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WASHINGTON: Classified documents — released recently by a US airman — show that Pakistan, and some other nations, have been quietly distancing themselves from the United States on key issues like Ukraine.
The documents, published by The Washington Post and other US media outlets, include two Pakistani memos warning policymakers not to annoy China to maintain links with the United States.
In one of the memos, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar argues that Pakistan can “no longer try to maintain a middle ground between China and the United States.”
The internal memo was sent to official recipients in Pakistan in March.
Titled “Pakistan’s Difficult Choices”, the memo cautions Islamabad should avoid giving the appearance of appeasing the West. It warns that the instinct to preserve Pakistan’s partnership with the United States would ultimately sacrifice the full benefits of the country’s “real strategic” partnership with China.
Leaked memos featuring PM Shehbaz, Khar show Islamabad is distancing itself from US positions on Beijing and Moscow
The leaked US intelligence document containing the memo does not say how Washington obtained Ms Khar’s memo.
Another document, dated February 17, details Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s deliberations with a subordinate about an upcoming UN vote on the Ukraine conflict. It also anticipated renewed Western pressure to back the UN resolution condemning Russia’s invasion.
Pakistan is among the 32 countries that have abstained from voting every time a US-backed resolution on the Ukrainian conflict was raised in the UN General Assembly.
In the memo, one of his aides advises PM Sharif that supporting the measure would signal a shift in Pakistan’s position following its earlier abstention on a similar resolution.
The aide says Pakistan has the ability to negotiate trade and energy deals with Russia, and backing the resolution could jeopardise those ties.
Last week, Pakistan placed its first order for buying crude oil from Russia and its US Ambassador Masood Khan said Islamabad had consulted Washington before placing the order. The US administration, he said, had no objection to the proposed deal.
A Washington Post report says the leaked documents show how major developing nations seek to “evade the intensifying standoff between the United States, Russia and China and, in some cases, exploit that rivalry for their own gain.”
The documents provide a rare glimpse into how key emerging powers — including India, Brazil, Pakistan, and Egypt — are balancing their relations between the US and Russia and China.
Matias Spektor, a scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said developing nations were reluctant to take sides on the US-China, US-Russia disputes. “It’s unclear who will end up in a pole position in 10 years’ time, so they need to diversify their risk and hedge their bets,” Mr Spektor added.
The Biden administration, however, has told these countries that it’s not asking them to pick sides between the US on one hand and China and Russia on the other.
The Post notes that India, too, is avoiding taking sides between Washington and Moscow. One leaked document details a Feb 22 conversation between Indian national security adviser Ajit Kumar Doval and his Russian counterpart, Nikolay Patrushev.
Mr Doval assures Mr Patrushev of India’s support for Russia in multilateral venues and tells him that New Delhi would ensure the war does not come up during a Group of 20 meeting chaired by India, despite “considerable pressure” to do so.
At the meeting of G-20 foreign ministers in New Delhi a week later, disagreement over Ukraine resulted in a failure to forge a consensus on broader global challenges.
Mr Doval cites India’s resistance to pressure for supporting Western-backed UN resolutions over Ukraine, saying his country “would not deviate from the principled position it had taken in the past”.
Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023
KARACHI: The ongoing census faces a fresh controversy as both the federal and Sindh governments went public with their differences over the issue on Sunday.
The PPP-led Sindh government expressed concerns for excluding those parts of the province where “population growth rate has been recorded higher than a certain benchmark” and warned that the province would reject the result if its reservations were not addressed.
The Sindh government’s concern came soon after Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal directed all the provincial governments to complete the field verification/coverage of the population and housing census till May 15 in “areas where population growth is not in line with normal demographic trends” and “close the field operation in all areas exhibiting natural trends”.
On the other hand, both a federal government ally and the opposition PTI expressed their reservations over the census results.
Murad says result won’t be accepted if reservations not addressed
In a strongly-worded letter to Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah made it clear that his government would reject the census result if its reservations were not addressed.
The letter, a copy of which is available with Dawn, stated that following a meeting held on Sunday to review the progress of the field operations of the census it was conveyed to the provincial government that the “census activity will immediately be closed in those talukas/tehsils where population growth rate higher than a certain benchmark has been recorded”.
“We have a strong reservation on this decision as this benchmarking is totally arbitrary,” he said.
“Citing reasons for his objections, the CM stated: “It is wrong to judge the population growth of all the districts/talukas against a single universal benchmark. If such a benchmark was universally applicable, [then] there would have been no need to conduct the census at all, as the population growth could have easily been calculated based on that benchmark.”
He further said that there are many blocks in almost all the districts of Sindh, which have still not been fully counted.
The CM urged the federal government to continue the census process in all the districts of Sindh “till each and every household and individual is accurately counted”.
In Islamabad, the planning minister while chairing a meeting said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had taken strict notice of the repeated extensions of field enumeration activities, APP added. Therefore, the meeting was informed, targeted verification and enumeration operations should be carried out in areas with abnormal population growth, where gaps have already been highlighted using the digital systems architected by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics for the first-ever digital census.
Mr Iqbal stressed that special efforts should be made in urban areas of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and ICT to counter issues of under coverage and low coverage.
A uniform data-driven policy must be adopted to conclude the field enumeration in all the provinces.
He stressed on the completion of the exercise by May 15 for timely handing over of data to the Election Commission of Pakistan.
On the other hand, MQM-P, an ally of the PDM government in the Centre, alleged that the population of urban Sindh had been shown in the census less not because of any mistake but under a particular plan.
“Through the media and government institutions sources, it has been proved that population of urban Sindh is being shown less under a well-thought-out plan,” claimed MQM-P convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi at a presser.
In Lahore, PTI Senator Ejaz Chaudhry termed the ongoing census a “fraud” and said his party had already rejected the census.
In a statement, he said political parties were protesting against the veracity of the census and added that the “imported government was busy [doing] rigging in census activity too”.
Mansoor Malik in Lahore also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2023
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Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel declared the country free of mpox on Sunday after the only patient afflicted with the disease successfully recovered.
In a statement issued today, Ministry of National Health Services (NHS) spokesperson Sajid Shah said one mpox case was reported so far in the country, adding that the patient was under treatment at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims).
Patel said the best medical facilities were provided to the patient who had now recovered.
“The patient has been discharged after testing negative [for the virus]. There are no cases of mpox in Pakistan. Kudos to the hospital staff for taking the best measures,” he said.
He said the government was ensuring all necessary measures to keep people safe from diseases and the country’s institutions were “always ready to deal with all kinds of epidemics and diseases”.
Patel said samples of 22 suspected mpox cases were sent for testing and all of them had turned out negative.
“The situation regarding mpox is under complete control,” the health minister said, adding that a well-integrated strategy was formulated to deal with the disease and the implementation of recommendations by health regulatory authorities was being ensured at all airports and entry and exit points.
It is worth mentioning that after media reports, a controversy began about whether there were one or two confirmed mpox cases in the country. The uncertainty further increased when NHS Parliamentary Secretary Dr Shazia Sobia Aslam Soomro said that there were two confirmed mpox patients while speaking on the National Assembly floor on April 27.
The mpox-positive person had arrived in Islamabad from Saudi Arabia on April 17 and went to Pims to get himself tested.
Pims Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases Dr Naeem Akhtar had identified that the patient could be suffering from mpox and admitted him to the isolation ward.
Later, it emerged that the patient had mpox and another traveller on board the same flight as him was also reportedly found positive for the disease.
A senior doctor of Pims, requesting anonymity, had said that the patient had cleared the immigration counter and came out of the airport without being identified as a potential mpox patient.
“Next day the patient came to Pims for a check-up … it shows that he might be deported because of mpox,” the doctor had said, adding that the patient had claimed to spend at least 20 years in Jeddah working as a driver.
Mpox — which spreads via close contact and tends to cause flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions — was declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in July 2022. The organisation maintained its alert in November.
In November, the WHO named the disease mpox to replace the older term monkeypox, citing concerns of stigma and racism associated with the name.
HONG KONG: China is mulling to allow single women access to in-vitro fertility (IVF) treatment legally in a private clinic as it tries to slow its demographic decline.
The changes mean unmarried women can take paid maternity leave and receive child subsidies previously only available to married couples.
