedly responsible for the proliferation of the concept in the twentieth century. He explained that Hindutva should not be confused with its “cognate,” Hinduism. For Savarkar, Hinduism was a “code” or a “theory” founded on what he called a “spiritual or

religious dogma or system.” He explains: “Hinduism is only a derivative, a fraction, a part of Hindutva.” And he continues: “Had not linguistic usage stood in our way then ‘Hinduness’ would have been a better word than Hinduism as a near parallel to Hindutva.” But Hinduness is not Hindutva; it only serves as an approximation. To further complicate matters, Savarkar posited that Hindutva was indefinable: “The ideas and ideals, the systems and societies, the thoughts and sentiments, which have centred round this name are so varied and rich, so powerful and so subtle, so elusive and yet so varied that the term Hindutva defies all attempts at analysis.” The argument is that Hindutva is conceptually defiant. If Hindutva were only the name of an ideology, a theory, a religion, or a movement, it may have been possible to define the term. But it was in fact indefinable because Hindutva was ontological: “Hindutva embraces all the departments of thought and activity of the whole Being of our Hindu race.” The inclusion “of our Hindu race” is both important and problematic. It adds a new dimension to Savarkar’s conceptualisation. Hindutva as an entity could only be known by understanding all the actions and thoughts that have happened in its human form – in other words, that have taken human shape as a Hindu, or, in the plural, in the shape of the Hindu race. It is important to note that, at this moment, Savarkar asserted himself as a Hindu too, staking a claim within and for “our Hindu race” as part of his conceptualisation of Hindutva. In sum, Savarkar was using the personal pronoun “our” on behalf

of the Hindu race... It was over this ongoing conceptual struggle that Savarkar tried to reveal his method for understanding Hindutva: namely, History. Perhaps the most audacious passage he penned appears in Essentials of Hindutva, where he states, “Hindutva is not a word but a history.” He explained that Hindutva was not a “spiritual or religious history,” it was “a history in full.” Savarkar first identified Hindutva as a word in his text; he then asserted the negation of Hindutva as a word. This should not be seen as a negation of Hindutva per se, but as the negation of a word – and, by extension, language – that could not adequately represent the essence of Hindutva. And yet Savarkar knew he could not abandon the word “Hindutva” either; it was irreplaceable. It is in this moment of what might be called an existential impasse for “Hindutva” – as a word and not a word – that Savarkar immediately offers “history” as an alternative to provide meaning to “Hindutva.” To clarify matters once more: Hindutva is not simply “history,” or “the history,” but it is “a history,” or more specifically “a history in full.” Hindutva as a history is the singularity of Hindutva’s history – a single and singular history that is finite. And yet simultaneously Savarkar’s characterisation of it as a form of fulness suggests multiplicity, plurality, and completeness within that singularity or finitude. Savarkar concluded that the question of the meaning of Hindutva is not to be found in the word “Hindutva” itself, but within the multitude that is encompassed within a history. The essentials of Hindutva are truly the essentials of history. Hindutva and Violence tells the story of the place of history in Savarkar’s thought. The book is organised around Savarkar’s formulation of “a history in full” as the central conceptualisation in his writings. In many ways, I have been guided by Savarkar’s own argument. Hindutva may be indefinable, but the articulation that “Hindutva is not a word but a history” provides meaning to both “Hindutva” and “history.” For Savarkar, the key point is that “a history in full” is Hindutva, too. In other words, he not only linked Hindutva to Being, he also made it clear that history was going to be his method of interpreting Hindutva: his “a history in full” was going to provide the ultimate interpretation of how Hindutva may be actualised, recovered, or approximated in language.

cently at the G20 summit. “The G7 and likeminded countries are united in condemning and sanctioning Russia and in trying to hold the regime accountable,” Borrell said in a statement on the EU’s website. “But other countries, and we can speak here of the majority of the ‘Global South’, often take a different perspective.” But then Borrell gave away the game. “The global battle of narratives is in full swing and, for now, we are not winning,” he said. “As the EU, we have to engage further to refute Russian lies and war propaganda.” But who’s really peddling the propaganda? On one hand, the EU has been trying to portray the impact of its own irresponsible and devastating sanctions on its own economies and citizens as Putin’s doing even as it tries to convince Westerners that their suffering is some kind of war effort that’s doing harm to Russia. However, in reality, Russia can pivot to the rest of the entire world and simply leave West Europeans to wallow in their own costly delusions. They may be about to find out whether moral superiority and virtue-signaling will heat the house or feed the kids this winter. Rachel Marsden is a columnist, political strategist, and host of independently produced talk-shows in French and English.

Electric vehicles SAFETY & PRICING ISSUES SHOULD BE ADDRESSED ON PRIORITY Tribune The Union Government told the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that three manufacturers of electric two-wheelers recalled over 6,600 vehicles in April following fire incidents. Though the Centre claims that these cases — reported from Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh — have not impacted the nationwide sales of electric vehicles (EVs), safety concerns threaten to impede India’s green push. Last month, the National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV), which facilitates Ease of Doing Business in the electric mobility sector, had made recommendations to the NITI Aayog on the maintenance of EVs and their batteries after an electric SUV caught fire in Maharashtra. The NHEV made it clear that users deserved to know ‘what they are buying, driving and the risks associated’. Regular monitoring and strict action by the authorities are needed to ensure that the EV industry sticks to the guidelines and makes no compromise on safety. The number of registered EVs in India has crossed 13 lakh, which is just a drop in the ocean compared to the nearly 28 crore nonelectric vehicles on the roads. Improving the coverage and efficiency of the charging stations is another challenge. Under the FAME-I (faster adoption and manufacturing of hybrid and electric vehicles) scheme, the Centre sanctioned 520 EV charging stations, of which 479 were installed till July 1. Under FAME-II, 2,877 EV stations were earmarked for 68 cities in 25 states/UTs, but only 50 of them were set up till the same date. Faster charging at these stations is a must to reduce the drivers’ waiting time, which at present stretches into hours, especially in UP and Delhi, the states with the highest density of EVs. The forbidding prices of EVs are another constraint, especially for residents of non-metro cities where the commuting distances are short. The government has taken initiatives to address this issue, such as bringing EVs under the production-linked incentive scheme for the automobile and auto component industry, reducing GST on electric vehicles and chargers, and waiving road tax. Bigger steps are required to spur motorists to shun vehicles running on ecounfriendly fossil fuels and do their bit to reduce the carbon footprint.

