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Wednesday, 16 February, 2022 I 14 Rajab, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 228 I 12 Pages I Karachi Edition

PM launches digital PayMent systeM to boost financial inclusion IsLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

eRMIng the 220 million population of Pakistan as “the biggest human resource and asset”, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday underlined the need of bringing it into the formal economy through the use of the latest technology. The prime minister was addressing the launching ceremony of Raast, a new State Bank of Pakistan-run instant digital payment system aimed at boosting financial inclusion and government revenue. Merchants, businesses, individuals, fintechs, and government entities will be able to send and receive near real-time payments through the internet, mobile phones and agents. government payments, including salaries and pensions, will also be made through Raast, as well as payments for nationwide financial support programmes, such as the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP), and the ehsaas emergency Cash initiative. Developed through a multi-year collaboration between the SBP and the Bill & Melinda gates Foundation, with support from the World Bank, the United Kingdom and the United nations, one goal for Raast is to boost the involvement of women in the formal economy. Several private-sector digital cash transfer systems that do not require a bank account, such as Jazz Cash operated by telecommunications company Jazz and easypaisa operated by telecommunications company Telenor Pakistan, are already available in Pakistan, but Raast would be the first to link government entities and financial institutions. Khan observed that unless the government utilised the technological revolution to bring the population into the loop of the formal economy, this huge asset will become a burden. Appreciating the efforts of SBP to facilitate people over the banking system, he said the public often hesitated in visiting the banks, stressing that steps at “bottom ups” would bring the commoners into the formal economy by easing their modes of payments and

USe oF lATeST TeCH vITAl To BRIng PoPUlATIon InTo FoRMAl eConoMy: IMRAn KHAn

Cabinet approves separate judicial system for overseas Pakistanis: Fawad News Desk

transactions through the opening of accounts via the application. The prime minister said the performance of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) government will be judged in 2023 on the basis of its measures to reduce poverty. The UnDP report placed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as the only province where the PTI government during its first term (20132018) successfully reduced poverty, he added. The prime minister said due to such achievement, the people in KP voted for his party in the 2018 general elections. He further opined it would be a great success for his government if it succeeded in lifting the people out of poverty. The Covid-19 crisis affected the world population alike but the government in Pakistan took measures to save its people from the economic meltdown and inflation, he added. Khan, whose government has taken steps to automate the collection of taxes on transactions and tightened rules on banking, said shifting away from a cash-based economy and tackling corruption were the chief motivations behind Raast. “Pakistan collects about the least amount of tax in the world,” he said. “We cannot build

infrastructure, we cannot work on human development, or educate children, or improve hospitals.” The prime minister noted that saving rates and the tax-to-gDP ratio was low in Pakistan when compared with the rest of the world and it could be increased by making technological advances and by fine-tuning the formal economy. For increasing tax revenue, he said, usage of technology was being ensured by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as out of 220 million, only 2 million were paying taxes. Khan said FBR had collected data of those people who were living a luxurious life but not paying any taxes. Referring to 9 million Pakistan nationals living abroad as valuable assets for the country, the prime minister suggested the establishment of a cell to further facilitate them in sending their remittances home. He said their remittances had helped in supplementing the country’s foreign reserves. The prime minister stressed they must make efforts to ensure direct financial support to the lower segments of society through the use of modern technology and cited the rolling out of ehsaas Ration programme in this regard.

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry on Tuesday said that the federal cabinet has approved formulation of a separate judicial system for overseas Pakistanis to ensure summary trial. Briefing the media about the decisions taken in the federal cabinet meeting, Fawad said that these laws will be enacted in view of Prime Minister Imran Khan’s vision to facilitate overseas Pakistanis, who are the precious asset of the country. He said a similar judicial system will also be established in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab, where PTI is in power. He said the cabinet also expressed concern over massive stay orders due to which the Federal Board of Revenue is unable to collect revenue of over Rs3 trillion. He said the law ministry has been asked to take up this matter with the chief justice of the Supreme Court and the chief justices of high courts. He said it has been recommended that there should be a separate forum to re-

solve such policy issues. He said the cabinet hoped that the chief justice of the Supreme Court will present a serious point of view of the judiciary over this matter. Fawad said the cabinet called for enacting stringent laws against use of filthy language and hate speech on social media. He said that the cabinet approved the export of 34,500 metric tonnes of Mung beans to Afghanistan under the World Food Programme. He said the cabinet approved reducing prices of Remdesivir injection from Rs3,967 to Rs2,308 for the treatment of Covid-19 patients. He said it is a matter of great satisfaction that Pakistan has now become a major exporter of Covid related material, including Remdesivir injection. He said the cabinet approved a 15 percent increase in the salaries of civil armed forces and a 15 percent disparity allowance for the employees of the federal government from basic pay scale one to 19.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

Wednesday, 16 February, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS

SHC rEjECtS SindH OppOSitiOn lEadEr’S pEtitiOn aGainSt ppp miniStEr KarachI

Mr Hussain Ahmad, Director Model Farmer Services at the Agriculture Department of KP Government receiving a memento from Fatima Fertilizer representative. pr

Verdict reserved on petition challenging security provision to former top judge ISLaMaBad

inp

INDH High Court (SHC) on Tuesday rejected the petition of Sindh Assembly Opposition Leader Haleem Adil Sheikh in a case pertaining to levelling of drug trafficking charges against provincial Minister for Labour and Information Saeed Ghani. In his petition, Sheikh said it’s been three years that no action has been taken on the report of Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Dr Muhammad Rizwan. I don’t have personal enmity with

Relief for complainants on direction of Punjab ombudsman LahOrE

Staff report

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday reserved its verdict on the maintainability of a petition filed against the security detail sought by retired chief justice Gulzar Ahmed. The petitioner, Riaz Hanif Rahi, appeared in the court and requested the transfer of the case to a different bench. However, Chief Justice Athar Minallah told him the petitioner could not get a bench of their choice. “Which bench will hear your petition is the court’s discretion, not yours. You better start giving arguments on the merits of the case,” he said. The petitioner said he had no further arguments to offer in the case, and requested the court to give whatever order it deemed appropriate.

On the directions of Punjab Ombudsman retired Maj. Azam Suleman Khan, a relief of over Rs45 million has been given to several complainants from Dera Ghazi Khan, Okara, Bhakkar, Lahore, Vehari, Khanewal, and Lodhran in various cases related to government agencies. A spokesman of the department said cheques issued by a Muzaffargarh-based sugar mill as payment of sugarcane crop to one Mohammad Nazir Hussain of DG Khan have been encashed after the

Sindh governor directs police chief to provide security to harassment victim

any minister or leader of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), he added. The plea further mentioned that PPP has the right to move Supreme Court. Earlier, a local court had indicted Sheikh in the same case. During the hearing, the accused pleaded not guilty, after which the court summoned witnesses. Sheikh had accused Ghani of dealing in drugs during a chat show. Responding to the claims, Ghani said that Sheikh’s accusations against him were proven wrong in the court and as per law, action will be taken against him.

direction of the ombudsman issued to the district administration to do the same. This has resulted in the provision of Rs39 million to the applicant. In compliance with the directions of the office of the ombudsman, the Okara deputy district education officer has settled dues worth Rs3 million to one Rasoolan Bibi of Okara seven years after the death of her husband in service, the spokesman added. Similarly, the agriculture department has also provided the remaining amount of Rs1.5 million to one Jameela Naz of Bhakkar after the involvement of the office of the

ombudsman Punjab. Alongside, Lahore-based complainants Sultan Ibrahim and Mohammad Ahsan Ghafoor have been paid their pending amounts valuing Rs1.1 million by the Overseas Pakistanis Commission Punjab. Rs0.5 million have been paid to one Mohammad Yaqoob Nazir from Vehari as employment dues of his late wife and Adil Hussain of Mian Channu is also given remaining gratuity worth Rs0.4 million. In another development, Razia Parveen of Bhakkar has also been given Rs0.12 million as her husband died

Social curbs extended in coronavirus hotspots by a week ISLaMaBad

KarachI

Staff report

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail took notice of threats of death made to a paramedic who has accused three officials of Peoples University of Medical and Health Sciences for Women (PUMHSW) in Nawabshah of harassment and attempted murder. Parveen Rind, who was doing an internship at the institution’s nursing section since December, claimed in a video posted on social media last Wednesday that the three officials beat her up after locking her in the hostel. She showed torture marks on her arms in the video and said she was being forced by the officials to follow their “unethical orders”. In response to her claims, Sindh Health Minister Azra Pechuho formed a three-member inquiry committee. Rind along with her uncle and social activist Zulfiqar Khaskheli held a demonstration outside the Nawabshah Press Club against the delay in the arrest of the main suspect. Taking notice of death threats made to Rind, the governor directed Inspector General of Police Mushtaq Mahar to provide security to the complainant. Ismail further directed Mahar to submit a report on the threats made and measures taken to security to Rind.

The government on Tuesday extended the incumbent Covid-19 measures in six cities until February 21, announcing health crisis-related restrictions will continue to be in place in districts with a transmission rate of over 10 percent even as the nation reported the lowest number of daily cases in over a month. Pakistan recorded 2,597 new cases over the past 24 hours, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) said, the country’s lowest daily caseload since January 10. With the new infections, the overall number of Covid-19 infections has risen to 1.48 million in the country, said the NCOC, a department leading the campaign against the pandemic. After reviewing the latest situation in its daily meeting, the federal body decided to keep the restrictions in place with a three-day rolling average, a notification issued by the NCOC said. The cities and districts where the restrictions will remain imposed include Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad, Mardan, Karachi and Hyderabad. The meeting suspended indoor gatherings of all sorts, including weddings, in the districts with a positivity rate breaching the 10 percent limit, but okayed the presence of up to 300 people in the outdoor events.

It also imposed a blanket ban on indoor dining in the aforementioned cities. However, outdoor dining for fullyvaccinated people and takeaway services were allowed. Restaurants and eateries were also allowed to offer takeaway services throughout the day. Cinemas and shrines were allowed to operate at 50 percent capacity for fully vaccinated individuals. The meeting also allowed education activities to continue for those under and over 12 in districts with a positivity rate of up to 50 percent. But the attendance limits, which were previously halved for those under 12, is restored at 100 percent for those over 12 in these districts. Vaccination for students above 12 years was declared mandatory (at least one jab). No exemption other than medical reasons will be entertained, the NCOC said. Public buses were allowed to operate with 70 percent of the seating capacity. Wearing masks is declared mandatory throughout the journey, with a complete ban on serving of meals and snacks. The NCOC said the curbs will be reviewed on February 21 and directed the concerned authorities to notify the extension of the same at priority. Meanwhile, a total of 3,804 people were reported to have recovered from the pandemic in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of recoveries to 1.38 million, showed data from the NCOC.

during the proceeding of his case while the officers responsible for inordinate delay and negligence have been issued warnings after a departmental inquiry under Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (PEEDA) Act, 2006, the spokesman added. The district accounts office in Lodhran has released monthly salaries of Rs30,000 each to three complainants after the involvement of the ombudsman office. The plaintiffs have thanked the Ombudsman Khan for protecting their legal rights.

Govt defers approval of State Owned Enterprise Governance and Operation Bill 2021 Shahzad Paracha The National Assembly Standing Committee on Finance on Monday deferred the approval of the State Owned Enterprise Governance and Operation Bill 2021. Through the bill the government wants to privatize loss making State Owned Enterprises (SOE). Secretary Finance informed the members that two hundred companies had incurred a loss of Rs145 billion in the financial year 2018-19. The loss-making companies included DISCOs, PIA, Pakistan Steel Mill and National Highway Authority whereas OGDCL and PPL earn profit, he said. The finance secretary also said that there is a dire need to improve the performance of state owned companies. The Ministry of Finance (MoF) has been collecting data of these companies for the last six year but we do not have laws to improve the performance of these companies. He also said that MoF does not want to take control of these SOEs from other ministries. Rather, the purpose of this law is to improve the monitoring of these companies.

Beijing Olympics in eyes of Pakistan students in China BEIJING Xinhua

The audience broke into loud cheers as the Pakistani delegation appeared in the National Stadium at the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics on February 4, and Naeem Muhammad, a PhD student in China, was proudly sitting in front of his TV screen. “It’s the happiness and excitement that only a Pakistani could feel in China as the two countries are each other’s most reliable iron-clad brother,” the 29-year-old said. Muhammad studies in the School of Civil Engineering at Central South University in Hunan Province and has been living in China for almost 10 years. The most talked about topic during video calls with his family was the ongoing Winter Games. He said his three sisters were crazy about “Bing Dwen Dwen,” the mascot. “Watching the games brings back the feelings and memories of our childhood. We live in the northern part of Pakistan. There’s a lot of snowfall. My younger brothers and sisters and I used to play in the snow all day,

and skate on handmade boards made by our grandpa,” he said. Iqbal Junaid, a medical student at Central South University, shared the same vexation with Muhammad, as the two of them have not yet bought a Bing Dwen Dwen. “I tried buying these mascots online, but the Olympic fever has made its demand surpass the supply by a huge margin,” Junaid said. Besides the lovely mascot that captured the hearts of these students, they were also impressed by the successful hosting of the games and the spectacular opening ceremony, especially against the backdrop of the pandemic that is still raging. “Being a foreigner, I understand that during the pandemic it is challenging to host mega-events such as the Olympics. But China has the capability,” said Zafran, who majors in computer science at Central South University. Meanwhile, Umair Khan, a master’s degree candidate in geological resources and geological engineering, noticed the green technologies at the Beijing

Olympics. “In pursuit of a green Olympics, all the venues are powered by green energy for the

first time in Olympic history,” Khan said. He shared links to the Olympic Games with his family and friends back in

Pakistan to show his support. “Specifically, in my family and friends circle, they would like to watch figure skating, freestyle skiing, hockey, Nordic combined, and short track games.” Tehreem Azeem is a PhD student at the Communication University of China in Beijing. She has been working as a journalist in Pakistan and has been writing a weekly blog in Urdu for two years. She recently wrote a few blogs on the Winter Olympics. “With the Winter Olympics, Beijing has become the world’s first city to host both the summer and winter editions of the Olympic Games. It is a great honour for China,” she wrote. “China has developed plans to accommodate all athletes, media and people coming for the Olympics. I read that the World Health Organization also appreciates China’s efforts. I believe that the Olympics will be smoothly held and after the pandemic, we will be able to go back to normal life and travel around the country,” read one of her blogs.

Wednesday, 16 February, 2022 | KARACHI

pdm refutes report of Fazl meeting tareen ISLaMaBad

Staff report

HE Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) dismissed rumours that its chief Maulana Fazl ur-Rehman met disgruntled Pakistan Tehreeki-Insaf (PTI) leader Jahangir Tareen to seek his posse’s support in the opposition alliance’s efforts to oust the prime minister. The meeting between the two leaders took place after Rehman met Chaudhrys of Gujrat in an attempt to woo the government’s allies, reports citing sources said.

lahore, rawalpindi schools allowed 100pc attendance from tomorrow NEwS dESK Punjab Education Minister Murad Raas on Tuesday announced that all public and private schools in Lahore and Rawalpindi will return to their normal schedule from Wednesday. “All public and private schools of Lahore and Rawalpindi to return to their normal schedule starting tomorrow February 16, 2022, along with the rest of Punjab,” tweeted the minister. In view of the decision, the provincial education minister urged everyone to follow the COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the government. Last month, the minister had issued an update for schools in Lahore and Rawalpindi as the country had seen a steady rise in coronavirus cases.

