EpaperLHR_21-11-29 by Pakistan Today

Monday, 29 November, 2021 I 23 Rabi-us-Sani, 1443 I Rs 40.00 I Vol XII No 151 I 48 Pages I Lahore Edition

NA-133 LEAKED VIDEOS

ECP ordErs arrEst of PEoPlE involvEd in ‘buying votEs’ g

PPP, PML-N trade aLLegatioNs of 'vote buyiNg' after Leaked videos weNt viraL

LAhore staff report

He election Commission of Pakistan (eCP) has given directive to authorities to arrest the persons (after forensic analyses of the videos) who can be seen in the videos, distributing cash for ‘buying votes’ it is pertinent to note that the National assembly constituency had fallen vacant after the death of PML-N’s Pervaiz Malik last month. the leaked videos have caused an uproar on twitter, with PML-N and PPP leaders accusing each other of trying to buy votes in the constituency. soon after the videos surfaced, returning officer syed basit ali wrote letters to the Punjab Police chief, the National database and registration authority (Nadra), Lahore deputy commissioner and the Pakistan electronic Media regulatory authority (Pemra) in order to seek more information about the persons seen in the video clips, so that action could be

taken against them. as per the letters, the videos show “people standing in long queues” and others noting their CNiC numbers. “behind the scene discussions give an impression that voters’ credentials are being noted for buying their votes by paying them some amounts in cash,” the letter states, adding that some pictures and banners of contesting candidates can also be seen in the background. in a letter to the Nadra chairman, the returning officer sought help in identifying the persons seen in the clips. Meanwhile, a letter addressed to the Lahore dC also directed the authorities to identify the individuals and the building seen in the footage in order to aid the eCP in its investigation into the incident. in his letter to the Punjab igP, ro ali ordered police to carry out forensic analyses of the videos in order to ascertain their authenticity as well as their origin. the letter also directed the police to identify the people visible in the footage and arrest them, while also identifying the building

Coronavirus in

Pakistan

where the activity was taking place. a letter to Pemra chairman also ordered that the authority conduct forensic analyses of the clips, which were also aired on mainstream media. Meanwhile, MNa ali Pervez Malik the PML-N MNa appealed to the PPP leadership to take notice of the “antics by their party workers in the Na-133 constituency”, adding that he had also complained to the ro about the issue. He further accused the PPP of buying votes in the constituency and also running a campaign featuring a fake video in which “all the characters are wearing masks to hide their faces.” Meanwhile, the ruling Pti, whose candidate and returned candidate were both disqualified by the eCP last month for having their votes registered in a different constituency, also accused the PML-N of attempting to buy votes. the party’s senator ejaz Chaudhry said that the video clips had exposed the “true face” of the PML-N. the PPP’s candidate Chaudhry Muhammad aslam gill said that the PMLN had psychologically lost the election already, adding that buying votes was an old tactic of the PML-N. “they have always done so. if electioneering is expensive in Pakistan today, it is because of Nawaz sharif,” he said. earlier, a camera footage making rounds on social media purportedly shows office-bearers of Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) engaged in buying of votes ahead of a crucial by-election in Na-133 (Lahore-Xi). the constituency is a key Lahore seat that fell vacant after the death of Pervaiz Malik, Lahore president of PML-N, in october. the party has nominated his wife, shaista Pervaiz, for the byelection scheduled for december 5.

Elite economy, lack of rule of law kept Pakistan from achieving potential: PM

CONTINUED ON PAGE 05

ISLAMABAD staff report

Prime Minister imran khan said the elite’s capture of national resources and absence of the rule of law not only deprived the public of basic amenities but also kept the country from achieving its immense potential. “the problem was the elite capture of resources which deprived the majority of proper healthcare, education and justice. Lack of rule of law is the reason why Pakistan had not achieved its potential,” the prime minister said in an online conversation with Hamza yusuf, an american neotraditionalist islamic scholar, which aired sunday. President of Zaytuna College, the first accredited Muslim undergraduate college in berkeley city of California state in the us, yusuf has also authored several encyclopedia entries, academic papers, and articles on Muslim bioethics, legal theory, abortion, and other topics. during the conversation, khan said no society could ever achieve its potential if there is no rule of law. “Merit is also associated with rule of law. if you do not have a meritocracy in a society, you have this elite which is spoiled, rich and which did not strive and struggle and they sit on the main positions. Countries disintegrate because of

Cabinet to abolish Rs350bn tax exemptions

CONFIRMED CASES:

1,284,189

a decadent elite. People do not decay it is the elite that decays,” he said. the prime minister said the fundamental principle of a civilised society was the rule of law where the powerful is also equally answerable to the law. the biggest problem in the developing countries is the absence of rule of law and discriminatory laws for the rich and the poor, he explained. He told yusuf he wanted to make Pakistan an islamic welfare state to be based on the concept of the state of Medina by Prophet Muhammad (P.b.u.H.). “we want to base this country on two principles. one it should be a welfare state and humane state which takes care of its bottom strata of society and second rule of law.” talking about the climate challange, he said the environment should be treated as sacred. the biggest environmental disaster in the world happened because nations deviated from the basic principle of protecting the earth. Quoting a Hadith of the prophet that advised the people to “work for this world as if you will live forever and work for the hereafter as if you will die tomorrow”, the prime minister said whatever the nations would do today would ultimately have an impact on the future generations.

more inside

Karachi’s Green Line’s commercial operation to begin on December 25: Asad Umar STORY ON BACK PAGE

LAST UPDATED AT 7:37 AM ON NOVEMBER 28, 2021

DAY'S DEATH TOLL:

NEW CASES:

303

RECOVERED:

DEATHS:

1,241,761 28,709 SINDH:

PUNJAB:

475,248

442,950

KPK:

BALOCHISTAN:

179,928

33,479

AJK/GB:

ISLAMABAD:

34,547/10,411

107,626

ISLAMABAD shahzad paracha

the federal cabinet will approve the tax Laws (fourth amendment) bill to abolish rs350 billion tax exemptions and restore the standard 17 per cent rate of general sales tax (gst) under the terms agreed with the international Monetary fund (iMf), Profit learnt here on sunday. sources said that the federal board of revenue (fbr) will present the amendment bill for approval in the federal cabinet meeting on tuesday after which it will be moved to the National assembly. reportedly, the government

will abolish tax exemptions given on imported mobile phones, computers, silver, gold, and other jewellery. standard sales tax (sst) will be levied on mobile phones under the ninth schedule. the fbr will also withdraw the gst exemption given on zero-rated items of the fifth schedule; however, the exemption would continue for exportoriented sectors and machinery. in addition, the gst exemptions given on items included in the sixth schedule will also be abolished excluding basic food, medicine, live animals, educational, and health-related items.

similarly, sales tax exemption on agricultural commodities, tractors, fertilisers and pesticides will continue under the ninth schedule. sources said that the Petroleum development levy target will be reduced from rs600 billion to rs356 billion however the government will increase the petroleum levy by rs4 per month. the tax collection target for the current financial year 2021-22 (fy22) has been increased from rs5,829 billion to rs6,100 billion while the proposal to reduce the development programme by rs200 billion from rs900 to rs700 billion is also part of the proposed amendment bill.

fawad Chaudhry asks PML-N if buying votes for rs2,000 equals respecting votes STORY ON BACK PAGE in today’s issue

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Monday, 29 November, 2021 | LAHORE

NEWS

PML-N, PPP TrAdE bArbs As voTE-bUyiNg scANdAL iN NA-133 sUrfAcEs LAHORE

rejected by the people of Lahore,” he said. He said in the 2018 election, Malik Pervaiz won with 90,000 votes and the “tactics” being employed by PPP come from a party who “did not even secure a tenth of the votes of PML-N’. Meanwhile, PPP Punjab’s secretary of information, Shahzad Cheema, noted that such videos are doing the rounds on social media, saying that “the clips are being made to go viral by both parties”. He claimed his party had not issued directives to anyone to give any entity any money. “If this has occurred at any level, the PPP strongly condemns the act,” he said. Cheema said that the videos are a “ploy” to ruin the election. PPP central punjab’s general secretary, Syed Hasan Murtaza, issued a video statement accusing PML-N of according respect to the “note” (currency) instead of the “vote”. “PML-N cannot help but engage in Chhanga Manga politics,” he was quoted as saying by PPP Punjab. According to the statement, Murtaza

stAff rePort

HE war for votes between PML-N and PPP in Lahore’s NA-133, where a by-election is due on December 5, has gone beyond the constituency to social media, where a viral video appears to show voters being bribed by party members. Both parties have blamed each other’s workers for the alleged move. PML-N’s Muhammad Arif registered a complaint with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) stating that the PPP is “buying off votes in the constituency”. Arif alleged that the PPP is taking sworn testimonies from the “bought” voters and distributing Rs2,000 per person. PML-N’s Ali Pervaiz Malik also appeared on video to speak about the matter. He said he condemns the move and hopes that PPP will take notice of such ongoings and put a stop to them immediately. “This fake video, in which all the characters are masked, this attempt to launch a campaign (against PML-N), has been

Pakistan, Turkey agree to enhance bilateral ties, trade ASHGABAT

said that PPP is competing against PML-N “on the basis of ideology rather than money”, and that the party “does not believe in the buying and selling of votes”. “It is only the PPP that respects the voter and the vote,” Murtaza was further quoted as saying. Meanwhile, PTI Senator Ejaz Chaudhary also shared a video on Twitter, with the caption stating: “The true face of the PML-N has been exposed.” According to Chaudhary, in the video, women voters are being paid for their votes and a sworn testimony is being obtained from them. “This is why they are against EVMs (electronic voting machines),” he wrote. The Election Commission of Pakistan took notice of the viral video allegedly showing voters being bribed. The constituency’s returning officer sent a notice to the deputy commissioner of Lahore and the inspector general of police and asked them to respond by November 30. A notice was also sent to the National Database and Registration Authority chairman and the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority chairman, both of

whom have been asked to respond with the information sought by November 30. The notices state that a viral video is doing the rounds on social media which purportedly shows money being distributed and an oath being taken. It asks the DC Lahore and IG police to have a forensic audit of the video carried out and determine the facts, including the identity of the people in the video, and the place where the illegal activity took place. The two officials have been asked to provide the “complete bio data” of the people seen in the video. The IG police has also been asked to promptly arrest all the individuals involved in illegal activities. The lower house seat from Lahore fell vacant due to the death of PML-N MNA Pervaiz Malik, who died on October 11 due to heart-related complications. According to the Punjab election commission, there are 254 polling stations in the constituency. Out of these, 199 polling stations have been declared sensitive. The total number of voters in NA-133 is 440,485. The Punjab home department has

approved the deployment of Rangers along with police during the NA-133 Lahore byelection. Closed-circuit television cameras will also be installed at the polling stations. Earlier, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has decided to act on a video showing alleged Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) workers paying bribes to voters in return for their votes in Lahore’s NA-133 constituency. Thousands of people will vote in the NA-133 by-polls on December 5 and the electioneering is in full swings. The video in question went viral on social media on Saturday night. It shows what appears to be a party office of the PML-N. At least two party activists sit at a desk and women enter the room one after the other. The activists make women to pledge that they would vote for the PML-N. “I swear with my hand on the Quran that on the fifth date [of December] I would vote for Muslim League Noon [PMLN],” repeats each of the women after the alleged PLM-N workers.The ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf has been calling on the ECP to take notice of the view and act against the PML-N.

Federal govt seeks details of KP’s domestic, foreign loans

stAff rePort Pakistan and Turkey on Sunday agreed to enhance bilateral trade and economic cooperation at a meeting of President Arif Alvi with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ashgabat on his visit to Turkmenistan. The two leaders concurred to further strengthen the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) to achieve its objectives and underlined the need for collective efforts of the region, particularly of the Islamic countries, to stop Islamophobia. President Alvi said there was a need to work together to tackle the challenges faced by the region. He thanked the Turkish President for Turkey’s principled stance on the issue of Kashmir. Earlier, President Alvi also met Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev and exchanged views on bilateral ties, trade and economic cooperation. President Arif Alvi (left) and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev (right) at a meeting in Ashgabat on 28 November 2021. — APP He stressed the need for increasing political contacts between Pakistan and Azerbaijan. The leaders agreed to further strengthen bilateral ties and cooperation at the regional and international forums.

GOVT BORROWED MORE THAN RS300BN FROM ADB, OTHER INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS SINCE 2013 PESHAWAR Aziz Buneri

The federal government has asked the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government for details of interest paid on external and internal loans as well as repayment details during the current financial year (FY22). In a letter sent to the KP Finance by Department the Economic Affairs Division on Sunday in this regard, the provincial government asked for details of the loans provided by the federal government and international aid agencies through the government. Sources said that the central government is also seeking details of grants provided to the province by foreign aid agencies

during the ongoing and any that are due next year. They said the Pakistan Tehreeke-Insaf (PTI) government has borrowed more than Rs300 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and other international financial institutions for development projects in various sectors since 2013. “Before the PTI government, the external debt of the province was Rs33 billion in 2013,” they said. The KP government has obtained most of its loans for mass transit projects such as the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Peshawar and for the provision of various services in rural areas, including the local government department’s plan, electricity and other projects.

Balochistan minister promises facilities for school-going children in remote towns QUETTA APP

Balochistan Minister for Education Mir Naseebullah Khan said all facilities would be provided to school-going children in remote towns of the province to promote education. He expressed these views while addressing a briefing on the occasion of his visit to the Directorate of Education here the other day. During the briefing, the minister was informed there are 8,455 Boys and 3,863 girls schools of primary-level, 880 boys and 652 girls schools in middle-level, 710 boys and 395 girls schools at high-level and 101,323 boys and 4967 girls higher secondary schools in the province. Similarly, 1,780 girls and 24 boys schools at primary- and middle-levels and 1,814 high schools are functional without a roof while 6,999 primary and 569 middle, 185 high and 9 higher secondary schools across the province do not have a bathroom. Whereas, 10,427 schools lack access to clean drinking water. Khan said the provision of basic facilities in remote towns of the province was among the top priorities of the government. He said steps would also be taken to

shift to solar energy. He observed that Balochistan Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo had also assured to provide funds

for the provision of facilities in public schools. Provision of furniture in all schools would also be ensured, Khan added.

The minister said the provision of quality education to children was our top priority because no society could develop without education. The best possible education facilities would be provided to the children for which purpose, available resources will be utilised to achieve the target of the standard of education set by the provincial government, he said. Khan said he has received complaints regarding appointments and transfers of teachers. In this regard, nepotism would not be tolerated and departmental action would be taken against those found guilty. He said that attendance of teachers and other staff in schools in remote areas would not be compromised on at any cost and strict action would be taken against non-performing staffers. He said vacancies would soon be advertised in government schools for the appointment of merit teachers through Public Service Commission (PSC) to meet the shortage of teachers. The minister also directed the education sector to give suggestions regarding the provision of scholarships for students so that poor students could continue their education at higher levels. He said measures were being taken to provide clean drinking water, furniture and bathroom facilities should be ensured in schools.

UAE’s legal system reforms to bolster foreign investment ABU DHABI Agencies

The UAE is reforming its legal system to keep a competitive edge as conservative Gulf neighbour Saudi Arabia opens itself up to foreign investment and talent, announcing major ‘historical’ changes such as decriminalising issues related to pre marital sex along with introducing longer-term visas. In this regard, state news agency WAM reported the government is changing 40 laws this year. It did not make clear, however, which of the changes — which concern commercial companies, online security, trade, copyright, residency, narcotics and social issues — were new and which had been previously reported. Other recent changes by the UAE include introducing longer-term visas as a way to attract and retain talent and encourage more businesses to set up shop. The Emirates said the new criminal code would come into force in January as part of what it called the most sweeping legal reform in the Gulf state’s history. The statement adds clarity that had been previously lacking to the status of premarital sexual relations and children born from them — stating that parents need not be married. “Any couple conceiving a child out of wedlock will be required to marry or singly or jointly acknowledge the child and provide identification papers and travel documents in accordance with the laws of the country of which either is a national,” the statement said.

