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Sunday, 19 February, 2023 I 27 Rajab, 1444
Rs 15.00 | Vol XIII No 232 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Millat Tractors bounces back in Q2FY23, half year earnings still trail year on year
US sanctions authority probes Raiffeisen on Russia
Honda announces third price increase within four weeks
Story on Back Page
Story on Back Page
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Pakistan to continue assisting quake-victims in turkiye: Pm g
HoPES TurKIyE To ovErCoME g SAyS PAKISTAN To SEND 300 PoST-QuAKE CHALLENgES ToNS rELIEF gooDS By MoNTH uNDEr PrESIDENT ErDogAN END, 1700 ToNS IN MArCH isLAmAbAd
P
staff report
rIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday reiterated that Pakistan would stand by its Turkish brothers and sisters in the wake of a devastating earthquake with all possible relief assistance. In an interview with Anadolu news wire, the prime minister said they were deeply grieved at this very difficult situation and expressed the hope that the Turkish people with their resilience under the leadership of President recepTayyip Erdogan would overcome the postquake challenges. He said President Erdogan was leading from the front along with his team. undaunted by the extreme weather conditions, they were marching forward with a sense of purpose. “Things are extremely difficult, but the resolve of the Turkish nation is strong,” he said adding, the Turkish nation, in the past, had fought for their freedom by offering sacrifices.
“out of this challenge, there is an opportunity, and no doubt, they will convert this destruction into a wonderful construction,” the prime minister opined. The prime minister said Pakistan and Turkiye were like two souls and one heart. He said that after the earthquake, he
spoke to President Erdogan on the telephone and offered condolences and everything they had in Pakistan for their Turkish brothers and sisters. He said Pakistan had already sent 500 tons of relief goods through different commercial flights and via Pakistan air force planes. So they hoped by the end of this month, they would be able to send something like 1300 tons of relief goods and in the month of March about 1700 tons of relief goods, he added. The prime minister said the bulk of it would be comprising winterized tents. He informed that he had already directed for rapid manufacturing of the winterized tents which would be sent to Turkiye. “our rescue teams are able to rescue 14 people from the rubble. But this devastation is beyond imagination,” he added. The prime minister said the federal cabinet and parliament of Pakistan had donated one month’s salary to the relief fund established for the earthquake-affected Turkish people.
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Phone-tapping bid to ‘pressurise judges’: Imran LAHORE staff report
Former premier and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan Saturday said that the tapping of phone calls is a bid to ‘pressurise’ the judges and stop the rule of law in the country. Imran Khan made the statement while meeting with columnists and senior writers in which he discussed the PTI’s political strategy, economic challenges and terrorism incidents. He also elaborated on PTI’s Jail Bharo Tehreek and its targets.
The PTI chief said that the ongoing propaganda against the judiciary, especially the judges is shameful. He added that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) has a history of targeting the judiciary. Khan said that the tapping of phone calls is a bid to ‘pressurise judges’ and stop the rule of law. Khan said that the judiciary is the last hope of the nation. He added that the government should implement the rule of law without pressurising the judges. The PTI chief alleged that
the chief election commissioner (CEC) is the main supporter of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) in constitutional violations. He added that the incumbent government is promoting vengeful actions and political dictatorship. Khan expressed his resolve that the PTI will end the lawlessness and economic crisis with the nation’s support, adding that he has announced the commencement of the Jail Bharo movement for real independence. He said that political stabil-
ity will bring economic stability to the country which is impossible without the rule of law. Khan alleged that Qamar Javed Bajwa had admitted to play role in regime change and violated his oath. He added that Qamar Javed Bajwa had also admitted to controlling the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). He also alleged that Bajwa had also admitted to audio recordings which was an illegal step. He demanded the military institution conduct an inquiry into Bajwa’s steps.
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Security forces singularly focus on counter-terrorism with pronounced success: COAS Story on Back Page
Suzuki announces extension to its ongoing plant shutdown g
SuzuKI wILL HAvE SPENT 22 ouT oF PoSSIBLE 37 worKINg DAyS IN 2023, NoT HAvINg ProDuCED A SINgLE CAr LAHORE daniyal ahmad
Pak Suzuki Motor Company (PSMC) has notified the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) that it will be observing non-production days (NDPs) from February 20 to February 21. This will be an extension on its original shutdown from February 13 to February 17. Its motorcycle plant will, however, remain operational. The company has cited its continued shortage of inventory as the reason to extend its plant shutdown. The company had previously cited the same reason for observing its non-production days (NPD) from January 2 to January 6, from January 9 to January 13, and from January 16 to January 20. This will also be Suzuki’s single longest continuous stretch of NPDs in 2023, till now. The total number of NPDs being observed subsequently increases from 20 to 22. Suzuki will consequently have spent 22 out of a possible 37 working days in 2023 not having produced a single car. Suzuki not producing cars for the majority of January is the likely reason for why it saw a 74% month-on-month (MoM) reduction in its sales volume based on data provided by the Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA). The same could also potentially hold true for the 33% MoM decline it saw with its motorcycle sales. The rationale being that Suzuki’s supply side constraints disabled it from being able to take bookings in the same quantity that it could had the NPDs not been observed. This relationship, however, would be a first for Suzuki.
