The Supreme Court, while hearing a review petition filed by Bahria Town against the apex court's earlier judgment overturning an illegal land 'swap', on Tuesday sought a complete record of land allotments made to Bahria Town Rawalpindi.

The apex court had on May 4, 2018 ruled against Bahria Town's illegal procurement of land for its housing projects across the country. One of the land acquisition deals that the court had ruled against concerned an encroachment on forest land in the Takht Pari area near Islamabad.

Under Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar's stewardship, a five-member larger bench of the court has been hearing Bahria Town's review petition against the verdict.

"The Takht Pari land was government land," the chief justice told Bahria Town's counsel (and PPP leader) Aitzaz Ahsan. "I should clarify that we will not allow even an inch of the land to be encroached. The court has stopped giving concessions."

The court and the counsel also disagreed on the total area of Takht Pari, with Justice Ijazul Ahsan maintaining that the area spans 2,210 acres but Ahsan arguing that the total area "as per land records is 1,770 acres".

"The court had [also] ruled [on the size of the land] on the basis of records," Justice Faisal Arab reminded the property developer's representative.

The chief justice also wondered what "role the former Punjab CM [Shahbaz Sharif] and others played in the allotment was", recalling that: "The forest land was given on the chief minister's instructions."

Upon being told by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa that "all the records are under the name of Chaudhry Saleh, Salik and others", the CJP ordered notices to be issued to all "Chaudhry families", and even pondered referring the matter to the National Accountability Bureau.

The Bahria Town counsel however claimed that the "CM had not allotted any land", to which Justice Ahsan pointed out that, "The CM's family did receive 270 kanals of land".

"Of the allotted land, 270 kanal was transferred to the children of the CM, which exposed the entire case," the judge explained.

"How this land went from the chief minister to Malik Riaz, the inquiry will reveal," the chief justice said, who also questioned what right a chief minister has to allot state land.

"In the US, the president cannot even allot a shack," he said.

"The chief minister should have protected the government land, not allotted it," he added.

Justice Ahsan concurred with the chief justice's assessment and questioned: "Who is the chief minister to give the order of demarcation?"

The chief justice, who termed the case a "blatant misuse of power", also highlighted the impact that the encroachment had had on the environment.

"10,000 trees were mowed down and an entire forest was demolished," he said. "A mountain was also destroyed. Who will pay for this environmental loss?

"The Rs1,000 billion we asked for from Malik Riaz was not excessive."

The Bahria Town counsel, however, contested the court's assessment of the damages, saying: "There is no evidence that any trees were mowed."

"The trees were torn on Bahria Town's own property," he later added.

The case's hearing was later adjourned till December 3.

A banking court extended for the fourth time the interim pre-arrest bail of former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and others in a money laundering case on Tuesday.

Banking court Judge Tariq Mehmood Khoso extended the bail of the suspects till December 10.

Both Zardari and Talpur reached the court amid tight security. Former Pakistan Stock Exchange chairman Hussain Lawai and other detained suspects were produced from prison.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had booked them along with several bankers and businessmen in a case pertaining to money laundering of Rs4.14 billion through ‘fake’ bank accounts in the Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and United Bank Limited.

Senior counsel Farooq H. Naek, who was representing Zardari and Talpur, submitted an application seeking an extension to his clients' pre-arrest bails — which the court granted.

The court also extended the interim bail of other suspects including Zain Malik, the son-in-law of real estate tycoon Malik Riaz and three sons of Anwar Majeed, till the next hearing.

During the hearing, the investigation officer (IO) of FIA submitted an application seeking custody of the detained bankers — Lawai and Taha Raza — and stated that their physical custody was required for further interrogation.

Defence counsel Shaukat Hayat opposed the IO's plea, arguing that the FIA officials have been using delaying tactics. He added that instead of the FIA, the matter is being investigated by a joint investigation team.

The court issued notices to the counsels, directing them to file comments on the FIA application by November 16.

Additionally, the IO requested the court to grant him further time to submit the final challan of the case. The judge allowed his plea and directed him to conclude the investigation and submit the challan at the next hearing.