Monday, 29 November, 2021 | LAHORE

MQM-LoNdoN workErs hUMiLiATE TAriQ Mir dUriNg chAriTy EvENT LONDON

Monitoring rePort

HE Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) London’s supporters threw ink at Tariq Mir, MQM’s former senior leader and treasury head, during a charity fundraiser held under the banner of the disputed charity called the Society of Unwell and Needy (SUN). Per a report published in The News, the charitable event near Edgware was organised by Tariq Mir, who has control of the SUN charity and has refused to hand over control of the charity to the MQM’s founder Altaf Hussain. The founder’s supporters say that Tariq Mir and late Muhammad Anwar “betrayed Altaf Hussain and occupied the resources of the party.” Tariq Mir denies all such allegations and says he is acting within legal bounds, stating the “charity belongs to the people of MQM and not to a few individuals.” The event was held to raise money for educational projects in Karachi and elsewhere. About five MQM-London workers bought tickets and sat inside the hall. More than halfway through the event, three of them surrounded Tariq

Mir as he was coming out of the washroom and threw ink at his face and clothes – and fled the scene. The police arrived at the scene immediately and registered a complaint. Outside the venue, around two dozen MQM-London workers, led by Suhail Khanzada, MQM UK Incharge, Nasir Ali, Nadeem Sheikh, and others raised slogans against Tariq Mir as guests passed by. MQM-London workers sought entry

into the hall to disrupt the event but a scuffle broke out at the entrance between the security guards and MQM-London workers. The police arrived after an emergency call and the protestors were barred from entering the venue but allowed to protest from across the road. Family members of many former MQM activists, including the deceased Muhammad Anwar’s family, also attended the fundraiser.

The protestors alleged that Tariq Mir had “illegally taken control of the SUN charity and was controlling tens of thousands of pounds that were given to the charity in the name of Altaf Hussain, the MQM founder.” They said the dispute over the SUN charity was in the court and the fundraiser should not have been held. Previously, the MQM’s founder had levelled allegations that Tariq Mir had illegally occupied the SUN charity and its flat near Burnt Oak Broadway. The issue started when Tariq Mir announced he had taken the case of Shumaila Imran Farooq to a local court in Edgware informing the court that he wanted to transfer 221 Whitchurch Lane property, owned by the SUN charity, to Shumaila. Dr Imran Farooq’s widow lives in a one-bedroom flat with her two sons. She suffers from cancer and she has confirmed that MQM factions – both from London and Pakistan – are not helping her. Altaf Hussain had asked Tariq Mir to transfer the SUN charity’s property to his name but Mir refused and told him that he would be committing a crime, violating Charity Commission rules.

MoF suggests 70pc increase in wheat price in GB ECC REJECTS ADDITIONAL 10,000 MT WHEAT QUOTA FOR GILGIT BALITISTAN REGION ISLAMABAD ghulAM ABBAs

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Sunday rejected the increase due to financial constraints, asking the regional government to increase the price of the commodity by 70 per cent to compensate for the additional purchase of wheat to secure the extra release. According to sources, a summary was submitted to ECC for the grant of additional subsidised wheat to GB. However, the Ministry of Finance set the condition of increasing prices for an increase in the quota as the additional wheat on a subsidised rate would burden the central government’s budget. The Finance Division can only support an increase in wheat quota from

150,000 to 160,000 MT per annum provided the sale price Rs12 per kg is enhanced up to 70pc of the support price in phases, sources said. It may be recalled that during the election campaign, leaders of ruling

party including Minister of Kashmir Affairs and GB Ali Amin Gandapur had announced to increase the wheat quota keeping in view of the rising demand in the region. However, the Ministry of Finance which bears Rs6

billion for the subsidy suggested the regional government to increase the price of the commodity by 70pc to compensate for the additional purchase of wheat from PASSCO, which the government of GB rejected due to possible political damage. Keeping the background in view, the ECC in its recent meeting had turned down the demand while maintaining the existing quota of 150,000 MT annual wheat supply to the region under the subsidised rate. As per documents available with this scribe, on the Ministry of Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit Baltistan’s request, the ministry of Food Security and Research had submitted a summary for enhancement of allocation of GB’s wheat quota to 160,000 MT.

Two more African states sign up to China’s Belt & Road Initiative ISLAMABAD MiAn ABrAr

Eritrea and Guinea-Bissau have announced plans to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), actively promoted by Beijing. The two nations have reportedly signed a formal agreement with China ahead of a key regional forum. The ambitious multi-trillion-dollar BRI, also known as the New Silk Road, was announced by President Xi Jinping in 2013, aiming to boost connectivity and cooperation

between East Asia, Europe, and East Africa. The major project is expected to significantly expand global trade, cutting trading costs in half for the countries involved. Eritrea is seen as strategically important due to its access to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, as well as to waters in the Persian Gulf, and thus to the Indian Ocean. Meanwhile, the Atlantic Ocean nation of Guinea-Bissau is expected to boost China’s maritime interests along the West African coast. The country is a member of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA)

that removed border tariffs between African nations. China has committed to building a $184 million biomass plant in Guinea-Bissau, and is reportedly involved in several redevelopment projects in the country. Beijing is reportedly supporting a $48-million project aimed at renovating the antiquated telecommunications system and highway construction. Chinese investors have also expressed interest in the logging sector, deepwater fisheries and oil exploration. Beijing is planning to help Eritrea to bring back trained labor, to develop infrastructure in the country, and “wean it off an agricultural base to a higher standard of industrialization.” Back in 2019, the China Shanghai Corporation for Foreign Economic and Technological Cooperation (SFECO) began construction of part of the 500-km road between the country’s port city of Massawa and Assab harbor, both of which possess special economic zones. The two African states inked the memorandum of understanding days before the forthcoming FOCAC Ministerial Forum in the Senegalese capital of Dakar, which kicks off on November 29.

NEWS

diplomatic tensions rise as Us expels 27 more russian diplomats MOSCOW Agencies

Russia’s ambassador to the United States said that 27 more Russian diplomats and their families were expelled from the United States and would leave on Jan 30. “Our diplomats are being expelled…A large group of my comrades, 27 people with families, will leave us on January 30… We are facing a serious staff shortage,” Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said in a video interview for the Soloviev Live Youtube channel aired late on Saturday. Russia has previously said that over 100 of its diplomats with families had been forced to leave the United States since 2016 when the relationship between the two countries worsened. As of Oct 29, nearly 200 Russian diplomats were still in their jobs in the United States, included the staff of the Russian mission to the United Nations, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova. President Joe Biden’s administration said last month that the staff of the US mission in Russia had shrunk to 120 from 1,200 in early 2017 after a series of expulsions and restrictions, and it was difficult to continue with anything other than a caretaker presence at the embassy. The US Embassy in Moscow stopped processing non-diplomatic visas this year and added Russians to a list of “homeless nationals” who can apply for visas in third countries.

sindh allows booster shots amid omicron concerns KARACHI stAff rePort

The government of Sindh has allowed the administration of Pfizer booster shot aimed at curtailing the spread of omicron, a new heavily mutated Covid-19 strain. Sindh Health Secretary Zulfiqar Ali Shah said on Sunday that a decision in this regard has been taken by the provincial government and a notification will be issued soon. He said that all fully vaccinated individuals can avail the facility which will be provided free-of-cost by the Sindh government, adding that the decision was taken amid fears of a new Covid-19 wave in the province. Zulfiqar said that currently, the Pfizer vaccine is only available at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and Dow University of Health Sciences’ (DUHS) Ojha campus. However, he added, efforts were being made to make booster shots available in other health facilities of the province as well. The variant, now known as Omicron, has cast doubt on global efforts to fight the pandemic because of fears that it is highly infectious, forcing countries to reimpose measures many had hoped were a thing of the past. Scientists are racing to determine the threat posed by the heavily mutated strain – particularly whether it can evade existing vaccines. Several countries have also announced plans to restrict travel from southern Africa, where it was first detected. On Saturday, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) banned the entry of travellers from South Africa, Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Eswatini, Botswana and Hong Kong.

04 NEWS 29th November 2021_Layout 1 11/29/2021 12:32 AM Page 1

Monday, 29 November, 2021 | LAHORE

04 NEWS

Section 144 impoSed aS razing of naSla tower continueS

News DesK

He Sindh government has imposed Section 144 around Nasla Tower, on the request of the Deputy Commissioner District east and a notification has been issued by the Home Ministry. According to the notification issued, there

will a complete ban on assembly of four or more people at the surrounding of and inside Nasla Tower, Karachi. According to the notification, some people may turn violent during the demolition. Therefore, the gathering of more than four persons will be prohibited. Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) empowers a district administration

to issue orders in the public interest that may place a ban on an activity for a specific period of time. The government is on alert after protestors turned aggressive when the demolition started. As per the notification, strict action will be taken against those who interrupt in the work. Nasla Tower was vacated by the residents last month after the Supreme Court ordered it to be demolished using controlled blast. However, experts later revealed that Pakistan lacked the technology to take down buildings using controlled implosions. eventually, Karachi Commissioner hired a local contractor and started the demolition process using manual labourers and machines. A hollowed-out structure stands out among other buildings alongside the Shara-e-Faisal since Thursday. It is pertinent to note that the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Friday ordered the city authorities to demolish Nasla Tower within seven days, rejecting a plea from the Karachi Commissioner who had sought 50 days. It merits mention that the deployment was ordered after officials learned of a possible protest from the residents of Nasla Tower and the Association of Builders and Developers (ABAD), which has announced that it is stopping all constructions projects in Karachi to protest the Nasla Tower demolition.

army holds three-day lunar festival in gB News DesK Pakistan Army has organised a three-day lunar festival for the local people and youth of the mountainous Astore district of Gilgit−Baltistan which ended on Sunday. The aim of the festival was to promote healthy activities among the populace of the region and to strengthen the goodwill between the locals and the army. The festival featured cricket, volleyball, tug-of-war, weightlifting, athletics, horse racing, sheep racing, sack racing, and other sports as well as speech competitions. A free medical camp for the needy was also organised during the festival, where 103 patients were examined, and free medicines were distributed. Residents of the area and the district administration were also briefed on the equipment and weapons used in the snow-capped mountains. The festival was well received by the locals and was attended by a large number of students and youth. The district administration of Astore fully cooperated with the army in organising the fair and provided assistance to people from remote areas in reaching the fair.

pm to inaugurate al-Qadir university at Sohawa today JHeLUM Staff RepoRt

PTI terms Sindh LG Bill as ‘black law’ KARACHI Staff RepoRt

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Karachi President Khurrum Sher Zaman on Sunday termed Sindh’s new local government bill ‘black law’. Khurrum Sher Zaman has strongly criticised the Sindh government for approving the new local government law in a hurriedly. He said that the local government amendment bill was presented by the provincial government without implementing the democratic norms. The PTI leader alleged that the provincial government had prioritised its interests in the new LG law. He censured that the Sindh government had earlier split Karachi by forming districts and now new towns are being formed to further divide the metropolis. Zaman said that the constitution of more and more towns was primarily aimed to illegally earn money. He said that the secret balloting in the Sindh Assembly was held to buy people’s consciences. He expressed suspicions that the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) wants to bring its nazim and mayor on the basis of horse-trading during the elections. He said that PPP’s vice president was elected in Malir cantonment despite the majority of PTI. Khurrum Sher Zaman announced to move to the court to challenge the secret balloting in elections. Saturday, Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) had decided to

Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the Al-Qadir University at Sohawa in Jhelum on Monday. Based on Islamic teachings, Sufism and modern scientific research, the University will play an important role in character building and promoting modern knowledge among the youth. A block of the university has been completed, while construction of two academic blocks has been underway. Around 60 girls and boys students have been enrolled in the university. Prime Minister Imran Khan had laid foundation stone of Al-Qadir University, in October 2019, with an objective to make the institution a cradle of science and spirituality.

Kashmir president, top judge discuss induction of judges MUZAFFARABAD app

strongly resist the new local government (LG) law approved by the Sindh government. Following the approval of a new LG law in Sindh, MQM-P mulled over options to show resistance by organising protests, hunger strikes, march towards the Sindh Assembly and other political moves, sources said. The political party had summoned its general workers’ session to review the current situation. The central leadership of MQM-P will finalise the strategy after holding consultations with the party workers. On November 26, the Sindh Assembly had unanimously passed Sindh Local Government (Amendment) Bill, 2021. Sindh Minister for Local Government Syed Nasir Hussian Shah had presented the bill

in the provincial assembly. Opposition parties including Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQMP) had opposed the new local government bill. The bill was moved in the assembly after Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari approved the new LG system. Under the new bill, District Councils and Municipal Corporations (DMCs) will be abolished in Karachi and a town system would be restored in each division of the province. Karachi will be divided into more than 25 towns under the new LG system, according to a bill. The new local government system will give more powers to elected mayor and union council chairman, according to a draft.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir Chief Justice Raja Saeed Akram Khan called on State President Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry at Kashmir House here. According to a press statement, the judge and the president discussed the matter of appointment of judges against vacant positions in the High Court of Azad Jammu and Kashmir. According to a statement issued by Chaudhry’s office late Saturday night, the meeting decided to launch a consultation process between the chief justices of the regional Supreme Court and High Court on the matter. “It was also decided to gear up the process of mutual consultations among the chief justices of the Supreme Court […] and the High Court for early completion of the process of appointment [on] posts falling vacant […] since long,” the statement added.

World must focus humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, says Governor Sarwar LAHORe Staff RepoRt

Punjab Governor Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar has said that if world does not pay attention towards Afghanistan, problems like terrorism and food security will get out of control, therefore international community must focus this war-torn country. The Governor expressed these views while talking to the Speaker of Scottish Parliament Alison Johnstone and delegation of Overseas Pakistanis during his visit to United Kingdom. “The Muslim Ummah must come on the same page to eradicate phenomenon of Islamophobia. The efforts to promote religious harmony in Pakistan are unprecedented in the world”. “We are ensuring the protection of life and property of all minorities living in Pakistan in accordance with the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah,” he added. Scottish Parliament Speaker Alison Johnstone also appreciated the steps taken by Pakistan under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan to bring peace in the entire region and Afghanistan.

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The Governor said that the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating with each passing day. Today, the Afghan government does not even have the money to pay salaries to their employees and to provide medicine in hospitals. Under such circumstances, life is becoming more difficult for the common man. He said such conditions are by no means are in the interest of the world because when the situation in Afghanistan deteriorates, other terrorist organizations will become more active. The effects of terrorism in Afghanistan will be felt not only in Afghanistan or Pakistan but also in the entire region and the world. Therefore, the world should take immediate notice of the whole situation, he said. Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar said that Pakistan has been playing its role in good faith for the solution of Afghanistan’s problems since day one. even today Pakistan has more than four millions Afghan refugees. The time has come for the world to fulfill its responsibility to save human lives in Afghanistan because later on, the world will have nothing but regret, he added. Governor Punjab Chaudhry Mohammad Sarwar, in a meeting overseas Pakistanis, said that overseas Pak-

istanis have a major role in Pakistan’s economic development and stability. The PTI government has not only given the right to vote to overseas Pakistanis as promised but has also been working to provide more facilities to them, he added. He said Pakistanis living across the world should participate in the politics of the respective countries they live in as much as possible so that they can also help to solve the problems of overseas Pakistanis living there.