E-banking transactions grew by 30pc to $500bn in FY21, says reza Baqir aPP Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Reza Baqir said Monday that owing to the revolutionary initiatives introduced by the central bank, the e-banking transactions were recorded at around $500 billion during the last fiscal year (2020-21). Addressing the launching ceremony of ‘Raast’, Instant Digital Payment System, he said that ebanking transactions were considerably more than the country’s total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which currently stands at $370 billion. He said the e-banking transactions were showing growth of around 30 per cent annually. “If it is $500 billion now, you can imagine at which pace we are digitizing,” he remarked. Reza Baqir said that Raast digital platform, the person-toperson transaction system, was made by SBP under the Prime Minister’s vision to ensure outreach of the banking system to all citizens of the country. Rasst is part of the national payment strategy which was launched by SBP in November 2019. The World Bank President had launched it and helped in developing this strategy. He said it was a technologically advanced system and was currently executed only in a few countries including Malaysia, Turkey, Australia, United Kingdom and partially in the United States. He said that there were around 190 million mobile subscribers in the country whereas only 80 million people had bank accounts, meaning that there were over 100 million people who have mobile phones but do not possess bank accounts. So there is a huge potential for enhancing financial inclusion, he said and expressed the hope that Raast programme would bridge this gap. The SBP Governor said that Raast was different from other programmes as it would facilitate freecost transactions within seconds. He expressed the hope that people would like the new system and benefit from it. He said that the SBP had taken many initiatives for pacing up the process of digitization. The Point of Sales (POS) machines also witnessed growth of 50 per cent and are expected to grow at a fast pace. Reza said that the state bank would give 5 licenses for establishing digital banks to cater to the needs of common people and facilitate them to open bank accounts remotely He said that this banking system would be established on the lines of Roshan Digital Account that was introduced for overseas Pakistanis. He said the bank had recently launched low cost housing, under which the central bank facilitated those who were unable to take bank loans, adding Rs131 billion loans were approved by banks this year, showing 100 per cent growth against last year.

The meeting was arranged by some mutual friends. However, speaking during a Geo News programme, Akram Khan Durrani, a leader of Jamiat Ulema-e Islam-Fazl (Fazl), refuted the rumours, but added that the meeting “might happen in future.” Hafiz Hamdullah, another JUI-F leader and a PDM spokesperson, on Tuesday again dismissed the claim, insisting Fazl does not believe in “drawing room and offshore politics”. He declared that all the meetings the opposition parties would hold “will be held in front of the nation and not secretly”.

Spain arrests cousin over Pakistan-national teen’s disappearance in Italy BarcELONa afp

Another relative of a teenage girl thought to have been murdered in Italy last year by her Pakistani family was arrested in Spain, Spanish and Italian police said. Spanish police arrested a cousin of 18-year-old Saman Abbas at an apartment near Barcelona in a joint operation carried out with Italian police, a spokesman for Spain’s National Police said. “He was detained this morning,” he said. Italian police identified him as 34-year-old Noman ul-Haq, who is suspected of “being jointly responsible for the kidnapping, murder and concealment of the body” of Abbas. Another cousin and the young woman’s uncle were both arrested in France and extradited to Italy last year over her death, while Saman’s parents are still fugitives in Pakistan.

The case has sparked outrage in Italy and has become front-page news since police began investigating the teenager’s disappearance in May. Her body has yet to be found. Abbas, who lived in the northern Italian town of Novellara, in 2020 refused her family’s plan to have her marry a cousin in their home country of Pakistan. While still a minor, she turned to social services and in November 2020 was moved into a shelter home. She also reported her parents to the police, but in April 2021 returned to them. Police began searching for her on May 5, when officers visited her house and found nobody. Officers then discovered that the girl’s parents had left for Pakistan without her, and found images from a nearby security camera that made them fear the worst. Late on April 29, five people could be seen walking off from the house holding shovels, a crowbar and a bucket, and returning after about two-and-a-half hours.

Punjab govt to organise horse, cattle show ShahaB OMEr The Punjab government announced on Tuesday that it plans to organize a traditional horse and cattle show across the province; the festival is expected to start from March 10th. According to details, Punjab Finance Minister Hashim Jawan Bakht announced that special representation would be given to the cottage industries and small business to participate in the show. “The show activities will continue for three days starting from March 10th. The elements of harmonization of modern technology with tradition will be highlighted in the show. The minister informed that the objective of celebrating the horse and cattle show with traditional fervor was to revive cultural and recreational activities after Covid-19. “At this point, it is important for the government to understand that the whole world is moving forward with Covid-19, so Pakistan must also acknowledge and move

forward. Restrictions due to Covid-19 on social networking and recreational activities adversely affected adolescents and children. It is the need of the hour to end this situation and the participation of school and college students in the show will also be ensured,” Bakht added. In addition more than 12 recommendations were made by various departments during the meeting, most of which were approved, including the annual development program of roads and water supply schemes in small districts. Moreover, the tourism department requested to establish the Feasibility Study Scheme for installation of chairlift and cable car at Fort Monroe part of the annual development program which was approved. The minister also announced that an elevated expressway from Main Boulevard Gulberg to Motorway (M2) will be constructed in Lahore to control traffic and pollution problems.

Govt intends to launch 5G by 2023, says PTA chairman ahMad ahMadaNI & ahtaSaM ahMad Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) Chairman on Tuesday informed the Senate Standing Committee on Information Technology and Telecommunication that the government intends to launch 5G in the country by 2023. He also informed the senate committee that talks are underway with StarLink regarding the provision of cheap internet through satellite. He said StarLink has also registered a company in the country with Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), adding that as soon as regulatory issues are settled, StarLink will launch its service, which will provide cheap internet access, especially to people living in remote areas. Starlink, the brainchild of American entrepreneur Elon Musk, aims to deliver high speed internet to every part of the globe. The company has a special focus towards elevating connectivity in rural and remote areas while at the same time providing an alternative to the cumbersome task of laying down a fiber network. The company, as of now, has delivered around 2,000 satellites into Earth’s orbit which serve a customer base of more than 10,000 spread across 14 countries. In the meeting, National Information Technology Board (NITB) Act 2022 was also reviewed. Officials

from the Ministry of IT & Telecommunication (MoIIT) and the NITB told the committee that the purpose of the proposed bill is to make the NITB an autonomous body so that the work of the institution can be further expedited and improved by removing obstacles. Officials said that being a subsidiary of MoITT, NITB often faces financial delays, which is hurting the fast-growing sector, especially IT. Senator Dr. Shahzad Waseem asked, “What would be the effect of NITB’s autonomous status and how it would benefit the country?” Responding to this, the ministry officials said that NITB has been successfully providing quality IT services to the government of Pakistan including eoffice, NCOC application and others. They further added that NITB was also working on human resource development. Before embarking on any project, NITB has to go through a long process to get PSDP grants which is not suitable for a field like IT. Creating an autonomous body will eliminate unnecessary delays as well as improve the decision-making process. The NITB is a government body that was formed on 11th August 2014, by merging Pakistan Computer Bureau (PCB) and Electronic Government Directorate (EGD) to address the operational challenges of all government departments and Ministries.

NEWS

Pakistani startup Energy & Automation (ENA), a company of Jaffer Business Systems recently joined forces with Jolta Battery Pvt Ltd, the sister company of Jolta Electric – Pakistan’s first EV Company. ENA’s Chief Executive Officer, Amir Salman and COO of Jolta Batteries, Rehan Aslam were present at the signing ceremony. pr

Controversy sparks after Gul panra records pSl final song at University of peshawar NEwS dESK Controversy sparked after news regarding popular Pashto singer Gul Panra recording Pakistan Super League (PSL) final song at the University of Peshawar made rounds on social media. The University of Peshawar was closed on Valentine’s Day on a strange pretext, but the actual matter turned out to be facilitating popular singer Gul Panra to record songs at the main academic blocks of the institution. An academician told the publication that if the university had been open, she wouldn’t have been able to do the recordings. Numan Khan, the institution’s spokesperson, rejected the rumours that the university had been closed for the recording of the song. He stated that after receiving notification of the university’s closure the day before, the PSL organisers approached them about recording a song for the final match. The team was allowed to record after receiving permission from the deputy commissioner’s office. As per the details, the letter issued by the DC office states: “Shamsher Ali Khan, SK films, Lahore is allowed to hold the event — recording of video shoot regarding the PSL final match from February 13 to 18 — at Islamia College, the University of Peshawar, cafes of Peshawar and the walled city.” The recordings took place on Sunday and Monday, according to Numan, and had nothing to do with the holiday. The break was intended to provide a long weekend to university employees who had been busy planning events for Kashmir Day. In an official statement issued a few days ago, the university administration announced that the campus would remain closed in lieu of February 5 — Kashmir Day — on which seminars and other events had been arranged in the university. The pretext sounded strange because an institution has never been closed due to a public holiday that occurred nearly two weeks ago. Also, the university was officially closed on February 5. Although the university had requested that teachers and staff hold activities to show solidarity with the people of Kashmir, the gatherings were entirely voluntary. Across the country, similar gatherings were held in practically all public and private organisations. However, none of them has declared a “closed holiday”in lieu of a day that has already been observed as a holiday.

Wednesday, 16 February, 2022 | KARACHI

04 NEWS

ANcIeNt BUddhA ArtIfActs foUNd IN swABI PESHAWAR

anadolu agency

RCHeOLOGISTS have found Buddha artifacts in northwest Pakistan dating back to 1,800 years, an official said. The rare artifacts have been found in the Swabi district, located some 83 kilometres from Peshawar, Abdul Samad, the director of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Archeology Department, told Anadolu Agency. “We have found around 400 new antiquities belonging to Gandhara Civilisation during an ongoing excavation at Baho Dheri village of Swabi over the past six months,” he said. The discoveries include a 73-meter high stupa, the largest of its kind so far found in the region, and a rare 10-feet life-size statue of Gautam Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. The stupa, which is 73-meter high, is the largest of its kind found in this region so far. “This statue is not in intact form. We need to work to restore in its original shape,” Samad said. Other antiquities include seated Buddha statues, the original floor of the largest stupa dated back to 1,800 years, and a statue in meditation pose, he added. “These antiquities are not mere art pieces but they were used for worship purposes,” he further said, adding the Buddhist disciples used to take rounds of the stupa in the anti-clockwise direction. Mostly, he said, round, Indian, and Ashokan-style stupas have been found in the region, some of them dating back to 2,200 years, in addition to square stupas, which were introduced by the ancient Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The latest discoveries are the outcome of an ongoing excavation in the region over the past six months. “We have so far done (completed) 40 percent of the planned excavation. 60 percent (excavation) is still left,” said Fawad Khan, head of a 20-member team of archaeologists involved in the excavation. Speaking to Anadolu Agency, he said that more “interesting” discoveries are expected. Important regIon for BuddhIsm:

Khan said that the fresh discoveries have added a “new chapter” to the history of the Gandhara Civilisation. emerged in 500 B.C., the ancient Gandhara Civilisation sprawled the region, which included Peshawar, Mardan, Swabi, Swat, Buner, and Bajaur situated in the northwest, and Texila in the northeast of today’s Pakistan, in addition to Kabul and northern Afghanistan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is home to 70 percent of the sites in the country sacred to Buddhists. Once known as the heart of the Gandhara civilisation, Takhtbai or Takht-i-Bhai (throne of origins) — a small scenic town located some 112 km (69 miles) from Peshawar — is the most visited site by the Buddhists, who flock to see the ancient monastery dated back to the 1st century, according to Samad. In the entire Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders neighbouring Afghanistan, there are some 20,000 archaeological sites, of them, 2,000 belong to Buddhist Civilisation. “The region comprising Swabi and Mardan is so important for Buddhists in general and for the Korean peninsula in particular as Buddhism was introduced to that region (Korea) by a monk from Swabi some 1,600 years ago,” Khan said. dIscoverIes to Boost relIgIous tourIsm: Thousands of tourists from Japan, China, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Myanmar visit the Buddhist sites in Pakistan every year, following improved law and order in recent years. The army has launched a series of onslaughts on militants, particularly in the tribal region along the Afghan border since 2014, clearing 95 percent area of terrorists. According to the interior ministry figures, there has been an 80 percent decline in the number of terrorist attacks in the country since 2014. The fresh discoveries, archaeologists, and tourism authorities believe will give a further boost to already picking up religious tourism in Pakistan. Pakistan is just 70 years old, but it is situated in a region that has been home to the world’s three major

Police round up 10 more in murder of blasphemy suspect LAHORE

religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism — for centuries. The Muslim nuclear state hosts scores of revered pilgrimage sites — dating back to 5,000 years — for not only the followers of the three religions but also from some pre-historic religions such as Aryan, Vedic, Barhaman, and ancient Iranian and Greek religions. Badly hit by the events related to the 9/11 attacks on Washington and New York, Pakistan’s religious tourism is now picking up mainly because of the improved law and order, and the government’s realisation of the economic and political potential of this sector. “These latest discoveries, which include rare stupas and other artifacts will certainly boost the religious tourism in Pakistan, which is already picking up,” Samad observed. echoing his views, Khan, the chief archaeologist, said the discoveries would attract the Buddhist community from across the world. Located some 27 km (17 mi) from Islamabad, Taxila — also known as Tukshla in olden times — is another holy site, which includes a Mesolithic cave and the archaeological remains of several Buddhist monasteries. Apart from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab is home to the five most important pilgrimage sites for Sikhs. They include the birthplace of Baba Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion who was born in 1469 in Nankana Saheb district, and Gurdwara (monastery) Punja Sahib in Hasan Abdal town, where the handprint of Guru Nanak is believed to be imprinted on a boulder at the monastery. The two sites are visited by thousands of Sikhs from India, europe, and America every year. Katas Raj temple in Chakwal district and Sadhu Bela temple in Sukkur are the two most visited religious sites by Hindus from across the world. Hindus — Pakistan’s largest minority — equally revere the water of a lake in the Katas Raj temple as they believe the lake was filled with the tears of Shiva, one of the principal deities of Hinduism. Hindus make up 4 percent of the total 210 million population.

Qandeel Baloch: Minister ‘ashamed’ as court acquits killer on parents’ pardon LAHORE MonitoRing RepoRt

former GB judge ordered to submit response in contempt case ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

Islamabad High Court (IHC) once again directed a former Gilgit-Baltistan chief judge to submit a written response in a case pertaining to a news report on an affidavit accusing former chief justice Saqib Nisar of bias against members of the Sharif family. Rana Muhammad Shamim, long-associated with Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), in November claimed in the document notarized in London that Nisar did not want deposed prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz to be released on bail ahead of the general elections in July 2018. The two were convicted in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference related to their ownership of four multi-million-dollar London apartments weeks before the elections on July 25. When their counsels moved the high court for suspension of the conviction, the case was adjourned until the last week of July. According to the contents of the document, made public in a story published in The News, Nisar had travelled to the mountainous region of Gilgit-Baltistan for vacations ahead of the elections. On one occasion, he appeared “very disturbed” while speaking to the Supreme Court registrar on the phone, asking him to get in touch with an unnamed judge of the IHC. Once able to get in touch with the said judge, Nisar ordered him that “Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz Sharif must remain in jail until the general elections are over”. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah took notice of the report and subsequently initiated contempt proceedings. Apart from Shamim, The News editor Aamir Ghauri, its reporter Ansar Abbasi and Jang Group chief Mir Shakeel ur-Rehman were also nominated in the case. Shamim was indicted in the case on January 20 while the court deferred the framing of charges against the journalists and Rehman.

Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said he was “ashamed” of Pakistan’s legal system after a man sentenced to life in prison in 2019 for strangling his sister — a model on social media — was acquitted of murder after his parents pardoned him. Waseem Azeem was arrested in 2016 after he confessed to killing Qandeel Baloch, 26, for posting what he called “shameful” pictures on Facebook. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison but his parents had sought his release, said Sardar Mahboob, a lawyer who represents Azeem and his family. The laws allow a murder victim’s family to pardon a convicted killer. Baloch’s murder at the time drew nationwide condemnation, but critics suspected Azeem could walk out of prison after his conviction if his parents forgave him. Mahboob said Azeem could be freed as early as this week after the completion of paperwork. “We as a nation should be ashamed of such a [legal] system,” Chaudhry tweeted. The siblings’ mother, Anwar Bibi, welcomed the Lahore High Court (LHC) order. “I am happy over the acquittal of my son, but we are still sad for our daughter’s loss,” she said. She told reporters that her slain daughter cannot come back “but I am thankful to the court, which ordered the release of my son at

our request.” Baloch was found strangled in her home near the city of Multan. She was killed after she posted racy pictures on Facebook of herself with a cleric, Mufti Abdul Qavi, who was later arrested for his alleged involvement in the murder. Supporters shower rose petals on cleric Mufti Abdul Qavi (R), who had been embroiled in controversy with slain social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch months ahead of her death, as he leaves after being acquitted by a court in Multan on September 27, 2019. — Shahid Saeed Mirza/AFP via Getty Images The cleric was later freed as police said they could not establish a link to the murder. Nearly 1,000 women are murdered by close relatives each year in so-called “honour killings” for violating conservative norms on love and marriage. Such killings are considered murder. But the laws allow a murder victim’s family to pardon the killer, which often allows those convicted of honour killings to escape punishment. Many netizens – among celebs – took to social media and expressed shock over the court’s ruling and condemned Waseem’s release. Actor Osman Khalid Butt shared his two cents on the matter. Taking to Twitter, the Balu Mahi star penned, “Qandeel Baloch’s murderer walks free today after serving less than six years of his life sentence.