Suzuki had previously halted production in August, September, and october of 2022. It observed NPDs from August 18 to August 19 , from August 22 to August 26, from August 29 to August 31, from September 6 to September 9, from September 19 to September 23, from october 19 to october 21, and october 24 to october 26. However, Suzuki only saw a Monthon-Month (MoM) decline in August where its sales contracted by 41%. Its MoM figures saw increases of 52% and 33% in September and August respectively based on PAMA’s figures. PAMA’s figures do depict yearon-year (yoy) sales decreases in the aforementioned three months of 2022 where Suzuki saw declines of 67%, 46%, and 22% respectively. These decreases, however, are visible even in those months where Suzuki did not observe NPDs. The yoy declines are a characteristic of the entire automotive industry this fiscal year, with those companies not observing NPDs also falling prey to it. A continuous MoM decline into February might provide a clearer picture as to whether this new relationship between NPDs and declining sales volume actually holds.
Board stops MD SNGPL from exercising authority g
BoArD CoNSTITuTES SPECIAL SuB-CoMMITTEE To INvESTIgATE CoNDuCT oF Mr. HAMDANI isLAmAbAd ahmad ahmadani
The Board of Directors (BoD) of Sui Northern gas Pipelines Limited (SNgPL) has disallowed the managing director (MD) from exercising any powers as top man of the company, Profit learnt on Sunday. According to sources in the petroleum division, the BoD of SNgPL, in its 600th meeting held on Sunday (February 18, 2023), has passed a resolution that Ali Javed Hamdani shall cease the use of his powers as MD with immediate effect. This is till such time that the board and/or committee appointed by it, expeditiously completes its review of the matters discussed in the meeting, and the board takes a decision with respect to the future of Hamdani. Last month, on January 22, 2023, Profit by Pakistan Today had reported
that the government is likely to ask Hamdani to step down. Despite repeated efforts to speak to Hamdani and get his comment on the matter, there was no response. The board has now revoked the Power of Attorney in his favour till further orders and has delegated it instead to Amer Tufail, Deputy Managing Director (Services), as he is the senior most officer with immediate effect. Tufail will now exercise all powers/functions conferred according to the law. Pursuant to the decision of the SNgPL board, all employees were directed on February 18, 2023, to act accordingly in letter and spirit, said sources. They added that acting MD Tufail has also directed all employees to ensure smooth operations and continuity of the business through their respective heads. It is to be noted that the board has
constituted a Special Sub-Committee of BoDs comprising Syed Akhtar Ali and Dr Sohail razi Khan to investigate the conduct of Hamdani, including purported instances of financial irregularities, particularly relating to the uch Compression Project. The submission of their report is within the next 15 working days. Tufail has had experience in being acting MD before. In 2015, after the retirement of uzma Adil Khan, he became acting MD SNgPL. He had also served the company as acting MD from January 2018, to April 2018, and october 2022 to December 2022. He is a chartered accountant by profession from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan. He previously also served as Chief Financial officer of the company. Tufail has been credited for being instrumental in success-
fully transforming SNgPL into a modern IT-enabled organisation. Prior to joining SNgPL, he worked for national and multinational organisations in Pakistan and abroad including in key multilateral donor agencies; he has more than 25 years of experience in a large variety of disciplines. Sources earlier told the paper that PM Shehbaz Sharif was not happy with the MDs over their ‘poor performance’ and had taken serious notice of MDs of SNgPL and SSgCL. According to him, they had failed to achieve assigned targets and to control gas losses worth billions of rupees. Sources also said that after receiving the required explanation from the two MDs, it was feared that a process to remove both MDs (Hamdani and Imran Mainiar of SSgCL) from their positions through their respective BoDs will be initiated.
Besides these colossal losses, their ‘poor performance’ deprived Balochistan from the supply of gas in the winter season, making the premier unhappy. Sources added that “Both sui companies…fell short of ufg reduction targets in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022.” Sources further said that the petroleum division had earlier shared data related to loss cutting targets of the two gas companies with the PM’s office on December 20, 2022. And, the PMo observed that SSgCL had achieved only seven out of 10 reported indicators, and fell short of the ufg reduction target by nearly 50% in the financial year (Fy) 2019-20. The SSgC achieved only three out of 10 reported indicators and its ufg reduction target was surpassed by 25% in Fy 2020-21.
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