Two detained suspects, Taha Raza and Anwar Majeed, were not produced from the prison, and their medical reports were instead presented before the court.

A prison official informed the court that Raza had got his right knee fractured as he slipped in the prison last month. The suspect, who is in judicial custody, has been hospitalised, and therefore could not be produced before the court as he was not able to move.

Businessman Majeed, who is widely believed to be a close aide of Zardari, could also not be produced since he had been shifted from jail to a hospital because of his ailment, the court was informed.

A gender-based violence court in Lahore on Tuesday handed life imprisonment and Rs500,000 in fine to a man convicted of raping a six-year-old girl.

The court — constituted specifically to deal with child abuse cases — stated in its judgement that Qari Mohammad Shahbaz was accused of raping the child, and a first information report (FIR) of the incident was registered at the Gulshan-e-Ravi Police Station, following which the victim's statement was recorded before the court.

"Prosecution proved their case and the accused, Qari Shahbaz, is convicted to life imprisonment along with a fine of Rs500,000," additional sessions judge Rehmat Ali said in the verdict.

The judgement further said that the convict's sentence could be extended by an additional six months, if he fails to submit the fine.

The gender-based violence court is a collaboration of Asian Development Bank and the Lahore High Court.

The restaurant sealed in Karachi at the weekend following the death of two minor siblings, also had its godown sealed on Monday after food authorities said they found expired meat and squash bottles in their custody.

The brothers had died on Sunday after dining out with their parents at Arizona Grill restaurant and consuming candy from a shop outside Chunky Monkey amusement park, according to police officials. Abrar Shaikh, the director for operations of food authority, had subsequently sealed the restaurant.

The food authority today raided the restaurant's godown as well where it found long-expired food products.

"Hundreds of sherbet (squash) bottles that were a year past their expiry dates and around 80kg of rotten meat were found," Shaikh said.

"Three-year-old meat was being served to the customers," he added.

Shaikh, in his earlier report submitted to the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, had stated that the said restaurant was recently given a notice to improve its hygiene conditions.

Following the aforesaid brothers' death, police on Monday had launched an investigation into the alleged food poisoning.

Ahmad, one and half years old, and Mohammad, 5, died from ‘food poisoning’ , “believed” the officials. Their mother, Ayesha, was admitted to a private hospital.

The autopsy was carried out at the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Centre (JPMC) on Monday, with Dr Sheeraz Ali Khowaja, the additional police surgeon at JPMC, telling Dawn that the cause of deaths will be disclosed in the chemical examination report.

The military's top brass on Tuesday discussed the prevailing security situation of the country and "expressed its resolve for continued support to all state institutions for ensuring writ of the state", an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) statement said.

The 215th Corps Commanders’ Conference, held at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, was presided over by Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.

According to the press release, the meeting reiterated that the country's peace, stability and prosperity lie in the rule of law.

"[The] Forum reviewed [the] geo-strategic environment and security situation of the country," it read.

The progress of the armed forces' ongoing operations was also deliberated upon, including fencing along the Pak-Afghan border and the evolving situation along the eastern border, especially Indian "ceasefire violations deliberately targeting innocent citizens".

The forum, which meets on a monthly basis, pledged its support towards the establishment of enduring peace in the country and the region, the statement said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday reaffirmed his government's resolve to respect the Supreme Court's judgement in the case of Aasia Bibi, a Christian woman recently freed from prison after her blasphemy conviction was overturned.

"As citizens of Pakistan, Aasia Bibi and her family are entitled to all rights as guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan," the premier told European Parliament President Antonio Tajani, who had telephoned Khan.

According to a press release issued by the Prime Minister's Office, Tajani thanked Khan for ensuring the safety and security of Bibi and her family.

Assuring the prime minister of the EU Parliament's cooperation with the Pakistani government, Tajani said that a debate on Bibi scheduled to be held in the EU Parliament had been postponed.

Bibi has been blocked from leaving Pakistan after the overturning of her conviction prompted a wave of protests by religiopolitical groups.