Staff RepoRt

The police arrested 10 more people suspected to be involved in the killing of a middle-aged man for allegedly desecrating the Quran inside a mosque in Khanewal. According to a statement issued by a Punjab police spokesperson, the recent arrests have taken the number of total detained suspects in the case to 112, among whom 31 are primary suspects. It added the arrests were made in raids in different locations. An enraged mob stoned to death Mushtaq Ahmed, 41, in a remote village of Khanewal district. Three police officers also were injured, and more than 80 men have been detained. The mosque’s custodian said he saw the man burning the holy book and told others before informing the police, according to police spokesman Chaudhry Imran. The violence took place Saturday evening. Imran said police rushed to the mosque and found the man surrounded by an angry crowd. Sub-Inspector Mohammad Iqbal and two subordinates tried to take custody of the man but the group began throwing stones at them, seriously injuring Iqbal and slightly injuring the other two officers. Munawar Gujjar, chief of Tulamba police station, said he rushed reinforcements to the mosque but they did not arrive before the mob had stoned to death the man and hung his body from a tree. Gujjar said the victim belonged to a nearby village. “The ill-fated man has been mentally unstable for the last 15 years and according to his family often went missing from home for days begging and eating whatever he could find,” he said. He said the body was handed to the family. Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed his anguish over the stoning and said he was seeking a report from Punjab’s chief minister on the police handling of the case. He said they “failed in their duty.” “We have zero tolerance for anyone taking the law into their own hands and mob lynching will be dealt with with the full severity of the law,” he said in a tweet hours after the incident. The killing comes months after the lynching of a Sri Lankan manager of a sporting goods factory in Sialkot on December 3 who was accused by workers of blasphemy.

Pakistan urges UN to prevent India from putting tech bodies’ legitimacy at risk UNITED NATIONS app

Islamabad called on the UN Security Council to hold accountable the “masterminds” behind supporting, financing, and sponsoring hundreds of cross-border terrorist attacks against Pakistan. Umer Siddique, a counselor at the diplomatic mission to the UN, said it was also “essential” that Afghanistan’s territory was not used as a platform or a safe haven by militant groups. “We trust the new authorities in Afghanistan will succeed in ensuring this in accordance with their commitments,” he said in his address to the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC). It was the first open briefing on the work of agency after India assumed its chairmanship in January. While in the past, the focus of such meetings had been on exchanging views on best practices, capacity building and technical cooperation in countering terrorism, diplomatic observers took note of India’s move to turn the meeting into a venue for casting negative aspersions on Pakistan, contravening the norms of behaviour by Security Council committees’ chairpersons. Delivering India’s statement, Rajesh Parihar, a counselor at the Indian mission, said the world had witnessed the horrors of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, and the purported 2016 and 2019 attacks in Pathankot and Pulwama, respectively. “We all know from where the perpetrators of these attacks came from,” he declared. Rejecting the Indian insinuations, Siddique said Pakistan provided irrefutable evidence to the 15member Security Council on external sponsorship of cross-border terrorism against it, and, in reference to India, added: “We all know who has been supporting and financing” terror groups such as the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA). Drawing attention to the gross rights violations by Indian forces in occupied Kashmir, he called for preventing the misuse of counter-terror norms to deny the inalienable right of peoples to self-determination under foreign occupation. Referring to India’s bid to politicise UN bodies, the representative said: “We must not allow the hijacking of technical bodies such as this to serve bilateral programmes of hate and aggression.”

5 IB oﬃcials suspended for allegedly torturing Iqrarul Hassan NEWS DESk The Intelligence Bureau (IB) on Tuesday suspended its five officials “for mistreatment of ARY News team”, according to Dawn. The suspended officers are Syed Mohiuddin Rizwan (Director, BPS-19), Mehmoob Ali (stenotypist), Inam Ali (stenotypist), Rajab Ali (sub-inspector) and Khawar. earlier in the day, journalist Syed Iqrarul Hassan accused some officials of the IB of detaining him and members of his team for hours at their Karachi office and subjecting them to extreme forms of torture after he attempted to expose alleged corruption within their ranks. Hassan’s ordeal came to light when

pictures of him bloodied up, in torn-up clothes and receiving medical treatment on a hospital bed emerged on Twitter. Later, his fellow TV journalist Waseem Badami shared a video of him visiting Hassan at the hospital, by which time the injured journalist had been bandaged

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up, while his left arm was bound in a sling. Speaking to ARY News, Hassan said that he and his team members were “stripped naked, blindfolded and tortured for exposing the corruption of an IB inspector”. He alleged that IB officials also shot videos of him after stripping him and his team members naked. Hassan explained that an officer of IB was taking bribe at the gate of the agency’s office and “we tried to report him to the high-ups, but senior IB officer Rizwan Shah manhandled the Sar-eAam team and kept beating us.” “We were treated as a mole working for a foreign country,” he added. He said a few members of his team were even given electric shocks to “sen-

sitive” body parts. “I want to bring [to light] the video we shot at the IB office, but I learnt that it has been discarded by the agency officials”. Hassan is known for his TV show Sar-e-Aam in which he often conducts sting operations in order to expose corruption and other societal flaws. cm Buzdar condemns IncIdent: Later in the day, Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar condemned the incident of torture. He termed the incident deplorable act and extended heartfelt sympathy to the injured and prayed for their early recovery. Senior journalist Hamid Mir and PTI MNA Aamir Liaquat Hussain also condemned the incident.

Wednesday, 16 February, 2022 | KARACHI

KP aPPROvES JOURNaLISTS WELFaRE FUND, FOOD FORTIFICaTION aCT PesHawar

aziz BuneRi

HE Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Cabinet on Tuesday approved the journalists welfare fund rules and and food fortification act -2021. The meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan approved to provide financial assistance of Rs1 million to families of journalists who were killed in terrorist incidents. A journalist who is completely disabled for any reason will be given financial assistance up to Rs200,000, and Rs200,000 for the wedding for journalists son or daughter (This grant will be given only once). Thus, a journalist who has reached the age of 60 years and remained associated with journalism for 30

POWER SHUTDOWN NOTICE Press release 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 16th February , From 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Daulatullah, Chatta Bakhtawar, Ghauri Garden, Sohdran Road, Khanna-II, Al-Noor Colony-II, Khanna East, Khanna DAk, Azad Shaheed, New Waheedabad, Burma, Dharek, Kohsar Valley,Brahma, Khanabad, Munirabad, Lalarukh, Kashif Gul, Model Town, Mix Industry, Industrial Estate, Bahtar, Maniwala, Amir Hamza, Dhok Chodhrya, Scheme-II, G-10/4, New Exchange, Kalial, Gulshanabad. , Dhok Noor, 502 Workshop, Adiala, Askari-14, Humayun-1, Humayun, Athal, Bhara Kahu, T&T, Golf City, Treat, NIH, Angori, Bari Imam, Farash Town, Dhok Awan, Zaraj Housing Scheme , New Rawat, Rehmatabad-II Feeders, From 10:00 am to 04:00 pm, NCI (Toba), Laila Town, Ahmedabad, Safdar Shaheed, Sanghoi, Nathwala Feeders and surroundings will remain off. 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.

LHC rejects post-arrest bail of alleged bhang smuggler News Desk The Lahore High Court on Tuesday rejected a post-arrest bail for an accused arrested for allegedly smuggling 3,200 kilogrammes of bhang – an edible mixture made from the buds, leaves, and flowers of the cannabis plant. Justice Shehram Sarwar maintained that he might have been granted bail if the illegal substance was in a small quantity, but the accused was found driving a truck containing 3,200 kg of bhang which was “astonishing”. Justice Shehram asked the accused’s counsel how much time he had spent in jail, to which the lawyer stated that he had been incarcerated for five months. The judge then questioned why the counsel was in a hurry as the case was “not as simple” as the accused’s counsel portrayed it to be. The counsel of the accused claimed that the accused had no role in the matter and was merely driving a small truck, a statement that elicited laughter from the court. “Sir, the matter is so simple”, the counsel countered. Justice Shehram reiterated that the accused was caught driving a truck with a very large amount of bhang, which was no “simple matter”. He emphasised that the matter would have been handled differently had it been one or two kilogrammes, however, this case dealt with 3,200 kg of drugs.

years will be given a stipend of Rs10,000 per month. In addition, a journalist who is fired from a newspaper or TV and remains unemployed for three months will be paid Rs10,000 once a month for a period of 2 months. In addition, in case of death of a journalist or a member of his family, Rs50,000 will be paid as funeral expenses. The cabinet also approved Digital Skills Development Program under which modern digital courses will be imparted to 100,00 youth and graduates of the province. The Rs5 billion program will last for 3 to 6 months with the aim to provide employment opportunities. The provincial cabinet also approved the Food Fortification Act 2021, which aims to provide important vitamins, including iron, folic acid, in flour, edible oils and other foodstuffs that are imported or produced lo-

cally. It will ensure the presence of zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin A and vitamin D3 in foodstuff. According to the National Nutrition Survey 2018, the rate of anemia in KP is 34.7% due to lack of nutritious food for women. The iron deficiency in children is 60.8% and 9.1% in women. More than 15.9% women are Vitamin D deficient as result women and children face problems such as lack of mental development, physical weakness, vision problems, deafness and anemia. The provincial cabinet has approved the draft law 2021 for setting up Rs100 million endowment fund for transgender. The endowment fund will provide financial assistance to transgender as well as interest free loans for starting small businesses while training the concerned government officials for the welfare of eunuchs.

NEWS

The provincial cabinet has approved the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Journalists Welfare Endowment Fund Rules 2021. The provincial cabinet has also approved rules prepared in the light of the Minimum Wages Act, 2013. Under which steps will be taken to ensure minimum wage provision and implementation. These include the establishment of a wage board, inspection, registration in the register, and the steps to highlight the minimum wage. The minimum wage of 21,000 for contract employees will be applicable from July 1, 2021. The provincial government had decided to increase the minimum wage from 16,000 to 21,000. However, it did not apply to Grade 1 to Grade 8 contracts and project employees. The provincial cabinet today approved the issuance of a formal notification in this regard. The cabinet has approved the incorporation of Command Area of Gomal Zam Dam Canal System through a new notification extending the Canal and Drainage Act, 1873 and removing it from the Punjab Mines Act, 1905. The provincial cabinet also approved the appointment of Manzoor Ahmed as Chief Executive Officer for KP Transmission and Grid System Company.

Time to take a fresh look at Kashmir strategy; say expert islamaBaD Staff RepoRt

Speakers at a webinar on Kashmir conflict called for taking a fresh look at the strategy for highlighting the dispute and the atrocities being perpetrated by the Indian troops in Occupied Kashmir. The webinar on ‘Historical, Humanitarian and Political Perspectives of Kashmir Issue’ was hosted by Strategic Vision Institute (SVI), according to a statement issued by the think tank on Tuesday. The participants of the discussion deliberated on the various aspects of the conflict and proposed ideas for advocating the cause more effectively. There was generally a consensus among the speakers that the strategy for promoting the Kashmir cause needed to be rebooted in view of the recent Kashmir related developments and emerging challenges instead of hiding behind the excuse of India’s strong economic clout. Lt. Gen. (R) Masood Aslam, in his opening remarks, regretted that the world appeared indifferent to the aggravating plight of Kashmiris as no action

had been taken to compel India to stop the atrocities it has been perpetrating in Occupied Kashmir. “We need to review our own efforts. Do we really have a plan, a blueprint with timelines about what we want to achieve? Who is coordinating these efforts in the government, civil society, academia, and the diaspora? Or is everybody doing it independently,” he emphasized. In his view, Pakistan’s current strategy was not delivering the expected results, because Indian atrocities were continuing unabated and Indian narrative was getting more traction. He questioned if China’s support had even been adequately utilized. “There is no clear-cut policy or a blueprint available at the government level or even at a private level. The effort to galvanize the support of Kashmiri and Pakistani diaspora is limited,” he maintained adding that the national consensus on Kashmir too had not been fully exploited. Gen. Aslam, therefore, proposed the use of civil society and social media for exposing Indian war crimes in Kashmir, human rights abuses, and subjugation of

the Muslims. Former Caretaker Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Naeem Khalid Lodhi noted that Pakistan’s strategy on Kashmir was reactive and he cited the example of Delhi’s unilateral actions of Aug. 5, 2019 about which little was done until they had been implemented though there were signs all along that it was about to happen. He blamed “weak media” effort for the shortcoming of not having been able to connect with civil societies in other countries. Emphasizing the importance of civil society, he said, though foreign governments tend to overlook issues that do not align with their interests, but rights activists do take note of such things. Gen Lodhi stressed the need for maintaining national consensus. He suggested that Pakistan should lobby with the international community for a census in both parts of Kashmir because of the demographic change that BJP is bringing about in the Occupied Kashmir. Dr. Salma Malik of Quaid-eAzam University said that India amplifies its narrative by employing political economy as well as diplomacy.

Qari slits throat of minor girl in Rawalpindi: Police News Desk A qari slit the throat of 12-year-old girl who he used to teach the Quran to in Rawalpindi, the police officials revealed on Tuesday. The incident took place within the limits of the Rata Amral police station in the Mohalla Chak Madad Westridge area. According to the police, 21-year-old Adil from Abbottabad used to go to the victim’s house to teach her Quran. The day before the brutal incident occurred, the deceased had complained about Adil’s inappropriate behaviour to her parents, and they had stopped Adil from teaching her. On Monday, the girl went to her neighbourhood’s tuition centre, where Adil approached her and brutally slit her throat, killing her, the police said. As soon as the crime was reported, police arrived at the scene, gathered evidence, and shifted the minor’s body to a hospital for an autopsy. The police have arrested the suspect and registered an FIR against him, it was reported. According to the police, Adil confessed during an initial interrogation that the girl’s family was suspicious of him, and therefore, he committed this henious crime. The police have opened an investigation following an FIR

registered by Zahid Naseer, the deceased’s father. Punjab Chief Minister Usman Bazdar condemned the killing of the minor girl and sought a probe from the concerned authorities.

Cabinet approves separate judicial system for overseas Pakistanis: Fawad CoNtiNueD from Page 01 He said the cabinet also congratulated the Prime Minister for PTI’s victory in local bodies’ elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Meanwhile, Energy Minister Hammad Azhar said that the federal cabinet has given approval for the extension on the duration of the Saindak Mine lease for another 15-years to the Chinese company working on the Saindak Gold and Copper Mine project in Balochistan. In a tweet on Tuesday, the minister said that as per the newly negotiated agreement, the share of the government of Pakistan has been increased by 3 percent from 50:50 to 53:47 in Pakistan’s favour. He said the Chinese company has also agreed to enhance rent, royalty and social uplift payments to the federal and Balochistan governments. Accordingly, the royalty to the government of Balochistan (GoB) has been enhanced from 5 percent to 6.5 percent of sales revenue, social uplift support to GoB has been raised from 5 percent to 6.5 percent of the net profit while annual rent has been increased by up to 40 percent (indexed with price). The aforementioned agreement has been concluded in consultation with all stakeholders including GOB, the minister added. Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Aminul Haque on Tuesday said that the cabinet has approved the first digital Cloud Policy and Personal Data Protection Bill to ensure the privacy of online data. In a statement, he said, the bill aims to ensure the privacy of online data, especially for citizens, public and private entities, while Cloud First policy will cover federal ministries, departments, and autonomous entities. The minister thanked Prime Minister Imran Khan and all members of the federal cabinet for extending support for the approval of the policy and the bill and said that the process would help Pakistan to adapt to the digital world in terms of global requirements. He said that the primary objective of the data production bill is to ensure the privacy of online data, information and private, important content of Pakistani citizens, government and private entities while maintaining their privacy. Referring to the details of Cloud First policy, the minister said that the process of heavy spending and upgrading of various data centers of ministries and agencies is difficult for which it was necessary to have a common platform.