Friday, 22 July, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

09 11TH EdITION OF INTERNATIONAl dEFENCE ExHIBITION ANd SEmINAR - IdEAS 2022 IN NOvEmBER NEWS

corporate corner

KARACHI Pr

Aybek Arif Usmanov, Ambassador of Uzbekistan to Pakistan, called on Muhammad Azfar Ahsan, Founder of Nutshell Group & Ex-Minister of State for Investments, at Nutshell Group Islamabad Office to discuss bilateral trade, investment strategy, and engagement of businesses from both countries for collaborations and joint ventures. Mr. Bakhrom Yusupo, Economic & Trade Counselor, Uzbek Embassy in Pakistan; Mr. Usman Yousuf, Director Nutshell Communications, Rabia Ahmad, Director and COO, Nutshell Group, and Maj-Gen (r) Shahzad Naeem Khan, Chief Public Affairs Officer, Nutshell Group also attended the discussion. Pr

BankIslami Becomes the First Islamic Bank to Finance Electronic Warehouse Receipt Financing Karachi: BankIslami, Pakistan’s leading Islamic financial institution, has become the first Islamic Bank to have successfully structured and disbursed Pakistan’s first Shariah-compliant Electronic Warehouse Receipt (EWHR) financing issued under the repository system managed by Naymat Collateral Management Company Limited. To facilitate farmers & aggregators to avoid distress sales during the harvesting period, SECP issued Collateral Management Company (CMC) Regulations in the Year 2019 to create an enabling environment and accredit warehouses for the storage of different commodities. Naymat Collateral Management Company Limited (NCMCL), the first CMC of Pakistan registered under the said regulations, is authorized to accredit warehouses to accept & store commodities, and issue Electronic Warehouse Receipts (EWHR) through a digital repository system duly connecting all relevant stakeholders, including Warehouse Operator, Depositor, Bank and CMC. Banks can access the system to accept EWHR for financing to their customers, as per their credit policy, against stored commodities. A ceremony was held at BankIslami - Head Office, Karachi to commemorate this first of its kind Shariah compliant EWR financing transaction. The ceremony was attended by President & CEO BankIslami, Syed Amir Ali and Shakaib Arif, CEO NCMCL along with other senior officials from both entities. BankIslami is among the nation's leading Banks with the highest number of depositors’ accounts operating with NCMCL for financing under EWHR regime. Syed Amir Ali, President & CEO BankIslami, congratulated the NCMCL team for taking this important initiative to strengthen the most important link of Pakistan’s Agriculture value chain and making EWHR financing a success. He emphasized that agriculture is the main stay of Pakistan’s economy providing food security so any investment in the sector will not only benefit farmers to enhance the crop yield but also help Pakistan to generate foreign exchange through surplus exports. He further stated "BankIslami is keenly focusing on the agriculture sector and consistently growing its Agri portfolio by facilitating farmers through its 340+ branches in more than 123 cities, while offering excellent turnaround times, especially in terms of Shariah Compliant EWR Financing". Pr

FFC mirpur mathelo Plant Resumes Operation

Alhamdulillah, Fauji Fertilizer Company (FFC) Mirpur Mathelo Plant resumed production 19 July, 2022 after successful completion of repair / maintenance activities. The Company shall continue to play it's role in development of the country in line with health, safety and environmental standards. Pr

minister of State for Finance dr Aisha Ghous Pasha holds meeting with CEO Total Parco Pakistan Limited Mr. Mehmat Celepoglu at Finance Division today. The CEO Total Parco discussed about the economic situation of the country and apprised the Minister of State for Finance and Revenue about their issues pertaining to taxation. The Minister of State for Finance and Revenue expressed the resolve of the present government to increase the FDI in Pakistan through keen focus on Ease of Doing Business and facilitation of the business community to attain sustainable growth in the country. She assured the CEO Total Parco to resolve their issues at priority basis and directed the relevant authorities to undertake the required steps for resolving their issue. Mr. Mehmat Celepoglue thanked the Minister of State for Finance and Revenue for addressing their issues. Pr

NTERNATIONAL Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) is a mega national event; biennially organized by Defence Export Promotion Organization (DEPO) in Pakistan. Since its inception in the year 2000, IDEAS has emerged as an international rendezvous of defence manufacturers, entrepreneurs, R&D specialists, financial experts, and top level policy makers to promote cooperation, knowledge sharing and support ventures in the field of defence collaboration. IDEAS is the event that brings together the national and international defence industry for synergistic businesses and cooperation. 11th Edition of IDEAS-2022 is scheduled from 15-18 November 2022 at Karachi Expo Centre (KEC). To provide impetus to ongoing national level preparations for this strategically important event, 2nd Steering Committee Meeting was held on 21 July 2022 at

Chief Minster House Karachi and was chaired by Mr Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Minister Sindh. It was attended by senior representatives from Federal Ministries, various departments of Government of Sindh, Armed Forces of Pakistan, Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs), DEPO officials and Badar Expo Solutions, the Event Manager.

The meeting was aimed at bringing all stakeholders at one page for holding this major event of Pakistan at par with international standards. In his address, Chief Minister Sindh highlighted that hosting the 11th edition of IDEAS is a testimony to our pledge for encouraging technological growth and exchange in the region.

The event will significantly contribute towards fostering and promoting Pakistan’s strategic relations with international fraternity and would serve to achieve the shared objectives of global peace, stability and balance. He attributed successful conduct of IDEAS since year 2000 to all out support by various government departments, Armed Forces of Pakistan, LEAs, public - private defence industry, trade bodies and largely the people of Karachi. DG DEPO, Maj General Muhammad Arif Malik, HI (M) highlighted that event as per its traditions will host number of splendid activities encompassing world’s cutting edge defence technology demonstrations, International Seminar and business expansions through well planned B2B / B2G engagements. In addition IDEAS Karachi Show will exclusively be arranged for the people of Karachi at Sea View (Nishan e Pakistan) on 17 November 2022.During the meeting, all government organizations and departments pledged their full support for successful conduct of IDEAS 2022.