Read: Aasia is in Pakistan, won’t leave till end of legal process: minister

She has since been flown to a “safe place” in the country as several governments have offered to grant her family asylum.

In a tweet, the EU Parliament's head said Prime Minister Khan had "assured [him] that Aasia Bibi and her family are safe and well".

"We fully agreed on the need to respect all religions, everywhere in the world," he wrote.

According to the PM Office, the premier during the conversation stressed the need to respect "each other’s religions and sentiments", and called for enhanced dialogue and cooperation to promote intercultural and interfaith harmony.

Khan also conveyed "serious concerns" to Tajani regarding the issue of blasphemous cartoons, "underscoring the need to redouble efforts in European countries to avoid such provocative incidents".

The prime minister also stressed the need to create greater awareness about religious sensitivities of Muslims, particularly the respect for Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and promote interfaith harmony in EU countries.

According to the statement, Khan welcomed the European Court of Human Rights' decision "not to allow acts of blasphemy under the cloak of right to freedom of expression" and expressed the hope that European countries would implement the verdict.

MUZAFFARABAD: Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan said there was no military solution to the Kashmir issue and India would have to initiate dialogue with Pakistan and Kashmiris to find a way for a peaceful settlement of this longstanding dispute.

He said that Pakistan had always sought a peaceful resolution of the Kashmir dispute through dialogue, but India was adamant that it would settle the issue through military might by suppressing the voice of Kashmiri people for their internationally recognised right to self-determination.

He made these remarks on Tuesday while speaking to a delegation of 48th Pakistan Navy Staff Course, comprising 14 faculty members of the Navy War College and 92 course participants, including 20 officers from friendly countries.

Recalling that India and Pakistan had already fought three wars over the Kashmir issue, the AJK president cautioned that New Delhi’s persistent obduracy on the issue and its barbaric acts in occupied territory and indiscriminate shelling on civilian population along the Line of Control (LoC) could push both nuclear-armed states to the brink of a fourth war.

“It is the high time the UN secretary general take a step forward and appoint a special representative to explore a viable solution to this festering conflict and ensure lasting peace and stability in the region,” he said.

“The UN and world powers need to intervene in setting a stage for the settlement of the Kashmir issue before these two nuclear states indulge in a full-fledged war which will be a massive disaster engulfing not only the South Asian region but also a large part of the world,” he added.

About the draconian laws prevailing in India-held Kashmir, such as the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) and Public Safety Act (PSA) that give total impunity to India’s occupation machinery, President Khan told the delegation that an Indian soldier was at liberty to shoot and kill any person and nobody could hold him accountable for his act.

He said that a recent report on Kashmir by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights followed by a similar report compiled by the All Parties Parliamentary Kashmir Group in the British Parliament was a positive reflection of the fact that the international community had now started realising the gravity of the dispute.

He said that another report on the state of human rights in Kashmir was being compiled by a committee of the European Parliament.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

ISLAMABAD: The main opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has said the country faced the biggest-ever price hike in the month of October due to the alleged failed economic policies of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf-led government.

Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, former finance minister Dr Miftah Ismail, Senator Musaddiq Malik and PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb questioned the logic behind the government’s decision to hold talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for loans after getting bailout packages and assurances from Saudi Arabia, China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“When you have got money from Saudi Arabia, when you say that good news is about to come from China and when you say that more money is coming from the UAE, then what is the point in going to the IMF for a bailout?” the former finance minister remarked, regretting that the government had not even disclosed conditions attached to the bailout packages.

Question PTI govt talks with IMF after getting aid, assurances from ‘friendly’ countries

In the month of October, Dr Ismail said, the rate of price hike in Pakistan was seven per cent which was worrying.

Lashing out at the government for recent surge in prices of gas and electricity, he said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had paid Rs147,000 income tax last year, which showed that he was a middle-class person. “Imran Khan should tell the nation as to how he is paying electricity and gas bills [of his residence]? If his friends are paying the bills for petrol and vehicles, then what is the quid pro quo?” he asked.

