Thursday, 15 September, 2022 I 18 Safar, 1444 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XIII No 77 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
PM Shehbaz orderS raPid dewatering, fighting PoSt-flood diSeaSeS
BALOCHISTAN
P
staff report
RIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday warned of a perilous outbreak of water and vector-borne diseases while ordering the rapid dewatering of the flooded areas during his visit to Balochistan’s Sohbatpur district. “Infectious diseases are spreading in the flood-affected areas. Controlling the outbreak is crucial,” the premier said. PM Shehbaz cautioned that dealing with disease outbreak will become difficult if measures to limit the spread are not taken.
Appropriate steps should be taken for dewatering with the help of additional machinery and resources, he stressed. Balochistan chief secretary, while briefing the prime minister on the ongoing efforts to deal with flood-related damages, said that 128 roads in the province were dilapidated, out of which 91 have been restored. He further stated that a plan of Rs11 billion has been worked out for livestock rehabilitation. PM Shehbaz Sharif also ordered the district administration to immediately resolve the drinking water problems in Sohbatpur. He directed the authorities concerned to ensure the availability of drinking water and life-
saving medicines on priority in Sohbatpur’s area of Balochistan, severely damaged by floods. The prime minister reviewed the relief arrangements and later addressed the flood victims in the area. PM ANNoUNcES Two-MoNThS wAIVER of UTILITy bILLS foR fLood VIcTIMS: While addressing the flood affectees, PM Shehbaz Sharif announced a two-month waiver of water utility charges for the consumers residing in flood-affected areas all over the country. He said the government would not charge the consumers in the flood-hit areas for the bills of August and September. The prime minister said the waiver on water utility charges was aimed at facilitating the people heavily burdened by the challenges in the wake of the flood. He also announced continuation of the government’s facility in September to waive off Fuel Adjustment Charges for electricity consumers across the country on usage up to 300 units. The premier further stated that the facility would be extended beyond the flood-relief areas, benefitting around 210 million consumers in the country. Moreover, he said a mechanism would be established to revive the crops of wheat and cotton in the flood-affected areas. In view of the scarcity of drinking water in Sohbatpur, he said, two trucks carrying bottled water would reach in the area by tonight (Wednesday) while 10 tonnes of the commodity would be available in the next two days. He said that the coalition government along with the provincial government was making utmost efforts to provide relief to the people in flood-hit areas.
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Pakistani rupee hits 234 against US dollar in intraday trade ISLAMABAD staff report
The Pakistani rupee continued to lose ground against the dollar for the ninth consecutive session on Wednesday, the rupee lost 2.4 in the interbank market. The local currency closed at Rs234.32 per dollar, depreciating 1.02 per cent from yesterday’s close. According to Mettis Link News interview with Wajid Rizvi, Head of Research at Intermarket Securities
explained the recent depreciation of rupee due to the flood situation in the country, while the US Fed increased the rates which affected the global rate of the dollar against other currencies. “It seems that the initiative of the government and finance ministry towards the investment of dollars from friendly countries has not been productive and effective, the IMF deal had given us hope of recovering from the depreciation of rupees but it turned out to be the opposite”, he said.
Taliban deny presence of Jaish-e-Mohammad chief in Afghanistan KABUL agencies
A spokesperson for the “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” has denied that Pakistan has demanded the handover of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Maulana Masood Azhar from Kabul. “We’ve also seen this news in the media. But this is not true. Nobody has made such a demand from us,” said Zabihullah Mujahid in an interview with Afghanistan’s ToloNews, a day after a section of the Pakistani media reported that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has written a letter to Kabul’s new rulers seeking custody of Maulana Masood Azhar. According to the letter, Azhar has been hiding somewhere in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar. “Jaish-e-Mohammad chief is not in Afghanistan. Such organisations can operate on Pakistan’s soil – and even under official patronage,” Mujahid added. “We’ll not allow anyone to use Afghanistan’s soil against any other country.” A section of Pakistani media reported on Wednesday that MoFA had written a letter to the Afghan foreign ministry seeking Azhar’s handover. “We have written a one-page letter to Afghan foreign ministry, asking them to locate, report and arrest Masood Azhar, as we believe that he is hiding somewhere in Afghanistan,” media reported quoting a top official privy to the development. However, when approached, a Foreign Office spokesperson told The Express Tribune that “It is not true”. The JeM is a proscribed militant group which has been accused by India of several terrorist attacks, the most recent being the February 2019 suicide attack in Pulwama, in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, in which 40 Indian soldiers were killed.
PTI calls out PML-N for running malicious campaign against Imran on PTV ISLAMABAD staff report
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Wednesday lambasted the coalition government — particularly the PML-N — accusing it for “misusing religion of Islam to instil and spread hatred” against party chief and former prime minister Imran Khan. “PML-N is running an organised and planned campaign to make Imran Khan controversial [for the people],” former religious affairs minister Noorul Haq Qadri said at a press conference. Flanked by fellow PTI leaders Asad Qaiser and Iftikhar Durrani, Qadri said: “When I joined Imran Khan, it was not just for his political ideology but also his religious ideology,” he said, recalling that the policies formed during the PTI government’s tenure were proof of his love and respect toward the Holy Prophet (PBUH). Qadri went on to say that the “war being waged by the government was very dangerous as it would create divi-
sions and violence”. “These are the people who want to spread hatred and chaos in the land,” he added. His comments came hours after PML-N leader and federal minister Mian Javed Latif, in a press conference, accused the PTI chief of “attacking the basic principles of Islam” and “supporting” the Ahmediyya community during his tenure. “When Imran made the Naya Pakistan, units of Qadianis became active in Karachi […] Did Imran not give interviews to the foreign media in which he said that Qadianis will be given religious freedom,” Latif argued. During the presser, Javed Latif accused the PTI chief of pushing the country towards “secularism and away from the religion”. “Imran Khan wants to create anarchy in the country as he is using religion for his politics,” Latif said. He also showed a few short video clips of Imran Khan to make his point. The minister said there could be a strong public reaction if Imran Khan’s
tactics are not checked, warning there would be bloodshed in the country if Imran Khan went ahead with his politics. “We respect the state institutions and there should not be double standards for political parties.” Former National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser said that Latif’s statements were aimed at instigating religious hatred among the people. “This is condemnable.” Imran, he said, was currently at the height of his popularity. “PTI is the only party which signifies unity today because it has members from all religious sects and cultures,” he said. “Today, we are here to tell you that when we were in the government, and even today, you have seen our work for upholding Islam and the Prophet (PBUH),” Qaiser added. Meanwhile, former federal minister Iftikhar Durrani said that the government was violating the National Action Plan and Constitution by spreading “religious hatred”. “Today, the incumbent government is complicit in this crime through Javed
Latif. I seriously condemn it. The foundation of the PML-N is based on dictatorship […] they have never fought any battle through democracy. “Whenever their political opponents become powerful, they always indulge in personal attacks. A similar attack was
done today and it was an escalation,” Durrani pointed out. He recalled that PML-N had always levelled personal attacks at Imran. “And this shows that the PDM (Pakistan Democratic Party) has lost.”
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