HBL opens new Prestige Lounge in Balochistan

QuettA Pr

HBL inaugurated its new Prestige Lounge located in Quetta. This is the 1st HBL Prestige Lounge in the city, making a total of 32 lounges across 13

cities, with plans to further expand the Prestige footprint. The inauguration of the lounge was done by Jan Muhammad Jamali, Acting Governor, Balochistan and Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO – HBL. The Bank’s valued clients, digni-

taries and senior leaders were also present on the occasion. HBL Prestige provides a world-class banking experience to high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs). This exclusive proposition offers tailored solutions through dedicated digital & physical channels and portfolio managers who provide personalized banking services to its clients. The state-of-the-art Prestige Lounges are located strategically in high visibility areas of key cities. Commenting on the occasion, Muhammad Aurangzeb, President & CEO – HBL said, “HBL is committed to working with the Provincial Government of Balochistan and SBP for the development of Balochistan.

ICTP establishes new Public Relations Branch ISLAMABAD Pr

Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Dr. Akbar Nasir Khan has issued standing orders for the establishment of a Public Relations Branch (PRB) of ICT Police with a mission “Stay informed, Keep informed”, a police public relations officer said. He said the PRB was established after revamping the existing office of public relations set up in 2021 at Central police office. The Police Public Relations Branch would be headed by DIG Headquarters with assistance of an ICT Public relations officer (ICT PRO) who will look after all the media management on behalf of the DIG Headquarters. The newly created PRB will be established in CPO and its subordinate offices in different divisions. The core values of the said office are “Truthfulness, Transparency and Timeliness” with an objective of positive image building of ICT Police. The IGP Islamabad Dr. Akbar Nasir Khan said that the revamping of old DPR structure and establishment of new PRB was the need of the hour adding

Turkish Ambassador Calls On Air Chief Turkish Ambassador H.E. Mr. Mehmet Pacaci called on Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force in his office today. During the meeting, both the dignitaries discussed matters of professional and mutual interest. While appreciating professionalism of Pakistan Air Force, Turkish Ambassador H.E. Mr. Mehmet Pacaci acknowledged PAF’s rising indigenous capacity in aviation industry. The Air Chief said that Pakistan and Turkiye have longstanding religious, cultural and historical bonds which were manifested through strong ties between the Air Forces of two countries. The Air Chief highlighted that both the countries enjoy cordial relations and reiterated his resolve to further enhance the existing bilateral cooperation between the two brotherly countries. The Air Chief further said, “Pakistan values its relations with Turkiye, which are based on convergence on all important issues relating to regional peace, security and stability”. Pr

Session on National Preparations for ITU WRC 2023 Held that strategic communications through multiple media play a very vital role in building of any institution, department or person these days. He further stated that the main purpose of the said branch is prompt sharing of all departmental performances and steps taken for the benefit of the public and other positive aspects of the department on social media as well as print and electronic media, improving the public perception of ICT Police through factual information sharing and countering the flow of fake news.

Islamabad: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), in collaboration with Ericsson and Frequency Allocation Board (FAB), organized a webinar on national preparations for ITU World Radiocommunication Conference-2023 (ITU WRC23) at the FAB Headquarters, Islamabad. Head of Govt. & Industry Relations for Middle-East & Africa, Ericsson, Mr. Ali Cheema conducted the session that was attended by senior officers from the Ministry of IT&T, PTA and FAB. The session highlighted the importance of ITU WRC-23, agenda items & preparatory process. Pr

Iranian envoy calls on Agha Hassan Baloch ISLAMABAD Pr

Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Pakistan Seyyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini Called on the Federal Minister for Science and Technology Agha Hassan Baloch in his office today. Senior officials of the ministry including Scientific Advisor Zain-ulAbidin also attended the meeting. Federal Minister for Science and Technology Agha Hassan Baloch welcomed the Iranian delegation and

highlighted the deep-rooted cordial and fraternal relations between two countries based on faith and cultural affinities. He said Pakistan always highly values its brotherly ties with its neighboring country which have stood the test of time. It is a matter of great satisfaction that bilateral relations are witnessing an upward trajectory marked by high level exchanges in political, economic, defense and security spheres. Agha Hassan Baloch said that the two countries could benefit from each

other’s experience in various areas of common interest. Pakistan and Iran are amongst the founding members of ECO. And ECO Science Foundation is inter-governmental organization working under Ministry of Science and Technology. Federal minister said that Iran was the first country to recognize the state of Pakistan. Minister said that the two countries have shared history and literature. We both have convergence of views in number of areas ranging from Kashmir to Palestine.

Friday, 22 July, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

10 FOREIGN NEWS

US SAyS IrAN rISkS dePeNdeNcy oN rUSSIA WASHINTON

AFP

HE United States on Wednesday warned Iran that it risked dependency on an isolated Russia after it welcomed President Vladimir Putin, although the CIA chief acknowledged the two nations have uneasy ties. Putin on Tuesday visited Tehran for a three-way summit with his counterparts from Iran and Turkey that was nominally about conflict-ridden Syria On the sidelines of the summit, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for “long-term cooperation” with Russia, even though Tehran earlier tried to show its neutrality by abstaining from a key UN vote on condemning Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “Iran has now cast its lot with a small number of countries who wore that veil of neutrality only to end up supporting President Putin in his war

against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters. The United States recently released intelligence purporting to show Russian delegations visiting Iran to assess combat drones as it looks to

Pakistan calls for action to advance UN’s development agenda in Africa

bolster its arsenal against Western arms in Ukraine. But Price signaled that Iran’s return to compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal — backed by President Joe Biden after his predecessor Donald Trump trashed it — would start a new

“economic relationship with other countries around the world.” Negotiations have been deadlocked in part over Iranian demands that Biden lift Trump’s designation of the powerful Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group. Despite the US criticism of Iran’s summit, CIA chief Bill Burns — who as a diplomat helped broker the Iran deal and served as ambassador to Moscow — said Iran and Russia were reaching out to each other primarily because they are both “looking to break out of political isolation” and are under sanctions. “But if they need each other, they don’t really trust each other in the sense that they are energy rivals and historical competitors,” Burns said at the Aspen Security Forum. Moscow has a long history of intervention in Iran, occupying the key northern city of Tabriz in the early 20th century and joining Britain in an invasion of the country in 1941.