Dr Ismail alleged that Aleem Khan, Faisal Vawda and Jahangir Tareen were paying money to the PTI chief and he should tell the nation as to what he was paying back to them.

The former finance minister alleged that the PTI-led government had increased the oil prices at a time when its prices in the international market had come down.

The PML-N leader said the country was strong enough to bear with the PTI government which, according to him, had ruined the country within just three months. He called the rulers “incompetent and liars”.

Senator Malik said Finance Minister Asad Umar had recently announced that Pakistan had come out of the financial crisis and become stable. He said if the crisis was over after getting bailout packages, then why the government was not withdrawing its mini-budget in which it had slashed huge amount from the development programmes in various sectors, including health, higher education and water.

Mr Malik, who had served as official spokesman for the prime minister during the previous PML-N government, regretted that the PTI government cut the budget of the housing ministry on the one hand while announcing construction of five million houses on the other. “Either the government should announce that the [financial] crisis is not over yet and we have failed or it should prove [with its actions] that the crisis is over,” he demanded.

Responding to a question, the PML-N senator said the impression that ongoing accountability process was one-sided would change when all others facing corruption charges would also be arrested like Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif. He alleged that the ministers who had failed to deliver started maligning the opposition out of “nervousness”.

Mr Malik said the PTI government had completed its 90 days and the opposition was waiting for the completion of 100 days to see its progress on the much-trumpeted 100-day programme. It seemed this 100-day programme would also be termed a “political statement” as the PTI had done on a number of occasions, he added.

Dr Ismail said the PML-N also wanted the government to bring back the looted money from abroad through courts instead of “media trial” of the opposition.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

KARACHI: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has taken serious notice of fake calls being received by the banking customers, warning them not to provide any information on phone calls.

“The SBP advises people not to share personal information like CNIC or bank account number, password etc on fake calls from individuals impersonating as officials of SBP,” said a press release issued on Tuesday.

“It has been noticed that time and again, fraudsters make calls to individuals, impersonating as officials of SBP or other agencies, seeking personal information regarding their accounts maintained with commercial banks and threatening they will be closed or frozen in case of non-verification of the credentials,” said the SBP.

“Public is advised to inform such incidents to law enforcement agencies and approach their banks immediately in case of any loss arising due to leakage of personal information,” said the SBP.

The press release stressed that the SBP, commercial and microfinance banks do not seek personal details including PIN, CNIC number, one-time password (OTP), accounts number, etc. from account holders on telephone.

Public is advised to report details of such calls on helpline at 021-111-727-273 or email at cpd.helpdesk@sbp.org.pk, said the SBP.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

LAHORE: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Khwaja Saad Rafiq and his brother Khwaja Salman Rafiq have approached the Lahore High Court for the transfer of inquiries against them pending with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB)-Lahore and seeking an action against its Director General Shahzad Saleem for violating the public servants’ code of conduct.

The Khwaja brothers contend through their counsel that the respondent NAB-Lahore DG had become a party to the cases against the PML-N leaders and showed his prejudice in his recent controversial interviews to different television channels.

They stated that the respondent had no legal authority to make remarks based on distorted facts when the matter was still pending, particularly with his own office.

They said the language and tone used by the respondent in his television interviews was tantamount to their character assassination and a malicious media trial.

The petitioners asked the court to order transfer of the inquiries from NAB-Lahore DG to any other region for disposal in accordance with law and also direct the NAB chairman to initiate appropriate disciplinary proceedings against the respondent for committing gross misconduct and violating code of a public servant.

They also urged the court to order the NAB chairman to remove the respondent from his post forthwith.

Previously, the Khwaja brothers also sent a letter to NAB chairman retired justice Javed Iqbal, requesting him to transfer the inquiries against them to any other regional office from Lahore and take action against Mr Saleem.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran have agreed to constitute a technical committee in order to resolve issues pertaining to railways of the two countries.

The decision was taken at a meeting between Minister for Railways Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Iranian Ambassador to Pakistan Mehdi Hoonardost here at the Ministry of Railways.