Monday, 29 November, 2021 | LAHORE

NEWS

ElItE ECoNoMy, lACk oF RulE oF lAw kEPt PAkIStAN FRoM AChIEvINg PotENtIAl: PM

NA-133 leaked videos: ECP orders arrest of people involved in ‘buying votes’

continuEd fRom PAgE 01

continuEd fRom PAgE 01 Pervaiz is already a member of the National Assembly on a reserved seat. The video that surfaced late Saturday shows two men taking oaths on Quran, registering names of those selling votes and handing undisclosed amounts of money to them. Posters of PML-N leadership, including Pervaiz, are visible in the background. After the video went viral on social media platforms, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib demanded the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to take action against the suspects. “The video is a big proof [of PML-N engaging in illegal practices],” he said. The minister said the videos have proved the conscience [of the voters] is being bought in blatant violation of the election laws. “What other evidence does the ECP need [to take action]? Immediate notice should be taken.” It merits a mention here the PML-N has staunchly opposed proposed election reforms aimed at curbing the notorious practices of election rigging and vote buying, claiming these would only benefit the ruling party.

Four more fatalities raise dengue fever toll to 137 in Punjab

iSLAmABAd Four more people died of dengue fever in Punjab over the last 24 hours, raising the death toll of the disease-infected people to 137 in the winter season, an official with the health department said. A total of 108 new cases of the disease were reported in the province over the last 24 hours, Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department Secretary Imran Sikandar told media. He added that during the September-November season, the province witnessed a total of 24,744 cases from different areas of the province. Urban localities of the province had remained the hotspots of the disease, including the provincial capital of Lahore which also reported 82 of the 108 fresh cases over the last 24 hours. A decrease in daily new cases has been witnessed over the last few days during which the number of new cases dropped to less than 200 from the earlier tally of over 500 in the province. Consistent preventive and curative activities by the provincial health department and the temperature drop have contributed to the decrease in new cases of the disease.

M a Niazi

N yet another conspiracy against Imran Khan by Mian Nawaz Sharif, there has been an audiotape released of the former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Mr Justice (retd) Saqib Nisar, supposedly telling someone else that it had been decided to ensure that Nawaz and his daughter Mariam went to jail. This is after he was calumniated by a former Chief Judge of Gilgit-Baltistan. Then comes the decision of the Islamabad High Court that Maryam Nawaz was not guilty of contempt for what she said about him. I couldn’t help but compare this refusal to consider Mr Justice (retd) Saqib Nisar’s honour as that of the whole institution, with the protection given by his institution to Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf. He was in fact allowed to escape abroad. Instead, Mr Justice Athat Minallah

E said the Hadith had completely encompassed everything about the environment and how one should be living on earth, the prime minister said. He said one would have to pursue a humane life if he or she wanted to get close to Allah. Khan said the leadership that came up through the political system was just too divorced from faith so they came in for power and compromised for staying in power and gaining personal benefits. “I find every few politicians coming with the specific objectives of looking after humanity. In most of the developing world, they come in power for self-interest and for making money.” “Unfortunately, there were very few [Nelson] Mandelas who came in for a noble cause. Our great leader Jinnah who was the founder of Pakistan was someone who came for a great cause,” Khan noted. He viewed that the politicians were looked down upon because they say they claimed to help the people but contrarily, they helped themselves, he added. The prime minister said he came into

politics because of his faith. “I had everything. I was already a big name in the country as a sports star and I had enough money. So, for me struggling for 22 years to become the prime minister made no sense. The only reason was I believed that I had a responsibility towards society be-

cause I was given more than others,” he added. He said according to all religions, the human being would be tested based on the benefits and privileges given in life. “I came into politics because I had faith and realised that I was so blessed, so had the responsibility towards society.”

He said he was not in politics to make personal gains or get the benefits of power. “God has given us the power to struggle. Whether we succeed or not is not within our hands.” When the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) set up the state of Medina, he unleashed the potential of the people who all became leaders, he commented. He said after going outside Pakistan, people get a level playing field there and excel, he observed. He said in Pakistan only one percent had access to quality education and others did not have opportunities. “Winning the struggle in present-day Pakistan will unleash the potential of the people of Pakistan. And the second goal is to lift the people out of poverty.” He said the government started the greatest welfare programmes in the country’s history. Our objective was to lift people out of poverty, create wealth and spread it around and break the monopoly of the elite and mafias, he added. He said true faith gave a person dignity and it gave liberation to a human being.

President Alvi discusses role of Afghan peace in regional connectivity at ECO summit

staff report

City Notes

President Arif Alvi while addressing the 15th Summit of the Heads of States of the ECO in Turkmenistan has stated that peace in Afghanistan is the key to regional connectivity among the members of the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO). The president stated that peace in Afghanistan was essential for peace in ECO countries, adding that the Afghan people should particularly be helped in the education and health sectors. Alvi further said that the specter of economic collapse looms large in Afghanistan due to the winter, which could lead to a complete collapse of the wartorn country and push it towards

chaos once again. “We must come together to promote economic stability and sustainability in Afghanistan,” Alvi said, adding that the unilateral sanctions worsen human suffering and have adverse consequences for the region. On the prevailing coronavirus situation, Alvi said that the ECO states suffered due to the pandemic, resulting in globalised inflation. The government in Pakistan is providing targeted support to the poor to cushion the impact of inflation, he added. The president emphasised that there was danger of refugees influx in case of economic collapse in Afghanistan, adding that

Pakistan has done an “outstanding job” by hosting at least four million refugees during their “difficult times”. The president went on to state that the ECO should join other developing countries in promoting a common development agenda for sustainable growth. Alvi also urged the ECO countries to move towards greater virtual integration to increase the trade volume, adding that the ECO states have all elements needed for economic growth. Alvi further Pakistan will propose a development agenda in the next meeting in China that calls for a complete overhaul of the redistribution of $650 billion of SDRs, large concessional financing, $100b to developing countries to fight climate change and an end to the illicit flow of money that impoverished the developing countries as well as the return of stolen assets. “An equitable trading environment and a fair global taxation regime are essential,” he added. It is pertinent to note that President Alvi arrived in the Turkmenistan capital on a twoday visit to attend the 15th ECO summit, being held in Ashgabat on Sunday. News Desk

Militants kill two soldiers near Afghanistan border: ISPR PESHAWAR MoNitoriNg report

Militants targeted a military post in the northwestern tribal belt near the Afghanistan border, killing two soldiers in a firefight, the army said in a statement. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said late Saturday that militants attacked a post in the Datta Khel town of the district of North Waziristan in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The town is a former militant stronghold. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. During an intense exchange of gunfire two soldiers were killed, the ISPR said, adding that a search of the area was being carried out to find the militants. It gave no indication of the identity of the attackers. North Waziristan served for years as a safe haven for militants until the military carried out massive operations to try to clear the region. That forced the militants either to escape across the border into Afghanistan or hide in other mountainous areas near the border. Pakistan is holding talks with the proscribed Tehreek-iTaliban Pakistan (TTP) with the help of the Taliban government in Afghanistan. There is a temporary cease-fire in place.

A DANIEl CoMES to juDgMENt? observed that Mr Justice (retd) Nisar was an ordinary citizen. Still, he does have the right to defend himself by suing Maryam, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and whoever said things about him which reflects on him. Such conflicts put us newspapermen in a pickle. If we take the high road, and refuse to report the libelous matter, we are guilty of dishonesty to our readers. If we do report, we lay ourselves open to a libel action, as well as a charge of criminal defamation. Readers won’t know the risk we’re running. The big difference between a contempt notice and a libel suit is that the suit has to be tried, and there’s the possibility of successfully defending yourself. A contempt notice (for bringing the court into disrepute) means you have been convicted, and now it only remains for the judge to pronounce sentence. You might defend yourself, and

try to convince the judge that he’s got it wrong, and you’re actually an upright citizen who spends his spare time preaching respect for the judiciary. Good luck with that. Perhaps, the weirdest thing about contempt proceedings is that judges take notice of contempt shown to them personally, thereby acting as ‘judges in their own cause’. That seems to violate the legal maxim ‘no one shall be judge in his own cause.’ Well, there are always exceptions that prove the rule. We’re all aware of how Nawaz Sharif faked the tape, and how he personally held a gun to the head of The Gilgit-Baltistan exchief judge while he wrote his affidavit. Actually, both Imran and those on the same page with him know nothing about the whole matter. If one was to assume that the tape was genuine, who had it? And who re-

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leased it? Does anyone remember that the lawyers’ movement demanded an end to tapping phones? And it might be noted that those doing the releasing are careful not to release any tapes of those behind the judges. Now that would be a turn up for the books. The great takeaway from all of this is that it’s not just politicians who need to develop familiarity with modern means of recording, like audio and video tapes, but anyone who rises to any senior office. And they must learn never to relax, because you never know when you are being recorded. Recording is one problem, texting, or rather sexting, is another. Australian skipper Time Paine had to resign over a sexting scandal he was engaged in once. Imran Khan could have told him such things could be lived down. Or is a Test captain held to

a higher standard than party leaders, or even PMs? Remember why Ayesha Gulalai resigned from the PTI? Is Tim Paine trying to build up a portfolio for PM? He has not won a World Cup, though. But if he builds a hospital of any kind, then he’s making a bid. And if he ever gets onto a third wife, be sure. True, he’s a keeper. Not a fast bowler but I’m sure he’d be willing to take on the job, if the Australian Secret Intelligence Service or the Australian Secret Intelligence Organisation tell him to do his patriotic duty. You win some, you lose some. Just as Imran was ruing the dismissal of Tim Paine, he must have viewed with suspicion Shaheen Shah Afridi’s wickets against Bangladesh, though he probably was glad that he didn’t do enough to gain the selector’s attention.

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06 COMMENT

Education investment impact on learning

Covid-19 funds The Auditor-General’s report does not paint a pretty picture

The government did not let the pandemic stop it

HE Auditor-General’s report on the PM’s special programme for Covid-19 has been released after being held up by the Finance Ministry for six months, not because the government was driving for efficiency, but because it’s being made public was one of several conditions laid down by the IMF for the resumption of its $6.6 billion EFF programme, with $1 billion to be paid in January. The report scrutinised Rs 354 billion, and found Rs 40 billion of irregularities. Though some of that sum would be attributable to codal irregularities, where some harried bureaucrat did not go by the book entirely, there is bound to be a proportion of actual malfeasance, including some old fashioned embezzlement. For any democratic government, concealment of the report would be bad enough, but this government is particularly committed to transparency. That it was the IMF that had to force its hand indicates that someone’s sins were being covered up. The most irregularities were found in the Benazir Income support Programme, where Rs 25 billion have audit objections, Rs 5.2 billion of the Rs 10 billion spent by the Utility stores Corporation have also been objected to. Rs 4.8 billion of Rs 22.8 billion spent by the National Disaster Management Authority also did not pass muster. The process of reconciling these objections will include recovery from the officials concerned, or even criminal prosecution when deemed necessary. The IMF had extended Pakistan a separate $1.4 billion loan for its covid-19 relief package, and was thus anxious to know how the money was spent. The attitude of the IMF to this report cannot be predicted, even though Pakistan’s Finance Ministry has said that the IMF is satisfied with the report. Even if it is, that should be no excuse for not acting against those whose hand might have been in the till. The report is not supposed to be merely for IMF satisfaction, but must lead to further action. The removal last year of Health sAPM Zulfiqar Mirza in mid-pandemic caused rumors to get started, but no recoveries have been made from anyone. It should not be forgotten that this is taxpayers’ money, and is to be used judiciously. As the pandemic is not over, if an example is made now, it will serve as a deterrent for the future.

MuhaMMad Zahid Rifat

s compared to other countries particularly those in the region, Pakistan is somehow ranked low in the region in terms of educational indicators such as expected years of schooling, mean years of schooling and inequality in education. The incumbent federal government quite obviously is fully cognizant of the national education crisis, as over 22.84 million children were still out of schools and as much as 41 percent of fifth grade students unable even to read simple stories in basic languages. According to the Pakistan social and Living standards Measurement survey (PsLM) 2018-19, the literacy rate in the country was stagnant at around 60 percent with the urban literacy rate at 74 percent and rural literacy rate at 51 per cent. Literacy in Punjab province is slightly higher at 64 percent as compared to sindh and Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa (including merged districts) at 57 percent and 55 percent respectively while this rate was even lower at 40 percent in Balochistan, area-wise largest and sparsely populated province of the country. Furthermore, literacy rate for male population was reported to be at 71 percent while that of female literacy rate was substantially lower at 49 per cent. According to figures available from official sources, school attendance across Pakistan was reported to be around 60 percent while Gross Enrolment Rate

Omicron variant As covid-19 mutates, travel restrictions may not be enough

The way ahead for meeting COP26 commitments Syed aSiM ali BukhaRi, aSSociate PRof. dR. fathyah haShiM and PRof. dR. aZlan aMRan

s the clock ticks towards 2030, it is time to start thinking out-of-the-box if Pakistan wants to solve the escalating natural environmental and resource degradation problems. Green innovation is critical in developing and scaling up the solutions for reducing and reversing the adverse environmental impacts of global climate change. It can guide us towards a netzero, carbon-resilient pathway towards an environmentally sustainable future. Reaching this pathway will require significant green innovations in policy, financial systems, culture, institutions, sciences, technology and management. such green innovation pathways are critical for developing countries like Pakistan to avoid the high-carbon development pathways of the past and protect the country from the worsening impacts of climate change. However, unlike the developed countries, Pakistan has faced several barriers in adopting the green innovation pathways, such as the lack of capital flow for sustainable investments and inadequate awareness regarding sustainable management adoption. One of the critical challenges in implementing the Paris Agreement on climate change is the funding required to implement environmentally friendly projects that positively combat climate change and foster a green economy. According to estimates, Asia requires approximately $1.7 trillion annual investments for the development of green infrastructure. However, the actual green investment pledged each year is closer to $880 billion. Green innovation through the development of sustainable sukuk can play an essential role in bridging this green and social investment gap. A sukuk is an Islamic bond that can generate returns to investors without violating Islamic shariah law. It sells a certificate with proceeds used to purchase an asset that both buyer and seller mutually own. sustainable sukuk is an innovation in the area of green and social financial instruments in which the proceeds from sukuk issuance are used to finance environmentally and socially sustainable projects. In the recent past, the global sukuk market has grown rapidly, from an estimated $85 billion of sukuk issuances in 2016 to an estimated $172 billion in 2020. The role of sustainable sukuk as a solution to the global economic and environmental woes has also

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Yousaf Nizami M. A. Niazi

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Sustainable Sukuk: Solving Pakistan’s net-zero equation

HE emergence of the new omicron variant of the covid-19 coronavirus has set up barriers which had been taking their time coming down. Pakistan’s imposition of a ban on travelers from southern Africa, such as south Africa, Mozambique, Namibia and Lesotho, reflects both that these countries are where the new variant has emerged, and that Pakistan so far has not got a single case of the new variant, which is said to be deadlier than the original. While there is a serious attempt to limit its spread, already it has been detected in such countries as the Netherlands, Israel and Australia, though they are all far apart. At the same time, it is a safe assumption that the new variant will get through. The original pandemic went to every place in the world, and the present variant does not show any signs of stopping. At the same time, the mistake made last time, when travellers were let through without being quarantined, because someone in the Cabinet pushed for it, must not be repeated. Even if the arrival of the omicron variant is assumed to be inevitable, vigorous border management will reduce its impact. The country escaped the worst effects of the delta variant, which were witnessed in neighbouring India, but that should not lead to any complacency. The country is indeed better placed to weather the new variant, what with new cases at a record low, but there must be no relaxation in the effort. Health sAPM Dr Faisal sultan knows well the techniques that will need to be applied and he must get down to executing the plan. One source of reassurance the country has is that the omicron variant is as susceptible as the older variants to the coronavirus vaccines. As Pakistan has overcome initial hiccups and is moving its programme towards the desired goal of 80 percent immunity by year-end, which means that there is no reason for the new variant to spread so as to create the sort of chaos that afflicted India. still, the new threat means that there must be no let-up in the vaccination programme. There may be some loss of mobility, but by now the citizenry must accept as the new cost of doing business.