End of the line: Fed-up Sri Lankans rush for passports

UNITED NATIONS Agencies

Pakistan spotlighted the development of Africa at a key UN meeting on Wednesday, with a call for advancing the 2030 agenda for sustainable development, which is aimed at eliminating extreme poverty, reducing inequality and protecting the planet. Participating in a high-level dialogue on “The Africa We Want: Reconfirming the Development of Africa as a Priority of the United Nations System”, Ambassador Munir Akram said that the coronavirus pandemic had pushed 43 million people into extreme poverty in Africa alone, as it devastated economies and endangered livelihoods around the world. “Now,” the Pakistani envoy said, “efforts towards an inclusive and sustainable recovery have been halted by the global food, fuel and finance emergency”. Climate change had contributed to and was compounding these challenges, he said, adding that Africa was the most vulnerable region in the world, with several countries facing a series of disasters, including floods, droughts and heat waves. The ambitious climate commitments in Glasgow, COP 27, must turn to action and to implementation of the agreements and commitments, Ambassador Akram stressed. In this regard, he underscored the need for developed countries to fulfill their long overdue commitment of US $100 billion in annual climate finance, and this must be separate and additional to their existing provision of Official Development Assistance (ODA). Even this amount will be insufficient to combat the monumental challenges of transformation to dynamic models of sustainable development, Ambassador Akram said, adding that deliberations for a new and more commensurate collective quantified finance goal from a floor of US $100 billion must be agreed. The Pakistani envoy said the estimated the annual cost of adaptation in developing countries could be as high as US $300 billion until 2030. In African countries, he said, building resilience and responding to climate related disasters is expected to cost 5% of their GDP annually by 2030. “Thus,” he said, “concrete progress will also require the preparation of sound national adaptation plans and projects by African and other developing countries.”

COLOMBO AFP

One of the longest queues in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo is for the exit, as thousands of people line up outside the immigration office seeking passports to escape the country’s economic crisis. Every day, about 3,000 people submit their papers and 15,000 rupees (USD 42) to obtain travel documents. The office is running 24 hours a day, six days a week to try to cope with demand. Many applicants still have to wait overnight, like Madushini, 35, whose guesthouse business in the western province of Udawalawa fell victim first to coronavirus and then to the financial turmoil. Now, she wants to find work in the US, where her cousin lives. “Bookings from foreign tourists have dried up, so I need to find a way to earn and secure my son’s life,” she told AFP, giving only one name. “The whole country is closed, and we don’t have money.” overseAs numbers sWell: Some of those waiting in the queue go without food and water for fear of losing their

place, sweating in the humid tropical weather. Unemployed chef Samantha, 34, has secured an offer from a hotel in Cyprus and had been in line for 18 hours when he spoke to AFP. “I want to leave Sri Lanka as soon as possible,” he said. “I have no work here now and no money. I will wait in this queue until I get a passport.” The pandemic caused a foreign exchange crisis that critics say was exacerbated by government mismanagement. The situation left tourism-dependent Sri Lanka unable to import enough fuel, medicines and other essentials. Inflation in June stood at 54.6 percent, according to official figures, and the Indian Ocean island country has defaulted on its $51 billion debt. Overseas remittances — also hit by the coronavirus — have long been another economic mainstay, with over 10 percent of the 22 million population working abroad, mostly in Gulf countries. That number is now swelling. The immigration department has already issued more passports this year than for the whole of 2021, their figures show. Numbers have generally

been around 50,000 a month but jumped to an estimated 122,000 in June. ‘help our country’: Many passport applicants travel long distances from rural areas on crowded buses. “I know some people in Saudi Arabia. They have promised to help me find work as a housemaid there,” said housewife Shantakala, 46, from Chilaw. “My husband will look after our farmland where we don’t make enough for both of us and I will go away.” Others are students abandoning their education. “We need to get out of here, find work and support our family in this difficult economic situation,” said Imesh Tarusha, 18, one of a family of six. On Wednesday, Ranil Wickremesinghe was elected Sri Lanka’s next president, taking over from Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled the country and resigned after protesters forced him from his palace. Colombo is also in talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout, but the would-be emigrants have little hope of improvement soon. “My country is beautiful but without fuel. It’s very difficult,” said Shantakala. “I hope it will get better but I don’t know how long it will take.” Immigration officers are working around the clock to hand out documents. “It’s exhausting work,” one staff member told AFP on condition of anonymity. “No one goes home.” “It’s important to issue as many passports as possible so that people can travel and send remittances home,” the staffer added. “That will help our country.”