Pemra states ‘no order issued to take NewsOne oﬀ air, as yet News Desk The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) on Tuesday stated that it had not yet initiated any disciplinary action or directed cable operators to take TV channel NewsOne off air after issuance of a show-cause notice last week for airing “derogatory” remarks about the performance of a federal minister during a talk show. The statement of the regulatory authority comes two days after reports hat the TV channel was taken off air by cable networks even before legal formalities had been completed. It is pertinent to note that the TV channel had come under fire after remarks were made about Federal Minister for Communications Murad Saeed in the pro-

gramme “G for Gharidah” when guests were discussing the performance of the Ministry of Communications, which ranked first among the 10 best performing federal ministries awarded by the PM on Feb 10. However, in its statement today, Pemra said it had summoned the channel’s CEO on Feb 15 (today), adding that any other proceedings would be initiated only after a response from the TV channel. Earlier, Pemra had said the remarks made during the show were in “sheer violation” of Pemra Ordinance 2002 as (Amendment) Act, 2007 and several clauses of the Electronic Media (Programmes and Advertisement) Code of Conduct, 2015. It added that rules stipulated that a channel licence holder was also bound to tender an apology to a person/institution against whom particular remarks were made. After

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a contentious episode of the talk show, Pemra had issued a show-cause notice to the channe, which said that News One had aired the show on Thursday (Feb 10) at 10:05pm where the anchor and panelists had questioned the decision to award Saeed the top honour and made several critical and disparaging remarks about the federal minister, insinuating other factors behind the award than his ministry’s performance. The notice had criticised that such “unprofessional/demeaning remarks” were aired without any editorial control or time-delay mechanism in place. It added that airing such remarks “raises serious concerns on the performance of [the] channel’s editorial policy and gatekeeping tools being adopted/practised”. The regulatory body had directed the channel’s CEO to reply in writ-

ing within four days as to why legal action including a fine, suspension and revocation of licence along with other measures should not be initiated. The CEO or an authorised representative was directed to appear before the body at its headquarters in Islamabad on Tuesday with a written reply. “In case of non-compliance, exparte legal action shall be taken against the licensee in accordance with relevant provisions of PEMRA Laws,” the notice had warned. The Pemra notice had reproduced the comments made in the programme where anchor Gharida Farooqui questioned her panelists on what was the “[real] reason” for Saeed’s ministry ranking first. A panelist, journalist Mohsin Baig, responded that he didn’t know but the reason was “written in Reham Khan’s book”.

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Wednesday, 16 February, 2022

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Pakistan’s strategic shift from geo-politics to geo-economics

Time for government and opposition to cease fire To help eﬀorts to curb terrorism

HE rare same-day talks by the Chief of Army Staff with the PM and President come amidst rising attacks on military personnel by terrorists and the uncertain situation of Afghanistan on the one hand, and an escalation of tensions between the government and the opposition that carries the potential to engulf the country on the other. Meanwhile, Interior Minister Sh Rashid Ahmad has dismissed rumours of a rift between the PM and the country’s ‘establishment’, maintaining that the former enjoyed impeccable ties with the latter. There is a noticeable change in the pattern of terrorist attacks by Baloch insurgents and TTP terrorists. Earlier these were generally confined to hit-and-run attacks, firing across the border from safe havens in Afghanistan or recourse to IED attacks on the security personnel. As was seen in Panjgur and Naushki, the terrorists conducted coordinated attacks on security forces camps, imposing heavier losses than at any time in the past. In tribal areas also there is an unprecedented upsurge in terrorist attacks on security forces. This has naturally added to the worries of the armed forces. The Army rightly expects the civilian government to help reduce its worries instead of further adding to them. The government-opposition tensions are meanwhile on the increase. The opposition is approaching the government allies and PTI dissidents to seek their help in making the no-confidence move against PM Imran Khan successful. At the same time the opposition is preparing for countrywide marches to Islamabad to put pressure on the PM to resign. The government is fully concentrated on foiling the opposition’s offensive with the entire civil administration and federal security bodies fully devoted to denting the opposition’s two pronged attack. It is legitimate to expect that the PTI government would pay full attention to cooling down the political temperature in the country, directing related ministries and institutions to help the country counter the rising tide of terrorism. As things stand, the whole government machinery is geared to countering the opposition. There is a need on the part of the PM to personally hold talks with the opposition to jointly end the ongoing no-holds-barred tussle. One also expects the opposition to respond favorably to any offer of ceasefire coming directly from the PM in the greater national interest.

Dr arShaD MahMooD

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ith the recent intensification of strategic competition between global powers, making the world peace fragile and the direction of diplomacy, unpredictable, Pakistan has made a strategic pivot from geo-politics to geo-economics,” said Shah Mahmood Qureshi while announcing major policy shift in the country’s foreign policy. Pakistan’s foreign policy has traditionally been driven by regional and systemic development especially the global powers’ fluctuating interests in the South Asian region alongside the political and security dynamics of neighbouring India and Afghanistan. Though for the past couple of years, the country has shown visible metamorphosis, the country’s first National Security Policy has, nonetheless, officially demonstrated a paradigm shift in the state’s foreign policy with centrality on geo-economics. What are the factors that forced Pakistan for the strategic shift? And, what will be its implications and challenges that Islamabad is likely to face while implementing its new normal? These are a few queries agitating every Pakistani’s mind! Whereas geopolitics is related to the effects of geography on international politics; geoeconomics is linked with spatial, historical, and political aspects of economies and resources. States being central to both as unitary actors in formulating domestic and foreign policies, both the disciplines are also closely linked to strategy in defining optimal plans and states long term goals. However, geopolitics and geoeconomics bear a few fundamental differences. First, geopolitics as a discipline is associated with the neo-realist paradigm of international relations; whereas, geoeconomics is the normative heart of neoliberalism. The former is primarily concerned with political and military activities, and the latter with economic activities. With respect to variables, geopolitics is traditionally linked to slowly-changing variables– like ethnicity, country, religion, and language– and, geoeconomics is more linked to rapidly-changing variables– particularly technological change and developments in commerce. One can also find numerous models in the contemporary and past world orders towing either of the two as the theoretical framework of their domestic and foreign policies. The USA in the contemporary world, the USA and the USSR during the Cold War, and Imperial and Nazi Germany in the pre- and post-world war eras, are all regarded as practitioners of geopolitics. Their elites’ perception was based on a combination of their political, geographical, historical, racial and economic factors which substantiated their perceived right to expand their states’ borders and sphere of influence to control other states’ land masses and natural resources.

Qandeel case acquittal A decision that raises questions about the justice system

HE Lahore High Court’s Multan Bench has acquitted the brother of social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch in a decision that will generate questions about the country abroad, giving the impression that any crime, up to and including murder, can be committed by anyone, and acquittal will ultimately be the natural end of the matter. Ms Baloch had become famous after her video with Maulana Abdul Qawi had gone viral in June 2016. She was asphyxiated the very next month by her brother who confessed to the killing because she has been bringing a bad name to the family. Initially Maulana Qawi was also on trial, but was acquitted by the trial court, as was one of her brothers. However, it convicted one of her brothers. Now he too has been acquitted on appeal. One of the more egregious aspects of the acquittal was that he had actually confessed; his conviction being overturned because he had been forgiven by the dead woman’s heirs. The law now provides for the state to join the case as a party, in which event even if all the heirs forgive the accused, the prosecution continues. That provision was not invoked, and now cannot be, because of the ban on double jeopardy. Also, the witnesses have resiled, which makes conviction impossible even if the state was to pursue the case. However, the acquittal means that the case is once again back in the pile of unsolved cases in the police station where the case was originally registered. The acquittal, unfortunately, was not that unusual. The only difference is that the case was a high-profile one in which there was a great deal of public interest. The acquittal shows what happens with cases that attract public attention: there is a great deal of activity while there is public interest, but with time, the murderer walks free. The story of Qandeel Baloch was actually a sad one. The pity is that she was not only murdered, but she was also denied justice. And that denial was not the result of any great pressure, nor was there any great personality who had to be protected. She just fell between the cracks.

Ukraine and Taiwan are no harbingers of a new world order Dr Shoaib baloch

REAT power’s relations are deteriorating. The USA, China and Russia are at loggerheads over a myriad of issues which may escalate tensions and bring them eyeball-to-eyeball over regional and global flashpoints. The twin crises— Taiwan and Ukraine— are potential war zones between the East and the West. The US interference in Taiwan’s internal affairs will furiously antagonize China; both global giants may lock their strategic horns over the Taiwan quagmire. China’s zero-tolerance Taiwan policy will bring its rivalry with the USA to the point of no return provided that Washington continues to meddle in Taiwan’s affairs. Similarly, the expansion of NATO to encircle Russia in its western region will stock tensions between the USA and Russia. Military deployment by Russia at its western border and the USA’s quest to make Ukraine a NATO member aggravate the relations of both former traditional rivals. The more the USA tries to strategically squeeze Russia, the greater are the chances of a Russia-China alliance. When Russia and China forge an alliance against the USA, it will terribly shatter the global balance of power. It increases the possibility of the creation of alliances and counter-alliances among world powers, compelling smaller countries to bandwagon. The world will be divided into two major blocs between the USA and China. Both powers contest to maintain their influence by expanding their geopolitical footprints across the world. Realpolitik gains currency in the face of growing great-power rivalry. Escalating great-power tensions cause conflicts. Competition slides into confrontation. Nevertheless, realistic foreign policy may ensure

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Second, the Afghan factor. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan mean a lot to each other – not just in terms of their security needs, but for the economic uplift of the region as well. Pakistan is also an integral part of two energy corridors, the Iran-Pakistan (IP) and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline projects. Though both projects are linked with Pakistan’s geo-economic ambitions, they cannot be successfully accomplished without ensuring durable peace in Afghanistan and regional security Pakistan has always played a positive role towards formation of an inclusive Afghan government in Kabul. Furthermore, Pakistan has already paid a heavy toll in GWOT and, after experiencing a bloody terrorism, is now facing a new wave of terror from the TTP based inside Afghanistan. Pakistan’s adversaries– especially archrival India– are well aware of the fact that without settling issues with TTP, Pakistan cannot ensure internal stability which is paramount to achieving its economic goal. The TTP’s links with India and opposition factions in Afghanistan are real source of concern for Imran Khan’s government. Maintenance of perpetual peace inside and on the Afghan border shall remain the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy objectives. Third, there is the China factor with specific reference to CPEC and Sino-US rivalry for global supremacy. Pakistan’s CPEC initiated with China has now become a lifeline for the country’s economy and its geostrategic vision. As a matter of fact, as long as CPEC is not functional, Pakistan can neither accomplish its goals nor avoid dependency on the IMF. Furthermore, in order to fetch maximum dividends, Pakistan also needs to look at CPEC beyond just being a transit trade facility. The development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), upgradation of Gwadar port and enhancement of trade with China, needs to be accorded top priority for success of CPEC. There are also no signs of abating in the neo-Cold War between the US and China. The Sino-US tussle bears strategic implications for Pakistan. The leadership at Islamabad needs to play its cards quite intelligently so as to remain out of the great powers’ tug-of-war. The US administration too, cannot afford to lose interest in Pakistan as they fear that it might sway towards China. Historically, Islamabad has played a bridging role between Washington and Beijing in managing their bilateral ties. In 1972, Pakistan was instrumental in arranging President Nixon’s strategic visit to China that contributed towards systemic stability and international peace. Pakistan has no other role to play in the ongoing Sino-US tensions. It is even linked with Pakistan’s desire of turning its geoeconomic vision into reality. The formulation of National Security Policy with renowned vision, is undeniably a milestone for Pakistan, nonetheless, the first step in the right direction. The writer has a PhD in International Relations and can be reached at arshadmahmood74@hotmail.com

Return of great-power rivalry

Dedicated to the legacy of late Hameed Nizami

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

Contrarily, China and Japan can conveniently be regarded as champions of geoeconomics of the current and the post-war eras respectively, where they applied economic tools to advance their national goals. Ever since 1947, Pakistan’s behaviour has only been reactionary to systemic anarchy. The strategic tug-of-war between the two superpowers, the everlooming Indian threat on its Eastern border, security and domestic dynamics of neighbouring Afghanistan and the fallout of 9/11 have been the chief drivers of our national security and foreign policy. Bartering its geostrategic value, Pakistan’s involvement as a frontline state has, nevertheless, resulted in huge losses, both of human lives and to the economy. Would Pakistan’s geoeconomic vision help in flipping the script? Whether or not the answer is affirmative, no one can, at least, question the rationality of the decision. This seems even logical after considering following three factors: (1) the net effect of Pakistan’s history of responding to its geopolitical compulsions; (2) the shifting of the global centre of gravity from the Atlantic to the Asia Pacific; and, (3) the success stories of EU and ASEAN contributing to internationalizing the philosophy of geoeconomics. But rationality aside, Pakistan’s pivot toward geo-economics is likely to face many challenges! Geopolitics being a hard reality, Pakistan would not be able to remain aloof to systemic compulsions. The continuation of Indian aggressive foreign policy especially the vacillation of the Kashmir dispute; developing stories in Afghanistan, and, the emerging Sino-US neo-Cold War are amongst a few things Pakistan cannot escape. While switching over to the new priorities, the policymakers in Pakistan need to handle the following factors with extreme care. In the years to follow, the country’s decision making machinery would be required to tackle the following hurdles in meeting its new vision. First and foremost, our relations with India. The fundamental policy shift cannot be akin to an end to war(s) with India, nor does it mean that Pakistan’s Eastern border has ceased emanating threat. This may, however, be taken as strategic signalling in the following terms. ONE, over the past few decades– especially after 1971, Pakistan has acquired sufficient capability to maintain the regional balance of power. TWO, on a number of occasions, Islamabad has rendered New Delhi’s numeric military ascendency null and void e.g. Operation Brasstacks of 1987,the Kargil Wa of 1998, the military stand-off of 2001 and the Pulwama confrontation of 2019. And, THREE, Pakistan now requires no more band-wagoning or alliance with any global players to safeguard its territorial integrity against India. Though, inter alia, economy is essentially the state’s top priority, the troubled relations with India, particularly the lingering Kashmir dispute, shall remain a challenge for Pakistan in accomplishment of geoeconomic goals.

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stability of deterrence that repels big powers from direct confrontation as mutually assured destruction (MAD) becomes imminent. Both deterrence and crisis stability are paramount for global strategic stability as emerging new powers may change the global power structure. An eroding world order and waning US influence have enabled other countries to grow. China’s economic boom and technological advancement have created problems for the USA as Beijing tries to lead the world at the time Washington’s role is declining on world affairs. The USA has abjectly failed to live in the paradise of power and enjoy the luxury of the international system which it constructed after the demise of the former USSR. There are two main factors which have emaciated the USA’s muscles. One is the internal political and social polarization accompanied with growing inequality and intolerance. The other is its engagement in ‘unwinnable’ wars across the world. The Afghanistan war trapped the USA in a deadly conflict for two decades while the rest of the world continues to grow without any impediment. China has built an economic powerhouse that enables it to compete with the USA to be the next hegemonic power. It is obvious that the USA will attempt to retain its status as the global superpower while China tries to replace it gradually. It is hard for the USA to be the status quo power since China strives to be the potential economic and technological master of the world. With a view to countering China, the USA has forged alliances, the Quad and the AUKUS, in the Indo-Pacific region. The US policy shift from fighting terrorism to managing great powers has brought back the great-power rivalry. The Quad and AUKUS in the Indo-Pacific against China and NATO’s expansion to Ukraine against Russia will increase greatpower tensions. It makes confrontation inevitable. The US-India-NATO nexus versus the China-Rus-

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sia alliance will shift the global balance of power, creating a security dilemma for various countries. It again increases the arms race which can affect deterrence and crisis stability. A new cold war between the East and the West (not simply between two great powers) is transcontinental and can become hot if there is any strategic miscalculation. However, the USA and China are two major players in this possible Cold War II. The flashpoints of conflict will be maritime routes and space. Both the USA and China will endeavor to play a greater role over world affairs by occupying major strategic points at ocean regions to have influence on the sea lines of communication. Space is another domain of great powers contest; it allows them to spy over the world. The new Cold War will be over crafting the world’s technological order and restructuring the rules of the game. The crumbling existing world order provides space for establishing new international norms. The USA has, however, created a rule-based international order with capitalist economic structure and democratic political norms. But what can China offer the world if it becomes the next global superpower? China has neither clear strategy to lead the world, nor does it have any principle for the international system. As Henry Kissinger writes in the book “On China” that “American exceptionalism is missionary. It holds that the United States has an obligation to spread its values to every part of the world. China’s exceptionalism is cultural. China does not proselytize; it does not claim that its contemporary institutions are relevant outside China.” If China tries to replicate the previous master’s rules and norms of global system as it becomes the next global superpower, it will have to restructure its internal political system to earn legitimacy. But internal reform can disrupt the project of absoluteness of single party system, inciting a sort of domestic political upheaval. Thus, the road to global superpower for China is murky. The writer is a strategic affairs and foreign policy analyst.