Editor Aziz-ud-Din Ahmad

(GER) at primary level was 87 percent and Net Enrolment (NER) was 66 per cent. Likewise, middle level GER and NER were 63 percent and 38 percent respectively while matric level GER and NER figures were placed at 57 percent and 27 percent respectively. Gender Parity Index (GPI) in literacy was only 0.69 overall while at the primary and secondary levels the figures were 0.92 and 0.89 respectively. One of the major concerns of the authorities concerned at the federal and provincial levels was how to mitigate the loss of exacerbated learning with over 50 million learners affected due to the COVID-19 pandemic during financial 2020-21. This situation entailed higher risk of increase in out- of- school children, widening of gender disparities and flaring learning poverty. Concerted efforts as such were direly needed to focus on reducing the huge number of out-of-school children (22.8 million, exacerbated to 50 million due to COVD-19). Provincial governments are required to make concerted serious efforts to strengthen modules for training for training of both teachers and education managers to deal with similar challenges in the future. Improving gender parity and literacy rate were obviously the areas of special focus in the education sector. As for the measures being taken at the federal level for improving the overall education sector in the country, as many as 23 projects were included in the Public sector Development Programme (PsDP) 2020-21, including 20 ongoing projects and 3 new projects which were initiated by the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training. These projects aimed at introducing a uniform curriculum, capacity building of teachers and principals, recruitment of teachers, establishment, renovation and up-gradation of schools and colleges, improving gender disparity, education voucher scheme, improving educational assessment system and Knowledge Economy Initiative. The federal government was apparently committed to strengthening the education system and investing in human capital development. Projects initiated by the incumbent federal government for human capital included Tele school for Grades 112; National Education Action Plan for COVID-19; Establishment of National Curriculum Council secretariat; Balochistan Human Capital Investment Project; Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa Capital Investment Project; Punjab Human Capital Investment Project,

and; sindh Early Learning Enhancement through Classroom Transformation. As for the measures being initiated or planned by the federal and provincial governments under PsDP 2021-22 are concerned, the federal government was attaching due priority to the strengthening of the basic and college education system. Towards this end, 24 development projects including 20 ongoing projects for Basic and College Education with an allocation of Rs 4873.74 million were listed in the PsDP for the ongoing financial year. Under PsDP 2021-22, the Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training which had taken a lead on several initiatives for improving education quality and access as well as for mitigating the education losses during the COVID-19 pandemic, was allocated an amount of Rs Rs 4.7 billion. The Ministry has also undertaken the AsPIRE programme initiative for effectively countering the education inequities at inter-provincial and inter-district levels for lagging areas all over Pakistan. A substantial amount of Rs 4 billion was in the process of being disbursed to reduce imbalances in education quality and access. Two major programmes, namely Response Recovery and Resilience Project and Pandemic Response Effectiveness in Pakistan, have also been launched for addressing disparities, disruption in education continuity and learning losses due to continued prevalence of the pandemic. Interactive and digital content for tech-based media was also in the process of being created, updated, contextualized and disseminated through television, radio and prevalent education technology platforms. similarly, other programmes included provision of basic education missing facilities, establishment or upgradation of boy’s and girls’ schools and colleges, knowledge economy initiatives, teachers training institutes and such like. The National Curriculum Council secretariat has also been set up for ensuring effective coordination among federating units in development and reviewing of the single National Curriculum from Grade pre-1 to XII, Teachers Training Modules, standards for Quality Education and National Curriculum Framework. Updating the national curriculum by adopting new knowledge relevant to the needs of the 21st century and focusing upon creative and critical thinking, instead of rote learning, was also the priority agenda of the incumbent federal government.

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been highlighted in the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP26. It has been estimated that $30 to $50 billion can be raised globally by 2025 through the issuance of Green and social sukuk. Many countries, including Malaysia and Indonesia, have successfully launched sustainable sukuk to finance sustainable, climate-resilient growth in countries. For example, Malaysia launched the world’s first Green sukuk for funding renewable energy generation in 2017. similarly, in 2018 Indonesia issued the first sovereign Green sukuk amounting to $1.25 billion. Pakistan can learn from these countries by adopting this green innovation to overcome the funding barriers existing in environmental and social sustainability. Furthermore, Green and social sukuk can be used as an innovative approach to finance the country’s United Nations-sustainable Development Goals (UN-sDGs) 2030 and green development. The UNsDGs are designed as a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for the countries. The goals are developed to tackle various social challenges like ending poverty, improving health and education, reducing inequality, and spurring economic growth while combating climate change and preserving our natural environment. Therefore, the issuance of sustainable sukuk can play a pivotal role in ensuring a resilient green recovery for the economy in this Post-COVID 19 era. The proceeds of Green and social sukuk can be utilized towards projects that focus on access to essential services and sME financing and employment generation categories under the umbrellas of ‘UNsDG # 3: Good Health and Well-Being’ and ‘UNsDG # 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth’, respectively. The proceeds from social sukuk can be used to finance projects aimed at attaining UN-sDG #1 (No Poverty), UN-sDG #2 (Zero Hunger) and UN-sDG #4 (Quality Education). similarly, Green sukuk can be issued for financing green investment projects focusing on various UN-sDG attainment including UN-sDG #7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), UN-sDG #13 (Climate Action), UN-sDG #14 (Life Below Water) and UN-sDG #15 (Life on Land). The issuance of sustainable sukuk will help initiate sustainable shariah compliant projects for combating climate change and facilitate the investors in diversifying their funding portfolio. It will also provide an additional financing instrument to investors who are interested in financing eco-friendly and socially sustainable projects. The proceeds of sustainable sukuk can be uti-

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lized to finance or refinance projects related to alternate energy generation, pollution prevention and control, biodiversity conservation, water conservation and management, green transportation, green cement and brick, green buildings and green infrastructure development. It can also be used to facilitate the development of the country’s Micro, small & Medium Enterprises (MsMEs) and sustainable agriculture sectors. sustainable sukuk can provide green investment for the various construction projects initiated by the Government of Pakistan such as the Naya Pakistan Housing scheme, Ravi Riverfront Urban Development Project and Green CPEC projects. In Pakistan, smog season has become the fifth season causing severe economic and health risks for the country’s population. The sustainable sukuk can be used to finance green projects to combat this environmental menace through the installation of smog towers or the development of the green vehicle industry. Pakistan offers a green investment potential of $96.2 billion for achieving the UN-sDGs 2030. According to the Government of Punjab, sustainable investment potential of Rs 5,318 billion, Rs 392 billion, Rs 201 billion, and Rs 319 million exist in health, education, drinking water, and sanitation facilities, respectively. This untapped market can be captured by issuing sustainable sukuk or sustainable bonds for financing projects in these areas. However, one of the biggest challenges within Pakistan’s Islamic banking sector is the general lack of experience and knowledge concerning sustainable sukuk. In addition, there is a lack of guidance for shariah scholars when it comes to considering such matters as part of their roles in shaping the Islamic finance landscape. The Institute of Bankers Pakistanstate Bank of Pakistan (IBP-sBP) and the National Institute of Banking & Finance (NIBAF) can play an important part in creating awareness and knowledge regarding sustainable sukuk among the stakeholders. The sBP aims to make Islamic banking one third of the Pakistan banking industry by the year 2025 by expanding the share of Islamic banks’ assets and deposits to 30% in the overall banking industry. The development of sustainable sukuk can play an important role in fostering the growth of the Islamic banking sector in Pakistan. The development of sustainable sukuk can prove to be a game changer for Pakistan’s green economic transformation. The writers , Syed Asim Ali Bukhari; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Fathyah Hashim and Prof. Dr. Azlan Amran, are all associated with the Graduate School of Business, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang, Malaysia.

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Monday, 29 November, 2021

COMMENT 07 Editor’s mail Send your letters to: Letters to Editor, Pakistan Today, 4-Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore, Pakistan. E-mail: letters@pakistantoday.com.pk Letters should be addressed to Pakistan Today exclusively

A panacea for our education ills?

Creating resilience in classrooms An important but neglected goal of education

M ilyaS kalhoRo

HE word resilience refers to the ability to face and overcome challenging and trying situations in life. It can also be defined as the ability to recover quickly from difficulties and adversities. Resilience is necessary for human thriving. It helps to develop mentally healthy and adaptable people. If someone is resilient, he would be mentally and emotionally strong enough to face and overcome the difficult situations. Most teachers in the schools of our society are more concerned about teaching students reading and writing. They don’t pay heed to equipping them with the important life skills, such as resilience, without which education is incomplete. Given the susceptibility of children to difficult life events and their lack of ability to confront these, it is necessary that they should be taught resilience in classrooms. Life is not easy. It presents tough experiences to everyone; no matter whether he is an adult or a teenager. The adults through their life experiences somehow are able to face such demanding situations, but the teenagers may not have such ability. The examples of the troublesome situations that children might face are; death in family, conflictual relationships between the parents, moving to school, moving to other house, mental suffering caused by physical or sexual assault, sense of being belonging to a poor family and so on. In order to be mentally prepared for confronting such situations, a child needs to be resilient. Otherwise, not only will his academic performance be negatively affected, but he will remain prone to mental health issues, such as anxiety and depression. Teachers need to identify non-resilient students and then try to work on them. It is not rocket science to distinguish between a resilient and a non-resilient student. A resilient student enthusiastically involves and engages himself in the classroom activities, confidently talks about what he needs, such as getting permission to go to the toilet or asking questions related to taught-something, seems ready for learning, cooperates with fellow-students, looks healthy and energetic and displays a positive outlook. On the other hand a non-resilient student shows less interest in classroom activities, looks less confident, less energetic, and less interactive. Feeling heartened on small issues, exhibiting less concentration, lack-

ing the ability to easily forget stressful events or incidents, and displaying dull attitude are some other signs of a non-resilient child. Let’s try to know what can be done in classrooms to teach resilience to students. To begin with, teachers should try to create confidence in students. This can be done by encouraging students to read their lessons aloud, to ask questions, to come on the diais to present something, to participate in co-curricular activities, and to answer whatever asked by the teacher. The teachers should also try to create such an environment in the classroom in which students could foster their connection with each other and with the teacher. Effort should be made to make a child understand that he also enjoys an important place and is cared about. The teachers should value the advice or any suggestion of the students. If these suggestions can’t be followed, then they should be convinced about it with honour. Teachers should try to reform the character of students. students should be taught that actions have consequences so that they do not engage in such actions whose consequences could cause mental suffering to them. Besides, teachers should be caring and sympathetic to their students. They should be so friendly in the classroom that students do not hesitate to talk with them. In this way students would get more and more interactive in the class. If the teacher interacts with his students, he can recognize the mental state of his students and can work on the minds of students accordingly. Moreover, teachers should try to incorporate courage in the minds of their students. The students should be taught that they should not be

afraid of failures, or they should not be disheartened at a loss as it is a part of life. Confrontation with the difficult situations or events of life is a very important skill of life that teachers should try to equip the students with. Here It is relevant to mention the letter of former Us President Abraham Lincoln to the teacher of his son. He wrote to the teacher “Teach him if you can – how to laugh when he is sad, teach him there is no shame in tears. Teach him there can be glory in failure........Teach him to have sublime faith in himself”. This is how the Us President wanted his son to be trained in the classroom. Furthermore, teachers should teach students how important it is to have the ability of self control. The lack of self control makes one lose one’s temper at trivial matters. self control gives strength in confronting the challenging situations of life. Teachers should try to motivate students to control their own minds as this self control would lead them to real success in life. Last but not the least, Teachers should more and more involve every student in the classroom activity. This involvement will not only boost their confidence, but will also infuse in them skills to socially engage in society. To sum up, teachers need to create resilience in the classrooms. They should teach their students to be brave and bold as such an attitude can bring them near to real success in life. In the words of Booker T Washington, a renowned American educator “I have learned that success is not to be measured so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles overcome while trying to succeed.” The greatest gift that a teacher can give to his students is definitely making them emotionally and mentally strong, that is, making them resilient.

Teachers should more and more involve every student in the classroom activity. This involvement will not only boost their confidence, but will also infuse in them skills to socially engage in society. To sum up, teachers need to create resilience in the classrooms. They should teach their students to be brave and bold as such an attitude can bring them near to real success in life

M Ilyas Kalhoro, an educator and independent academic researcher , based in Larkana

THE first phase of the much touted single National Curriculum (sNC) is being taught across Punjab. Initially, the children from grade 1 to 5 are being covered in the first phase. Next year, the students from grade 6 to 8 will be included while by 2023, it will be extended from grade 8 up to 12. On paper, the scheme seems to be a lofty one. However, experts, educationists and those with interest in our education system, have raised questions over the aim and viability of the government initiative to provide a uniform education to all. First of all, experts have questioned the inclusion of excessive religious material at all levels. They argue that the overdose of religious content will further indoctrinate the young minds. secondly, the subject of Islamiat and Deenyat have been made compulsory for all grades making it inconvenient for minority students to study in the same class along with muslim classmates. Educationists term it against the spirit of Article 22 which explicitly states that no individual will be required to acquire such an education which is against his or her religious teachings. It impliedly makes the state responsible for ensuring the implementation of safeguards against any such move. Thirdly, the step is also considered as an encroachment upon the provinces’ domain to formulate curriculum and education policies for respective areas. The subject of education has been devolved to the provinces under the 18th amendment in 2010. As a result, sindh has already refused to implement the sNC in the province making it less likely a national program. Fourthly, it is viewed as one more step towards the elimination of better education by private institutions as compared to the public ones. It is further castigated as depriving the parents of their right to send children to education institutions of their own choice. since the first phase has been unveiled, it has emerged that the medium of instructions will be Urdu. Imposition of a certain language on all is against the diverse nature of the society and can impede the growth of several regional languages. By doing so, the government may inadvertently antagonize some sections and ethnicities of the country which live with a sense of insecurity and deprivation. Research has proved that children learn faster and easier in their mother tongue rather than being taught in some alien language. Fifthly, the proposed curriculum will reportedly be taught at over 30000 seminaries in the country raising eyebrows among the masses. People seriously doubt the initiative as seminaries can not easily agree to a curriculum against their established system of education. Lastly, fingers are being pointed at the scheme as to how it will help in imparting uniform education when 23 million children are still out of school? Therefore, instead of taking hasty decisions for political point scoring, the government must ponder over bringing improvement in the existing educational infrastructure. Also, teachers training and related issues must also be addressed at the earliest. RAHMAN RASHEED BuNER