Both Mr Rashid and Mr Hoonardost underlined the importance of the Quetta-Taftan railway section between Pakistan and Iran. Mr Rashid said its upgradation was imperative for further cementing brotherly ties between the two countries.

The two sides also agreed to enhance cooperation in railways.

Secretary of Railway Board Farrukh Taimur Ghilzai, Director General Planning M. Yusuf and Director General Technical Syed Munawar Shah were also present during the meeting.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

QUETTA: Police are making all-out efforts to protect the life and property of people despite lack of resources, Balochistan’s Inspector General of Police Mohsin Butt has said.

“We are establishing investigation and intelligence schools to train our force on modern policing techniques for controlling crimes,” he said on Tuesday while addressing a farewell party held for retiring officers.

“More than 1,900 recruits are being trained at the Police Training Centre, who will be deployed to police stations short of the required strength after completion of their training,” the IGP added.

Those present on the occasion included Additional IGP Chaudhry Manzoor, DIG Headquarters Habib Hussain Imtiaz, DIG Quetta Abdul Razzaq Cheema and DIG CTD Aitzaz Goraya.

Regarding shuffling of Levies personnel, he said the issue was being negotiated, and in the meantime the police had asked the Balochistan Public Service Commission to arrange examinations for the appointment of assistant sub-inspectors, inspectors and deputy superintendents of police.

“The province lacks officers for many years but following the need of Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) officers, we have tabled our demands to the provincial government and a policy has been made to fill the gap,” Mohsin Butt said.

The IG in response to a question regarding deputation of a large number of policemen on VIP duties, he said that officers of Special Branch were carrying out various duties but now their intelligence-sharing duty had been shifted to the CTD.

Additional IGP Chaudhry Manzoor replied to a query that the Gawalmandi police station will soon become functional after its inauguration by Nov 30, while construction of new Civil Lines Police Station and Women Police Station will be completed in near future.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

ISLAMABAD: The National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) has taken serious notice of a major power breakdown that hit Karachi on Monday and directed K-Electric to immediately submit a detailed report on the issue.

In a statement, Nepra said it had taken notice of media reports that Karachi had witnessed another major breakdown in the early hours of Monday morning due to closure of the Bin Qasim Power Plant which resulted in the tripping of a high-voltage transmission line and KE’s isolation from the national grid.

The power breakdown caused great inconvenience to the people of Karachi who suffered hours-long power outage. The breakdown affected 80 per cent areas of the city.

Nepra highlighted that it was the fifth major power breakdown within two months.

“The authority has serious concerns on the prevailing situation in respect of poor performance of KE’s network,” the regulator said and directed the power utility to submit a detailed report on the latest incident along with preventive and corrective steps being taken to stop such breakdowns in future.

KE spokesperson Khayyam Siddiqui, on the other hand, blamed the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) for the power failure and said this had been brought to the notice of the regulator through a letter on the day of the power breakdown.

He said the KE had already intimated Nepra about abrupt disconnection of power supply to Karachi from the national grid. The letter says the tripping in the NTDC system due to adverse weather conditions caused a roll-over effect, resulting in outage in various parts of the city.

It further says that KE’s Bin Qasim Power Station-II and Korangi Combined Cycle Power Plant landed safely in island mode ensuring earliest possible restoration of power supply to the city.

Moreover, power supply to all strategic installations in the affected areas was restored on a priority basis. The KE also supplied power for a few hours to initialise the Port Qasim Coal Power Plant connected to the national grid.

The letter further says the power utility has taken up with the NTDC the matter of frequent tripping incidents of NTDC circuits during high humidity under the interim connectivity of the Port Qasim Coal Power Plant generation, resulting in sudden disconnections from the NTDC which cause serious problems for the KE.

The NTDC has been requested to carry out a complete system relay coordination study along with a meeting of all stakeholders to make a joint strategy to avert similar incidents in future.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

KARACHI/LAHORE: Nearly 22.5 million children in Pakistan are out of school, the majority of them girls, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report released on Tuesday.