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Wednesday, 16 February, 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

Russia-Ukraine standoff and Pakistan

History, Guilt, and Justice Black History Month is not just about American Blacks

Washington Watch

Dr. JaMeS J. Zogby

vERy year during Black History Month in the USA, I recall a televised interview with Harry Belafonte and Sidney Poitier I watched over a half century ago. Discussing the importance of teaching Black history, they noted that its explicit teaching was necessary if our goal is to tell the full story of human history, as the contributions of Black American — in science and medicine, literature and the arts, and so many other fields— have been deliberately ignored or distorted. They added that contributions of Black Americans are only part of what’s missing. Also absent is an honest treatment of the dehumanizing reality of slavery, the vicious legacy of segregation, lynchings, and the ethnic cleansing and systemic racism that have defined much of the Black American experience and that continue in different forms until today. Because the history we have learned has been so whitewashed and shorn of the Black experience, it is not only false, but also destructive and hurtful. A personal example: While we’ve lived in Northwest Washington, DC for the last four decades, only in the last decade have I learned the story of my neighbourhood. Built a century ago by the Chevy Chase Land Company (CCLC), the entire area was “covenanted” white— meaning that by law no homes could be sold to Black families. As the neighbourhood grew, a need arose to build schools to accommodate the White families who had moved in. The land chosen for the elementary and high schools were areas that had been settled by freed Black slaves who had lived there since before the Civil War— long before the CCLC’s racist covenants. In an act that can only be described as “ethnic cleansing,” the CCLC secured a government order evicting hundreds of Black families from their homes. When I first learned about this 1920s ethnic cleansing in my own neighbourhood, I was in shock. One of my children had gone to the resulting elementary school, and for a decade I had coached a baseball team that played on the adjacent field. We had been playing on stolen land and didn’t know it. When we took this research to the city council and the mayor, none of them knew this his-

tory either. We found a Washington Post story from 1931— just two years after the evictions— that mentioned new schools being built on the “rolling green hills” in Northwest Washington as if the land had been vacant, erasing the evictions and demolitions. As we learned more about this Black community and how its destruction had been written out of history, we felt shame and guilt at the injustice that had been done. We formed a group that was eventually able to get the story recognized, the name of the field changed to include the name of the Black families who had lived there, and historical signage erected on the site telling the story of Black American dispossession. It was small but needed recompense. In this context, it’s striking that during this year’s Black History Month, 15 state legislatures are moving to pass bills that would limit the teaching of Black history. As an example, the legislation in Florida reads: “An individual, by virtue of his or her race or sex, does not bear responsibility for actions committed in the past by other members of the same race or sex... An individual should not be made to feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress on account of his or her race.” The bill is dead wrong. We need to know Black history, about the Black Americans whose contributions have been left out, and about the horrific pain endured by Black Americans from the moment they set foot on these shores to the present day. Most importantly, we need to feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish...distress.” We all need to feel it because we can never correct the sins of the past, unless we know them and then work to address their legacy. While reflecting on this connection between history and guilt, I recalled a personal experience a half century ago. My wife Eileen and I were flying home from a visit we had made to Lebanon and Jordan for the purpose of conducting research for my doctoral dissertation. I spent considerable time in Palestinian refugee camps documenting stories of the Nakba. Palestinians told me of their forced expulsions, showed me faded pictures of the

homes they left behind, and their fervent desires to return. One said to me: “The Jews say they remembered after 2,000 years. For me, it’s only been 23 years. How can they not understand that I want to go back to my home?” With these heartbreaking stories still fresh in my mind, we boarded a connecting flight in London heading back to the USA. While on the trip back, a young woman approached me. She had been a student of mine a year earlier. I asked her where she had been and she replied enthusiastically, “I just went home, my true home.” I said, “But you’re from Philadelphia, aren’t you?” She acknowledged that was where she had been born, but a summer in Israel had helped her to discover her “true home.” In the years after 1948, Israel had seized the homes of those urban Palestinians who had fled, turning them over to new Jewish immigrants, and demolished 483 entire Palestinian villages that had been evacuated. The Jewish National Fund had planted forests on the sites of these villages in an effort to complete their erasure from history and memory. And so there I was, on a flight back to the USA still processing the loss experienced by so many Palestinians, speaking with a young euphoric American who had no knowledge of any of this. I did not use our time over the Atlantic to give her a history lesson, to make her feel “discomfort, guilt, anguish...distress.” But I did resolve to make this my life’s work. Whether it’s Americans who need to learn about what we did to Native Americans and Blacks; the British who need to understand the impact of their oppression of Ireland or the Indian Subcontinent; the French who must make recompense for the horrors they inflicted on the Arabs of North Africa; or so many others, too numerous to list— we need to remember and teach our children a full human history, to feel discomfort and guilt for what was done to innocents, and find ways to end the legacy of the injustices that were perpetrated in our names.

Whether it’s Americans who need to learn about what we did to Native Americans and Blacks; the British who need to understand the impact of their oppression of Ireland or the Indian Subcontinent; the French who must make recompense for the horrors they inflicted on the Arabs of North Africa; or so many others, too numerous to list— we need to remember and teach our children a full human history, to feel discomfort and guilt for what was done to innocents, and find ways to end the legacy of the injustices that were perpetrated in our names.

The writer is President of the Arab American Institute

POST-COMMUNIST Russia finds itself within a border which reflects no historical precedent. Russia will always be essential to the world order. Russia has definitely come up with both politically and economically since vladimir Putin assumed power in Russia. Putin has raised its sides and is invoking the memory of Russia’s key role in the allied victory over the axis power. The current role of Russia has been increased as a global power. After the coming of the Biden Administration in power, the relationship between USA and Russia is deteriorating day by day. Furthermore, Foreign Minister of Russia Sergey Lavrov has made an important visit to Geneva to meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the USA to discuss the Ukrainian issue, however, no breakthrough was made by the two countries, Russia has demanded that Ukraine cannot be the part of the NATO. EU must withdraw troops from Ukraine and Eastern European countries must maintain the pre 97 positions accordingly, however, the USA has not assured the same., Currently the USA has sent Aircraft Carrier USS Harry S . Truman to the Mediterranean Sea to take part in a NATO naval exercise in the Mediterranean amid tensions between the West and Russia. Furthermore, USA Foreign Office has issued instructions to their diplomatic mission in Ukraine to leave Ukraine at the earliest possible, furthermore, according to current media reports Russia have deployed the Air Force in Belarus to increase pressure on Ukraine. Moreover, Ukraine President has warned Russia that if Russia is going to take the control of the industrial zone, then Ukraine shall respond accordingly. In the current international scenario, it becomes very important for Pakistan to maintain a clear line of action. Already a group has been formed for the future planning of the region. China and Iran have signed the Comprehensive Cooperation Plan of 25 years to increase trade and investment cooperation between the two countries. ABDUL KHALIQUE PANHYAR KARAcHI

Terrorism - A rising concern PAKISTAN has borne the brunt of terrorism more than any other country in the world. This has led to the loss of many precious lives, many people have become disabled for the rest of their lives, the properties of the masses have been destroyed. In addition to the foreign influences, some indigenous terrorist groups have also been involved in terrorist activities. TTP tops the list in this regard. Moreover, some other organisations, such as Baloch Nationalist Army, have also been involved in terrorist activities. These incidents have not only created unrest within the country but the international reputation of the country has also been blotted. The recent incident in Lahore’s bustling area, Anarkali Market, not only raised concerns about the re-emergence of terrorism but it speaks volumes of the neglect of government authorities. If the government can issue threat alerts then it can surely stop such incidents from happening. This incident should be an eye-opener for the authorities to take strict measures before the hydra-headed monster of terrorism grips its roots in the country. JAVERIYA MAHAR HYDERABAD

Online phishing THROUGH this letter in the column of your esteemed daily, I wish to draw attention to the growing rate of cybercrime and its harmful effects on society. Cybercrime is one of the greatest threats to today’s society. Today the world is exposed to the internet and everything is just a few clicks away. And most importantly all the data is accessible to everyone. But there are a lot of disadvantages to it as well. People are constantly buying online things and storing their personal bank account details on the internet. Potential hackers look for such information to use it to their advantage, there have been many cases where people have lost a hefty amount of money due to phishing or other online frauds. Many people have experienced their bank accounts getting hacked. In this online world, we all need a safe and secure space to conduct everything without being worried. That’s why in order to achieve this online safety, our need of the hour is a strict cyber law and its proper enforcement. I sincerely hope my concern will help to make our government more aware of these types of cybercrimes and they will take necessary actions to prevent them and punish the criminals. I will be highly obliged if my concern gets highlighted. HAFIZ BILAL NASEEM SHAH ISLAMABAD

IMF issues IMF (International Monetary Fund) has been a question dogging the PTI government since 2018. On January 11, 2022, Prime Minister Imran Khan expressed fears that the government would have to go to IMF again if Pakistan’s exports did not increase sharply. On top of all, the price hike that people have suffered for over three years now has not abated a bit, with most food item prices and even bare essentials becoming hard to buy. It appears to be more interested in complying with the IMF conditions by introducing the mini-budget that is likely to be more harm than good to citizens of Pakistan. With the mini-budget, the government has imposed Rs. 350 billion in new taxes on the people of Pakistan who are already reeling under high and unprecedented inflation. The taxes imposed will directly or indirectly hit the country’s people. The government must revise its privatisation policy and adopt an aggressive approach by ensuring that a certain number of manufacturing units are strictly under state control. ZUNAIRA HAROON LAHORE

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Wednesday, 16 February, 2022

08 WORLD VIEW

Listen to the Canadian truCkers BLOCKADING PARLIAMENT ISN’T THE ANSWER. BUT THE TRUCKERS ARE RIGHT TO TAKE ON TRUDEAU

PolItICo RICH LOWRY

n a nice change of pace, it’s Canada that’s experiencing a gripping national melodrama. if “Worthwhile Canadian initiative” has long been said to be the most boring headline in the world, “anti-Vax truckers Besiege parliament Building and Block international Crossings” has considerably more news value. the protesting Canadian truckers are, to use the phrase made famous by Bari Weiss on a recent appearance on the Bill Maher Show, “done with Covid.” the truckers, dismissed by Canada’s political establishment as hateful kooks, should be taken seriously as a symbol of latent, largely unexpressed frustration with Canada’s long-standing, far-reaching Covid lockdown regime, and of a broader, understandable exhaustion with such measures in the West. the protests in Canada will likely be remembered as an inflection point in the response to the pandemic. in the U.S., it took worrisome polls for blue-state governors to finally begin to give way on mask mandates this week; in Canada, where there has been some comparable loosening, it took the truckers putting the issue front and center

and emboldening conservative politicians. Obviously, the tactics are a problem. it’s one thing to run a convoy to the capital to garner support and attention; it’s another to blockade the parliament building and stop traffic on important cross-border bridges, with consequences for international trade. Lawbreaking shouldn’t be condoned or tolerated, although relative to some of the mayhem of the Black Lives Matters protests after the killing of George Floyd, blocking streets is relatively mild. that said, the truckers are correct about their grievance that sparked the protest in the first place. throughout the pandemic, truckers have been exempt from Covid restrictions at the border. they were, rightly, considered essential workers. Despite continuing work when many people on both sides of the border were locked down — and when we had no vaccines and knew comparatively little about the virus — it is only now that the Canadian government has decided to impose a more onerous rule on the truckers. Beginning on Jan. 15, Canadian truckers coming back across the border from the U.S. had to be vaccinated or they’d have to isolate for two weeks — in other words, be forced for all intents and purposes to give up their livelihoods. this made no sense. it wasn’t in response to a new public-health emergency. Cases in Canada have been collapsing since early January, in keeping with the dynamic of the rapid rise and fall of the winter Omicron wave. people should get vaccinated and

boosted for their own good, but it’s obviously not bulletproof protection, since we all know by now that the vaccinated and boosted frequently get the virus. even if the unvaccinated were unique spreaders of the disease, truckers are as cocooned from other people as it’s possible to get during their workdays. indeed, their vocation practically consists of self-isolation. instead of treating the truckers as fellow citizens who have a valid, or at least reasonable, complaint about a relatively unimportant policy that the government vacillated on prior to its implementation, the establishment and center-left in Canada have reacted to them with outrage and contempt. they are agents of malign foreign influence or white nationalists. they must be fought on the beaches and the landing fields. a columnist at the national Observer wrote a piece titled, “anti-vaxxer truck convoy signals invidious spread of trumpism in Canada.” Jagmeet Singh, the leader of the new Democrat party, said the convoy is “led by those that claim the superiority of the white bloodline and equate islam to a disease.” Justin trudeau speaks as if an enemy horde has descended that must be resisted in another Battle of Maldon. “i want to be very clear — we are not intimidated by those who hurl abuse at small business workers and steal food from the homeless,” he said. “We won’t give in to those who fly racist flags. We won’t cave to those who engage in vandalism or dishonor the memory of our veterans.” in this, he engaged in classic nutpicking,

While iraq pays off billions in reparations for invading kuwait, the us will never pay a dime for invading iraq THE US KICKED OFF EVENTS THAT CAUSED 4 MILLION OUT OF THEN 26 MILLION IRAQIS TO BE DISPLACED FROM THEIR HOMES, 1.5 MILLION OF THEM ABROAD. HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS DIED. WIDOWS AND ORPHANS WERE CREATED. UNEMPLOYMENT IN SOME REGIONS OF IRAQ IN 2003 SPIRALED ABOVE 50 PERCENT