This has benefited women like Chen Luojin, a 33-year-old divorcee living in Chengdu, the capital of the southwestern Sichuan province, which legalised registration of children by unmarried women in February, something China is considering implementing nationwide to address record low birth rates. She is now 10 weeks pregnant.
“Becoming a single parent is not for everyone, but I’m happy with the decision,” said Chen.
Some provinces have already legalised registration of children by unmarried females
“Equally, getting married or not is for each individual to decide. We have liberalised the policies here and I know a lot of single women are doing IVF.”
Concerned about China’s first population drop in six decades and its rapid ageing, the government’s political advisers proposed in March that single and unmarried women should have access to egg freezing and IVF treatment, among other services. China’s leaders have not commented publicly on the recommendations.
China’s National Health Commission (NHC) did not respond to a request for comment, though it has previously acknowledged that many young women are delaying plans to marry and have children, noting that high costs of education and child-rearing have contributed to declining marriage rates.
Shanghai and the southern Guangdong province have also permitted unmarried women to register their children but IVF services for single women remain banned.
Huge unmet need
Experts have said Lyppens said most IVF clinics in China operated at full capacity before the Covid-19 pandemic, and are likely to be in a similar situation again soon as the country has lifted virus-related curbs.
Chinese hospitals and clinics, both public and private, provide about 1 million rounds of IVF treatment — or cycles — annually, compared with 1.5 million in the rest of the world, according to academic journals and industry experts.
The price for a cycle — which involves medication for ovarian stimulation, egg collection, insemination in a laboratory and embryo transfer — is regulated in China. It ranges between $3,500 and $4,500, about a quarter of US prices.
China’s IVF market, including treatment, drugs and equipment, is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 14.5 per cent in coming years, nearly doubling to 85.4bn yuan in 2025 from 49.7bn yuan, research house Leadleo estimated in a report last year.
Gender power imbalances, the stigma in Chinese society that single pregnant women face, and the lack of social surveys make it difficult to quantify total demand for IVF, industry experts say.
China implemented a rigid one-child policy from 1980 until 2015 that have allowed India to become the world’s most populous nation. The limit has since been raised to three children.
Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2023
QUETTA: Amid the ongoing tussle between the executive and the judiciary, leaders of the legal fraternity have advised all institutions to work within their constitutional limits and asked lawyers to stand by the Constitution and not any particular class.
They said that being the superior judiciary, the Supreme Court needs a lot of caution and as an institution, it should not become weak.
Addressing the National Lawyers Convention organised by the Balochistan Bar Council (BBC) at the Balochistan High Court here on Saturday, they expressed concern over political and constitutional crises in the country and said the democratic system today is in danger and the judiciary is working as a “tool for undemocratic powers”.
“Therefore, it is important that lawyers play a strong and stable role and move forward in the national interest. It has been an honour that the lawyers of Balochistan have taken the initiative, be it constitutional crisis, martial law or the supremacy of parliament in the country,” they added.
Balochistan bar convention demands institutions work within their own constitutional limits
The lawyers’ leaders were of the opinion that elevation of judges to the Supreme Court should be on the basis of seniority, adding that reappointment of retired judges, generals and bureaucrats in institutions should be banned to accommodate fresh and energetic persons on vacant posts.
Advocate Rahab Bilidi, a member of the Pakistan Bar Council (PBC), said that lawyers belonging to Balochistan had always stood by the supremacy of the Constitution and parliament and opposed martial law in times of constitutional crisis in the country.
Former president of the Balochistan High Court Bar Association Abdul Majeed Kakar said lawyers had rendered many sacrifices and suffered hardships for upholding the supremacy of the Constitution and law.
Former attorney general for Pakistan Irfan Qadir, while speaking through video link, said the country is going through political and constitutional crises and the “role of the chief justice of Pakistan and like-minded judges is sad”.
Ahmed Farooq Khattak, a former member of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council, said the lawyers’ movement becomes successful when it starts from Balochistan.
“Constitutional and legal matters are left to three judges of the Supreme Court. They do not consider themselves as judges, Qazi or Munsif, but as ‘police officers’. Six junior judges are sitting in the Supreme Court and I condemn the current government as it voted for junior judges under pressure. The nation is facing a constitutional crisis due to the evaluation of junior judges to the apex court,” he added.
Mr Khattak accused former CJP Saqib Nisar of giving the “dictator [army chief] a three-year extension”, adding that Justice Nisar and favourites always disrespected fellow judges. Lawyers should raise their voice against such disrespect, he added.
Senior vice president of the Supreme Court Bar Association Yousuf Mughal and Islamabad Bar Council’s Adil Aziz said the Supreme Court should uphold the truth and make decisions based on justice.
Sindh Bar Council vice chairman Azhar Abbasi said that “we are not against anyone, but we are raising our voice to remove objections against the Supreme Court so that the prestige of the top court is restored”. “There are serious questions raised over the suo motu powers and the addition of favourites to the bench.”
Former chairman of the BBC Salim Lashari said the supremacy of the Constitution would be established when all the institutions remain within their limits.
“If the constitutional limits are crossed, then the constitutional supremacy does not exist; the Supreme Court is the last court of the country which needs a lot of caution. ‘Judges Club’ is formed when junior judges are elevated to the Supreme Court,” he said, adding that lawyers all over the country should stand by the Constitution and not by any particular class.
Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2023
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Former prime minister Imran Khan on Saturday announced that the PTI was ready for elections on a single date if the incumbent coalition government dissolved the remaining assemblies by May 14.
In a televised address to the nation today from his Zaman Park residence, the PTI chairman said: “If you dissolve the assemblies by May 14 then we are ready on a single election date with you.”
Imran said his negotiation team comprising PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Senior Vice President Fawad Chaudhry and Senator Ali Zafar will go for the meeting on crucial election talks with the government team on May 2 (Tuesday).
“It will be a national election and we feel we are ready for it,” he said. “This is the only way stability will be achieved, the economy will improve and the conditions of the people will transform.”
Imran lambasted the government leaders for suggesting passing the new budget first before calling for elections. “I sense bad intentions in this,” he said.
“Win the polls first, get the five-year mandate and then pass the budget.”
The PTI chairman questioned that “what’s the point of them presenting a budget when someone else will have to carry the weight of it.”
He said that the “real budget” would be the one passed by the government which came to power after winning the elections. The former premier stated that any notion of the assemblies being dissolved after the budget would be “unacceptable” for the PTI.
“We are ready for joint elections if you are ready to dissolve the assemblies by May 14. If you are not then the Supreme Court has already ordered Punjab elections on May 14 and after that, we are going to the apex court for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa elections.”
Imran said rallies will be carried out on May 1 (Monday) in three provincial capitals. “I will lead the rally in Lahore at 1pm from Liberty till Nasir Baig. Qureshi will lead the Islamabad rally at the same time and Pervez Khattak will lead the Peshawar rally.”
He further said the purpose of the rally was to save the Constitution and the country. Imran also extended an invitation to the legal community and the working class to participate in the rally.
The PTI and the government are engaged in crucial election talks to break the deadlock over their timing. The two sides on Friday decided to hold what one minister called the “almost final round” of parleys on May 2 (Tuesday).
Representatives of the government and the opposition exchanged proposals during the second round of talks held in Committee Room No 3 at the Parliament House.
Though the development generated some optimism, the dialogue process still appears to be fraught with the possibility of failure as important figures from both sides in their remarks stuck to their guns and questioned the utility of negotiations if one side did not agree with the other’s suggestion.
Informed sources told Dawn that the PTI insisted on a date for the dissolution of the National Assembly prior to the presentation of the budget to “reduce political tension”.
Separately, the PTI chief also appealed to all the 15 judges of the apex court to unite for the nation’s sake and advised them to set aside their egos for the supremacy of the Constitution.
“I’m talking to all the 15 judges today. The entire nation is looking towards you,” Imran said. “The nation is looking towards you. Stand with the Constitution.”
He further said: “You don’t know how close we are to anarchy. If PDM is going to destroy the Constitution then what will be left? Only the law of the jungle is left now.”
The ex-prime minister highlighted how the country’s chief justice and his family were being targeted by spilling dirt on the families.
He also accused the handlers of violating the Constitution by standing behind the 12 coalition parties.
Toward the end of his address, Imran pleaded with the Supreme Court judges to “please unite and save the country from mafias gifted to us.”