The report titled ‘Shall I feed my daughter or educate her’: Barriers to girls’ education in Pakistan’ concluded that many girls simply had no access to education, including because of a shortage of government schools — especially for girls.

The report revealed that 32 per cent of primary school age girls were out of school in the country, compared with 21pc boys. By ninth grade, it added, only 13pc of girls were still in school.

As of 2017, it said, Pakistan was spending less than 2.8pc of its gross domestic product on education — far below the recommended four to six per cent.

Govt failing to educate a huge proportion of the country’s girls

“The Pakistan government’s failure to educate children is having a devastating impact on millions of girls,” said HRW women’s rights director, Liesl Gerntholtz, in a press release. “Many of the girls we interviewed are desperate to study, but instead are growing up without the education that would help them have options for their future,” she said.

The HRW interviewed 209 people for the report in all four provinces, most of them girls who have never attended school or were unable to complete their education.

Speaking to Dawn, HRW’s lawyer in Pakistan, Saroop Ijaz, said: “It seemed as if the government is tuned out and abdicated from its constitutional responsibility to provide free and compulsory education.”

However, he added, the new government did not have enough time — only about 90 days — and there was hope it would come up with a solid roadmap. “For PTI education was a major campaign point,” he said. “We just hope it translates into action as soon as possible because the scale of the problem is huge.”

Elin Martinez, a children’s rights researcher with HRW, said: “There is a lack of enforcement of government’s constitutional obligation to provide free and compulsory education such that parents who want to send their girls to school are often not able to do so as they can’t afford to pay informal fees.”

Among the factors keeping girls out of school, the report found, were the government’s under-investment in schools, lack of schools, prohibitive school fees and related costs, corporal punishment and a failure to enforce compulsory education.

For educationist Mosharraf Zaidi, the out of school issue was a structural problem. He said it certainly cannot be fixed by herding children into schools buildings as there are not enough schools.“The government can fix this problem by building more schools as a start,” he said. “But it has to ensure that schools are safe and productive places.”

The HRW also found poor quality both within the government and low-cost private schools, a lack of government regulation of private schools, and corruption. In addition to these factors within the education system, girls are also blocked from attending school by external factors including child labour, gender discrimination, child marriage, sexual harassment, insecurity, and attacks on education.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) extended on Tuesday pre-arrest interim bail of Opposition Leader in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz till Nov 20 and restrained the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting him.

Mr Shahbaz appeared before a two-judge bench, however, his lead counsel Azam Nazir Tarar was not available.

A lawyer told the bench that Mr Tarar was out of country to attend a conference. He asked the court to extend the concession of bail already granted to the petitioner.

The bench, headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, allowed the request.

PML-N workers were also present on the court who chanted slogans in favour of their party leaders.

On the last hearing, petitioner’s counsel argued before the bench that NAB initiated inquiries against his client into the cases of Punjab Saaf Pani Company, Ramzan Sugar Mills and assets beyond means.

He also questioned the jurisdiction of the anti-graft watchdog to probe into the matters.

He said the petitioner appeared before NAB investigation teams and provided them with all the required information and documents.

He said NAB summoned a person in one case but made arrest in another case as it did the same with Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, father of the petitioner.

The counsel said there were serious apprehensions that NAB might arrest the petitioner too at the time of his appearance in inquiry.

The bench allowed the bail to Mr Shahbaz subject to furnishing of two surety bonds of Rs1,000,000 each.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

ISLAMABAD: The federal government is getting annoyed by lukewarm response from the provinces in sending their nominations to complete the National Finance Commission (NFC) despite repeated requests, according to informed sources in the finance ministry.

Among other things, according to the sources, the Centre’s impatience to complete the NFC also stems from ongoing discussions with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a proposed bailout package, as the federal government has to indicate a clear line about financing arrangements for tribal districts being merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan have not yet sent their nominations for non-statutory (technical expert) members to the NFC. The only nomination has come from KP so far.