Informed Comment JUAN COLE

tephanie nebehay at Reuters reports that iraq has finally paid off the $52.4 billion in war reparations imposed on it by the United nations as punishment for its invasion and attempted annexation of Kuwait in 1990, which led to the Gulf War of 1991. the headline we’ll never see is that the United States paid off reparations for its illegal invasion of iraq in 2003. iraqi leader Saddam hussein’s attack on Kuwait in early august, 1990, was an act of naked aggression that violated the United nations Charter, to which both iraq and Kuwait were signatories. the iraqi occupation was brutal, and Baghdad announced that it had permanently annexed Kuwait based on an Ottoman-era claim. One of the more destructive acts committed by iraqi troops came as the war was ending and iraqi tanks were racing back to iraq. Saddam’s troops set fire to Kuwaiti oil fields. Oil field fires are the worst. they cannot easily be extinguished, and last for years, doing enormous damage to the fields. Kuwait was one of the over a million parties that iraq had to compensate. $14.7 billion of the reparations were paid to the Kuwait petroleum Corporation, the main victim of the oil field fires. Despite the dysfunction of the United nations system, the organization does accomplish some good things for an orderly world built on a rule of law. the success of the Gulf War repa-

rations in securing compensation for victims of a war of aggression is a good example. the Un can often conduct successful diplomacy and make conciliation possible in ways that are difficult or impossible for a superpower. the problem with a lot of such international institutions, such as the Un and the international Criminal Court, is that they only apply justice to the small, weak countries of the world, while the rich and powerful skate. the iCC has had several successful prosecutions of human rights violators in africa, but its docket has been accused of being africa-heavy. One problem is that the court can only go after people in states that have signed the Rome Statute, and while 123 have, a lot of big important countries have declined. the US is not a signatory, for instance. the only exception is where the Un Security Council forwards a case to the iCC. that is what happened in 2011, when Libyan dictator Moammar Qaddafi and his son Saif were indicted. the problem? Libya is, again, in africa. the Bush administration’s invasion of iraq in 2003 violated the Un Charter and international law in precisely the way that Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait did. it was a war of aggression without the least legitimacy in international law. in the Un Charter, there are only two justifiable reasons for launching a war. One is self-defense. the other is if the Un Security Council designates a government a danger to international order and asks Un members to intervene. the Un Security Council pointedly refused to authorize Bush’s war, which frankly surprised me at the time. Bush singled out France as declining to go along, but it was clear that actually a majority of the 15-member body was against Bush’s war. and, iraq was not a threat to the United States, so the war was not launched by Washington in self-defense. the Bush administration’s bald-faced lies about iraq having chemical or biological weapons and Baghdad’s alleged nuclear weapons program were intended to create the impression that the poor, weak, ramshackle Saddam hussein government posed an aggressive danger to

the most powerful country in the world. Unfortunately for Bush’s reputation, iraq had no such weapons and had destroyed chemical stockpiles under the supervision of Un inspectors. (there is the Un doing something very useful again.) americans are so self-absorbed that when they talk about the economic damage of the iraq War, they refer to the estimated $6 trillion it will end up costing the US. But that was just the cost of prosecuting the war and taking care of wounded veterans. What about the damage done to iraq? the US kicked off events that caused 4 million out of then 26 million iraqis to be displaced from their homes, 1.5 million of them abroad. hundreds of thousands died. Widows and orphans were created. Unemployment in some regions of iraq in 2003 spiraled above 50 percent. the US ran all the state-owned companies into the ground as hated examples of socialism, but replaced them with nothing, expecting the magic hand of capitalism to miraculously get the economy going. the US actually just illegally stole iraq’s petroleum income for the first year of the occupation to fund its own government of iraq. the US will never have to pay any reparations for all the destruction it kicked off in iraq. Washington has a veto on the Un Security Council and has not signed the Rome Statute, so it is beyond the reach of these international institutions and cannot be fined for its crimes. Worst of all, Bush legitimated aggressive invasions on the world stage. Vladimir putin took a page from Bush’s book when he invaded Crimea in 2014. So we won’t really have an international rule of law until there are no privileged countries or leaders, and until even the great powers have to pay reparations for violating the Un Charter and the Geneva Conventions. Juan Cole teaches Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan. His newest book, “Muhammad(PBUH): Prophet of Peace Amid the Clash of Empires” was published in 2020.

focusing on a few instances of misbehavior to tar the entire group. it’d be hard to come up with a better expression of the high-handedness that has characterized pro-restriction officeholders and public-health experts during the pandemic than trudeau’s sneering attitude toward the protestors. Canada has been a relative monolith on Covid. Conservative officeholders have been broadly willing to go along with lockdowns and mandates. there has been no Ron DeSantis. nor is there any conservative alternative media in Canada (with a few exceptions) to give a platform to dissenters from the Covid orthodoxy — the positive coverage of the truckers, for instance, has mostly been emanating from the United States. Surely, this is why the truckers have taken on such an outsized significance. in representing such a high-profile break from the Covid consensus, they have given conservative politicians permission — or affirmatively pressured them — to begin to back off restrictions. already, the conservative leader who lost to trudeau last year and is a relatively conciliatory figure has been dumped and will likely be replaced by a more combative alternative. alberta and Saskatchewan have moved this week to lift various Covid restrictions. the truckers are another sign of the class inversion in advanced Western countries. the Left continues to shed working-class voters and gain college-educated voters and the well-coiffed trudeau, fully attuned to haut progressive sensibilities, is the perfect

paladin for the upper-middle class. On the other hand, the right is doing the opposite and sees blue-collar virtue in the truckers to whom it once would have felt no natural connection. One hopes that, on the ground, the whole episode doesn’t have an ugly end. trudeau should give the truckers their victory on the vaccination mandate. his government, which already backed off on it once only to re-embrace it, can easily back off again. it’s not as though this was a law passed by parliament. it’s a unilateral, arbitrary rule of the sort that proliferated throughout the pandemic. and no one can seriously believe Canada is going to suffer a renewed Covid surge based on roughly 10 percent of its truckers not being vaccinated. For their part, if they get the concession on the mandate, the truckers should declare victory and go home, or at the minimum, take a step back from any confrontation with the police. they’ve already changed the trajectory of Canadian politics around Covid restrictions. that should be enough. any other loose goal some of the protestors are talking about, like bringing down the government, is a pipe dream and not how a parliamentary system should work — there’s always the next election. if all parties step back from the brink, then the next political melodrama can be left to play out, more naturally to type, in their friendly neighbor to the South. Rich Lowry is editor of National Review and a contributing editor with Politico Magazine.

trudeau has gone too far THE ONLY THING THAT CAN BE SAID IN DEFENCE OF TRUDEAU’S INVOKING OF THE EMERGENCIES ACT IS THAT IT WAS HIS INCOMPETENCE THAT MADE SUCH AN EXTREME MEASURE NECESSARY

toronto Sun

RiMe MiniSteR Justin trudeau’s unjustified invoking of the emergencies act is deeply problematic and will have long-lasting consequences for the country. ever since the freedom convoy first touched base in Ottawa a couple of weeks ago, the pM has gone out of his way to increase the tensions. the Liberal government appeared to be hoping for some sort of Jan. 6 style event as happened in the United States last year. all of their rhetoric indicated they were keen to see such an event go down. it never did. the convoy has been peaceful throughout. the only real violence so far has been a vehicular ramming conducted against protesters, which sent four people to hospital. You don’t hear much about that though. trudeau never condemned it. instead, trudeau has called protesters every name in the book even though they are a diverse crowd in every sense of the word. now he is giving himself extraordinary powers to deal with these protests. One of the most disturbing parts is how they can now dictate that banks freeze people’s accounts without a court order. people like Canadian hero Kevin Vick-

ers — the Sargeant-at-arms who personally thwarted the 2014 terrorist attack on parliament hill — have called for calm and dialogue. trudeau doesn’t want that though. he just wants division and more hostility. it appears to be in this spirit that the pM has decided to invoke the emergencies act for the first time in Canadian history. at least four premiers opposed him. “We have all of the legal tools and operational resources required to maintain order,” alberta premier Jason Kenney wrote, in explaining his opposition. “the act would add no relevant additional powers of resources.” Kenney added that this decision may only “escalate a tense situation” and that trudeau needs to “end the cross border trucker vaccine mandate, as it serves no useful public health purpose.” the controversial blockade of the ambassador Bridge was already resolved. the grounds for invoking this act are, according to Joanna Baron of the Canadian Constitution Foundation, “extremely thin”. the protests may be a nuisance and many people may disagree with them, but that doesn’t justify this decision. the only thing that can be said in defence of trudeau’s invoking of the emergencies act is that it was his incompetence that made such an extreme measure necessary.

Wednesday, 16 February, 2022 | KARACHI

NEWS

Skill Verification Program (SVP) for Skilled Pakistani Workforce to Enhance Employment Opportunities in Saudi Arabia PreSS reLeASe The inauguration ceremony of Skills Verification program (SVP) by Takamol Saudi Arabia and NAVTTC Pakistan was held at the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. Minister for Federal Education and Professional Training, Shafqat Mahmood and Dr. Adnan Al-Nuaim, Deputy Minister for International Affairs from Saudi Arabia witnessed the event along with other senior officials of both countries. NAVTTC is mandated to conduct skills and competencies tests with an aim to provide Pakistani workforce with authentic certification which has been made a prerequisite for all skill visas for employments. In pilot phase, the trade testing will be conducted in 12 assessment centers for 1,000 Candidates, desirous of working in the KSA. Successful candidates will be issued authentic and internationally recognized joint certificate by both Takamol and NAVTTC, through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) assessment. On this occasion, the Federal Minister for Education and Professional Training said that Pakistan will be the first country to empower expatriate Pakistani workforce with globally recognized skill certification and enhance the flow of qualified & aptly skilled Pakistani workers to international labor market particularly to KSA.

InDIA’S hIjAB DISPUtE rEAChES ItS mOSt POPUlOUS StAtE LUCKNOW

reuters

dispute over restrictions on the wearing of the hijab by female students in a southern Indian state has now reached its most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, with a group of youngsters asking a college to ban the head covering. Authorities closed colleges in Karnataka in India’s south last week after a new uniform policy barred students from wearing headscarves in classrooms, leading to protests by Muslim students and counter-protests by Hindu students. Muslims have criticised the ban as another way of marginalising a community that accounts for about 13 percent of Hindu-majority India’s 1.35 billion people. In Uttar Pradesh, in the country’s north and bordering New Delhi, a group of more than two dozen young men

reached the Dharma Samaj College in Aligarh district on Monday and handed a memorandum to its officials seeking a complete ban on the hijab within its compound. They had saffron shawls around their necks — typically worn by Hindus — said the college’s chief proctor, Mukesh Bharadwaj, adding he did not recognise the people. Currently, religious garb is not allowed in classrooms but can be worn elsewhere on campus. “Two years ago, the same issue was raised and it has been raised again. We do not allow any type of religious uniform and we have a civil code of uniform for everyone,” Bharadwaj told Reuters by phone on Tuesday. “There is a changing room for girls and they can change their dress there before attending class,” he said. “We are investigating the matter.” Uttar Pradesh, estimated to have as many people as Brazil, is ruled by a radical Hindu monk from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party and is in

the midst of a multi-phase election that ends next month. Hindu-Muslim disputes are often used for political gains in the state.

The hijab issue has already reached court in Karnataka. Hearings will resume on Tuesday on whether the hijab should be allowed in class.

FBR Chairman Appreciates PSW’s Eﬀorts for Digitalizing Pakistan’s Cross Border Trade ISLAMABAD Press release

Country Director ADB visits One Window Ehsaas Center ISLAMABAD Press release

Country Director ADB was briefed on the ‘One Stop Shop’ operations of Ehsaas which integrate all benefits for 14 different target groups in one space. He highly appreciated the integration of wide range of services for social protection, financial inclusion, education, health and nutrition, and poverty graduation education at the One Window Ehsaas Center. "Beneficiaries can access all Ehsaas services and benefits at the One Window centre”, said Dr. Sania. Following a detailed presentation on the consolidated Ehsaas services at One Window Center of Ehsaas, Country Director ADB was also given a round of the facility wherein he witnessed one window operations and interacted with staff and beneficiaries. From Ehsaas’ side, Secretary Ismat Tahira, Additional Secretary Syed Moazzam and Director General Naveed Akbar were also present at the center.

Chairman FBR/Secretary Revenue Division Dr. Muhammad Ashfaq Ahmed visited Pakistan Single Window headquarters in Islamabad for a briefing on the implementation of the Pakistan Single Window system. He was accompanied by the Project Director PSW, Mr. Mohammed Imran and other officials of FBR. On his arrival, CEO PSW Mr. Aftab Haider welcomed the FBR delegation and apprised them on the progress of the PSW program. The Chairman was given a detailed presentation on the Trade Information Portal of Pakistan (TIPP) that is scheduled to be launched in March 2022 in line with Pakistan’s commitment under the WTO Trade Facilitation Agreement. "A major reason for non-compliance of traders with Customs and regulatory laws is their inability to access updated, authentic, and reliable information on the required compliances”, Mr. Haider stated during the briefing, “the Trade Information Portal will overcome the existing information asymmetry and serve as a single repository of all import, export, and transit trade related information for guidance of the traders, clearing agents, government officials and other stakeholders” The Chairman was given a demo of the portal by the TIPP lead Mr. Umair Mehmood and shown various features developed for the guidance of the overseas Pakistanis and investors. During the briefing the Chairman FBR was also updated on the integration status of the Commercial Banks with the PSW platform for elimination of the State Bank mandated

electronic Form ‘E’ and Form ‘I’. PSW has recently activated its ‘Trader Support Centre’ providing 24/7 phone and email support to PSW users. The Chairman FBR appreciated PSW for its continuous efforts in evolving as a national organization for supporting Pakistan’s traders. He said, “The fast paced infrastructure development under PSW will enhance the trust of traders and the business community on public services.” He expressed his satisfaction on the implementation pace and resolved to extend full support to the PSW program. “FBR is very proud to be leading such groundbreaking initiatives that will transform trade,

‘Don’t be Google’: The rise of privacy focused startups PArIS aFP

Google once used the slogan “don’t be evil” to distinguish itself from its competitors, but now a growing number of pro-privacy startups are rallying to the mantra “don’t be Google”. They are taking on Google Analytics, a product used by more than half of the world’s websites to understand people’s browsing habits. “Google made a lot of good tools for a lot of people,” says Marko Saric, a Dane living in Belgium who set up Plausible Analytics in Estonia in 2019. “But over the years they changed their approach without really thinking what is right, what is wrong, what is evil, what is not.” Saric and many others are benefitting from GDPR, a European privacy regulation introduced in 2018 to control who can access personal data. Last week, France followed Austria in declaring Google’s practice of transferring personal data from the EU to its US servers was illegal under GDPR because the country does not have adequate protections.

Google disagrees, saying the data is anonymised and the scenarios envisaged in Europe are hypothetical. Nevertheless, startups see an opening in a true David vs Goliath battle. “The week that Google Analytics was ruled illegal by the Austrian DPA (data protection authority) was a good week for us,” says Paul Jarvis, who runs Fathom Analytics from his home in Vancouver Island, Canada. He says new subscriptions tripled over that week, though he does not give exact numbers. Google dominates the analytics market with 57 percent of all websites using its service, according to survey group W3Techs. The best-established privacy-focused tool, Matomo, accounts for one percent of websites. The smaller players know they are not going to overturn Google’s domination, rather their aim is to inject a bit of fairness and choice into the market. ‘Behemoth’ application The supercharging moment for proprivacy software developers came in 2013 when former CIA contractor Edward Snowden revealed how US security agencies were engaged in mass

surveillance. “We already knew some of it,” says Matomo founder Matthieu Aubry. “But when he came out, we had proof that we weren’t just paranoid or making stuff up.” Snowden showed how the US National Security Agency, aided by a system of secret courts, was able to gather personal data from users of websites including Google, Facebook and Microsoft. Snowden’s revelations helped to solidify support across Europe for its new privacy regulation and inspired software developers to make privacy central to their products. The first thing the startups have taken aim at is the sheer complexity of Google Analytics. “You have 1,000 different dashboards and all this data, but it doesn’t help you if you don’t understand it,” says Michael Neuhauser, who launched Fair Analytics last month. Jarvis, who had previously trained people to use Google Analytics, describes it as a “behemoth”. Unlike Google, the privacy-focused products do not use cookies to track users around the web and offer

a much simpler array of data, helping them to keep within the boundaries of GDPR. And they all make this a key selling point on their websites. ‘an alternative internet’ But making a living from these tools is no mean feat. Saric of Plausible and Jarvis of Fathom both sank time and money into their projects before they could pay themselves a wage. Both firms still operate with a startup mentality — tiny teams working remotely across countries having direct contact with clients. Aubry, who founded Matomo in 2007 when he was in his early 20s, remembers being in a similar position. “For a long time, we didn’t even have a business around the project, it was pure community,” says the Frenchman from his home in Wellington, New Zealand. But he says his firm now has global reach and he wants to help create “an alternative internet” not dominated by big tech. His peers are at a much earlier stage but they certainly agree with the sentiment.

streamline export and import processes and enhance Pakistan’s connectivity to the global supply chain” He added. Pakistan Single Window (PSW) is an initiative of Pakistan’s federal government with a focus of transforming the trade and industry ecosystem. The program encompasses several aligned smaller initiatives to support PSW’s cause of transforming trade such as business processes re-engineering, integrated risk management, ports community systems, introduction of new technology for trade management, data standardization and harmonization and integrated tariff management system.