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ISLAMABAD: Just a few weeks after the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council had filed a complaint against a sitting judge of the top court before the Supreme Judicial Council (SJC), the Sindh Bar Council also jumped into the fray on Friday by requesting the SJC to initiate an inquiry into the allegation of his misconduct.
The SBC alleged that Justice Syed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi’s conduct not only injured the Supreme Court’s dignity but also tarnished its reputation.
The complainant believed the alleged violation of the code of conduct was sufficient to justify removal of the judge from office.
Nearly half a dozen complaints have been filed over the past few months against the SC judge. Besides Sindh and KP bar councils, Pakistan Bar Council, a Lahore-based social media influencer Advocate Mian Dawood, PML-N Lawyers’ Forum and a private citizen Ghulam Murtaza Khan have moved misconduct and assets beyond means complaints against the Justice Naqvi who was elevated to the Supreme Court in March 2020.
In the fresh application, the SBC cited a 2014 judgment in which the SC bench comprising then Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, Justice Amir Hani Muslim and Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry had made certain observations about the conduct of the respondent judge when he was a Lahore High Court judge.
The SC bench had noted: “We may observe that discretion exercised by the learned judge (respondent) while passing the impugned order in the instant case has appeared to us to be somewhat colourable as after dismissal of second application for suspension of sentence bearing the same ground the only difference in the respondent’s third application for the same relief was a different counsel for that respondent.”
The Sindh bar recalled that after the SC observation, Justice Naqvi had filed a review petition seeking to expunge the strictures passed by the bench against him.
Subsequently, the review was fixed before a bench comprising Justice Khosa, Justice Chaudhry and Justice Gulzar Ahmed.
The bench not only dismissed the review petition but also observed, “…. a judge of the High Court approaching this court in person and seeking review…. is surely out of the ordinary and it may raise many an eyebrow in view of the provisions of Articles VI of the Code of Conduct prescribed by the Supreme Judicial Council.”
Audio recordings
The complaint noted that recently some audio recordings, purportedly based on the judge’s talk with prominent politicians and certain lawyers have been widely circulated on social media and mainstream media. The SBC mentioned that the audio recordings had not been officially denied.
Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2023
RAWALPINDI: After overseeing Pakistan’s 500th victory in the One-day International format on Thursday, captain Babar Azam lavished praise on the way his side controlled the game to draw first blood in the five-match series against New Zealand.
With their five-wicket triumph over the Black Caps at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Pakistan became only the third cricketing nation to reach the landmark. It came in their 949th one-dayer, making them the second quickest after Australia to achieve the feat.
In the second ODI, also at in Rawalpindi, on Saturday, the hosts will look to build on that victory to further embellish their lead in the series but they will be mindful of the fact that New Zealand came back from 2-0 down to level the preceding five-game Twenty20 series 2-2.
Pressing home their advantage, therefore, will be crucial for Pakistan. They can’t afford to give the visitors any chance, any opening. In Thursday’s game, they did exactly that with opener Fakhar Zaman’s ninth ODI hundred trumping a similar effort by New Zealand’s Daryl Mitchell.
Mitchell smashed 113 off 115 deliveries to help New Zealand post 288-7 with Pakistan’s pacers, especially Naseem Shah, doing well in the end to restrict them under 300. Fakhar’s 117 was the standout effort in the chase even though his fellow opener Imam-ul-Haq, Babar and Mohammad Rizwan chipped in with good runs.
“This was a team effort, we wanted to start [the series] well,” Babar said. “Credit goes to the fast bowlers for the way we restricted them in the end. It feels good to see players execute their plans. The way Naseem bowled put the pressure on them and then Fakhar played a solid match-winning knock. The way Fakhar and Imam played, then the innings Fakhar and I built together, was great.”
Fakhar and Imam (60) put on 124 for the first wicket and Pakistan were carried further towards the target by a 90-run stand between the opener and Babar (49). New Zealand hit back late when Adam Milne removed Babar and Shan Masood with Fakhar bringing Pakistan within 34 runs of victory before being dismissed but Mohammad Rizwan led the victory charge with a brisk unbeaten 42.
“The plan was to attack and stay long,” said Fakhar, who was named Player-of –the-Match. “If you survive the new ball, you must stay [till the end]. The idea was to have at least one of the top three batters to bat deep. Today was my day and hopefully, Imam and Babar will also play big knocks.”
At the post-match news conference, Fakhar said he enjoyed a good rapport with his opening partner Imam both on and off the pitch.
“I don’t think I’ve seen a more confident player than Imam,” said Fakhar. “We enjoy being with each other on the field and off the field as well. Now we have also got an understanding of each other’s game and when he makes a mistake I let him know right away, and its vice versa.”
Questions inevitably shifted to the T20 series where Pakistan lost the third and fifth games to let slip the chance of a series victory. Fakhar was forced to defend the fact that he plays one-drop in the shortest format of the game for Pakistan.
“It’s true that I’ve played most of my cricket as an opener,” he noted, before adding that “one has to understand the team’s situation”.
“I think I can hit spinners better than [regular T20 openers] Babar and Rizwan. A team combination requires at least two left-handers in the middle-order and I think the way Babar and Rizwan are playing, there’s no need to change it.”
New Zealand failed to maintain the momentum from the T20 series and skipper Tom Latham rued his team’s inability to get an early breakthrough.
“I think the score we got was about par,” said Latham. “Daryl played a superb innings. The wicket got harder for new guys, but the way Pakistan played was superb. We couldn’t make any inroads. It [the wicket] got harder in the end but the two partnerships up top from Pakistan made the difference.”
Mitchell to believed New Zealand managed a “par score” batting first on a low wicket.
“Pakistan have got some world-class bowlers and they showed that at the end there with their death bowling,” he told reporters. “..also the way Pakistan batted tonight was pretty special and put us under pressure at times and they always kept the rate in check. Fakhar was dangerous, he took the game on at times, took some risks and he obviously got the rewards for that.”
He added that New Zealand would try their best to get back at Pakistan and spoke about the side trying to adapt to conditions here.
“We’ve played them a number of times now obviously coming over here is a totally different challenge for us Kiwis compared to what we’re used to back home in terms of the reverse swing and the lower wickets so again it’s just about us constantly improving and trying to get better each day,” he said.
“I guess the surface here dictates how you want to play and for us as Kiwis we’re just constantly trying to adapt to the kind of surface we see and the different format of one-day cricket. We know the blueprint that we want to play one-day cricket in the style that we want to play as Kiwis and we’ll keep trying to show up and do that with a smile on our face.”
Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2023
ISLAMABAD: To address concerns over the exercise of digital census, the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) after a detailed briefing to ministers, lawmakers and leaders of political parties on Friday decided in principle to extend digital census for another 15 days.
PBS spokesperson Sarwar Gondal told Dawn the digital census, previously scheduled to conclude on April 30, would be extended till May 15. To work out an operation plan during the extended days, he said, the bureau would hold a meeting with chief secretaries on Saturday (today).
“We will present the request of the political parties in a meeting of census monitoring committee,” he added.
Need for the extension was felt after it emerged during the exercise that Karachi and Lahore populations showed little increase since the 2017 census.
PBS asks political parties to identify areas not covered by enumeration teams
The PBS at the briefing requested political parties to identify the areas that had not been covered by census teams.
Mr Sarwar said the bureau would need another 15 days to finalise data before submitting it to the Council of Common Interests (CCI) by June.
An official announcement issued after the meeting showed that 237.448 million individuals had been counted in all the four provinces, an increase of 29.768 million since 2017 when the tally was 207.68m.
So far, 54.138m people have been counted in Sindh, 116.442m in Punjab, 39.315m in KP and 19.713m in Balochistan.
Meanwhile, a joint meeting of Balochistan lawmakers and representatives of political parties from Quetta discussed the process of census in Quetta and its preliminary results.
The participants demanded that the census be conducted again in the provincial capital and the exercise should be extended for two months.
They said that census results had shown that Balochistan’s population had increased by more than seven million while that of Quetta had decreased by 500,000, which they claimed was part of a plan.
Saleem Shahid in Quetta also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2023
Iran’s intelligence ministry on Friday accused foreign “enemies” and dissidents of fomenting fears over suspected poisonings of schoolgirls, saying its investigation found no actual poisoning.
The wave of suspected attacks has affected thousands of schoolgirls and provoked public anger, after months of protests against Iran’s clerical rulers following the death of a young woman held by police for allegedly flouting strict hijab rules.