Sindh, KP, Balochistan are delaying NFC completion due to calls from finance ministry, military and IMF to reduce their share in divisible resources

The sources said the ministry of finance had renewed contacts with the provincial finance secretaries asking them to immediately send their nominations for non-statutory members of the NFC after federal Finance Minister Asad Umar expressed disappointment over the failure of the three provinces to send the nominations despite his personal requests to them at the meeting of the Fiscal Coordination Committee on Oct 31. The meeting was attended by all provincial finance ministers, including Sindh Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah who also holds the position of finance minister, as well as finance secretaries.

Another challenge in this matter is the absence of formal notification of the results of the national population census because of concerns expressed by various stakeholders, particularly about Karachi. The parameters of the next NFC award are widely anticipated to change for the provinces, particularly the addition of about five million souls from the tribal region into KP. This required a meeting of the Council of Common Interests to endorse the census results, notwithstanding objections, because a massive exercise of census could neither be repeated nor ignored.

Finance Minister Umar had initially written to the provinces on Sept 3 to confirm their existing members or make fresh nominations for non-statutory members so that the NFC could be reconstituted and deliberations for future resource distribution commenced.

Having received no response for over a month, the federal government reminded the provinces through follow-up letters on Oct 5 about their constitutional responsibility to complete the NFC to set the future course of sharing common financial resources.

The provinces have been reminded again on Monday and Tuesday that in terms of Clause (1) of Article 160 of the Constitution, the ninth National Finance Commission (NFC) was constituted on April 24, 2015. Since new governments are in place now both at the federal and provincial levels after Elections-2018, re-confirmation of the non-statutory members from the provinces is necessary. The five-year constitutional term of the ninth NFC is to expire in June 2020.

An official said the provinces perhaps were delaying the NFC completion owing to calls from various quarters — including the ministry of finance, the armed forces and the IMF — to “rebalance the transfer of larger chunk of divisible pool resources to the provinces” under the seventh NFC award, even though no change could be affected without consensus of the five stakeholders (the Centre and four provinces). Also, the Constitution promises that provincial shares cannot be reduced.

Finance ministers of the federal and provincial governments are the statutory members of the NFC. It is customary to include one non-statutory member from each province in NFC.

Practically, it would be a totally new NFC because all the finance ministers, except from Sindh, would be new faces on the constitutional body.

The PML-N government had last reconstituted the ninth NFC in Feb 2016 when Naveed Ahsan was made non-statutory member from Punjab in place of Dr Aysha Ghous-Pasha, who became provincial minister in the Shahbaz Sharif cabinet. The NFC, however, held only a couple of formal meetings in five years, instead of compulsory 10 biannual meetings.

As a consequence, the seventh NFC award announced in 2009 continued annual extensions and remains in place even now, instead of its constitutional term of five years. There have been calls from various quarters – including the defence authorities and former finance ministers – for re-adjustment in the Centre-provincial sharing of resources to create fiscal space for the Centre to meet additional requirement of security expenses, besides special allocations for special areas like Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and tribal areas now merged with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The previous NFC award had expired on June 30, 2015 but it had seen annual extensions since then. The provincial governments get shares from the federal government under the seventh NFC award as per the following formula: Punjab 51.74 per cent, Sindh 24.55pc, KP 14.62pc and Balochistan 9.09pc.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

RAHIM YAR KHAN: Two opposition MPAs and three former MPAs, belong to the PML-N, were among the 47 nominated and 100 unidentified people booked on Tuesday for protesting against irrigation water theft at Bahadurpur Chowk of the National Highway the other day.

Those booked included PPP MPA Mumtaz Ahmad Chang, PML-N MPA Chaudhry Muhammad Arshad, three former PML-N MPAs Mehmoodul Hassan Cheema, Mian Islam Aslam and Chaudhry Shauket Dawood, Kissan Bachao Tehreek (KBT) president Naseer Warraich, KBT general secretary Anees Iqbal, Anjuman Kashtkaran president Chaudhry Yasin, Kissan Board president Riaz Ahmad Cheema and PML-N MPA’s son Azhar Shafiq.