AIOU educational network extends to world over ISLAMABAD Press release

Allama Iqbal Open (AIOU) has extended its educational network to the entire world. We are highly encouraged and motivated to announce that international students from KSA, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Malaysia, Italy, Africa, and USA have been admitted to various academic programs offered by the university in semester autumn 2021’, said Prof Dr Zia Ul-Qayyum, VC, AIOU in a statement. He, further, added that AIOU is targeting to increase enrollment of the international students to ten thousand within upcoming three years. AIOU has been able to achieve this important milestone because of digitalization of its key academic, administrative and financial operations. Moreover, according to Dr Zahid Majeed, Director, International Collaboration and Exchange Office, admissions are in progress till February 22 for national as well as international students for the programs offered in the first phase of spring 2022 semester including matriculation, FA and I Com. All academic activities for international students will be conducted online ranging from submission of admission application form to the issuance of certificate/degree.Admission application forms and prospectuses for all these programs are available online on the university website (www.aiou.edu.pk).Overseas Pakistanis and international students are required to apply for admission via online mode. The detailed admission procedural steps can be viewed by accessing the link (online. admissions/enrollment). Admissions in Associate degree, B Com, BS (ODL), B Ed and MA programs will commence from March 1 in the second phase of semester spring 2022 for the national as well as international students.

Wednesday, 16 February, 2022 | KARACHI

10 FOREIGN NEWS

China Calls Us spliTTinG afGhan money ‘robbery’

IStANBuL

StAFF RePoRt

hINA on Tuesday called the US decision to split Afghan reserves a “robbery” and urged Washington to return the money to Afghans. The US stole money from Afghans, hua Chunying, spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry, said on Twitter. hua reacted to the US President Joe Biden’s executive order last Friday splitting Afghanistan’s central bank’s $7 billion in assets, allocating half for humanitarian relief to the poverty-stricken country ravaged by 42

like father, like son: 50 years later, Canadian pm Trudeau declares emergency to tackle protests

years of war, while keeping the other half available for compensation to victims of the 9/11 attacks. “This is flagrant robbery and shameless moral decline. The US should immediately return the stolen money back to the Afghan people, and compensate people in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and more who died or suffered losses from the US military invasions,” hua said. The interim government in Afghanistan condemned the move while many people in the war-torn country hit the streets against Biden’s decision. “If the US does not deviate from its position and continues its provocative actions, the Islamic Emirate (Taliban) will also be forced to reconsider its policy towards the country,” the interim government’s spokesperson said in a statement on Monday. “The Islamic Emirate strongly rejects Biden’s unjus-

tified actions as a violation of the rights of all Afghans,” it added. The spokesperson asserted that the 9/11 attacks “had nothing to do with Afghans”. “Any tampering of the assets of the Afghan people under the pretext of 9/11 incident is a blatant abuse and injustice which is a clear violation of the agreement reached with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan as well as an attempt to cover up the 20 years of its crimes committed in Afghanistan,” the statement said. Urging Washington to unfreeze the wealth of Afghans “unconditionally”, the Afghan interim government asked the US to “refrain from any provocative actions that can lead to more mistrust”. Un mission wanTs To see ‘afGhan money wiTh The afGhan people’: Meanwhile, the UN mission in Afghanistan on Tuesday said

“some very real progress” has been made with “concrete and meaningful assistance” to Afghans during the humanitarian crisis caused by economic meltdown in the country. “We are working to help secure further support for the people of Afghanistan, said the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a statement on twitter. “(The) UNAMA continues its longstanding call for ways to be found for the country’s reserves to be made available to support the Afghan people at the earliest time. We want to see as much money, Afghan money, as possible back in the Afghan economy and with the Afghan people,” the UN mission said. It, however, emphasised building a society “where authorities respect their human rights.” “This will benefit the people of Afghanistan and the broader region,” the statement added.

Iran says nuclear deal ‘at hand’ but sanctions must be ‘truly lifted’ NewS DeSk

ReuteRS Faced with truckers’ protests popping up across the nation, and hampering cross border trade, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday became the only Canadian leader since his father 50 years ago to declare a state of emergency in peacetime. Trudeau unveiled a series of tough measures to tackle funding for the protests, including letting banks freeze accounts linked to the protests without a court order, and said federal police will help end the blockades. But despite the apparent parallels, historians say there are big differences between Trudeau’s announcement and the one his father made in October 1970. For one, Liberal Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau put troops on the streets after a small militant group of Quebec separatists had kidnapped a diplomat and a provincial cabinet minister. his son, facing one of the biggest crises since taking office in 2015, made clear that deploying the military was not in the cards as he tried to end protests sparked by truckers opposing Covid-19 vaccine mandates for cross-border trips. Canada was not facing the kind of public emergency the act had been designed to tackle, said Leah West, a professor and national security expert at Ottawa’s Carleton University. “I’m kind of shocked to be honest that the government of Canada still actually believes that this meets the definition to even invoke the act,” she told the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Trudeau told reporters he was invoking the 1988 Emergencies Act because law enforcement needed more help. “This is about keeping Canadians safe, protecting people’s jobs and restoring confidence in our institutions,” he said. his father, Pierre Trudeau, took more decisive action after the Quebec kidnappings. Asked by a reporter how far he would go, Trudeau replied “Just watch me”, which became one of the main catchwords of Canadian politics. Three days later he invoked the War Measures Act, the predecessor to the Emergencies Act, and sent troops into Quebec and other provinces. The crisis ended, but only after the separatist group killed the cabinet minister. “What’s striking about this time is we’ve had no violence, nothing like that,” said University of Toronto professor emeritus Nelson Wiseman. Justin Trudeau asked on Friday about the parallels with his father’s experience in 1970, replied that “my values are deeply informed by the way I’ve been brought up, not just by my father but by experiences as a Canadian” before adding that “every situation is different”. The Canadian Parliament must approve the use of the measures within seven days and has the power to revoke them. Shortly after the protests began, the “Emergencies Act” quickly became a trending topic on social media as some Canadians called for the federal government to act, frustrated by what they saw as police inaction. Canadians also demanded Trudeau use the act in early 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic hit the country to restrict the movement of people and goods.

Iran has said an agreement to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers was “at hand,” but insisted that sanctions be “truly lifted” through ongoing talks in Vienna. After months of on-off negotiations, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell added to hopes of a renewed deal. “I strongly believe an agreement is in sight,” he said on Twitter, after a call with Iran’s foreign minister. “The moment has come to make an ultimate effort and reach a compromise,” Borrell said, in his dual capacity as coordinator of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the deal agreed between Iran and world powers in 2015. But Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, when meeting with Irish foreign and defense minister Simon Coveney on Monday, said that “sanctions must be truly lifted” in the ongoing negotiations to re-

vive the deal in the Austrian capital. “The rights of the Iranian people must be respected,” he added. The talks involve Iran, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia directly, and the United States indirectly. A meeting of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Joint Commission is held in Vienna, Austria, June 20, 2021. The 2015 deal offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, but the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from the deal in 2018 under then-president Donald Trump and reimposed stiff economic sanctions, prompting Tehran to begin rolling back on its commitments. U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price struck a cautious note late Monday. “We are going to be a bit more circumspect in terms of progress that we may be seeing on the ground in Vienna,” said Price, adding that “Time is almost out.” Also on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Min-

ister hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that he believed a revived agreement is “at hand,” provided the U.S. and European parties “are serious” about returning to full compliance with the deal. Negotiations in Vienna aim to return the U.S. to the nuclear deal, including through the lifting of sanctions on Iran, and to ensure Tehran’s full compliance

Russia says pulling back some forces from Ukraine border

AFP Russia said on Tuesday it was pulling back some of its forces near the Ukrainian border to their bases, in what would be the first major step towards de-escalation in weeks of crisis with the West. The move came amid an intense diplomatic effort to avert a feared Russian invasion of its pro-Western neighbour and after Moscow amassed more than 100,000 troops near Ukraine’s borders. Following the announcement, Ukraine said that its joint diplomatic efforts with Western allies have managed to avert a feared Russian invasion. “We and our allies have managed to prevent Russia from any further escalation. It is already the middle of February, and you see that diplomacy is continuing to work,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters. The crisis — the worst between Russia and the West since

the end of the Cold War — reached a peak this week with US officials warning that a full-scale invasion, including an assault on the capital Kyiv, was possible within days. In the morning on Tuesday, the Russian defence ministry’s spokesman said that some forces deployed near Ukraine had completed their exercises and were packing up to leave. “Units of the Southern and Western military districts, having completed their tasks, have already begun loading onto rail and road transport and today they will begin moving to their military garrisons,” the ministry’s chief spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, told Russian news agencies. It was not immediately clear how many units were involved and what impact the withdrawals would have on the overall number of troops surrounding Ukraine, but it was the first announcement of a Russian drawdown in weeks. Talks wiTh Germany: If Western officials confirm that Moscow is taking steps to reduce its forces, it would ease fears of a major war in Europe that have been rising for weeks. The first reaction could come from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was due in Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Support from Germany, a major economic partner for Moscow and importer of Russian gas, is crucial for the package of crippling sanctions that Western leaders say would be imposed in response to an invasion. Ahead of Tuesday’s talks, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that “the situation is particularly dangerous and can escalate at any moment.” “The responsibility for de-escalation is clearly with Russia, and it is for Moscow to withdraw its troops,” she said in a statement, adding that “we must use all opportunities for dialogue in order to reach a peaceful solution”.

with its commitments. “Our goal is the full removal of all JCPOA sanctions,” Amir-Abdollahian said, adding that “it is better for the Islamic republic to reach an agreement today rather than tomorrow.” The drive to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal resumed in late November after a pause following Raisi’s election in June.

‘Don’t be Google’: The rise of privacy focused startups PARIS AFP

Google once used the slogan “don’t be evil” to distinguish itself from its competitors, but now a growing number of proprivacy startups are rallying to the mantra “don’t be Google”. They are taking on Google Analytics, a product used by more than half of the world’s websites to understand people’s browsing habits. “Google made a lot of good tools for a lot of people,” says Marko Saric, a Dane living in Belgium who set up Plausible Analytics in Estonia in 2019. “But over the years they changed their approach without really thinking what is right, what is wrong, what is evil, what is not.” Saric and many others are benefitting from GDPR, a European privacy regulation introduced in 2018 to control who can access personal data. Last week, France followed Austria in declaring Google’s practice of transferring personal data from the EU to its US servers was illegal under GDPR because the country does not have adequate protections. Google disagrees, saying the data is anonymised and the scenarios envisaged in Europe are hypothetical.

Taliban call on Biden to reverse move to halve frozen Afghan funds ReuteRS The Taliban on Monday warned that it would reconsider its policy towards the United States if President Joe Biden did not reverse his “unjustified” decision to return only half of Afghanistan’s $7 billion deposited on US soil. The United States will free up half of the $7 billion in frozen Afghan central bank assets on US soil to help Afghans struggling

with a humanitarian crisis and hold the rest to possibly satisfy terrorism-related lawsuits against the Taliban. “If the United States does not deviate from its position and continues its provocative actions, the Islamic Emirate will also be forced to reconsider its policy towards the country,” said a statement from the Taliban released by its spokesman on Monday. “The Islamic Emirate strongly rejects Biden’s unjustified actions as a violation of

the rights of all Afghans,” it added. Biden’s plan calls for half of the funds to remain in the United States subject to ongoing litigation by US victims of terrorism, including relatives of those who died in the Sept 11, 2001, hijacking attacks. “The 9/11 attacks had nothing to do with Afghans,” the Taliban statement said. While none of the Sept 11, 2001, hijackers were Afghan, the mastermind of the attacks, Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, was

given refuge by the then Taliban government. The statement said the United States will face “international blame” and damage its relations with Afghans if the decision was not reversed. Separately, in an interview to the Afghan state media RTA, Mullah Yaqoob — the acting Afghan defence minister and the son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar — also termed the decision “cruel”.

“No Afghan was involved in that incident (9/11) at all,” said Yaqoob, whose father was the Taliban’s supreme leader at the time of the attacks and refused to hand over bin Laden, following which the United States sent in its military to Afghanistan. The invasion started a 20-year war that ended only last year after the United States and other international militaries pulled out of Afghanistan, leaving the Taliban to take over once again.

Wednesday, 16 February, 2022 | KArACHI

SportS 11

CHINA’S Su YIMINg wINS MeN’S SNOwBOArd BIg AIr gOLd At BeIjINg 2022

MiAn AbrAr

HREE days before turning 18, China’s Su Yiming received his first Olympic gold medal in the men’s snowboard big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics on Tuesday. Su scored a jaw-dropping 93 points with a clean finish of a backside triple cork 1800 indy in his second run, leading the score with a combined 182.5 points. Takeru Otsuka of Japan and Max Parrot of Canada spiced up the

final and elevated the level of competitiveness after scoring 95 and 94 points, respectively, in the second run. Unfortunately, both fell on the ramp in their first attempt. Chris Corning of USA, who was leading with 92 points after the first run, also needed a third chance to raise his score after failing the second attempt. Parrot, who outscored Su in the slopestyle final eight days ago, played it safe in his last run, performing a frontside triple cork 1620 that earned him 76.25 points, thus losing his chance to surpass Su. Otsuka and Corning, shortly

after, also pulled out of the titlechasing race as they failed to land firmly on the ramp. A third attempt was no longer necessary for the sensational Chinese snowboarder, after Mons Roisland of Norway finished his race with a total of 171.75 points that placed him in second. (L-R) Mons Roisland, Su Yiming and Max Parrot photographed on the podium after the men’s snowboard big air final at the Beijing Winter Olympics at Big Air Shougang in Beijing, China, February 15, 2022. /CFP

Su and his coach Yasuhiro Sato looked exceptionally calm before his last run, but the teenager could no longer hold it in the moment he landed on the ramp. Su has pocketed two medals now at Beijing 2022, the previous one a silver in snowboard slopestyle. This was Team China’s sixth gold medal at the Beijing Winter Olympics, breaking the five-gold record made in Vancouver in 2010. Also on Tuesday, China’s Rong Ge finished fifth with 160 points in the women’s snowboard big air final.

Islamabad United’s Shadab, Zeeshan and Akhlaq suﬀer injuries news Desk

HBL PSL 7: Imad fined for breaching code of conduct news Desk Karachi Kings all-rounder Imad Wasim has been fined 5 percent of his match fee for a level 1 breach of the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) Code of Conduct during his team’s clash against Islamabad United at the Gaddafi Stadium on Monday, according to Geo News. The cricketer was found to have violated Article 2.5 of the PSL Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel. The article relates to “using language, actions or gestures which disparage or which could provoke an aggressive reaction from a batter upon his/her dismissal during a PSL match”. The incident had happened in the first over of the match after Imad had Rahmanullah Gurbaz caught by Babar Azam at mid-off.

Pak vs Aus: Michael Neser’s participation in Pakistan tour in doubt, owing to injury news Desk Australian fast bowler Michael Neser’s participation in the upcoming Pakistan vs Australia series became uncertain after the cricketer suffered a side strain injury just days before the tour, it emerged Tuesday. The Pat Cummins-led Australia team will be touring Pakistan for the first time in over 24 years for three Tests, three ODIs and one T20I. The Queensland quick was forced out of the field during a one-day game won by New South Wales, at the Gabba on Monday night, Australian media reported. He could manage bowling only twice when he stepped into the field after a long rain delay. Neser is a part of the 18-member squad selected for the Pakistan tour, scheduled to start March 4 in Rawalpindi. Australian selectors have nominated Mark Steketee and Sean Abbott to replace Neser if he is ruled out. The selectors had already decided to rest fellow Test quick Jhye Richardson from the Pakistan tour despite him being a part of the national T20 squad currently playing Sri Lanka. Test quick Josh Hazlewood missed the final four Ashes Tests after also suffering a side strain in the opening match against England. If Neser’s injury is similar, that could put his recovery time at up to a month. Neser, who made his Test debut against England in Adelaide in December, has only bowled five times in games in 2022 after spending most of January with the national team. AustrAliAn men’s squAd for PAkistAn tour: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Michael Neser, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.