“The enemies’ role in fuelling this crisis is certain and undeniable. Individuals, groups and Western media [especially in Persian language] … have focused on this in the past few months, as well as foreign politicians and international bodies,” said a ministry report carried by state media.
“In field findings and laboratory investigations … no toxic substance able to cause poisoning was observed … and there have been no deaths or long-term physical conditions,” the report said, blaming mischievousness and mass hysteria among students.
The report accused unnamed dissidents of provoking fears to produce propaganda videos and warned of “prosecution of individuals, groups, media who accused the government … and aligned themselves with enemies”.
Authorities have accused the Islamic Republic’s “enemies” of using the suspected attacks to undermine the clerical establishment. But suspicions have fallen on hardline groups operating as self-declared guardians of their interpretation of Islam.
The suspected poisonings began in November in the holy city of Qom and spread to 28 of Iran’s 31 provinces, according to activist HRANA news agency, prompting some parents to take their children out of school and protest.
For the first time since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, schoolgirls have joined the protests that spiralled after Mahsa Amini’s death in morality police custody.
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ISLAMABAD: PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Thursday reiterated that his JUI-F would not be part of any negotiations with the opposition PTI and announced a mass contact campaign to be launched across the country soon.
The remarks came hours before the government comprising the PDM and PPP held first round of parleys on the initiative of Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani with Imran Khan-led PTI on the issue of elections.
“We stand by our position that we are not in favour of negotiations with PTI,” the Maulana said, adding adding that calling for consultations among the politicians is the job of Election Commission.
“I wonder why the [Supreme] Court has got into this debate of 90 days,” he asked rhetorically.
Says JUI-F will soon kick off countrywide mass contact drive; expresses surprise over decline in population of urban Sindh
Talking to media after a meeting of JUI-F’s Central Working Party, he said, “We do not call the Supreme Court’s decision of holding elections in Punjab on May 14 unacceptable, but we say it is unworkable.”
Any party emerging winner in Punjab — if polls are held in the province now — will go on to have the same results in other provinces as well, he pointed out while explaining the JUI-F’s opposition to snap elections.
Maulana Fazl recalled the meeting of the heads of the coalition parties held on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to hold negotiations with PTI.
The prime minister agreed that talks should be held in the Senate building as the upper house of parliament is a symbol of federation, he said.
Mr Rehman pointed out that traditionally elections for the national and provincial assemblies have always been held at the same time.
When asked that holding elections within 90 days is a constitutional requirement, he said: “It was the responsibility of the Election Commission to call politicians for consultations to discuss this issue, why the court is stuck on the point of 90 days.”
He emphasised that saving the federation meant saving the country.
The Maulana noted a change in the attitude of apex court during Thursday’s hearing, saying it did not insist on talks between politicians, something it had been consistently stating over the last few weeks.
The JUI-F emir also criticised the census results in urban parts of Sindh, saying it was strange that the population was declining in those areas, and demanded additional seats in assemblies for those areas.
He said a commission should be formed to address any complaints over the census.
He said JUI-F would launch a mass contact campaign in the country, adding that schedule for rallies would be released soon.
Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2023
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• Blaze in Lahore-bound Karachi Express linked to short circuit
• Railways minister says sabotage can’t be ruled out, orders inquiry
SUKKUR/LAHORE: At least seven people were killed and four children went missing after a coach on a moving passenger train caught fire overnight in Sindh’s Khairpur district, officials said on Thursday.
Railways official Mohsin Siyal confirmed the number of casualties and said that the train, which was on its way from Karachi to Lahore, caught fire near the Tando Masti Khan village.
He said six people were killed in the blaze, while an old woman died when she jumped from the window of the moving train.
Police surgeon Dr Abu Talib said the bodies of six victims were “unidentifiable” and would be handed over to the families after DNA tests. The bodies were shifted to the Civil Hospital, Khairpur.
Railways officials in Sukkur told the media that they found three burnt bodies in Coach 4, where the blaze erupted, whereas two teenage victims were found in Coach 18, where they had run to save their lives. Two bodies were found lying outside the train.
They said the train was disconnected and half of its coaches were towed to Gambat Railway Station. Meanwhile, firefighters managed to douse the blaze after a two-and-a-half-hour effort.
Dr Rahim Bakhsh Bhatti, head of the Gambat Institute of Medical Science, reached the incident site with his team to give first aid to the injured and shift them to the institute for further treatment.
Railways staff and Pakistan Army soldiers carried out the rescue work for about eight hours and cleared the up and down tracks for other trains, which had been stopped at different stations after the incident.
Sabotage can’t be ruled out Railways Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique, meanwhile, ordered an inquiry into the incident and formed a team headed by the federal government inspector of railways.
Expressing grief over the loss of lives, he informed the National Assembly that the possibility of sabotage could not be ruled out, the APP reported.
The minister said he was “not satisfied” with the version that the fire broke out due to a short circuit.
However, he told lawmakers that the factual situation would be cleared within one to two days after an inquiry into the incident.
PR official begins probe
Meanwhile, the Federal Government Inspector of Railways (FGIR) — a senior Railways officer — has started an investigation into the incident.
An initial report shared internally by the relevant officials with top Railways officers after inspecting the burnt coach has apparently identified short circuits as a main cause of the incident.
“Though the FGIR has been assigned to probe and submit a preliminary report within the next couple of days, a very initial on-spot observation made by the officers concerned has identified short circuit a major cause that rapidly spread to the eruption of the massive fire, killing seven people and injuring others,” a senior Railways official, who declined to be named, told Dawn on Thursday.
In October 2019, 73 people were killed and 40 injured after three bogies of a Tezgam train bound for Rawalpindi caught fire near Liaquatpur in Punjab’s Rahim Yar Khan.
However, the official said the 2019 fire incident was different from the present one.
“The main reason behind the massive fire in Tezgam Express was the LPG cylinder carried by a passenger,” he said.
Besides, the coaches burnt in Tezgam were of the economy class and not of the business class, where belongings of passengers were inspected closely, he said, adding that it was impossible that someone might carry a gas cylinder there.
Incident report
According to an incident report compiled by Pakistan Railways, the Karachi Express train having engine No. 9014 (GEU 40) and a total load of 940 tonnes was being driven by the driver Shamsuddin and assistant driver Asghar Raza of the PR’s Karachi division.
Before reaching the Tando Masti Khan station, the driver reported at 12:40am to the authorities about the drop of pressure and eruption of fire.
On this, the control office contacted the guard in charge of the train and inquired about the matter. The guard reported that the fire erupted in AC business coach No. 12525-0 (fourth from the engine) at KM No. 436/5 near Tando Masti Khan.
The affected coach was immediately isolated and fire brigades were called from Khairpur and other cities. “The first fire brigade reached the site at 1:50am followed by another at 1:55am,” the report said.
It stated that as many as 13 trains (up and down), including a special Eid train, were stopped at various stations, including Khairpur and Rohri.
Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday assured MQM-P of an early redressal of its grievances after the government-allied party accused major coalition partner PPP of “systematic alteration” in the ongoing population census.
Upon the PM’s assurance, the MQM-P which had threatened to resign its National Assembly seats over the census issue, decided not to part ways with the ruling coalition.
The MQM-P delegation was led by party convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui. Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal also attended the meeting.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal to address the reservations of Muttahida Qaumi Movement regarding the ongoing population census at the earliest,” said a PMO press release.
Khalid Maqbool accuses PPP of making ‘systematic alterations’ in census data; PM phones Chinese counterpart
A source privy to the talks, which was the second such meeting in as many days, quoted the MQM-P as having told the PM that PPP, the ruling party in Sindh, had influenced the population count and altered the results.
The MQM-P delegation, including Federal Information Technology and Telecom Minister Syed Aminul Haq, former MNA Farooq Sattar, and former Senator Mustafa Kamal, thanked the prime minister for playing his role in addressing the party’s reservations.
Mr Siddiqui told Dawn that Karachi’s population had been intentionally shown less while that of interior parts of Sindh was shown higher than the actual count.
Mr Siddiqui said his party’s objective was not to disgrace anyone but to ensure accurate population count.
Two days ago, the media reported that MQM-P was considering parting ways with the ruling alliance over “flawed” census results.