Contest for global supremacy HIsTORy witnesses that powerful nations have peacefully competed or indulged in the cold war to attain regional and global domain. similarly, the rivalry between the Us and China is also intensifying based in terms of economic and military power and there is a clear manifestation of emerging the seeds of the cold war between both countries. The Us is still the world’s largest economy but now it is undermined by China. In the previous few decades, The Chinese economy is exponentially growing by its expensive manufacturing infrastructure and rapidly growing technological base. According to economic experts, it is estimated China is the world’s second-largest economy in the world and it may surpass the Us by 2028. sino-American relatives saw a decline during the presidency of Donald Trump in the political and economic domain. The trade war between the two countries intensified in 2018 when President Trump setting trade barriers and tariffs on China. Consequently, the trade war negatively impacted the economies of both countries. It would be pertinent to mention that medical experts confirmed that the COVID-19 virus has originated naturally. Currently, Joe Biden took oath as a President of America in which he iterated that relations with China will have three aspects- adversarial, competitive and cooperative. Comparatively, President Xi Jinping expounded that country doesn’t want a policy of conflict or confrontation but ties should be fraternal, peaceful and harmonious and a win-win situation. Analytically, the Us made India its strategic partner for a reliable counterweight to China and its intention to make India the dominant power of Asia. China is also leading in investing economic projects with neighbouring countries in which China is the largest investor in Pakistan such as China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), China’s 15-year $62 billion investment in Pakistan. In return Beijing acquires connection to the Arabia sea, offering a contingency trade route to the risk-prone Malacca strait in southeast Asia. Additionally, China has signed a 25-year strategic cooperation agreement on 27 March 2021 which covers a wide variety of economic activity from oil and mining to promoting industrial activity in Iran, as well as transportation and agricultural collaboration. Therefore, for the Us to compete with China in manufacturing and technology it will have to invest in the supply chain and ecosystem as well as automation while in defence equipment China is trying to build solid manufacturing infrastructure and has made struggles to close to the Us or other European countries but it takes few years to get better technology in defence equipment. Indubitably, scientific and technological unfolding in the Us, China, Western Europe and other developed countries is another element driving the global transformation over and above the growing sino-Us rivalry, for instance, development in the cutting edge, semiconductor, data, 5G Mobile networks, Internet standards, Artificial Intelligence and quantum computing particularly it will help determine not only country or countries have the military edge but also a more dynamic economy. It can be concluded from the aforementioned discussion that China is on right track for replacing global dominancy and also wants to perpetuate peace and harmony and avoid the policy of conflict. BILAWAL ALI SINDH

08 WORLD VIEW 29th November 21_Layout 1 11/28/2021 10:10 PM Page 1

Monday, 29 November, 2021

08 WORLD VIEW

A dIgITAl SIngApore dollAr MAy be Too Much of A good ThIng

BLOOMBERG

ANDY MUKHERJEE

he world may be going crazy over digital currencies, but tiny Singapore is swimming against the tide. The central bank has decided against offering a paperless version of the city-state’s legal tender — at least for now. Not because an electronic version of cash may flop, but because it’ll most likely be a hit. That could have consequences for the island’s financial stability and conduct of monetary policy. even if those risks are manageable with in-built safeguards, why rock the boat? In a paper detailing the economic case for a central bank digital currency, the monetary authority concludes that “there is no pressing need for a retail CBDC in Singapore at this point in time.” however, it will keep adding to its capability to issue one, just in case the private sector in the future hooks consumers to a particular payment mode only to shortchange them by abusing its monopoly power. This is a pragmatic approach. Startups might welcome an online medium of exchange that’s widely available to the public, and not tied to a large competitor. Then they won’t need to invest in proprietary e-money systems to compete. The problem is that Singapore’s triple-A-rated sovereign has historically accumulated fiscal surpluses and is not known to cheapen its exchange rate to gain an export advantage. That makes its currency an attractive store of wealth. In fact, a digital version may be perceived as superior since paper cash is costly to store. In a low-interest-rate environment, a Singapore digital dollar could thus walk away with all-important bank deposits, which account for 92% of money supply and all of the online payments by households and firms. It would be a direct liability of the monetary authority and hence devoid of credit risk. The central bank could, however, tamp demand for its CBDC by putting limits on how much can be stored in a wallet. It could also restrict use only to residents and tourists, keeping it out of reach of global investors. These checks may be crucial. The small, open Asian economy doesn’t set local interest rates. It guides financial conditions by tweaking the exchange rate of the Singapore

Iran nuclear negotiator: Talks must address removal of sanctions

dollar against a basket of trading partners’ currencies. Sacrificing monetary control to fit in with the zeitgeist of giving 5.5 million people a brand-new payment instrument is not a great tradeoff. A digital Singapore dollar can wait. But that doesn’t mean that the financial center should stop gaining expertise. even if the payment market stays sufficiently competitive to prevent consumers from being exploited, public-sector knowledge could come in handy should other emerging forms of electronic money — such as privately-issued Singapore dollar-denominated stablecoins — choose to utilize the technology. But why should Singapore bless private tokens when larger central banks such as the U.S. Federal Reserve are deeply suspicious of them? Should the Fed decide to take the dollar digital, preempting the rise of China’s official e-CNY with its 140 million users (so far) may only be a secondary consideration. The immediate motivation could be to issue a safe and official alternative to increasingly popular stablecoins like Tether and USD Coin that peg their value 1:1 to the dollar. In its twice-yearly financial stability report this week, the Fed said that these digital tokens were “susceptible to runs” if people who invested in them decide to cash out simultaneously. Without its own paperless currency, how will Singapore’s highly digital economy protect itself from global stablecoins? The Singapore dollar “could be vulnerable to being displaced by a widely used foreign digital currency,” the monetary authority notes, especially if it’s backed by a powerful e-commerce or social media network. The legal-tender nature of the home currency won’t save it from substitution because merchants aren’t bound to accept it as payment. For example, it’ll be perfectly above board — if unlikely — for a local coffee shop to only take Diem, the soon-to-belaunched stablecoin backed by Meta Platforms Inc., formerly Facebook Inc. To take on foreign coins, it might make sense for Singapore to permit its homegrown banks to offer synthetic versions of the digital Singapore dollar. Rival Asian financial center hong Kong, which entrusts paper money to commercial issuers, has floated a similar idea. The proposed retail e-hKD would technically be a private liability of financial institutions, yet could perform the role of tokenized public money. The hong Kong Monetary Authority could let society benefit from online payments innovation without having to reinvent itself as a consumer-facing institution, a makeover that may be hard for any central bank to achieve. Such a radical transformation may not even be desirable. If the digital Singapore dollar takes off as an alternative to bank deposits, lending can’t remain unaffected. As the monetary authority notes, in extreme circumstances, the introduction of a retail CBDC could lead to a greater role in the allocation of credit for the central bank. No central bank wishes to be pulled in that direction. While most other governments worry about whether anyone actually wants their paperless cash, Singapore’s problem is the opposite: A wildly successful digital currency may be too much of a good thing. Andy Mukherjee is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering industrial companies and financial services.

FinanciaL TiMEs

ALI BAGHERI KANI

hIS week, Iran and five global powers gather in Vienna for so-called “nuclear negotiations”. This very term — which is used to refer to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement — is rife with error. Western countries, in particular the US, work tirelessly to portray “negotiations” as merely a process to restrict Iran’s legitimate and peaceful nuclear programme, which is enshrined in international treaties and watched by oversight organisations. From Iran’s perspective, however, “negotiations” must pursue real objectives, observed by all parties. In this vein, we have two goals: the first is to gain a full, guaranteed and verifiable removal of the sanctions that have been imposed on the Iranian people. Without this, the process will continue indefinitely. “Negotiations” without an airtight solution benefit no one. The second is to facilitate the legal rights of the Iranian nation to benefit from peaceful nuclear knowledge, especially the all-important enrichment technology for industrial purposes, according to the terms of the international Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Previous attempts to close the “trust gap” between parties of the nuclear talks have failed mainly because the west regards any agreement solely as an established platform from which to launch more pressure against Iran. In english, you call it “moving the goalposts”. This is the crux of the dispute that has forced us, six years after the initial agreement, to the table yet again. We will be starting these new discussions under circumstances influenced by the unfortunate fate of the JCPOA, when US president Donald Trump unilaterally decided to abandon this deal. This was a terrible betrayal of trust for Iran and Iranians. experience tells us that the west does not seek to implement a deal. Rather, it seeks to score public perception points by announcing one while

stealthily “dis-implementing” the agreement in every possible way. From our experience, this is followed by actions to “hijack” the JCPOA platform to force Iran to make more concessions in areas unrelated to the nuclear issue. As a result, the Iranian people trust neither the process, nor its outcome. It would be naive to attribute these problems solely to the Trump administration and to his “maximum pressure campaign.” Constant US efforts to deny Iran any economic benefits for reducing its nuclear activities are why many once-passionate Iranian defenders of the agreement have now changed their minds: they no longer trust either its tangible benefits or its intent. Donald Trump merely removed the velvet gloves from the cast-iron hand of the previous US administration. From our viewpoint, past blunders should not be repeated. We have all, respectively, learned over the past six years what and who can be trusted. To ensure any forthcoming agreement is ironclad, the west needs to pay a price for having failed to uphold its part of the bargain. As in any business, a deal is a deal, and breaking it has consequences. Iran remains committed to the process and we will adhere to our commitments. From our perspective, the principle of “mutual compliance” cannot form a proper base for negotiations since it was the US government which unilaterally left the deal. The US should therefore demonstrate that it is serious this time, and that it possesses the necessary competence to fulfil its commitments. In Iran’s recent presidential elections, voters decided to invest their confidence in a paradigm that espouses a more realistic engagement with the west. Actions now matter more than mere words. We should be offered a clear and transparent mechanism to ensure that sanctions will be removed. For what other conceivable reason would we compromise regarding Iran’s technological advances and nationally-precious domestic nuclear programme? Iran did not succumb to the use of either military threats, economic sanctions or “maximum pressure” under Trump and it will not do so under Biden. In order to secure the rights and interests of our nation, we are ready for a fair and careful discussion, based on the principles of “guarantee” and “verification”. This must prioritise compensation for the violation of the deal, which includes the removal of all post-JCPOA sanctions. In return, Iran is ready to voluntarily fulfil its nuclear commitments in accordance with the agreement. We remain prepared to react proportionately to any pressure and reciprocate any goodwill gesture. We have made our choice. We will now find out whether or not the west has the will to enter real negotiations. The writer is Iranian deputy foreign minister and chief nuclear negotiator.

Modi lost on farm laws due to farmers’ unity IF BIG BUSINESS COULD BECOME DOMINANT IN INDIA’S FARM ECONOMY, THEN NOT ONLY WOULD IT BE ABLE TO CONTROL THE DISTRIBUTION AND RETAILING OF FOOD AND VEGETABLES, IT COULD ALSO REORIENT CROP PRODUCTION TO TARGET THE EXPORT MARKET TRiBunE, india

AUNINDYo CHAKRAvARtY

N his seven years as India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi has seen only two major defeats. The first was in 2015, when PM Modi had to withdraw amendments to the Land Acquisition Act, because, as he said in his Mann Ki Baat, “Farmers were being misled and a fear psychosis created.” And now, in what is, perhaps, an even bigger climbdown, the PM has cancelled the farm laws that he had pushed through Parliament. This time, he didn’t blame the Opposition, but the government itself for failing “to explain to some farmers such a sacred thing which is absolutely pure and for the benefit of the farmers.” On the face of it, both these sets of laws were meant for farmers. The first, to let them monetise their land assets and exit agriculture if they wanted, and the second, to earn more by getting an unregulated and unmediated access to the market. In reality, neither had anything to do with farmers; they were meant for India Inc, especially Big Business. To understand this, we have to take a detour, outside agriculture, into the world of industry. During the 10-year rule of the UPA, the value of new projects announced by the private sector averaged about 16 per cent of the nominal GDP. This includes a peak of 32 per cent during the boom years between 2006-07 and

2008-09, and a slide to just 4 per cent in the last two years of UPA-2. Since then, the value of new private projects announced has languished at less than 5 per cent of the GDP. Private investments began to drop from 2010-11 and have never picked up since then. There is only one reason for this — Indians do not earn enough to buy the goods and services that our companies produce. In the mid-2000s, at the peak of the global financial bubble, money flowed into factories, offices, housing, roads, flyovers, airports, ports and power plants. The assumption was that the middle class was growing, and consumption demand would grow at a fast pace. So, there was a rush to build capacities to cater to the coming consumption explosion. This balloon was burst by the Global Financial Crisis of 2008-09, and since then, India Inc has had to deal with a full-blown demand crisis. But capital cannot sit idle; it must constantly keep investing and expanding to survive. So, India’s captains of industry need avenues to invest their cash. One option was to export goods and services. ‘Make in India’ was one such attempt, but it failed because Indian companies didn’t have the experience or resources to compete with China when it came to high-value exports, and it wasn’t worth their while to compete with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, in low-margin goods. The other option was to target the top 5-7 per cent of Indians, who have some purchasing power. Now, the only thing the affluent buy, which is not produced by corporate India, is agricultural produce, because it has been

historically barred from entering the farm sector. If Big Business could become dominant in India’s farm economy, then not only would it be able to control the distribution and retailing of food and vegetables, it could also reorient crop production to target the export market. The three farm laws, which are now being repealed, were meant to do exactly that: open the doors for Big Business to enter agriculture and give it institutional and legal protection to gradually take it over. The consensus in the commentariat is that these farm laws would have ultimately helped the farmer. The fit would have survived in farming, while the rest would have moved to better-paying professions within the wider agrarian sector, including things like food-processing, storage and retail. even agricultural labourers were supposedly going to get a better deal from the corporatisation of farming. The problem, according to most analysts, was that the Modi government’s arrogance made it steamroll the laws without consulting farmers or even trying to convince them that these laws were good for them. But hubris alone cannot explain why these farm laws had to be withdrawn, especially since the Modi-Shah team always calculates the electoral fallout of policy decisions. What is more likely is that the Modi government assumed that small and marginal farmers would not be affected by the farm laws, because a majority of them do not have access to the APMC mandis or to government procurement at minimum support prices (MSP). The expectation was that the poor farmers would welcome the

fact that the entry of corporates would weaken the hold of rich farmers, grain traders and moneylenders. The BJP clearly underestimated the role of MSP in the lives of poor farmers. The government’s own data shows that while only 5.8 per cent of the paddy farmers and 3.6 per cent of the wheat farmers sold to government agencies in 2018-19, 41 per cent and 37 per cent, respectively, were aware of the MSP. Farmers know through experience that those who get the MSP or are able to sell to the agencies, get the best prices. They also know that crops where a large chunk is procured by the government — paddy and wheat — have the most stable prices. So, the farmers want an extension of the MSP and government procurement, rather than its withdrawal. The farm laws were also brought by a government which had otherwise provided various ‘touch-points’ for the rural poor to access the state. The various schemes run by the Modi government have enabled the poorest to survive, at subsistence level, in an economic climate where getting work has become increasingly difficult. The poor, therefore, desire the presence of the government in their lives. Poor farmers would rather unite with rich farmers and traders who want government procurement to continue, instead of corporate ‘outsiders’ who could immiserate them. It is this unexpected, cross-class unity of farmers that forced the Modi government to repeal the farm laws. In a sense, it is a political defeat of Big Business and its attempts to usurp the space occupied by landlords and big farmers.