Webb telescope may have already found most distant known galaxy WASHINGTON AFP

Just a week after its first images were shown to the world, the James Webb Space Telescope may have found a galaxy that existed 13.5 billion years ago, a scientist who analyzed the data said Wednesday. Known as GLASS-z13, the galaxy dates back to 300 million years after the Big Bang, about 100 million years earlier than anything previously identified, Rohan Naidu of the Harvard Center for Astrophysics told AFP. “We’re potentially looking at the most distant starlight that anyone has ever seen,” he said. The more distant objects are from us, the longer it takes for their light to reach us, and so to gaze back into the distant universe is to see into the deep past. Though GLASS-z13 existed in the earliest era of the universe, its exact age remains unknown as it could have formed anytime within the first 300 million years. GLASS-z13 was spotted in so-called “early release” data from the orbiting observatory’s main infrared imager, called NIRcam — but the discovery was not revealed in the first image set published by NASA last week. When translated from infrared into the visible spectrum, the galaxy appears as a blob of red with white in its center, as part of a wider image of the distant cosmos called a “deep field.” Naidu and colleagues — a team totaling 25 astronomers from across the world — have submitted their findings to a scientific journal. For now, the research is posted on a “preprint” server, so it comes with the caveat that it has yet to be peerreviewed — but it has already set the global astronomy community abuzz. “Astronomy records are crumbling already, and more are shaky,” tweeted NASA’s chief scientist Thomas Zurbuchen. “Yes, I tend to only cheer once science results clear peer review. But, this looks very promising,” he added. Naidu said another team of astronomers led by Marco Castellano that worked on the same data has achieved similar conclusions, “so that gives us confidence.” ‘Work to be done’: One of the great promises of Webb is its ability to find the earliest galaxies that formed after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago. Because these are so distant from Earth, by the time their light reaches us, it has been stretched by the expansion of the universe and shifted to the infrared region of the light spectrum, which Webb is equipped to detect with unprecedented clarity. Naidu and colleagues combed through this infrared data of the distant universe, searching for a telltale signature of extremely distant galaxies. Below a particular threshold of infrared wavelength, all photons — packets of energy — are absorbed by the neutral hydrogen of the universe that lies between the object and the observer. By using data collected through different infrared filters pointed at the same region of space, they were able to detect where these drop-offs in photons occurred, from which they inferred the presence of these most distant galaxies. “We searched all the early data for galaxies with this very striking signature, and these were the two systems that had by far the most compelling signature,” said Naidu. One of these is GLASS-z13, while the other, not as ancient, is GLASS-z11. “There’s strong evidence, but there’s still work to be done,” said Naidu. In particular, the team wants to ask Webb’s managers for telescope time to carry out spectroscopy — an analysis of light that reveals detailed properties — to measure its precise distance. “Right now, our guess for the distance is based on what we don’t see — it would be great to have an answer for what we do see,” said Naidu. Already, however, the team have detected surprising properties. For instance, the galaxy is the mass of a billion Suns, which is “potentially very surprising, and that is something we don’t really understand” given how soon after the Big Bang it formed, Naidu said. Launched last December and fully operational since last week, Webb is the most powerful space telescope ever built, with astronomers confident it will herald a new era of discovery.

China fines Didi Global $1.2b, fuelling hopes of thaw in regulatory crackdown HONG KONG news Desk

China’s cybersecurity regulator on Thursday fined Didi Global Inc $1.2 billion, concluding a probe that forced the ride-hailing leader to delist from New York within a year of its debut and made foreign investors wary about China’s tech sector. Didi ran afoul of the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) when it pressed ahead with its US stock listing even though it was urged to wait while a cybersecurity review of its data practices was conducted, sources previously told Reuters. The CAC said Didi had violated three major laws concerning cybersecurity, data security and personal information protection, a regime that the country revised and expanded last year as part of efforts to regulate its cyberspace and require companies to im-

prove their handling of data. The regulator also said its investigation found Didi had illegally collected millions of pieces of user information over a sevenyear period starting in June 2015 and carried out data processing activities that seriously affected national security. It fined Didi 8.026 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) and, in an unusual move, said founder and Chief Executive Cheng Wei and President Jean Liu were responsible for the violations and imposed penalties of 1 million yuan each. “Didi’s violations of laws and regulations are serious … and should be severely punished,” it said. Didi, backed by investors including US peer Uber Technologies and Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp, in a statement on its Weibo account said it accepted the CAC’s decision and would conduct comprehensive self-examination and rectification.

The regulatory action against Didi was part of a wider and unprecedented crackdown by authorities on violation of antitrust and data security rules, among other issues, targeting some of China’s best-known corporate names. Authorities have in recent months changed their tone towards the crackdown as they seek to boost an economy hurt by COVID-19 containment measures. The shift has raised hope for companies and investors that the worst is over, though jitters remain. Chinese technology stocks rose after the Didi announcement, with the Hang Seng Tech Index gaining over 1% in afternoon trade, before paring most of its gains and ending the day up 0.12%. “The fine should mark the end of Didi’s regulatory troubles,” said analyst Travis Lundy at Quiddity Advisors who publishes on research platform Smartkarma. “If there were more, they’d have waited

until those were understood and addressed to levy the fine,” he said, adding the development should allow Didi to move towards listing in Hong Kong. Didi, which delisted from New York last month, previously aimed to list in Hong Kong by June. It put such plans on hold indefinitely after failing to win approval from Chinese regulators, Reuters has reported. App relAunch: Didi’s fine would be the largest regulatory penalty imposed on a Chinese technology company since Alibaba Group Holding and Meituan were fined $2.75 billion and $527 million respectively last year by the antitrust regulator. Alibaba’s fine equated to about 4% of its 2019 domestic sales, while Meituan’s was equivalent to 3% of its 2020 domestic sales. In comparison, Didi’s fine would be equal to about 4.6% of the firm’s $25.7 billion revenue last year.

Under China’s Personal Information Protection Law, companies can be fined up to 5% of their past year’s turnover or 50 million yuan, while the maximum fine for individuals seen to be responsible for the violations is 1 million yuan. The CAC announced its inquiry into Didi shortly after its New York debut on June 30, 2021. It also ordered app stores to remove 25 apps operated by Didi and told the firm to stop registering new users, citing national security and public interest. The regulator did not say in its Thursday statement whether or when it would allow the apps to return to app stores or allow new user registration to resume. Didi previously said it would need to apply for the apps to be restored and three sources told Reuters that the company has updated the apps to ensure they are compliant once a relaunch is allowed.

11 Sports 22 JULY_Layout 1 7/21/2022 11:04 PM Page 1

Friday, 22 July, 2022 | ISLAMABAD

SPORTS 11

DE BruynE AT THE DouBLE AS CiTy Down AmEriCA hOUSTON

neWS DeSk

EVIN De Bruyne’s double strike was enough to help Manchester City see off Club America 2-1 in Houston on Wednesday as Pep Guardiola made Erling Haaland wait for his debut. The Belgian international’s superbly taken brace settled a feisty clash at NRG Stadium but City’s new $61 million striker could only look on from the bench as the Premier League champions began their two-match US tour with a win. This was Guardiola’s first pre-season match while Club America are three games into their Liga MX campaign and it showed as the Mexican side were organized and lively early on.