Injuries have plagued HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) franchise Islamabad United in the seventh edition of the tournament as some of its players have withdrawn from the event while others have been forced to sit out because of injuries, Geo News reported on Tuesday. According to the report, Islamabad United’s Shadab Khan, Zeeshan Zameer and Muhammad Akhlaq are suffering injuries and their medical reports are expected to be released soon. Khan is suffering a groin injury, while Zameer and Akhlaq have side and leg injuries. Moreover, foreign player Colin Munro is also facing fitness issues. He had suffered an injury to his right arm a few days ago during a training session. Earlier in the day, Islamabad United’s Alex Hales withdrew from the remainder of the matches due to personal reasons.

Novak Djokovic ‘not anti-vax’ but would rather skip events than be forced into jab AFP World number one Novak Djokovic has claimed he is not anti-vaccination but would rather skip Grand Slams than be forced to get a Covid jab. The Serbian was deported in extraordinary circumstances on the eve of last month’s Australian Open where Rafael Nadal won a record 21st Grand Slam trophy to move ahead of Djokovic and Roger Federer on the all-time men’s list. Djokovic was asked in an interview with the BBC, published on Tuesday, if he would sacrifice taking part in events such as Wimbledon and the French Open over his stance on the vaccine. “Yes, that is the price that I’m willing to pay,” Djokovic said, referring to giving up his chance to become the leading men’s Grand Slam winner. Djokovic said he did not want to be associated with the anti-vax movement, but supported an individual’s right to choose. “I was never against vaccination,” he said, adding he had received vaccines as a child. “But I’ve always supported the freedom to choose what you put in your body.” “The principles of decision making on my body are more important than any title or anything else,” he said. “I’m trying to be in tune with my body as much as I possibly can.” Djokovic arrived in Melbourne in January for the first Grand Slam of the year claiming he had obtained a medical exemption to enter the country without being vaccinated as he had recently recovered from Covid-19. But Australian border officials said he did not meet requirements to be exempted from strict vaccination rules, his visa was

cancelled and a protracted legal appeal failed. In his first interview since leaving Melbourne, Djokovic said he hoped vaccination requirements would change and that he could “play for many more years”. Djokovic said he was keeping an open mind about being vaccinated in the future “because we are all trying to find collectively, a best possible solution to end Covid.” “I was never against vaccination. I understand that globally, everyone is trying to put a big effort into handling this virus and seeing, hopefully, an end soon to this virus.” Djokovic said he was “sad” with how events played out in Australia, where he spent days in detention at a notorious immigration hotel. “I was really sad and disappointed with the way it all ended for me in Australia,” he said. “It wasn’t easy. “The reason why I was deported from Australia was because the minister for immigration used his discretion to cancel my visa based on his perception that I might create some anti-vax sentiment in the country or in the city, which I completely disagree with. “

Pakistani Olympian Mahoor Shahzad gets engaged

MAnAl JAFFery Pakistani Olympian and top-seed badminton player of Tokyo Olympics 2020, Mahoor Shahzad announced her engagement with Major Faizan Alam, a Pakistan Army official, on her official Twitter account. The couple exchanged rings on February 13 amid family and relatives in an engagement ceremony in Karachi. Mahoor shared a couple of pictures in the tweet, and expressed gratitude for finding her “soulmate”. “Alhamdullilah, Engaged,” Mahoor wrote. Mahoor looked enchanting in a nude coloured dress embellished with silver embroidery and stones, while her fiancé wore a grey three piece suit with a tie that matched Mahoor’s dress. Here are some beautiful pictures from Mahoor’s engagement ceremony. In pictures: Pakistani Olympian Mahoor Shahzad gets engaged In pictures: Pakistani Olympian Mahoor Shahzad gets engaged Speaking about her marriage, Mahoor said that the date for the wedding hasn’t been decided yet. The 25-yearold badminton player is a national champion who has claimed the title for five times in a row.

Wednesday, 16 February, 2022

PrAyer TimingS

NEWS

altaF Hussain Found ‘not Guilty’ oF enCouRaGinG teRRoRisM in kaRaCHi LONDON

moniToring rePorT

HE Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain has been found not guilty of encouraging terrorism in Karachi from London contrary to section 1(2) of the Terrorism Act 2006. At the Kingston Crown Court, a majority of the jury (10 out of 12) declared before Mrs Justice May that they had found Altaf Hussain not to be in violation of the UK’s Anti-Terrorism laws on 22nd August 2016 when he made two speeches from London to his followers in Karachi. Altaf Hussain had been charged with two counts of encouraging terrorism contrary to section 1(2) of the Terrorism Act 2006. These relate to two speeches Hussain made on 22n August – first in the morning UK Time and second in the afternoon UK Time – in which he had been alleged by the Crown to have published speeches to crowds “gathered in Karachi, Pakistan the contents of which were

likely to be understood by some or all of the members of the public to whom they were published as a direct or indirect encouragement to them to the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism and, at the time he published them, intended them to be so encouraged, or was reckless as to whether they would be so encouraged”. The CPS had alleged that Altaf Hussain had asked his followers to attack the offices of Geo, ARY and Samaa and shut down the transmission of Geo and other channels for not publishing his pictures, videos and statements after being banned by the Lahore High Court. Geo News and Jang newspaper’s names came up during the proceedings repeatedly as Altaf Hussain mentioned in his speeches that Geo and other channels should be questioned and held accountable for not airing his speeches. The prosecution had alleged that Altaf Hussain urged violence in his morning speech and asked his followers to bring out DG Rangers Bilal Akbar from the Rangers HQ and also asked his

Maulana Fazl says ‘presidential form of govt is a symbol of war, dictatorship’

followers to be prepared for violent acts. The prosecution said that the actual violence took place when Hussain made speech in the afternoon to the hunger strike camp of his party set outside the Karachi Press Club from where the MQM followers marched towards offices of television channels and violence took place outside ARY’s office where one MQM worker died, several people were injured and vehicle were put on fire. The prosecution presented Brighton University teacher Dr Nichola Khan as its main expert witness on Karachi and MQM’s politics. She told the court that MQM was a victim of the state violence and there was no doubt that Altaf Hussain’s followers were killed, kidnapped, disappeared and tortured and that the law enforcement agencies operated with impunity and were involved in human rights violations. She also told the court that in turn the MQM was also involved in violence and maintained a militant wing that was never publicly owned and accepted by the party leadership.

PTI vows to sweep 2nd phase of KP’s LG polls IsLAMABAD

News Desk

STAff rePorT

JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman stated that the idea of replacing country’s current parliamentary system with a presiddential system is more like going against the Constitution of the country. Fazl while recalling the past stints said that country suffered a lot under the “presidential governments” led by military rulers. “General Ayub Khan sold our [Pakistan’s] three rivers to India. Likewise, during the tenure of General Yahya Khan the country was split into two parts,” he maintained. “Presidential form of government is a symbol of war and dictatorship… no one can impose authoritarian rule in the country and only people have right to elect their representatives,” he said while addressing a rally in Layyah, a small city in Punjab, on Tuesday. He said those who were speaking in favour of the presidential system were violating the sanctity of the 1973 Constitution and added that such ideas were against the country’s national interest. The JUI-F chief said the real issue was not the system of the country but nonimplementation of the Constitution. “Establishment is involved in power politics and subsequently politicians also become part of this,” he remarked, implying that the country’s democratic system was not fully independent. Fazl said the Objective Resolution was made part of the Constitution and people belonging to all schools of thought are abiding by the existing system. Lambasting the ruling PTI, Fazl said the incumbent government has destroyed the country’s economy and surrendered it’s autonomy to the international institutions. “We have never witnessed such an incompetent government [in the country’s history] which presents four budgets a year.” “That’s why despite severe economic crisis in the country, no one has revolted in any party of the country [against the state].” Fazl added that the Constitution of the country was comprehensive and guaranteed rights to all ethnicities

The ruling PTI has vowed to sweep the second phase of KhyberPakhtunkhwa (K-P) local body elections. Addressing a press conference, PTI’s ministers Farrukh Habib and Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said that the PTI’s position had been strengthened after Monday’s repolling in the first phase of local government elections in K-P. The prime minister has assigned the task to PTI K-P chapter President Prevez Khattak to work hard for the victory of party’s candidates in the second phase of local body polls, added Farrukh Habib. Speaking on the occasion, Khattak said that propaganda was spread against the PTI that it had been ‘wiped out’ after facing setback in the first phase of K-P LG polls. “In two phases, 18 tehsils, four independent candidates have joined PTI so far, JUI-F has won 23 seats but

PTI is leading in terms of votes whereas PML-N has only secured two or three seats,” he added. Khattak admitted that the PTI workers did not put much effort to win the first phase of K-P LG polls, saying that the local body elections were way more complicated than other elections. He also expressed confidence that under his leadership the PTI will secure majority in the upcoming LG polls. Taking a jibe at Jamiat Ulemae-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Farrukh said the he had lost popularity among the public after his party faced a humiliating defeat in the Tehsil Mayor elections of Dera Ismail Khan and other districts of Southern KP. He said the government would not let anyone to escape accountability process and those who had looted the national wealth ruthlessly would be held accountable. “People like Fazl will no more come to power again and instead will be convicted for their wrongdo-

LAHORe TLTP

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Imran Khan should focus on the country’s inflation rate, unemployment and the catastrophic situation of the economy instead of focussing on the opposition parties’ meetings. Talking to the media persons, the opposition leader advised the prime minister to worry about the country’s

CONFIRMED CASES: CoRonaviRus in DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

1,488,958 Pakistan 27 2,597

1,383,725

ings,” he added. To a query, Farrukh said the government had put the economy on right direction under the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Farrukh reiterated that the PTI-led government would complete its constitutional term with the support of its coalition partners. “There is no threat to Prime Minister Imran Khan from the opposition’s no-confidence move and in fact he will again form the government after winning the next general elections,” he said. His statement comes as the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is engaged in a courtship of the ruling party’s allies in an effort to forge a unified strategy on sending the government packing. Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday said that he had “full faith” in Pakistan Muslim League- Quaid (PML-Q) after Federal Minister for Water Resources Moonis Elahi advised the premier to firmly quieten the ‘panic’ in his party.

Shehbaz asks PM Imran to focus on deteriorating economy

LAST UPDATED AT 9:13 AM ON FEB 15, 2022

RECOVERED:

After the prosecution case was over, the MQM leader decided not to stand in the witness box for cross-examination by the prosecution. The prosecution told the jury that Altaf Hussain did not “answer, apologise, explain” his innocence or give answers to obvious questions because he doesn’t “doesn’t have an answer”. Altaf Hussain’s lawyer Rupert Bowers QC had told the jury that it didn’t make sense that Altaf would stand in the dock over events which took place six years ago. He stressed to the jury that Altaf didn’t have anything to hide from the jury and the fact that he apologised on Twitter after his two speeches clearly demonstrated his regret about what happened following his speeches. He stressed, however, that Altaf Hussain’s apology should not be construed as an admission of guilt or wrongdoing. This was the same stance Altaf Hussain adopted when he was interviewed by the police in 2019 when arrested before being charged. He had told the police that he did nothing wrong and stood by the words of his speech.

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560,03 496,134

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42,042/11,246

deteriorating economy rather than the opposition’s meetings, adding that the country’s economic situation has never been so worse before. “Throughout the history of this country, inflation has never been as high as it is now,” he said, adding that no other government in the past had accepted such huge amounts of international loans. He also criticised the sugar and wheat scams, saying that “corruption worth billions of rupees is happening under the nose of the government.”

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FM Qureshi says ‘PM imran’s upcoming Russia visit will give impetus to bilateral ties’ APP Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said that the upcoming visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to Russia will give impetus to bilateral relations in diverse sectors. In a statement, the minister stated that during the visit, the premier will hold talks with the Russian leadership on bilateral cooperation, including the North-South Gas Pipeline project. “We are pursuing economic priorities”, Qureshi said. He further stated that Russia had influence with Central Asian states and Pakistan was looking forward to expanding ties with those countries. According to Qureshi, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited Pakistan and had an “excellent” meeting with him at the Foreign Office, and Qureshi had also visited Russia at the invitation of his Russian counterpart. The country’s top diplomat maintained that Pakistan’s relations with Russia were gradually improving. Conversely, FM Qureshi highlighted that Pakistan had good relations with the United States. “The US State Department in a statement said that Pakistan was our strategic partner,” he said, adding that Islamabad had long been allied with Washington. OIC meetIng: Commenting on the upcoming meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Foreign Ministers in Islamabad, he said that foreign delegates will visit Pakistan on March 22 to attend the meeting and would also attend the National Day parade on March 23. AfghAnIstAn sItuAtIOn: About the ongoing Afghan situation, FM Qureshi said that the entire world acknowledged that Pakistan assisted in the evacuation of more than 90,000 people from the wartorn country. “Russia is playing an important role in the peace and stability of Afghanistan,” he added.

Govt jacks up petrol prices by Rs 12.03 per litre IsLAMABAD AhmAd AhmAdAni

Already burdened masses will bear additional burden in the form of colossal hike as the government on Tuesday jacked up the price of petrol by Rs 12.03 per litre with immediate effect. According to Finance Division, petrol price has been increased by Rs 12.03/litre, high speed diesel (HSD) by Rs 9.53/litre, kerosene oil by Rs 10.08/litre and light diesel oil (LDO by Rs 9.43/litre for the remaining half of the ongoing month of February 2022. After the decision of hike, petrol will be available at Rs159.86/litre, while high-speed diesel (HSD) at Rs Rs154.15 per liter, kerosene oil at Rs126.56 per liter and LDO at Rs 123.97/litre in the open market of the country. “In the fortnightly review of Petroleum Products’ prices, the prime minister has considered the recommendation to increase the prices of petroleum products in line with a change in the international oil prices. Despite the increase in the prices of petroleum products, petroleum levy and sales tax have been kept to the minimum,” said Finance Division. The finance division also stated that the prices of petroleum products are showing a drastic increase in the international market and presently are at the highest level since 2014. “Despite the unabated increase since the beginning of the year, Prime Minister Imran Khan deferred the last review of petroleum products’ prices on January 31, 2022, and advised against the summary of OGRA,” said the finance division in a statement issued on late Tuesday. The finance division further stated that the government had also levied 0% sales tax and reduced the levy to provide “relief” to the consumers against budgeted. The finance division said that the “relief” had led the government to bear a revenue loss of around Rs 35 billion fortnightly. Previously, petrol was being sold in the country at Rs147.83 per litre, high-speed diesel (HSD) at Rs144.62 and light diesel oil (LDO) at Rs114.54 per litre.

PM will hold consultation on new COAS when time comes: Alvi News Desk President Dr Arif Alvi has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has not undertaken any consultation regarding the appointment of the new chief of army staff with him, adding that the PM would “definitely do it when the time comes”, Dawn reported on Tuesday. According to the report, during an interview on Dawn News TV, the host asked the president if the PM has initiated consultations on the matter of appointing the new army chief, noting that the premier had last month said that no decision had been taken. The president replied in the negative, saying: “No, [the PM has not consulted me] but I think he will definitely [do] when the time comes.” Last month, the PM had said he had so far not thought about an extension in the army chief’s tenure.

During the interview, the president also said that he is concerned about the recent terrorist incidents in Balochistan. He also talked about Monday’s meeting with Gen Bajwa during which the two discussed recent terrorism incidents in the country. “Gen Bajwa shared different reasons, including how the withdrawal of the US forces from Afghanistan has led to a situation where weapons such as night-vision goggles and guns have reached the terrorists,” he said. He also gave his views on the opposition’s plan to move a no-trust motion against the PTI government in the National Assembly. President Alvi said that it is not an issue to be debated and he has been hearing such things since 2018. “It is waste of time which can instead be spent on [more] positive and substitutive talk,” he said, adding the government is here to stay and is not going anywhere.

Published by Arif Nizami at Plot No 66-C, 1st Floor, 21st Commercial Street, Phase-II (Extension), DHA Karachi and printed at Ibn-e-Hassan Printing Press, Hockey Stadium, Karachi, for PT Print (Pvt) Limited. Ph: 021-35381208-9. Email: newsroom@pakistantoday.com.pk