Monday, 29 November, 2021 | LAHORE

NEWS

corporate corner GIVAUDAN APPOINTS BARENTZ AS EXCLUSIVE FLAVOR DISTRIBUTION PARTNER FOR PAKISTAN

KARACHI: Givaudan, the global leader in the creation of flavors and fragrances, recently appointed Barentz Pakistan Pvt Limited, as its sole distributor for flavors in the food and pharma landscape in the country. The contract was signed between Mr. Samer Samaha, Commercial Director Middle East & Maghreb - Givaudan, and Mr. Faizan Ghori, CEO Barentz Pakistan at a ceremony held in Karachi on 25th November 2021. Also present at the ceremony were Mr. Sohail Rana, Country Manager Givaudan and Mr. Safwan Ghori, Director Barentz Pakistan. This agreement marks Givaudan’s commitment and efforts to broaden its footprint in the growing food and pharma sector of Pakistan that has seen tremendous growth in the past couple of years, despite global economic slowdown due to the pandemic. Barentz Pakistan Pvt Limited is part of Barentz International, a leading global life science ingredients distributor, and has been operational since June 2019 as the preferred distributor for many local and international principals that manufacture food additives and ingredients. With a client base of over 250 companies nationally, Barentz Pakistan has been offering products of the highest quality and value to the local market through sourcing from around the world and its partner companies. Through a well-established national infrastructure and an experienced team to actively cater to all manufacturing hubs of Pakistan, Barentz has been able to acquire business through superior product quality and exceptional service levels. Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Faizan Ghori, CEO Barentz Pakistan, highlighted the further need to promote quality and value-added products for the local food and pharma industry to develop as per the standards of the international market. “Barentz Pakistan has always been at the forefront of introducing new concepts in ingredients, that target quality, value and nutritional benefits for the end consumers. Companies need to accept that quality needs to be at the forefront to develop a loyal customer base, locally and internationally, and also gives rise to a healthy and robust population that consumes products with the right nutritional value. With Barentz there is always a better solution for our customers. With Givaudan, the customers know that they are getting the best in class products that will contribute significantly to their business growth.” Mr. Samer Samaha, Commercial Director – Middle East & Maghreb, Givaudan also shared his thoughts by mentioning Givaudan’s commitment to driving purpose-led, long-term growth while leading the way to improve happiness and health for people and nature. Pr

Dewan Motors announces “Umair Jaswal” as the Brand Ambassador for BMW Motorrad

PAKISTANI MOTHER WITH DISABLED SON BUILDS AN INSTITUTE FOR DISABLED ISLAMABAD

Ghulam abbas

Pakistani mother who has a son with disability is now working to build an institute for other disabled children to have the same opportunities as her son had in Europe. This could be not only interesting but very encouraging and motivating to know that a mother of disabled child in Pakistan built an institution to reduce sufferings of many mothers carrying similar children. While looking around the country at what was available, she realized appropriate therapy, needed for a special child like her son, was nowhere to be found in Pakistan. The mother, who belonged to a business class family in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), a district in Pakistan, was gifted a disable child by God, named as Akbar around 39 years ago. While trying to provide the best health services to her child both in Europe and Pakistan, the mother had finally decided to establish a health institute, Akbar Kare Institute (AKI), in Peshawar in 2005 to extend the same facilities to other disabled children of the province. Through this institute she succeeded to develop a comprehensive service which offer best practice interventions that are endorsed globally. The institute is now recognized both nationally and internationally as being a good model to follow for childhood rehabilitation in low-and-middle-income-countries (LAMIC). AKI is now a Family Centered Service (FCS) caring for children with disability from birth to 14 years of age. AKI offers a unique service not available anywhere else in Pakistan. The institute’s caring is much more than rehabilitation or therapy as it might be perceived. AKI, a non-profit organization registered with Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) under section 42 of companies’ act 2017, certified by Pakistan Center for Philanthropy (PCP), had started the journey in Peshawar in 2005. “From nothing, around 18,000 families are now registered with the AKI. It shouldn’t have been a surprise to us that the need was there. That we now see more than 2,500 new children each year, when no other government or NGO have such caseloads, tells

us we are doing something good. Most of our referrals are from word of mouth, from one family to another telling others of their good experience at AKI and also a huge number is being referred by Government facilities,” said Mrs. Yvonne Frizzel, an Irish expert/physiotherapist who is supervising the institute for a long time. “We understand the fact that a child with disability has excessive dependence on his family and hence, we must empower the family to give their child the best chance to make life as good as it may possible”. “We learn how such child lives his life so that we can support and guide the parents about the things they can do to help their child. Each child has unique needs and each family has different resources available to them. There is no one ‘blue print’ that will fix the problems they may have,” she added. However, she added, with experience and professional knowledge, the AKI offers a variety of therapy inputs that we know will make a difference to the child and give his family the comfort of knowing that they are doing the best for their child. According to her, AKI provides all clinical services inclusive of assertive devices free of cost. At Akbar Kare Institute no family pays any money for any service which includes physiotherapy sessions for rehabilitation of child, preschool educational sessions, provision of assistive devices (appliances), orthotics and prosthetics services. The institute also provides social support to most poor families by providing them monthly cash grants to the families who have children with severe food deficiencies, transportation allowance to families who worked on daily wages like labor who can’t afford to take day off from their work and bring their child to AKI for clinical services. Medicines, lab test costs, clothes/shoes, diapers and biscuits for instant energy are provided to poor families. Clinical Rehabilitation Services: The experts/doctors at AKI work primarily with children who have Cerebral Palsy, Spina Bifida, Down syndrome, neuromuscular disorders, genetic disorders, and muscular dystrophies. Initial assessment of the children is done on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommended guidelines by implementing the International Classification of Function and Disability (the ICF).

Third Shaukat Khanum cancer hospital to be inaugurated in Karachi soon ISLAMABAD staff rePort

Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate Abdul Qadir University on Monday, the second university to be built by the premier himself after the National University of Modern Languages (NUML) while the third Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital will also be inaugurated soon. This was announced by Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on Political Com-

munication Dr. Shahbaz Gill from his Twitter handle. “Prime Minister Khan has previously built an internationally recognized university in the face of NUML besides also establishing two internationally recognized Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital in Lahore and Peshawar,” he said. Shahbaz Gill said that the prime is now building a second university and a third cancer hospital in Karachi. “Is there anyone else in the world who did this,” the SAPM asked.

POWER SUSPENSION SCHEDULES FOR 29th NOVEMBER 2021

KARACHI: The launch of the BMW Motorrad is just around the corner and the excitement has already begun. Dewan Motors signs a contract with Umair Jaswal as their ambassador for BMW Motorrad brand. “I am very excited to be the face of Motorrad brand as well as emotional at the same time to have become a part of Dewan family,” said Umair Jaswal. “Riding motorcycles is my passion and no other brand than BMW Motorrad can satiate my desire to perfection,” added Umair. Motorrad is a premium motorcycle brand, building fascinating and dynamic motorcycles from long-distance enduros to racing bikes, exclusive luxury touring motorcycles to cool urban bikes. Dewan Motors’ with almost two decades of experience in representing a premium automotive brand, BMW; will take the Motorrad brand to the next level. “An avid biker, vocalist, songwriter and actor; Umair Jaswal is a wellknown celebrity and the ideal representation of BMW Motorrad. His persona fits perfectly with the brand and connects well with our premium biking community,” said Nabiha Yousuf, CEO, Dewan Motors. “We warmly welcome Umair to the Dewan family and look forward to our fruitful association. The idea remains to inspire the best riding experience for our customers, through a series of exciting and entertaining activities,” added Ms Yousuf. Pr

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 29th November, 09:30 AM to 02:30 PM, Noor Mohammad Feeder, From 09:00 AM to 02:00 PM, Lohi Bhair, Coral, Lehtar Road, Mehboob Shaheed, Bhikri, Millat Chowk, Dhok Chowdhury, Bank Road-II, City Center, Kashmir Road, Chakri, Arsalan Poultry Farm, SPD, Padial, Gagan, Chahan, Mahouta, Kot Dhamik, Ghauri Dhamik, Chowk Pandori, Mansoor Shaheed, Nadar, Klar City, Klar Syedan, Chawah Khalsa, Nara Motor, Scheme-II. Bab-ulSalam, Karwar, Mahfooz Shaheed, F-9 Park, G-9/2, FHS, New Exchange, G-13/1, D-12/2, NIH, AQ Khan, Pindi Point, Company Bagh, Gharial, Kotli Satyan, University, E Block, Faizabad, Nora Road, City, Asghar Mall, Rajaabad, Amin Town, Azizabad, Captain Amir, P&T Winni, Chakra, Siham, Range Road, BB Shaheed, Kashmir Road, Tipu Road, PAF, NPF1, Topi Pump, State Bank, Adiala, Dhamyal, Qureshiabad, Ara Bazar, Chowk Pandori, Mansoor Shaheed, Nara, Klar City, Klar, Fazal Ahmed Shaheed, New Chuah, Panjar, New Mandira Pind Jatla, Karnab Kaswal, Raman, Bhal, Ghazi Kohli, Margalla, Shahiya, Rashid Minhas, AWC Housing, Munirabad, Hassan Abdal, Islampura, Brahma, Bhalot, Bin Bola, Nad Topa, Kachehri, Shadi Khan. Fawara Chowk, Gharib Wall, Chhaji Mar, Pind Sultani, Galyal, Dharnal, Gagan, Fateh Jang, F-13 Garmala, Langarpur, Boreen, F-2 Chipboard, Citi Housing, F-10 Kala Base, Hamlet, Captain Nisar Shaheed, Doomily, Col. Muhammad Akram, Mankiala, Kot Dhamik, Baba Shaheed, Thakra, Kangar Thatti, Bhoon, Miani, Jamalwal, Islamia Chowk, Dhadial City, Mulhal Mughals, Dawlatullah, Sarkal, Blixar, Pipli, Lawa, Dharabi, Para Fatyal, Tau Muharram Khan, Jatla, Patwali Feeders, Better from From 08:00 AM to 05:00 PM. Bathar, Valley Feeders, From 09:00 AM to 04:00 PM 40 MW load management was carried out in Chakwal Circle as required. From 09:00 AM to 05:00 PM,.Jail Park, PAF, MES, Tamasamabad Feeders and surroundings will remain closed. IESCO management apologizes to its esteemed customers for the power outage. If the work is completed ahead of time, the power supply can be restored even before the scheduled time. Pr

“As a Family-centered care organization, we use a partnership approach to health care decision-making between our professional team and the parents and care givers. We engage families of the patients to actively participate in the rehabilitation of their children and they are present and active in every treatment session. Through parent’s engagement with us in the center, they learn that they can change how their child develops by using techniques learnt at AKI to help them at home,” Mrs. Yvonne Frizzel said Education department: Our special teacher sees on average 30 children every week. Many of her sessions are one-to-one personal teaching activities. Only 8.4% of school-age children who attended AKI have any access to public or private schools in KP because of their disability. The children, our teacher and her assistant work with are those that have never been to school. They may have problems with attention, with behavior and their parents may not have even considered that school is an option for them. Yet every child has the basic right to education according to their needs to allow them to associate with their peers, to be stimulated to develop their social skills and to gain any opportunity for learning that may benefit them as they grow up. There is of course the added advantage when children go to school that every parent with children understands, the mother and father are free to go to work and carry out home duties, for all the family’s benefit. For supporting those disabled children who cannot stand up and to move around, the institute has built a dedicated on-site workshop that makes simple appliances, corner seats, standing frames, a variety of chairs for different disabilities, mobility trolleys for very young paralyzed children and other postural aids, as required. This is a most valuable service that ICRC has provided all the equipment for. Signed MOU with KP Government: In 2019 AKI signed MOU with the Provincial Government of KP to provide support in developing a PC-1 for rehabilitation of children with disabilities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with the goal to decentralize services by training clinical staff, PTs, SLPs and OTs, in Pediatric rehabilitation to work in 7 Divisional centers. A formal agreement and facilitation at government level to extend the services of this institute is still awaited.

Sihala Police arrests two suspects involved in looting ISLAMABAD: Sihala police have arrested two persons allegedly involved in looting cash from a money changer on gunpoint and recovered the amount, informed a police spokesman on Sunday. The detained accused has been identified as Arslan and Murtaza Hussain. According to the spokesman, Muhammad Imran, resident of House Number 96, Safari Villas 3, Behria Town, lodged complaint with police station Sihala stating he closed his money exchange shop on 15/11/2021 at 9pm and put a bag containing Rs 250 million in his vehicle. He said stared traveling towards home along with his driver Arslan Razzaq. “As our vehicle reached at Behria Town Phase 4 gate, the driver reduced the speed of vehicle and an unknown gunman entered in and made him hostage of gunpoint,” the complainant said. He said the gunman and his driver drove him to Pump Chakian where they tied him with rope and fled with cash. Police have registered a case number 559 under section 392 of PPC and began investigation, said the police spokesman. Meanwhile, DIG Operations Afzaal Ahmed Kausar took notice of heist of dacoity and constituted a special team comprised SSP Operations Syed Ali Akbar, SP Rural Zone Usman Ali Tipu and SDPO Abid Hussain tasking it to arrest the accused. The team managed to trace out the dacoits and held them during a raid, he said. He added police seized Rs 225 million from their possession. Pr

1,38,861 drivers fined during ongoing year for careless driving ISLAMABAD: Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) issued 1,38,861 fine tickets during the ongoing year to those drivers involved in careless driving on roads. Senior Superintendent of Police (Traffic) Muhammad Omar Khan said that as per direction IGP Islamabad Qazi Jamil ul Rehman special squads have been constituted to take action against carless drivers putting the lives of others at risk. He also asked to adopt decent attitude with road users and ensure implementation on policy of `Phele Salam-Phir Kalam’. He said that all officials have been directed for strict action against such drivers and to ensure steps for safe road environment in the city. He said that directions have been made to ensure renewed efforts for awareness about traffic rules among citizens by ITP education wing. He directed ITP’s teams to visit educational institutions to create traffic sense as several students have joined ITP as traffic volunteers. The SSP (Traffic) said that purpose of action against such drivers is to ensure their own as well as others safety. He also assigned task to ITP’s education team to present weekly report about its performance. Pr

Monday, 29 November, 2021 | LAHORE

10 fOREigN NEwS

China’S Y-20 tranSport airCraFt makeS a diFFerenCe in China-india border tiFF THE MISSION PROVES Y-20 AIRCRAFT'S OPERATIONAL CAPABILITY IN HIGH-ALTITUDE AIRFIELDS IN PLATEAU REGIONS BEIJING

MonitoRing RePoRt

HE Y-20 large transport aircraft of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force is making a major difference by delivering hundreds of thousands of defence related items of newly developed cold-resistant clothing and equipment to Chinese border defense troops stationed in the plateau regions to brave the winter amid the border standoff with India. The mission demonstrated the Y-20’s outstanding operational capability in highaltitude airfields, as the cargo plane will help enhance the PLA’s logistics support capability in plateau regions, experts said on Sunday. They said that the aircraft can also transport heavy equipment like tanks and helicopters to the frontlines in rapid-reaction operations when necessary. In the undated transport mission, three

Y-20 planes carrying about 160,000 sets of newly developed cold-resistant clothing and equipment took off from an airfield in the

China study warns of ‘colossal’ Covid outbreak if it opens up like US, France

south of East China’s Jiangsu Province, and arrived in Ngari prefecture, Southwest China’s Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region

UAE decriminalises premarital sexual relations among 40 legal changes in reform push AGENcIES