During Wednesday’s meeting as well, the MQM-P leaders had discussed the alleged irregularities in the census being conducted by the PBS and demanded the federal government direct the authorities concerned to count the population correctly.
The party had also demanded the formation of a committee to correct the statistics released so far.
On Tuesday, MQM-P had reportedly “collected resignations from its lawmakers” before its convener took up the census issue with the premier on Wednesday.
The MQM-P MNAs had resolved that they would not go to the assembly session on Thursday until their grievances were addressed. However, they attended the NA session on Thursday in which PM Sharif obtained the vote of confidence from the house.
PM phones Chinese counterpart
Prime Minister Sharif and Chinese Premier Li Qiang agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in all spheres aimed at benefiting the people of their countries besides contributing to regional peace, prosperity and stability, reports APP.
During the telephone conversation, Mr Shehbaz extended his felicitation to the Chinese premier on his election to the office.
As all-weather partners and close friends, Pakistan appreciated China’s peaceful development as a positive factor of international peace.
Mr Sharif was confident that China would continue to achieve milestones on its journey towards modernisation and rejuvenation.
He reiterated Pakistan’s support to China on core issues, including the One China policy, Taiwan, Tibet, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and the South China Sea dispute.
The Chinese PM appreciated Pakistan’s support and reaffirmed China’s continued support to Pakistan’s national development, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Separately, PM Sharif wished Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan complete recovery and good health.
“Greatly relieved to learn that my brother H.E. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has recovered from his illness by the grace of Allah Almighty. My deepest prayers & best wishes are with him for a complete recovery & good health,” he tweeted.
Published in Dawn, April 28th, 2023
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MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Kashmir Election Commission on Wednesday fixed June 8 as the date for a by-election in the constituency of former prime minister Sardar Tanveer Ilyas.
According to a notification, candidates could submit their nominations for in LA-15, Bagh-II seat by 4pm on May 10.
After scrutiny, the list of valid candidates would be published while appeals against rejection of nominations could be filed before the election tribunal by 2pm on May 15.
Candidates could withdraw their nominations before 2pm on May 18, and the final list of candidates with election symbols would be published on May 19.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the election commission asked the intending candidates to submit details of their movable and immovable assets on the prescribed form before filing nominations.
Mr Ilyas was disqualified by the AJK high court on April 11 under contempt of court charges, following which he was unseated by the commission.
Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023
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SUKKUR / DERA MURAD JAMALI: Six members of the Anti-Terrorist Force of Balochistan Police, including a sub-inspector, embraced martyrdom while two others suffered injuries in a shoot-out with kidnappers at the Chand water channel in the jurisdiction of Mouladad police station in Jacobabad on Wednesday, police said.
A Jacobabad-based band of criminals, known as Mitho Shah gang, had kidnapped Furqan, the son of rice mill owner Aslam Soomro from Balochistan and brought him to the Mouladad area.
Furqan Soomro was waylaid in the Kashmirabad area of Jaffarabad, while returning to Usta Mohammad town from Jacobabad on Tuesday night, police said.
According to police, SSP Hasnain Iqbal came to Jacobabad from Jaffarabad along with a team. SSP Jacobabad Dr Sumair Noor Channa along with a large contingent of police also reached there to support the Balochistan police.
Balochistan police team was trying to recover son of mill owner from Sindh-based gang
Balochistan police then launched the operation to rescue the hostage. They were near Chand Shakh in the Jageer area when members of the Mitho Shah Gang holed up on the embankment of the water channel opened fire.
In the ensuing exchange, Sub-Inspector Tayyab Hussain Umrani, SHO of Usta Mohammad police station, and policemen Abdul Wahab, Mohammad Usman, Riaz Hussain, Syed Khadim Hussain Shah and Nisar Ahmed were martyred, while Husain Ali and Altaf Hussain were injured.
“Heavy exchange of fire continued for hours,” DIG Nasirabad Munir Ahmed Sheikh told Dawn.
The bodies and the injured were rushed to the Jacobabad civil hospital from where Constable Hassan Ali was referred to another hospital owing to his precarious condition.
The bodies were handed over to their heirs after post-mortem examinations, police said.
Officials said Constable Khadim Hussain Shah was inducted into the force after his father Inspector Syed Jalaluddin was martyred in an anti-terrorist operation in Sibi.
DIG Munir said, “We have sent more police and ATF personnel to the area while Sindh Police has also joined the Balochistan police and is taking part in the operation against the armed dacoits.”
He said the Mitho Shah and Jakhrani gangs are involved in the kidnapping of Furqan Soomro.
“The operation is underway and will continue till the recovery of the hostage and arrest of the gang involved,” DIG Munir said, adding the Sindh police had already announced a bounty of Rs3 million on their head.
SSP Channa vowed to bring the gang to justice soon.
Residents of Mouladad said the Mitho Shah Gang has become a symbol of terror in the area. The bike-riding gangsters often attack police officials, rob and terrorise citizens and passengers of their valuables and break into houses, they added.
Sometime back, they recalled, the gang deprived the staff of water supply department of their money and valuables and shot fires at the transformer of the pump station suspending water supply to Jacobabad for days.
Funeral prayers for SHO Umrani and Constable Abdul Wahab were held while bodies of other personnel were sent to their native villages.
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudoos Bizenjo expressed grief and commended the martyred for “facing the enemy with bravery”, and prayed for their families to have patience.
Mr Bizenjo expressed the hope that the Sindh government would soon bring to justice those responsible for the incident.
Saleem Shahid in Quetta also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023
ISLAMABAD: Despite over 63 per cent power generation from domestic cheaper fuels and unprecedented increase in base tariff in recent months, the ex-Wapda distribution companies (Discos) have moved to charge about Rs10 billion in additional fuel cost to their consumers at the rate of Rs1.174 per unit in May.
The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has accepted the tariff petition filed by the Central Power Purchasing Agency (CPPA) on behalf of the Discos and has called a public hearing on May 3 to see if the proposed increase in tariff is justified in line with monthly fuel cost adjustment (FCA) mechanism.
On approval, the Discos would charge an additional amount of about Rs9.93bn from their consumers for electricity consumed in March despite a healthy 63.5pc contribution from domestic cheaper fuels.
The increase in FCA is despite the base average tariff has gone up by more than Rs7 per unit besides a series of surcharges and a reduction in the cost of import fuels like furnace oil and liquefied natural gas.
National grid received bulk of power from hydel and nuclear sources
The biggest contribution to the overall national power grid came from hydropower and nuclear generation at 22.90pc each in March. The hydropower generation was relatively lower in March this year when compared to 26.46pc in February. Likewise, nuclear power share was also on the lower side when compared to 24.28pc in February. Hydropower has no fuel cost while nuclear fuel cost is just Rs1.08 per unit.
The third largest generation share in the national power grid came from LNG-based electricity at 20.42pc in March when compared to 18.86pc in February. This was followed by a 15.3pc share from coal power plants in March when compared to 14.07pc in February. Power supply from domestic natural gas slightly improved to 12.66pc in March when compared to 11pc in February.
Interestingly, the fuel cost of furnace oil-based power generation at Rs21.27 per unit was lower than Rs24.31 per unit of RLNG-based power production. However, the authorities produced just 0.46pc share from furnace oil compared to 20.42pc from LNG.
The CPPA claimed on behalf of Discos that the consumers were charged a reference fuel cost of Rs8.22 per unit in March but the actual cost turned out to be Rs9.89 per unit, hence an additional charge of Rs1.174 per unit.
The cost of power generation from domestic gas slightly went up to Rs11.26 per unit in March compared to Rs10.07 per unit in February and Rs10.5 per unit in December 2022. The furnace oil-based power generation cost stood at almost Rs21.27 per unit significantly down from Rs34 per unit a few months earlier mainly because of a decline in international oil prices.
Coal-based power generation cost, on the other hand, dropped significantly to Rs8.68 per unit in March when compared to Rs12.57 per unit in February and Rs11.5 per unit in December 2022.
Three renewable energy sources — wind, bagasse and solar — together contributed about 5pc to the national grid in March, up from 3.54 pc in February and about 4.54pc in January this year. Wind and solar have no fuel cost, while that of bagasse has been calculated at Rs5.98 per unit in March compared to Rs5.35 per unit in February.
The CPPA said claimed that the generation units produced about 8,741 Gigawatt hours at an average fuel cost of Rs71.83bn and about 8,459GWh were delivered to Discos at an estimated average fuel cost of Rs83.63bn at a rate of Rs9.89 per unit.
Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023
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The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is set to vote on Thursday to condemn a ban on Afghan women working for the UN in Afghanistan and call upon the Taliban administration to “swiftly reverse” its crackdown on the rights of women and girls.
The resolution to be voted on — drafted by the United Arab Emirates and Japan and seen by Reuters — describes the ban as “unprecedented in the history of the United Nations” and asserts “the indispensable role of women in Afghan society”.
Diplomats said it is expected to be adopted.
A resolution needs at least nine votes in favour and no vetoes by Russia, China, the United States, Britain or France to pass.
The draft resolution says the ban on Afghan women working for the UN “undermines human rights and humanitarian principles.”
Earlier this month, the Taliban began enforcing the ban on Afghan women working for the UN after stopping most women working for humanitarian aid groups in December.
Since toppling the Western-backed government in 2021, they have also tightened controls on women’s access to public life, including barring women from university and closing girls’ high schools.
The Taliban say they respect women’s rights in accordance with their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
Taliban officials said decisions on female aid workers are an “internal issue.”
The draft Security Council resolution demands that all parties allow full, rapid, safe and unhindered humanitarian access “regardless of gender” and “stresses the urgent need to continue addressing the dire economic and humanitarian situation.”
It also “recognises the need to help address the substantial challenges facing Afghanistan’s economy, including through efforts to enable the use of assets belonging to Afghanistan’s central bank for the benefit of the Afghan people”.
The US froze billions of the bank’s reserves held in America and later transferred half of the money to a trust fund in Switzerland overseen by the US, Swiss and Afghan trustees.
The draft resolution also stresses “the critical importance” of the UN’s continued presence across Afghanistan.
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• Administrator, foreign experts visit Safari Park
• Madhubala to be transferred from Karachi Zoo soon
KARACHI: Some key differences between the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation and an international organisation for animal welfare seem to be holding up the progress on the idea of building Pakistan’s first elephant sanctuary in the metropolis, it emerged on Tuesday.
Sources told Dawn that the subject was being discussed in detail these days among top KMC officials, running Safari Park and Karachi Zoological Gardens, and the international organisation for animal welfare Four Paws which has provided critical medical assistance to zoo and Safari elephants.
The sources said while both parties agreed in principle to dedicate a separate piece of land, out of the area currently available at Safari Park, for an elephant sanctuary, the KMC wanted to have the facility under its control while Four Paws was seeking the establishment of an independent body to run the facility by local and international animal experts.
A day earlier at a media briefing held at the zoo, a top official representing Four Paws explicitly stated that the organisation wanted to build an elephant sanctuary that should be independent, having no administrative connections with either the zoo or Safari Park.
“The idea is to make a home for elephants in Pakistan according to international standards. It should be a separate entity from the zoo and Safari Park and run by people associated with animal welfare,” Dr Amir Khalil of Four Paws had said.
He also made clear that the organisation was apolitical and wasn’t here to make money.
He also emphasized that Four Paws wasn’t a transport agency and that it would not transport Madhubala, the lone surviving elephant at Karachi Zoo, to another zoo or Safari Park.
Currently, the zoo and Safari Park are headed by KMC official Kanwar Ayub under whose watch ailing elephant Noor Jehan recently fell in her pond and suffered critical injuries that led to her death.
The KMC hadn’t instituted an inquiry into her death or prolonged illness.
A source said that the KMC had no funds to build the sanctuary and it wanted the international organisation to build it. However, it wanted to have administrative powers to run it as Safari Park came under its management, the source said.
However, a KMC press statement about the visit of Karachi Administrator Dr Syed Saif-ur-Rehman and the team of Four Paws to Safari Park on Tuesday had no mention of an elephant sanctuary.
It said the administrator promised to transfer zoo elephant Madhubala to Safari Park as soon as possible. “Four Paws’ team will help the KMC in shifting the elephant,” it stated following his visit to the Safari Park along with Four Paws’ team.
Municipal Commissioner Syed Shujaat Hussain and Director-Safari Park Kanwar Ayub also accompanied him.
According to the press release, the administrator said there is adequate space in the Safari Park and a large space pinpointed by the Four Paws team is allocated for elephant Madhubala.
“There are already two elephants in the Safari park and the third elephant from the zoo will be transferred to the park. She will be kept with these elephants at a later stage,” the statement quoted the administrator as saying.
It might be recalled that 17-year-old African elephant Noor Jehan died on April 22 after remaining critically ill for nine days.
The elephant had been found to have serious health complications early this month by Four Paws’ team, who described her as an intensive care patient, requiring 24-hour monitoring.
These complications had rendered Noor Jehan partially paralysed as the zoo staff failed to diagnose her illness or seek timely intervention from experts.
Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2023
KARACHI: The MQM-P has “collected resignations from its lawmakers” before its convener takes up the issue of the ‘flawed’ digital census with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday (today), party sources said.
They said the party made key decisions regarding its strategy at a meeting and would announce their next steps amid unheard grievances over the ongoing digital headcount, mainly in Karachi, calling it a flawed exercise aimed at compromising the rights of urban’ areas.
However, the party’s senior deputy convener Mustafa Kamal presented a different version of events, saying: “Today, members of the National Assembly met the coordination committee members at a scheduled meeting, which has nothing to do with current political situation.”
A brief statement issued by the MQM-P after its coordination committee meeting, chaired by senior convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi, mentioned serious reservations by party leaders and called it “unfortunate” that the federal government was not serious in addressing their grievances over the census.
“The meeting was told that despite the documented evidence, meetings with senior officials and the authorities concerned, the flaws in the digital census aren’t being addressed. Similarly, the flawed numbers of the count aren’t being fixed.”
The meeting decided to make a final consultation within the party before announcing “the next step”.
MQM-P sources said Dr Siddiqi is scheduled to visit Islamabad today [Wednesday] where he is likely to meet the PM and key members of his cabinet, including Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal, to convey the concerns and details of the discussion within the party.
They confirmed to Dawn that the committee also decided in its meeting to collect resignations from all its seven MNAs and 21 MPAs before the party convener’s meeting with the PM to lend strength to the party’s stance.
The move coincides with the federal government’s decision to extend digital census, scheduled to conclude on April 25, for five more days, after the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) field teams observed a negative growth in 12 major urban areas and needed data verification in 11 major cities.
“The areas where the census timeline has been extended include Quetta, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Karachi Central, Karachi South, Karachi West, Karachi East, Malir, Keamari, Korangi, Hyderabad and Islamabad,” the PBS said.
However, the bureau statement’s failed to convince the party to review its stance on the digital headcount.
“Since the beginning of this ruling partnership in April last year, MQM-P relationship with the alliance has never been very ideal or cordial,” a source said.
“Whether it is local government elections in Sindh, implementation of Charter of Rights it had signed with the PPP or the digital census – the MQM-P has always been found on the other side of the fence and complaining. But it has compromised most of the time and the partnership goes on.
“However, this time it looks a little serious because the party would compromise over its political stature if it shows any flexibility in its stance on the Karachi census,” the source believed.
Later, in a statement, Mr Kamal said the meeting discussed loopholes in the exercise being conducted by PBS, the digital count conducted so far and all aspects of the exercise.
The senior deputy convener said the MNAs, who submitted their resignations to the party convener, were of the opinion that they would not go to the assembly until their grievances were addressed.
The meeting appreciated the role of the PM and federal minister for planning and development, who not only heard all their reservations but also issued directives to address them, Mr Kamal said. He said the MQM-P was part of the ruling coalition in the centre and would remain with the government at tough times.
Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2023
KARACHI: Yet another taped phone conversation, featuring a former chief justice and a key member of the PTI legal team, emerged on Tuesday, where two men can be heard discussing the suo motu case currently before a three-member bench of the Supreme Court.
The latest in a spate of leaks targeting members of the judiciary, the conversation has not been denied by either former top judge Saqib Nisar or PTI’s Khawaja Tariq Rahim, but talking to Dawn.com, the ex-CJP questioned the authenticity of the audio, calling it “a theft of my fundamental rights”.
The audio clip, which has been widely shared on social and mainstream media platforms, features the voices of two men apparently discussing a previous SC judgement, as well as the elections suo motu currently pending before the apex court.