Haaland may have been waiting in the wings but fellow new striker Julian Alvarez, the Argentine international signed from River Plate, was making his first start for City. He was subbed after 70 rather ineffective minutes of a match which threatened to boil over midway through the first half when both sets of players had to be pulled apart after Jack Grealish became involved in a pushing match with keeper Guillermo Ochoa. The bad feeling shown towards the City midfielder extended into the second half with America fans jeering his every touch. Both players were let off with a warning and on 30 minutes, Ochoa was left helpless as De Bruyne curled home an unstoppable effort from just outside the box.

The Mexican international was subbed soon after and his replacement was almost beaten by a fiercely struck Joao Cancelo effort but as the clock ticked towards halftime, City were undone by a long ball forward and Henry Martin saw off Ake’s challenge before rolling home. The irrepressible De Bruyne, however, restored the lead when he was fed by Riyad Mahrez and finished clinically for his second of the evening just before half-time. New signing Kalvin Phillips, the England international midfielder signed for $54 million from Leeds, came on as a central defender after the interval as Haaland looked on with Saturday’s game against Bayern Munich at Green Bay’s Lambeau Field the next chance to get his first minutes under Guardiola following his move this summer from Borussia Dortmund.

Miandad wants Babar to lead Pakistan till retirement Amateur mountaineers from Swat set world record to summit Falak Sar peak

Haris likely to replace injured Shaheen Afridi in second Test against Sri Lanka

SWAT SyeD ShahabuDDin

Two- local mountaineers set a new record by reaching the summit of Falak Sar, the highest peak of Hindukush Mountain range in Kalam valley of Swat district without any training and proper equipment. The two Mountaineers – Zeeshan Umar and Numan Khalil scaled the 5985 metres high peak of Falak Sar during 6 days of difficult journey. The peak was recently summitted by an international team comprised of mountaineers from France, United Kingdom, Salvinia, United States and Gilgit- Baltistan who later skied down from the peak last month. The local mountaineers said that it was their dream to summit the peak and they did it without any proper training and professional equipment. They said they were proud to become the first Swatian to have summit the peak, adding that they completed their expedition in six days. “Our happiness knew no bounds when we reached the top. I dedicate this summit to my mother as she is always ahead to encourage me and pray for my success,” said Zeeshan Umar. The mountaineers said that Falak Sar was not an easy peak as its route was full of icy and a lot of big glaciers, dozens of wide crevasses, frequent vertical reliefs and enormous bulk of ice and rock, which was why it was one of the most dangerous peak among the 5985 meters high peaks of Hindukush range, here in Swat district. “We are not professionally trained in rock and ice climbing, which was our weakest point but we had a strong will and we found good weather till the summit which enabled us to successfully summit the peak,” Numan Khalil another summiteer described. The two young mountaineers vowed to climb the entire highest peak in Pakistan. “If the government support us and provide us professional equipment to summit highest peaks and wave Pakistani flag,” they concluded.

England security delegation visits PSCA LAhOrE neWS DeSk

A security delegation of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), along with representatives of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), visited the Punjab Safe Cities Authority (PSCA) Headquarters Qurban Lines, here on Thursday to assess the security arrangements for England’s upcoming tour of Pakistan. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) delegation comprised Richard Snowball, Robert Lynch, John Carr, and Reg Dickason. PSCA Chief Operating Officer Muhammad Kamran Khan gave a detailed briefing on the security arrangements outside and inside Gaddafi Stadium, airport, hotel, and on parking routes with the use of 4G/LTE technologies. He also briefed about the deployment of police force and the support of law-enforcement agencies for a foolproof security. The ECB delegation was briefed about surveillance footage of the security arrangement made for the PSL, Australia, Sri Lankan, and Bangladesh matches held in Lahore. The security delegation was impressed by the monitoring with the help of cameras and expressed satisfaction over the security arrangements by the PSCA. The visit was concluded with the presentation of a souvenir shield to the delegation from the PSCA.

GALLE ISLAMABAD Web DeSk

Pakistan has become a competitive Test side under the leadership of Babar Azam as they have won eight matches out of 12 played. Pakistan also registered an impressive victory over Sri Lanka in the first Test in Galle to take a 1-0 lead in the two-match series. The visitors created a venue record for the highest successful run-chase in the longest format, as opener Abdullah Shafique smashed an unbeaten century (160*), steering the side to the 342-run target on the final day of the Test.

Many on his official YouTube channel, Javed Miandad spoke in detail about Pakistan’s win and reserved special words of appreciation for Babar Azam and his captaincy. “Team is playing as a combined unit, and the credit goes to our players as well as our no.1 captain. He is our captain cool. He doesn’t lose his temper,” Miandad said. “He led the team brilliantly. The most important thing is he is performing brilliantly himself. He leads from the front. Often, if a captain doesn’t perform, it can affect the team negatively and it

leads to his downfall.” The former Pakistan captain also stated that Babar Azam should be the captain of the side until he retires. “Babar Azam is mature now. He should be the captain of the team until he retires from the game,” said the former cricketer who represented Pakistan in 123 Tests and 233 ODIs. The second Test of the series between Sri Lanka and Pakistan begins on July 24. The game was also shifted to Galle from Colombo amid the economic crisis in Sri Lanka, which resulted in a number of protests around the country.

Staff RepoRt

Pakistan’s leading pacer Shaheen Afridi is likely to be rested for the second Test match against Sri Lanka due to injury concerns. The pacer suffered an injury in the first Test match while fielding on Day 4 of the Test match at Galle. Shaheen was taken to the hospital for an MRI scan. Sources claim that, after receiving the results, it was concluded that his injury is not serious, but no risks will be taken in terms of his fitness. Shaheen Afridi has led Pakistan from the front in all formats and his participation remains critical to Pakistan’s chances across the board. The left-arm pacer picked up four wickets in the first innings but remained wicketless in the second as he only bowled 7 overs. Haris Rauf has been identified as his potential backup granted if the management believes that Shaheen should be rested. The second Test match will kick off from July 24.