BEIJING Agencies

China could face more than 630,000 Covid-19 infections a day if it dropped its zero-tolerance policies by lifting travel curbs, according to a study by Peking University mathematicians. In the report published in China CDC Weekly by the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, the mathematicians said China could not afford to lift travel restrictions without more efficient vaccinations or specific treatments. Using data for August from the United States, Britain, Spain, France and Israel, the mathematicians assessed the potential results if China adopted the same pandemic control tactics as those countries. China’s daily new cases would reach at least 637,155 if it adopted the United States’ pandemic strategy, the report said. And daily cases would hit 275,793 if China took the same approach as Britain and 454,198 if it imitated France, it said. “The estimates revealed the real possibility of a colossal outbreak which would almost certainly induce an unaffordable burden on the medical system,” the report said. “Our findings have raised a clear warning that, for the time being, we are not ready to embrace ‘open-up’ strategies resting solely on the hypothesis of herd immunity induced by vaccination advocated by certain western countries.” The mathematicians cautioned that their estimates were based on basic arithmetic calculations and that more sophisticated models were needed to study the evolution of the pandemic if travel restrictions were lifted. China has maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards Covid-19, saying the importance of containing local cases when they are found out-

The United Arab Emirates on Saturday said a new criminal code would come into force in January as part of what it called the most sweeping legal reform in the Gulf state’s history. Major changes so far included decriminalising premarital sexual relations and alcohol consumption, and cancelling provisions for leniency when dealing with so-called “honour killings” in November 2020. State news agency WAM reported the

government is changing 40 laws this year. It did not make clear, however, which of the changes — which concern commercial companies, online security, trade, copyright, residency, narcotics and social issues — were new and which had been previously reported. One change that appears new is the ratification of a Federal Crime and Punishment Law, effective from Jan 2, 2022, designed to better protect women, domestic staff and public safety. The UAE wants to reform its legal sys-

AFP

Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi is expected to hear the verdict in her incitement trial on Tuesday, the first in a catalogue of judgements to be handed down in a junta court that could jail her for decades. The Nobel laureate has been detained since the generals ousted her government in the early hours of February 1, ending the Southeast Asian country’s brief democratic interlude. More than 1,200 people have been killed and over 10,000 arrested in a crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group. Suu Kyi faces three years in jail if found guilty of incitement against the military — just one of the charges that analysts say are aimed at removing the democracy icon from the political arena for

tem to keep a competitive edge as conservative Gulf neighbour Saudi Arabia opens itself up to foreign investment and talent. Saturday’s statement adds clarity that had been previously lacking to the status of pre-marital sexual relations and children born from them — stating that parents need not be married. “Any couple conceiving a child out of wedlock will be required to marry or singly or jointly acknowledge the child and provide identification papers and travel documents in accordance with the laws of

the country of which either is a national,” the statement said. A criminal case with two years imprisonment would be brought should parents not acknowledge and care for the child. Other recent changes by the UAE include introducing longer-term visas as a way to attract and retain talent and encourage more businesses to set up shop. The emirate of Abu Dhabi this month introduced its own reform — a novel secular family law aimed at making itself more attractive to expatriates.

Low expectations on nuclear talks as Iran creates facts on the grounds PARIS ReuteRs

World powers and Iran return to Vienna on Monday for a last-ditch effort to salvage a 2015 nuclear deal, but few expect a breakthrough as Tehran’s atomic activities rumble on in an apparent bid to gain leverage against the West. Diplomats say time is running low to resurrect the pact, which then-US President Donald Trump abandoned in 2018, angering Iran and dismaying the other world powers involved — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. Six rounds of indirect talks were held

between April and June. The new round begins after a hiatus triggered by the election of a new Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, a hardline cleric. Tehran’s new negotiating team has set out demands that US and European diplomats consider unrealistic. They are insisting that all US and EU sanctions imposed since 2017, including those unrelated to its nuclear programme, be dropped, In parallel, Tehran’s conflicts with the UN atomic watchdog, which monitors the nuclear programme, have festered. Iran has pressed ahead with its enrichment programme and the IAEA says its inspectors have been treated roughly and refused ac-

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi due to hear first verdict in junta trial YANGON

and Kashi prefecture, Northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region respectively after about seven hours, so the border defense troops could receive the winter gear as fast as possible, js7tv.cn, a video news website affiliated with the PLA, reported on Saturday. The rapid-reaction mission featured challenges like takeoff and landing in highaltitude airfields and long-range flight in late mid-night, Li Lingchao, deputy chief of staff at the PLA Air Force Aviation Force regiment that carried out the mission, was quoted in the report as saying. “As a vital part in the strategic aerial transport forces, we have this capability and confidence to conduct missions and win fights at any time,” Li said. Developed by the Central Military Commission Logistics Support Department, 10 types of clothing and equipment, including a long version of a cottonpadded coat, a thermos flask, anti-frag-

ment goggles, electrically heated gloves, kneecaps and shoe-pads, and a camouflage suit for snipers, are on offer to the frontier soldiers. All new clothing and equipment are products containing high technologies, which means they are warm, protective, light and agile. The procurement of the new winter gear took only two months, and their delivery into the hands of the frontline troops took only 24 hours, when taking the time to transport them from factories to the airfield into account, js7tv.cn reported. Analysts said this delivery shows the PLA’s focus on its border defense troops’ quality of life, which is also a point of attention by Chinese netizens, particularly after the border conflict with India in 2020 and the standoff since. In addition to the significance in the PLA’s strong logistics support capabilities, the mission also demonstrates the Y20 aircraft’s outstanding operational capability in high-altitude airfields in plateau regions with heavy loads, Fu Qianshao, a Chinese military aviation expert, told the Global Times on Sunday.

good. But the junta’s plans for Suu Kyi remain unknown, they add, and authorities could also delay the verdict. Journalists have been barred from proceedings in the special court in the militarybuilt capital Naypyidaw and her lawyers are banned from speaking to the media. Days after the coup Suu Kyi was hit with obscure charges for possessing unlicensed walkietalkies, and for violating coronavirus restrictions during elections her National League for Democracy (NLD) won in 2020. The junta has steadily added a slew of other indictments, including violating the official secrets act, corruption and electoral fraud. Suu Kyi now appears most weekdays at the junta courtroom, with her legal team saying last month the hectic schedule was taking a toll on the 76-year-old’s health. “I think it’s almost certain Suu Kyi will get a harsh sentence,” said David Mathieson,

an analyst formerly based in Myanmar. “The question is what will her incarceration look like? […] will she get average convict treatment in a crowded women’s cell block, or privilege in a VIP statehouse?” Suu Kyi’s long spells of house arrest under a previous junta were spent at her family’s colonial-era mansion in Yangon, where she would appear before thousands gathered on the other side of her garden fence. Min Aung Hlaing’s regime has confined her to an undisclosed location in the isolated capital, along with a small staff. Her link to the outside world has been limited to brief pre-trial meetings with her lawyers, who have brought her news and relayed messages to her supporters. At her first court appearance, she used them to send a message of defiance, vowing the NLD would endure and asking the party

cess to re-install monitoring cameras at a site it deems essential to reviving the deal with world powers. “They are doing enough technically so they can change their basic relationship with the West to be able to have a more equal dialogue in the future,” said a Western diplomat involved in the talks. Two European diplomats said it seemed Iran was simply playing for time to accumulate more material and knowhow. Western diplomats say they will head to Monday’s talks on the premise that they resume where they left off in June. They have warned that if Iran continues with its maximalist positions and fails to restore its

faithful to remain united. On her 76th birthday in June supporters across the country posted pictures on social media of themselves with flowers in their hair — long a signature Suu Kyi look. Two days later, her legal team passed on a message from Suu Kyi thanking them for the gesture. But in October her team were hit with a gag order after they relayed vivid testimony from deposed president Win Myint describing how he rejected a military offer to resign to save himself during the coup. Meanwhile, the trials of other ranking members of Suu Kyi’s NLD have wrapped up, with the junta doling out harsh sentences. A former chief minister was sentenced to 75 years in jail earlier this month, while a close Suu Kyi aide was jailed for 20. The generals could later reduce

cooperation with the IAEA then they will have to quickly review their options. Iran’s top negotiator and foreign minister both repeated on Friday that full sanctions lifting would be the only thing on the table in Vienna. “If this is the position that Iran continues to hold on Monday, then I don’t see a negotiated solution,’ said one of the European diplomats. Several diplomats said Iran was now between four to six weeks away from the “breakout time” it needs to amass enough fissile material for a single nuclear weapon, although they cautioned it was still about two years from being able to weaponise it. any sentence pronounced on the higher-profile Suu Kyi, said Mathieson, although he cautioned against expecting clemency from the junta and its leader. “How much mercy does Min Aung Hlaing possess?”

tuesday, 29 Novemer, 2021 | LAHorE

SportS 11

SHAHeeN SHiNeS AS PAkiStAN reDuCe BANgLADeSH to 39-4 oN DAy 3 of firSt teSt

AFP

ANGLADESH’S Taijul Islam claimed his ninth five-wicket haul while Abid Ali hit a century for Pakistan as the first Test remained delicately poised in Chittagong on Sunday. The hosts bowled out Pakistan for 286 at the stroke of tea on the third day to take a 44run lead into the second innings thanks to the mesmerising bowling of Taijul, who finished with 7-116. But Pakistan struck back in spectacular fashion with Shaheen Afridi dismissing Shadman Islam (one), Najmul Hossain (zero) and Saif Hasan (18) to finish the day at 3-6 and reduce Bangladesh to 39-4 at stumps. Hasan Ali also scalped the wicket of captain Mominul Haque for a duck to rob the

hosts of their advantage. Mushfiqur Rahim remained unbeaten on 12 alongside debutant Yasir Ali, 8 not out. Ali earlier made 133 off 282 balls, holding one end for Pakistan for a long stretch after Taijul’s early strike of two wickets in two balls in the day’s first over. Faheem Ashraf added 38 late in the innings to keep Pakistan in contention before he was last man dismissed. Pakistan, who resumed on 145-0 and looked poised for a big total, suffered an early setback when Taijul trapped debutant Abdullah Shafique leg-before on his fifth ball. Shafique left without adding to his overnight 52, and Taijul took Azhar Ali for a duck in the very next ball when the delivery hit him on the foot. Azhar was initially given not out but the decision was reversed on review.

Babar Azam saw off the hat-trick ball in Taijul’s next over but did not survive long. Mehidy uprooted his off-stump with a straight delivery after the Pakistan skipper made only 10 runs. Taijul grabbed his third wicket when he beat Fawad Alam with spin to remove the batsman for eight. Bangladesh sought a review after the umpire turned down a confident caught-behind appeal. The replay indicated the ball took a feather touch on Alam’s glove, ending his brief stay at the crease. Ali, who struck 12 fours and two sixes, was also lucky to survive after he was dropped at slip by Najmul Hossain off Taijul at 113. He was dropped again by Yasir Ali at forward short leg on 133 but it did not cost Bangladesh much, with Taijul taking him leg

before two balls later. Pakistan had by then lost Mohammad Rizwan to Ebadot Hossain, who bowled 2-47. Earlier, opener Abid Ali hit his fourth Test century to help Pakistan reach 203-4 at lunch amid Bangladesh spinners’ domination on day three of the first cricket Test on Sunday. Pakistan was 127 runs behind Bangladesh’s first-innings total of 330. Left-arm spinner Taijul Islam pegged back Pakistan’s innings with 3-70 but Abid, who was on 127 at lunch, remained steady in the crease. Mohammad Rizwan was on 5. Taijul struck in the first over of the day, dismissing Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali via a review in consecutive deliveries after Pakistan resumed the day on 145 for no loss. Shafique couldn’t add any runs to his overnight total of 52.

Abid, who started the day on 93, flicked Taijul past square leg for two runs to reach his century off 209 balls. Skipper Babar Azam appeared to be in control before offspinner Mehidy Hasan’s quicker delivery rattled his stump for 10. Taijul, who was bowling unchanged from one end in the morning session, used his flight and variation well to curb the aggression of the Pakistan batters. He struck again when he spun a ball sharply to dismiss Fawad Alam (8), also via review. DAY TWO: An unbroken opening century stand by Ali and Shafique gave Pakistan a solid platform after bowling out Bangladesh for 330 on day two Saturday. By the end of the day, Ali closed in on his fourth Test century to stay unbeaten on 93 while Shafique was batting on 52 as Pakistan reached 145-0 at stumps.

pSL 7: Fresh tiﬀ emerges between pCB, franchise owners news Desk A fresh rift has emerged between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the franchise owners ahead of the seventh edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) over the salary cap for players. The seventh edition of the league is all set to begin in mid-January next year, with drafts of the league expected to take place in the second week of December. A source inside the board quoted the PCB chairman as saying “PSL is our home and you guys are intruders,” while adding that “You have destroyed [the] windows and doors of our house.” The annoyance of PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja was clearly visible during a meeting with the PSL franchise owners during which they were called out for “meddling” with Pakistan cricket. With

PSL 7 just a few months away, Raja and franchise owners had a heated argument.

Quetta Gladiators owner Nadeem Omer replied that PSL existed because

of the franchises. “We are the investors of the league,” he said. “We have six successful seasons of the league and it is our home.” As per sources, the board and the franhises owners disagreed over the salary cap set by the body for the upcoming edition of the league. Ramiz had asked the franchises to increase the salary cap to $1.2 million from $0.95 million. The PCB chairman asked players’ management committee member Imran Ahmed Khan why renowned T20 cricketers like Australia’s Glenn Maxwell and others stayed away from PSL. “We have invited them many times, but they refuse to play in Pakistan,” he replied. It is pertinent to note that the franchises, after a detailed argument with the PCB chairman, managed to keep the salary cap at $0.95 million for the PSL.

Iyer puts India in box seat on dream debut against New Zealand Agencies India’s Shreyas Iyer once again dazzled on his debut test, hitting his second 50-plus score of the match to put his team in charge of the opening Test against New Zealand on Sunday. New Zealand claimed four wickets in the morning session to nose ahead on the penultimate day of the seesaw contest at Kanpur’s Green Park Stadium. Iyer followed his first-innings hundred with a crucial 65, forging 50-plus stands with Ravichandran Ashwin and Wriddhiman Saha to revive India who declared their second innings on 234-7. Chasing a daunting victory target of 284 on a worn-out track, the tourists were four for one when bad light stopped play. New Zealand opener Will Young was given lbw to

Ashwin, which could have been reversed but the batsman was late to review the decision. Tom Latham will resume on two on Monday with nightwatchman Will Somerville, who is yet to open his account, for company. Earlier, New Zealand’s Tim Southee (3-75) struck twice in three balls in the morning session as they blew away India’s top order after the home side had resumed on 14-1. Kyle Jamieson (3-40) conceded a couple of early boundaries before he dismissed Cheteshwar Pujara, who made 22, to open the flood gates. Left-arm spinner Ajaz Patel further pegged back India when he trapped stand-in home captain Ajinkya Rahane leg before wicket for four with an arm-ball that kept low. Southee then twisted the knife by removing opener Mayank Agarwal, caught in the slip, and Ravin-

Aussie kambosos stuns Lopez to become unified lightweight champ new YORk AFP

Australia’s George Kambosos used a relentless attack and a stinging overhand right to become the undisputed lightweight boxing champion with a shocking split decision victory over Teofimo Lopez on Saturday night in New York. Both boxers came into the fight undefeated but Kambosos, who survived a 10th round knockdown, made sure he was the one to leave with the 135-pound straps. The 28-year-old Kambosos snatched the WBA, IBF and WBO belts in a close slugfest at New York’s Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden that left both fighters bloodied and bruised by the end of the 12th round. “I wasn’t hurt,” said Kambosos of the knockdown. “I said to my corner ‘Let’s go hard. I am going to punish this kid.'” Kambosos won by 115-111 and 115-112 on two judges’ scorecards to improve to 20-0, with 10 KOs. One judge gave the fight to Lopez 114-113. The American-Honduran Lopez was coming off a career-long 13-month layoff for a fight that was a year in the making.

dra Jadeja, trapped lbw, in a two-wicket maiden over to reduce India to 51-5. Iyer and Ashwin, who made 32, not only steadied the innings but also scored briskly to put the pressure back on New Zealand. Iyer departed on the stroke of tea but Saha soldiered on despite a stiff neck that kept him off the field on Saturday. Saha remained not out on 61, having featured in a second 50-plus partnership with Axar Patel who made 28 not out before India declared. It was a memorable test debut for Iyer who was selected only after several frontline batsmen, including regular skipper Virat Kohli, were rested. Iyer’s fairytale start presents the team management with a selection headache as Kohli is set to return for the second and final test in Mumbai from Friday.