“Please look into that… it is a seven-member judgment… this is suo motu number 4 of 2010, sir… seven-member judgement, 2012, has been reported on page number 553 of the Supreme Court,” the voice of the ex-CJP says.
Saqib Nisar says he is free to give advice to anyone, terms audio ‘theft’ of his fundamental rights
Here, the man on the other end of the call, believed to be PTI’s Mr Rahim, replies in the affirmative. “Whoever is your lawyer, tell him to check it out. It states that if… never mind, you’ll know when you will read it,” the ex-CJP says.
In response, Mr Rahim purportedly says: “I will read. I have seen the seven-member bench judgment. They have stated in it that until the act is not formulated… if you read it carefully, clause three has it…”
At this point, the voice believed to be Saqib Nisar replies “yes I have seen that, it is the way out for you”.
He goes on: “And secondly Tariq sahab, if any person of yours is ready, you can use the Munir Ahmed Khan [judgment] which is a clear case of contempt of court.”
“That too… that too,” Mr Rahim replies, after which the ex-CJP purportedly says “after what happened in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, I don’t think there is any…”
Interjecting, the person on the other end says that “we are only waiting for the three-member bench’s verdict… it can take another half an hour… after that, we are filing a contempt application”.
The audio clip of this alleged conversation comes on the heels of another similar leak, that purportedly featured a conversation between two women — one of whom was said to be related to a top-ranking serving SC judge, while the other was Mr Rahim’s spouse.
The two women could also be heard discussing the case linked to KP and Punjab polls.
Ex-CJP ‘free to give advice’
Speaking to Dawn.com, ex-CJP Nisar termed the audio leak a violation of his right to privacy, adding: “I am a citizen of Pakistan, an ex-CJP and I give free advice to those in office. Khawaja Tariq Rahim is a friend and I gave him advice.”
Later, in a separate conversation with Dawn, he said: “It is a discussion between two decades-old friends and professionals, who are discussing a legal point in the context of a particular case. Did I malign any institution or speak against Pakistan? It was a simple discussion on a legal merit.
“I have my views on legal matters and can discuss them with anyone and everyone seeking advice or just trying to take my input. What is wrong in it? If not, why call it a controversy?”
PTI’s Khawaja Tariq Rahim, the other person said to be featured in the leaked clip, expressed similar views.
Speaking on a YouTube channel, he explained that the conversation was in the context of the disqualification of Sardar Tanveer Ilyas, the former prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir who was shown the door by the Kashmir High Court in a recent contempt of court case.
“I am neither a lawyer nor a party to that particular case. But, I was certainly interested in seeing what grounds the high court has used to hold Ilyas guilty. It was as simple as that.”
PML-N reaction
Reacting to the leak, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said in a tweet that he was disappointed to hear the audio, saying that Mr Nisar had gone too far in his quest for revenge against Nawaz Sharif.
“You took revenge on Nawaz Sharif and sentenced him. How long will you continue to feed on this poison?” he added.
The PML-N — especially Maryam Nawaz Sharif — has time and again blamed the former CJP for disqualifying Mr Sharif as prime minister in the Panama Papers case in 2017.
Sharing the audio clip on Tuesday, Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal said that the “mastermind of the 2017 regime change and judicial martial law conspiracy still conducting the orchestra”.
Reacting to the leaked audio, Information Minister Marriyum Auirangzeb also expressed disapproval over what she termed “judicial bias” in certain high-profile cases.
“Wives, mothers-in-law, children and Dam Baba vs Constitution of Pakistan… competition is tough and time is running out,” she said in a tweet.
Muzhira Amin in Karachi and Ahmad Fraz Khan in Lahore also contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2023
Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah has said he expects the long-awaited staff-level agreement with the International Monetary Fund to be finalised within a week to 10 days’ time — a pact that would pave the way for the revival of a $7 billion bailout programme.
The minister made this statement while speaking to the media in Faisalabad on Monday.
“The conditions of that [IMF agreement] are fulfilled and it will be completed in a week to 10 days’ time,” Sanaullah said.
The interior minister expressed the hope that “some relief could be passed to the public” following the IMF programme’s revival.
Pakistan has been negotiating with the IMF since early February for the resumption of the loan programme agreed upon in 2019 and the completion of its ninth review to secure the last tranche of $1.1bn under this facility.
Last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also announced that negotiations with the IMF were in the final stages.
The announcement had come after Pakistan received a rollover of $2bn from China and then $3bn from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, thus meeting the last condition of the IMF of external financing by friendly countries for the release of bailout funds.
With central bank reserves falling to critical levels, hovering around $4bn and barely able to cover a month of imports, the IMF tranche is critical for the country to avert a default on its obligations.
KARACHI: As the ailing elephant Noor Jehan drifted into eternal sleep at her enclosure, the authorities seemed to have learnt no lessons from her tragic death, expressing a desire to bring more exotic species to the zoo.
The 17-year-old ailing African elephant had undergone emergency treatment for health complications on April 5, but collapsed in her enclosure on April 22, leaving her longtime partner Madhubala, the other zoo elephant, alone.
However, the authorities stopped short of announcing an inquiry into the alleged incompetence of zoo staff that claimed her life.
“We want to improve the zoo according to international standards and bring more species like big cats and giraffes here. Since 2009, no new animal has been inducted in the zoo and there are several animals living without mates for a long time. We will engage with other zoos in the country to start an animal exchange programme so these animals could breed,” said Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) Administrator Dr Saifur Rehman while talking to journalists at the zoo on Monday.
Plans being discussed to bring more exotic species to zoo following ailing elephant’s death
Asked about a possible an inquiry into the elephant’s death, the administrator said the administration was well aware of the zoo’s problems. “We are working on all aspects and the foremost thing in this respect is staff’s training that we will arrange, either locally or by sending them abroad.”
Noor Jehan had been in critical condition for nine days after reportedly falling in her pond on the night between April 12 and 13 and suffered injuries.
The incident happened, the sources said, after she was left unattended in violation of the instructions of Four Paws, an international team of experts who detected a large hematoma, a mass of clotted blood often caused by an injury, and a ruptured perineal membrane, earlier this month and later supervised her treatment remotely.
Experts had cautioned that Noor Jehan was an intensive-care patient, requiring 24-hour monitoring.
The poor animal had remained ill for months, leaving her partially paralyzed. The zoo staff was unable to diagnose and treat her illness or timely seek intervention from foreign experts.
Elephant sanctuary
The KMC administrator, meanwhile, shared a plan about building an elephant sanctuary at Safari Park. “We are in discussion with Four Paws’ experts on this. The place is needed to relocate Madhubala, the other zoo elephant, and to have more elephants in future,” he said, adding that relocation of the elephant was a gigantic task for which foreign experts were ready to help.
“While some members of Four Paws are already here, others will be coming tomorrow. A container would be built for Madhubala to have a smooth travel during the relocation process.”
Dr Amir Khalil, heading the Four Paws’ team, said the organisation wasn’t a transport company to shift animals from one place to another. “We don’t want to shift the elephant to another zoo or Safari. It should be shifted to an elephant sanctuary that should be built per international standard in Pakistan. This requires a huge place and infrastructure and we need to start work on this from today.”
His team, he said, would have a detailed assessment of Madhubala to see whether she was healthy and fit for relocation. He said an elephant in such conditions would barely live for three days, but Noor Jehan survived for nine days. “She was a fighter.”
On Sunday, a vets’ team led by Dr Khalil, who had arrived from Egypt, carried out a post-mortem examination of Noor Jahan, and collected samples of her vital organs including heart, lungs, liver, kidneys and spleen. The samples were later sent to the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore. The examination report would be ready within two weeks.
“Noor Jehan was buried in a 14-foot-long and 12-foot-wide grave dug in her enclosure. Four tons of lime and disinfectants were poured and the elephant was buried using cranes,” stated a KMC press release.
Background
In August last year, some foreign experts performed major tusk surgeries on Noor Jehan and Madhubala after an intervention of the Sindh High Court, which was approached by the Pakistan Animal Welfare Society (Paws) and activists worried over the animals’ plight.
In 2021, the team submitted a report to the court, recommending a series of steps for elephants’ welfare including their relocation from the zoo to Safari Park for better environment.
Noor Jehan and Madhubala, along with two other elephants currently housed in the Safari Park, were brought to Karachi from Tanzania in 2010 at a very young age.
Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2023
ISLAMABAD: The telecom regulator is expected to enforce standards for all frequency-based devices from next month, a development that would help ease the rollout of the next-generation 5G cellular technology and streamline reckless usage of radio-based equipment across the country.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) already issued draft rules — titled ‘Regulations for Telecom Equipment Standards, 2023’ — earlier this year. They are likely to be notified next month once initial formalities are complete.
The regulations provide different standards for several kinds of telecommunication equipment and prescribe the procedure to test them.
Once the regulations are implemented, all locally manufactured and imported telecom equipment will have to follow the notified health, safety and security standards.
Regulations provide different standards for several frequency-based devices, prescribe procedure to test them
Syed Aminul Haque, the minister of IT and telecom, told Dawn that the general perceptions regarding “telecom equipment” was very limited, and many medical devices, traffic radars, Bluetooth-enabled devices, frequency jammers, etc., came under this category.
“There are numerous complaints that people have installed imported equipment and devices that can pull nearby signals, just like natural-gas compressors. It leaves a black hole–like situation with no signal for other users in the vicinity,” Mr Haque said.
He said the usage of such devices could not be stopped as there is no law regarding this.
“Besides, frequency standards for equipment were also needed if the country has to move towards implementing 5G technology,” he said.
Under the new regulations, “telecommunication equipment” means switches, equipment, wires, cables, apparatus, poles, structures, ducts, manholes and other than terminal equipment, comprising any telecommunication system or used in connection with any telecommunication service.
However, these regulations do not cover space radio communication or radio astronomy.
The regulations will apply to all licences issued under the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organisation) Act, 1996, including to those who manufacture and import telecommunication equipment.
The draft lists the standards for telecommunication equipment issued by several bodies — like the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) — that will be applicable and adopted by the PTA to be used for setting up, maintaining and operating telecommunication system or providing telecommunication services in Pakistan.
The minimum technical standards for telecommunication equipment are divided into several categories, such as electromagnetic compatibility standards (EMC); health and safety, optical and laser; radio frequency (RF) communication standards; specific absorption rate (SAR) standards/ human exposure standards; satellite communication standards; terminal mobile devices and communication standards; and terrestrial devices standards.
Once regulations are notified, obtaining a no-objection certificate from the PTA will be mandatory and complaints can be lodged with the authority over unauthorised usage of telecommunication equipment.
Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2023
ISLAMABAD: With the situation in the violence-hit Sudan getting precarious by the day and evacuations picking pace, the Foreign Office on Monday announced that the first batch of 500 Pakistanis have reached the country’s port safely for their onward to Saudi Arabia through sea.
The FO’s statement follows an announcement by Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Islamabad on Sunday, saying 91 people from various countries, including Pakistan, have been evacuated from Sudan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been personally monitoring for the last 72 hours the emergency plan for the evacuation of Pakistani nationals, APP quoted the PM Office as saying in a statement.
The 500 evacuated Pakistanis would be brought back home from Jeddah through special flights with the cooperation of Pakistan Air Force and the Pakistan International Airlines.
PM personally monitoring rescue efforts; S. Arabia evacuates scores, including Pakistanis
These Pakistanis are being provided temporary accommodation and food by the government on the directive of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari. Besides, an emergency helpline has been established at the Pakistan’s embassy in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum.
The crisis management cell at the FO has been reactivated to ensure safe repatriation of stranded Pakistanis from Sudan, where hundreds have been killed during the ongoing fighting between the army and Rapid Support Forces.
The measures for the protection of Pakistani nationals in Sudan are being constantly monitored and Pakistan’s embassy is also in contact with them, the FO said.
The diplomatic missions of Pakistan and other countries in the region were supporting Pakistan in the evacuation process and the foreign minister has already thanked the governments of Egypt and Turkiye in this regard.
Mr Bhutto-Zardari has also talked to his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan over telephone and the two also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
The foreign minister expressed profound gratitude for the kingdom’s assistance in the evacuation of Pakistanis. He agreed that the two countries would closely coordinate to facilitate evacuations.
The foreign minister expressed confidence that resumption of the kingdom’s diplomatic relations with Iran would lead to regional peace and prosperity.
“Pakistan and Saudi Arabia are bound by fraternal relationship marked by mutual trust and understanding, close cooperation and an abiding tradition of supporting each other. The people of Pakistan hold the custodian of the two holy mosques in the highest esteem,” the FM was quoted to have told his Saudi counterpart.
PM Shehbaz lauded the efforts of the foreign minister, Minister of State Hina Rabbani Khar, foreign ministry officers and Pakistan’s ambassador in Sudan.
The premier particularly appreciated the military authorities and other relevant people for their expertise and dutifulness in formulating an effective evacuation plan and its successful implementation.
He expressed gratitude to Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar Sidhu and Director General of ISI Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum for their special efforts in the evacuation process which involved multiple challenges and risks.
On Sunday, the Saudi Arabia’s Embassy in Pakistan while announcing the evacuation of 91 people said that the operation was carried out by the Royal Saudi Naval Forces with the support of various branches of the armed forces on the directives of the kingdom’s leadership.
“We are pleased to announce the safe arrival of the citizens of the Kingdom who were evacuated from the Republic of Sudan as well as several nationals of brotherly and friendly countries, including diplomats and international officials,” it said.
A total of 66 people from Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Pakistan, India, Bulgaria, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Canada, and Burkina Faso were evacuated.
The kingdom worked to provide all the necessary needs of foreign nationals in preparation for their departure to their respective countries, it added.
The main airport in Khartoum has been the site of heavy clashes, effectively shutting its operations and sparking multiple evacuation operations to rescue foreign citizens and diplomats by road, air and sea, AFP adds.
Some evacuations are taking place from Port Sudan on the Red Sea, an 850km drive from Khartoum, and others via nearby Djibouti and neighbouring Egypt.
A UN convoy carrying 700 people completed on Monday the arduous trip to Port Sudan.
Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2023
WASHINGTON: The Afghan Taliban are ready to cooperate with the US in combating the militant group Islamic State (IS) as they see jihadists ‘a threat to their own powerbase,’ Washington Post reported.
The Afghan government has been battling IS since August 2021 when it seized power after a 20-year-long war with the US and its allies, the report said while quoting US defence officials.
A senior defence official told the Post that “the duelling groups of religious fanatics are openly warring,” with the IS, attacking Afghan Taliban’s targets with the latter retaliating by targeting the former’s hideouts across Afghanistan.
“I would never want to say that we had mortgaged our counterterrorism to a group like the Taliban, but it’s a fact that, operationally, they put pressure on ISIS-K,” the official said. “In a strange world, we have mutually beneficial objectives there.”
Leaked intelligence pose militant group as a potent threat
Some part of the Post’s report was based on a leaked Pentagon assessment, claiming that the IS was once again using Afghanistan as a staging ground for plots against America, Europe and Asia.
The report portrayed the resurrected threat as a growing security concern.
When asked to comment, a US defence official acknowledged that “the [Afghan] Taliban has served as a check on ISIS” since 2021, when the group took over Kabul.
The Pentagon assessment cited specific plans to target churches, embassies, business centres and the World Cup soccer tournament. The report said that The White House declined to verify the assessment’s authenticity, although it was labelled top-secret and bore the logo of the Defense Department’s organisations.
The classified documents were posted online as part of a wider leak by Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeria, who federal authorities said shared them with friends on a private Discord server.
Current and former US officials told the Post that the leaked reports support earlier warnings that terrorist cells could return to life in Afghanistan.
The Biden administration, however, defended its counter-terrorism policies in a statement to the newspaper.
The United States “maintains the ability to remove terrorists from the battlefield without permanent troop presence on the ground,” National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson told the Post.
Nathan Sales, the State Department’s coordinator for counterterrorism told the Post that IS “has the ambition to attack American interests in the region and ultimately the US homeland itself.”
He urged Washington to make an urgent plan to attack the group’s leadership and infrastructure.
The Afghan Taliban has rejected the US intelligence assessment as incorrect.
A spokesperson for the Taliban’s Political Office, Suhail Shaheen, said IS “has been suppressed” and the report “does not reflect ground realities in Afghanistan.”
“Such reports reflect personal desires” of their authors, he said, adding: “The fact is that the [IS] has no physical presence in Afghanistan as it had during the invasion.”
Published in Dawn, April 25th, 2023