England rallies to knock out Spain, reaching Euro semi-finals LONDON afp

England rallied from the brink of elimination to beat Spain 2-1 after extra time and reach the semi-finals of Euro 2022 thanks to Georgia Stanway’s stunning strike. Ether Gonzalez’s opener had the hosts heading for an early exit, but Ella Toone rescued the Lionesses six minutes from the end of normal time before Stanway’s winner took England into the last four of a fourth consecutive major tournament. Sarina Wiegman’s side will face Sweden or Belgium in the last four on Tuesday. England were given a boost prematch with the return of Wiegman to the touchline after she tested negative for coronavirus earlier in the day. The Lionesses had everything their own way in the group stage as they plundered 14 goals without reply against Austria, Norway and Northern Ireland. However, despite their own struggles to reach the knockout stages, Spain were a big step up in class. La Roja had been pre-tournament favourites before injuries to reigning Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas and alltime top goalscorer Jennifer Hermoso rocked their preparation.

Jorge Vilda’s side suffered their first defeat since 2019 to Germany in the group stage, but even in that game dominated possession of the ball. Spain’s ability to keep the ball off the hosts frustrated England and another sell out crowd of 29,000 in Brighton for the vast majority of the first 90 minutes. But they again struggled to turn their possession into goals. Despite being on the back foot, the home side could have led before the

break as Ellen White smashed a loose ball from a free-kick into the roof of the net only to be flagged offside. England have still never lost in now 18 games since Wiegman took charge in September. But they have never come so close to defeat in that time and had to show admirable fight to battle back from a goal down. Spanish substitute Athenea Del Castillo jinked past Rachel Daly and

squared for Gonzalez, who had time to take a touch before firing low into the far corner. Mary Earps then had to make a brilliant save to prevent a cross from the lively Del Castillo floating into the far corner to double Spain’s lead. Wiegman did not waste time in turning to her bench with White, Fran Kirby and the tournament’s top goalscorer Beth Mead surprisingly sacrificed for the introduction of Chloe Kelly, Alessia Russo and Toone. Those changes had the desired effect to keep England’s hopes of a first major tournament win in the women’s game alive. Lauren Hemp’s cross was headed down by Russo for her Manchester United teammate Toone to fire in from close range. Suddenly the momentum completely swung in England’s favour and six minutes into extra-time they led. Stanway drove forward before the Bayern Munich-bound midfielder smashed the ball past Sandra Panos from outside the box. Aitana Bonmati came closest to a reply when she fired wide early in the second period of extra time. But Spain’s wait to win a knockout game at a major women’s tournament goes on.

Friday, 22 July, 2022

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Rupee continues slide to land at new low of 229 against dollaR ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

HE Pakistani rupee on Thursday continued its downward trend against the US dollar, hitting a new low of 229 during the morning trade in the interbank market — despite the government’s assurances of market stability and incoming forex in the next few days. A day earlier, the rupee nosedived by a whopping Rs2.99, or 1.30%, in a single day to hit an all-time low of Rs224.92, the data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had shown. Analysts attribute the fresh depreciation to political uncertainty arising out of the outcome of the Punjab by-

elections. In light of the deteriorating eco-

90 killed, nearly 4,000 houses damaged in Balochistan monsoon rains QUETTA inp

nomic situation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had convened an emergency

Massive increase in power tariff likely under FCA for June ISLAMABAD

Monsoon rains in Balochistan, which started on June 1, have wreaked havoc and brought misery to the people, killing at least 90 people — including three in the past 24 hours — and damaging nearly 4,000 homes across the province, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority said in an update. The second spell of downpours has rattled the region as rains have broken their 30-year record. According to a report by the PDMA, in addition to the deaths, 63 people have been injured. In the last 24 hours, two men and a child were killed in rain-related incidents in Quetta and Jaffarabad. Meanwhile, 706 livestock animals have been killed in floods. The report added that over 2,500 houses have been completely damaged, while 1,417 houses have been partly damaged in the rains. Separately, nine bridges and four roads have been submerged in water. In Turbat’s Mirani river, the water levels rose to 249.5 feet, raising the chances of flash floods. In other areas too, dams and reservoirs have been filled to capacity. The cities that recorded the highest rainfall include Ziarat, Pishin, Muslim Bagh, and Quetta. The PDMA said it has been dispatching relief items to the residents of Quetta and Panjgur, some of the mostaffected areas. So far, 1,100 ration bags and 50 camps have been sent, along with 200 blankets, 250 floor mats and 200 mosquito repellants. Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered the National Disaster Management Authority’s chairperson to increase the presence of officials in the flood-hit areas of Balochistan and pledged Rs1 million to the families of the people killed as a result of rainfall after a joint survey. He ordered the acting chief of NDMA to immediately reach Quetta and support the provincial government to rehabilitate the flood affectees. More rains expected: Meanwhile, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast more rain in the province in the upcoming days because a weak seasonal low lies over Northwest Balochistan. It said hot and humid weather was expected in most parts of the country. However, isolated rain and thunderstorms were expected in Sherani, Zhob, Musakhel, Qila Saifullah, Duki, Barkhan, Quetta, Qila Abdullah, Chaghi, Ziarat, Harnai, Kohlu, Dera Bugti, Bolan, Nasirabad, Lehri, Sohbatpur, Jhal Magsi, Jafarabad, Kalat, Khuzdar, Kharan, Washuk, Panjgur, Kech, Awaran, Lasbella and coastal areas of the province.

meeting with the country’s economic team and other high-ranking government officials. The delayed revival of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) programme has also played a major part in the rupee’s free fall as despite striking a staff-level agreement with the lender, the loan will be disbursed only after the institution’s Executive Board gives its approval — which is expected in August. Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, however, believes that the economy is on the right track and once political stability returns — which has been uncertain since the coalition government’s take over — the rupee will strengthen against the dollar.