DHA Lahore National Boxing Championship 2021 brings competitive Boxing to Pakistan PRESS RELEASE

DHA Lahore National Boxing Championship 2021 for Men (38th) and 2nd National Women Elite marks the return of competitive Boxing to Pakistan. The event will kick off on 30th November to conclude on 5th December 2021. This was stated by Officials of Pakistan Boxing Federation and DHA Lahore today on 28th Nov 2021 in a joint press briefing at Captain Fasih Babar Amin (Shaheed) Sports Complex, Phase 6, DHA, Lahore. Addressing the presser, President and Secretary General of Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF), Mr. Muhammad Khalid Mahmood and Lt. Col Nasir Tung (Retd) thanked DHA management for their relentless support and untiring efforts in organizing this championship. While sharing the details of the championship, " Pakistan Boxing Federation (PBF) officials stated that a total of 12 men teams including Pakistan Army (Defending Champions as winners of the 2019 Boxing Championship), Navy, Air Force, WAPDA, Police and Pakistan Railways will participate. While 07 women teams, namely Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, KPK, AJK, Federal Area (Islamabad) and Gilgit-Baltistan will compete in a total of 153 bouts in different weight categories over 05 days for the 2021 boxing championship. So far, we have received a total of 145 men and 27 women entries in this championship and AIBA rules and regulations will apply to this championship, they added. Both PBF officials were confident that Pakistan has talented pugilists which can win the country laurels in the international arena if adequately supported and this championship is a step forward in that direction, they concluded. Later, DHA Lahore Director Sports Brig Munir Ahmad (Retd) said, Sports cut across countries and cultures and sports activities have been an integral part of human existence in every society.

Liverpool rout Southampton AFP Liverpool crushed Southampton 4-0 on Saturday to put pressure on Premier League leaders Chelsea as Arsenal got back on track with victory over Newcastle to hand Eddie Howe his first defeat as Magpies manager. Steven Gerrard made it two wins out of two as Aston Villa boss with a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace while the matches between Norwich and Wolves and Brighton and Leeds both ended goalless. Diogo Jota scored twice for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool – including one goal after just 97 seconds – to warm the Anfield faithful on a bitterly cold afternoon on Merseyside. Liverpool’s third consecutive victory in all competitions since losing at West Ham lifted them to second in the table, one point behind Chelsea, who

host Manchester United on Sunday. Third-placed Manchester City would go move back into second place if they beat West Ham, also on Sunday. Free-scoring Liverpool have now scored 39 goals in their 13 Premier League games this season, their highest goal total at this stage of a topflight campaign, and Klopp welcomed their return to top form. “We didn’t only lose at West Ham, we drew two games before as well,” said Klopp. “So, all of a sudden, we were in a bad moment. Now we look like we are in a better moment.” He added, “The things that happened to this team in the last few years were special and that’s mostly because of the outstanding mind-set and mentality of the boys.” Liverpool needed less than two minutes to take the lead when Sadio Mane played in Andy Robertson and

the Scot’s cross was perfectly weighted for Jota to finish from close range. Jota netted again in the 32nd minute with a simple finish from Mohamed Salah’s pass for his eighth club goal this term. Thiago Alcantara had ended a lengthy goal drought in the midweek Champions League win over Porto and the Spain midfielder was back on the scoresheet in the 37th minute before Virgil van Dijk bagged Liverpool’s fourth shortly after halftime. Arsenal’s 10-match unbeaten run in all competitions come to a painful end in last weekend’s 4-0 thrashing at Liverpool. But second-half goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli at the Emirates Stadium made it four wins from their past five league games with a 2-0 success over Newcastle. Written off after their poor start to the season, Mikel Arteta’s side are fifth,

level on points with fourth-placed West Ham, as they chase a berth in next season’s Champions League. Gabriel Martinelli (right) scores Arsenal's second goal against Newcastle United on November 27, 2021 in London, England. Photo: VCG Howe was in charge of Newcastle in person for the first time after missing last weekend’s 3-3 draw against Brentford following a positive coronavirus test. While the Saudi-led consortium that recently bought Newcastle have spoken about emulating the success of Manchester City under Middle Eastern ownership, Howe’s only focus is saving the Magpies from relegation. The former Bournemouth boss will need to drag much-improved performances from his winless team if they are to avoid a catastrophic slide into the Championship.

Monday, 29 November, 2021

prayer timings

NEWS

FAJR SUNRISE

ZUHR

ASR MAGHRIB ISHA

5:10

11:48

2:42

6:33

5:02

6:27

CoMMeRCiAl oPeRAtion oF KARAChi's GReen line Buses to BeGin on DeCeMBeR 25

FBR seizes 172 sugar bags without tax stamps

rived in the city on Oct 21, raising the number of buses to 80, rekindling citizens’ hope that Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in the metropolis was set to be launched. It is supposed to facilitate travel of approximately 300,000 passengers daily. The first batch of 40 buses had arrived in the city on Sept 19 which the planning minister had referred to as a “ray of hope” and “milestone”, calling it the beginning of modern public transport service for Karachiites after a long gap of 40 years. It is pertinent to note that work on the Rs16.85 billion federal governmentfunded bus project had begun after thenprime minister Nawaz Sharif inaugurated it in February 2016 by performing the groundbreaking. Later, the project was extended by another 10 kilometres as initially sought by the Sindh government and the estimated cost crossed the figure of Rs24bn. news desk

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Sunday confiscated 172 sugar bags without tax stamps in a warehouse in Hyderabad. As per details, the Inland Revenue Enforcement Network (IREN) squad of Directorate of Intelligence & Investigation (I&I), Hyderabad, seized the sugar bags foiling a major tax evasion attempt. The IREN team had visited 12 warehouses to check stocks manufactured by various sugar mills during the current crushing season. The team found sugar bags manufactured by three sugar mills including Chambar Sugar Mills stocked in the premises Gulzar & Co. The team seized the stock and initiated legal action against the manufacturers and dealer in accordance with the relevant provisions of law. It is pertinent to mention that IREN teams have conducted similar raids on sugar dealers in Lahore and Rawalpindi but did not find any violation as all sugar bags were properly stamped under TTS, a sign reflecting positively on tax compliance in the sugar sector. Prime Minister Imran Khan had recently inaugurated the track and trace (TTS) system on November 23, expressing his resolve to ensure implementation of the system with full force to curb movement and supply of untaxed sugar in the country.

LANNING Minister Asad Umar has announced on Sunday that the commercial operation of the much delayed Green Line bus project in Karachi will begin from December 25. “I conducted a detailed reviewed the Karachi Green Line project yesterday (Saturday). With the grace of Allah, this project will be ready for trial operation in the next 10 days,” Umar stated in a tweet. Umar further revealed that the project will be ready for a trial operation within the next 10 days, following which it will be formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Imran Khan and then its commercial activities could begin. It must be noted that the project was estimated to be completed by the end of 2017, but kept getting new deadlines. Since the launch of the scheme, the battered roads on either side of the route have turned into a great source of nui-

sance for commuters and for the shopkeepers doing their businesses.

The second and final consignment of 40 buses for the Green Line project ar-

Fawad Chaudhry asks PML-N if buying votes for Rs2,000 equals respecting votes JHELUM staff report

Mob sets Charsadda police station on fire to get hold of blasphemy suspect CHARSADDA: An angry mob attacked and set on fire a police station in Charsadda district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday as police refused to handover a man arrested for allegedly desecrating the Holy Quran. per media reports, the police had arrested a man for allegedly desecrating the Quran and shifted him to the Mandani police station in Charsadda’s Tangi tehsil. A mob later gathered outside the police station and demanded that officials hand over the man to them. When police refused to honour the demand, the mob got agitated and attacked the police station and set it on fire. The attackers also vandalised the vehicles parked in the police station. However, the police managed to shift the suspect to a safe location. Locals said the situation was still tense in the area and the mob had now staged a sit-in at Harichand Road. According to the witnesses, local religious leaders also reached the site of the sit-in, calling for calm. Police did not confirm any casualties in the violence. Earlier, Charsadda police spokesperson Shafiullah Jan confirmed that a mob had attacked the police station and that the situation was tense in the area. He added that police were trying to control the situation. Eyewitnesses said the police had used tear-gas shelling and aerial firing to disperse the mob. An official said that the police station had been completely destroyed, adding that a number of vehicles and police records had also been lost to the fire. The mob also attacked and set ablaze a police check post on Harichand Road and also blocked the road for traffic, the police official maintained. news desk

Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry in reaction to a viral video of voters being allegedly bribed ahead of Lahore’s NA-133 by-election, has asked whether “buying votes for Rs2,000” is how respect is accorded to the vote. His remarks, during a rally in Pind Dadan Khan, Jhelum, were in reference to the PML-N mantra “vote ko izzat do“, meaning “respect the vote”. The war for votes between PML-N and PPP in Lahore’s NA-133, where a by-election is due on December 5, has gone beyond the constituency to social media, where a viral video appeared to show voters being bribed by party members. Both the PML-N and PPP have blamed each other’s workers for the alleged move. “Is buying votes for Rs2,000 respecting the vote?” Chaudhry argued, accusing the PML-N of contesting the elections with the lure of money. “PML-N won the 1990 general election of 1990

through rigging”, the minister added. He said that the PTI is currently focusing its energies on the local government elections. “We are not worried about the next general elections. Currently [our] focus is on the local government elections,” Chaudhry said. He said that the PTI will complete the current tenure and claim victory in the next general election as well. The information minister went on to say

that PML-N and PPP “become the most panicky” whenever there’s talk of introducing electronic voting machines. While referring to the ongoing controversy regarding the recently leaked audio clip allegedly featuring former chief justice Saqib Nisar, Chaudhry said that “whenever a case against PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif or PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz is scheduled for hearing, something is leaked”. “PML-N should start making films instead of [participating in] politics,” the minister said, in further criticism. Chaudhry said that the state’s institutions cannot be blackmailed and that “PML-N doesn’t have any choice except for providing receipts or going to jail”. Speaking about PPP, the minister said that the party “doesn’t have votes anywhere else except for interior Sindh”. “PPP is no more the party Benazir Bhutto formed. It is the party of Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari,” he concluded.

ISLAMABAD staff report

FBR, KPRA to create joint taxpayer database PESHAWAR aziz Buneri

In order to collect taxes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) along with the KP Revenue Authority has decided to create a joint database of taxpayers in the province. According to Chief Commissioner Income Tax Peshawar, Khurshid Marwat, FBR is taking steps such as working jointly with the provincial governments to increase the tax base. He said that the FBR and KPRA-style agencies working in all provinces and are developing a joint database that will provide each other with a list of each other’s taxpayers. Marwat assured that this measure will increase tax collection in the province. He added that at present, the FBR Peshawar is collecting more tax than its target due to which taxpayers are also being refunded. Rejecting the reports of setting up of tax collection office in Malakand, Marwat said that a help desk has been set up to provide certain facilities to factories in Malakand. He assured that no tax of any kind can be collected from Malakand till June 2023 as the area has been declared tax free zone by the federal government. Marwat further said that there has been big improvement in tax collection system during the last two decades. He said that people regularly pay their taxes now due to which annual collections have increased. Furthermore, he said that the number of taxpayers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has exceeded 400,000 of which active citizens are close to 100,000. “The number of taxpayers has increased three times during the last one year.

President Alvi stresses trade, investment integration among ECO states ASHGABAT app & tLtp

President Dr Arif Alvi has underlined the need for integration among Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO) states in terms of trade and investment. Addressing the 15th Summit of the Heads of State of the ECO in Ashgabat on Sunday, the president said the intra-regional trade among ECO members is only eight percent of their total trade. “Unlocking the potential for regional integration will provide significant impetus to growth and development in all ECO Member States. The ECO region has all the elements needed for economic integration and rapid economic growth: rich resources, enterprising people, geographical contiguity, and a common culture and heritage,” he said. However, he said for historical reasons, the ECO is among the least integrated regions in terms of trade, investment, finance, infrastructure, regional value chains, labour mobility and social integration. The president opined that in order to stay competitive, national and regional economies would have to move towards greater physical and virtual integration, calling for ensuring the implementation of ECO Vision 2025, the Islamabad Declaration, a free or preferential trade arrangement; strengthening of regional institutions such as

the ECO Trade and Development Bank (ETDB), and operationalisation of the ECO Reinsurance Company (ERC). President Alvi also called for advancing the transport corridors planned by the ECO under the Transit Transport Framework Agreement (TTFA) and also welcomed the operationalisation of the Islamabad-TehranIstanbul (ITI) road corridor. Calling peace in Afghanistan as the “key to connectivity”, the president said after the end of the 40-year war, the country had a humanitarian crisis and the specter of economic collapse looming large over its people. “The increasingly deepening liquidity crisis threatens a financial and banking collapse, with serious social and security implications. We must all join in preventing such a disaster, which could revive chaos and conflict and the threat from terrorism in Afghanistan,” he commented. He said besides urgent humanitarian assistance, the countries must render help to the Afghan people in the key sectors of health and education. “Frozen assets must be released to help alleviate the sufferings of the Afghan people. We must together promote economic stability and sustainability of Afghanistan as well as its early integration into the ECO and the international community.” Alvi said the restoration of peace and stability in Afghanistan would also enable the early implementation of agreed infra-

structure and integration projects including the TAPI gas pipeline; the CASA 1000 electricity grid from Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan and Pakistan; and construction of the Uzbekistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan railway line. Recounting the economic impact of the Covid-19 with disproportionate suffering of some ECO member states having a doubledigit economic contraction, the president said Pakistan has been relatively fortunate. “Our strategy of smart lockdowns, compassion, generous social protection, and strategic economic stimuli saved lives and livelihoods and restricted the damage to our economy.” He told the regional leaders that in part, the global inflation in prices has been generated by the $27 trillion fiscal stimulus injected by rich countries to revive their economies. “Unfortunately, developing countries have not been able to secure even a small fraction of the $4.3 trillion they need to recover from the Covid crisis.” The president called upon ECO countries to join other developing countries in promoting a common development agenda to return to the path of sustained and sustainable growth. He also invited the ECO Member States, also the members of Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to attend the next OIC Foreign Ministers Conference in Islamabad on March 23 next year.

Separately, on the sidelines of the summit, bilateral ties were discussed in a meeting between President Dr Arif Alvi and his Iranian counterpart Seyed Ebrahim Raisi. Alvi underscored the importance of regular convening of bilateral mechanisms between Pakistan and Iran for trade and economy, also emphasizing the utilisation of barter trade mechanism.

He expressed satisfaction at the recent operationalization of International Road Transport (TIR) shipments from Pakistan to Turkey and Azerbaijan, which would be beneficial for the entire ECO region. Moreover, the president highlighted that Pakistan accorded highest priority to shift geo-economic prosperity and regional connectivity agenda.

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