ahmad ahmadani

Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) and KElectric have separately asked the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to approve a massive increase in power tariff under the head fuel charges adjustment (FCA) for the month of June 2022. As per details, already burdened masses should get ready to bear a heavy jolt in the form of power price hike as CPPA has asked for Rs9.90 per unit increase and K-Electric asked to jack up electricity price for its consumers by whopping Rs11.38 per unit on account of FCA of June. NEPRA has called separate hearings to consider the applications of both CPPA and K-Electric on July 28, 2022. Based on the information provided by CPPA in its application on behalf of power distribution companies (DISCOs), total power generation with various fuels was 13,876.14 Gigawatt hour while net delivered to DISCOs was 13,471.05 GWh in

the month of June. Similarly, power generation in the month of June with hydel source was 24.22 per cent, coal 13.57 per cent, Residual Fuel Oil (RFO) 10.48 per cent, gas 10.66 per cent, Re-gasified Liquefied Natural Gas (RLNG) 24.43 per cent, nuclear 9.12 per cent, wind 5.58 per cent, Iran import 0.37 per cent, mixed 0.07 per cent, solar 0.62 per cent and Baggasse 0.60 per cent. Moreover, reference fuel charges for June were fixed at Rs5.9344 per kilowatt hour and CPPA proposed an increase of Rs9.9095 per kWh. It is pertinent to mention here that NEPRA, in a notification dated July 7, 2022, has already increased power tariff by Rs9.5180 per kWh for the power consumers of K-Electric and asked to charge this hike in power price in consumers bills to be issued in the months of July and August 2022. Similarly, NEPRA, in another notification dated July 7, 2022, has asked all DISCOs except K-Electric to charge Rs7.9040 per kWh in the billing month of July 2022.

ECP rejects PTI demand for vote recount in PP-7 Rawalpindi ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday rejected a plea of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for a recount of votes in PP-7 (Rawalpindi-II), a constituency it lost to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) by a razor-thin margin of 49 votes. In its brief ruling, a fivemember bench of the commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan

Raja, declared rigging had not been proven by the petitioner and that the party had also failed to prove the need for a recount. Retired Col. Shabbir Awan, the PTI candidate, had approached the ECP Monday to seek a recount of votes for the constituency after claiming rigging during polling. Rival candidate, Raja Sagheer Ahmed of the PML-N, also only won by 49 votes, which is well within the margin of error. The PTI had also alleged that 1,500 votes were rejected and these should be rechecked.

However, Awan’s request had been rejected by the returning officer (RO) after which he approached the Lahore High Court (LHC) to demand a recount. The LHC, subsequently, ordered the ECP to stop the issuance of results for the by-polls and resolve the matter. In his plea, Awan had questioned why the results for PP-7 were delayed despite all presiding officers reaching the returning officer well before 8:00 pm, when a majority of constituencies’ results had been announced.

army rescues many in Rahimyar Khan boat capsize incident MULTAN Staff RepoRt

Pakistan Army troops including Special Services Group (SSG) commando divers rescued many during the search operation continued on Thursday in Indus waters to take out those still missing in boat-capsize incident in river Indus near Sadiqabad Tahsil of district Rahimyar Khan. Responding immediately to the special directions of Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Pakistan Army had sent a rescue team with divers of SSG commandos, Army Medical Team, Army Field Engineers, other supporting forces with necessary equipment to carry out the search operation, according to a release issued by ISPR Multan on Thursday. According to the information received from the civil administration, there were about 94 people onboard the boat, out of whom 45 people were rescued. During the ongoing search operation by the Pakistan Army, the bodies of 27 people have been recovered from the river so far, while search for remaining 22 missing persons was still underway, the release said.

pakistan-us ties should be based on respect: minister ISLAMABAD app

Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said on Wednesday it was high time for Pakistan and the United States to strengthen their relationship on basis of mutual respect and economic development instead of limiting it to defense and security. Addressing a press conference in Washington, the minister, accompanied by Ambassador Masood Khan, said the relationship was at a new juncture. He said, following the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in August last, both countries witnessed coldness in relations. But with this both the countries felt that ties between them were imperative for durable peace in this region. The minister said, in past, relations between the two countries would revolve around the security circle and as a result when that security scenario was relevant, the ties were good and touching heights but when the geostrategic scenario changed the relations would witness coldness. So there is a need to develop these relations based on mutual respect and on the basis of economy and development, he stressed. He said the US should harmonize its relations with Pakistan keeping in view its developmental needs whereas Pakistan should also consider America as a development partner and not only security partner. He said America was a biggest export market for Pakistan and was also source of investment for it while US can also play an important role in developing human resource of Pakistan and play an import role in the progress and prosperity of the country.

Imran warns of ‘unruly public anger’ if Punjab CM’s poll engineered LAHORE Staff RepoRt

PTI Chairman and former prime minister Imran Khan on Thursday warned institutions to be ready to brace “consequences” if the public mandate was “stolen” in Punjab chief minister’s election on Friday, saying he wont be able to “hold back” masses if their vote was “disrespected”. He issued this warning in an address to the nation a day before the crucial Punjab Assembly session to elect the new provincial chief executive after the PTI recently won 15 out of 20 seats in the by-elections in the province last Sunday. Imran also lambasted the incumbent Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja, saying his party “will never” contest general elections under the current CEC, as he called him “dishonest and anti-PTI”.

He accused the CEC of being biased during Daska by-elections last year, saying that he had ordered re-polling on the seat to ensure the PTI’s defeat. “This election watchdog chief also turned a blind eye to Supreme Court orders on our plea in the Senate election case,” Imran noted. He claimed that two of only five seats the PTI lost in the recent Punjab by-polls was “because the results in the two constituencies were released late”. The PTI chief berated the CEC for postponing local government elections in Sindh under the “pretext of rains”. “Similar requests for deferring of LG polls in KP were turned down … this CEC has taken all steps that go against the PTI,” he said. Imran said at least 130 ways of rigging could be eradicated if electronic voting ma-

chines were put to use. “But this mafia successfully blocked the introduction of EVMs.” Lahore was abuzz with political activity as party heads held meetings, with the province’s administrative fate set to be decided in less than 24 hours. The PTI and its key ally, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), held a parliamentary party session at a hotel in Lahore. PTI Vice President Fawad Chaudhry said that 186 members were present at the session that was later also addressed by party chairman Imran Khan. It is pertinent to mention that 186 is the number of MPAs whose support the chief minister’s candidates would have to demonstrate in the poll tomorrow. Various posts on the PTI’s Twitter account also showed rallies and gatherings of the party’s supporters that were addressed by its leaders in various cities.

Meanwhile, PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari visited and held a meeting with

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot # 7, Al-Baber Centre, F/8 Markaz, Islamabad, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 051-2204545. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk

PML-Q chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain at his Zahoor Elahi Road residence.