According to the first information report, the suspects were involved in the criminal activity of blocking the national highway for several hours, misuse of loudspeaker against the government, use of sticks and bamboos for making the motorists hostage in their vehicles and spreading rumours against the administration.

Sadiqabad Saddar police registered a case against them on alleged violation of Section 144 and various other sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, Punjab Sound System (Regulation) Act 2015 and 16 Maintenance of Public Order.

The spokesperson for the police, Zeeshan Mehmood Randhawa, told Dawn the police had arrested some of the suspects but their names would be disclosed later.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

MULTAN: Veteran politician Javed Hashmi says reports of technocrats government are doing the rounds in Islamabad but he sincerely feels the PTI government should complete its tenure.

Talking to media here on Tuesday, the senior politician said the PTI government was being weakened due to wrong policies of Imran Khan.

“The PTI chief has committed a number of mistakes during his 87-day rule and now his friends have become his critics,” he said.

He said Banigala had been declared as a national park where no one had the ownership rights. He said the residence of PM Imran Khan had been constructed on the land of national park and no one had courage to demolish it rather he was being asked to get it regularised.

Talking about his days in PTI, Hashmi said once he was told that father of Zulfi Bukhari would bear all expenses of his election campaign in Islamabad but he refused.

He said the only purpose of the NAB nowadays was to suppress the old political parties for making room for new political parties. He alleged 95pc employees of NAB were corrupt.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif will testify in the Al-Azizia/Hill Metal Establishment reference before an accountability court here on Wednesday.

Hearing the case on Tuesday, Accountability Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik said he would record the statement of Mr Sharif under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

After recording the testimony, the court would continue cross-examination of the last prosecution witness, Mohammad Kamran, in the Flagship Investment reference.

Mr Sharif would record his statement in the Flagship reference after the defence counsel would conclude cross-examination of the last witness who is the investigation officer of this reference.

As per the charge sheet against the former premier in the Al-Azizia reference, Mr Sharif has been accused of owning assets which are disproportionate to his known sources of income. It says transactions have been carried out between Mr Sharif’s family members and their companies without any plausible explanation and consideration which are utilised for acquisition of assets ostensibly in the name his sons — who are also co-accused in the case — with a purpose to conceal the real source of investment.

It further says that being dependants the co-accused have no independent source of income and in capacity of abettor ostensibly hold the assets on behalf of and for the benefit of Mr Sharif to conceal the actual sources for acquiring the assets which belong to Mr Sharif. “Your Gulf Steel Mills sale agreement was found untrue thereby you accused Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif committed an offence of corruption and corrupt practices as defined under section 9(a)(v) of NAO, 1999, punishable under section 10 of the NAO, 1999. I hereby direct that you be tried by this court,” the charge sheet says.

After recording of the statement, in the last stage, the court would invite both the prosecution and the defence counsel to advance final arguments to conclude the proceedings.

The Supreme Court has set Nov 18 as the deadline for the accountability court to conclude proceedings in the Al-Azizia and Flagship Investment references.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018

KARACHI: The Sindh Assembly was informed on Tuesday that a hefty amount of Rs700 million was recovered by the excise and taxation department during the past 11 days of an ongoing campaign against defaulters of motor vehicle tax.

Furnishing a statement during the Sindh Assembly’s Question Hour that pertained to his department, Excise and Taxation Minister Mukesh Kumar Chawla said that the department made the “record” recovery with the cooperation of the people who came up in large numbers to pay the tax.

He also thanked the media for effectively advertising the campaign.

The assembly session, which was scheduled to be held at 10am, commenced at 11.45am with Deputy Speaker Rehana Leghari in chair.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan lawmaker Javed Hanif asked if the people were being overcharged under the garb of this campaign.

Dispelling the impression of possible overcharging, the minister said that all payments were collected through pay orders to ensure transparency. He also clarified that evaders or those who had been plying their vehicles without paying the tax were bound to pay dues as well.

To a question by opposition member Arif Mustafa Jatoi, the excise minister said that the National Highways and Motorway Police was a federal agency and their vehicles were registered at Islamabad as their headquarters was located in the capital.

However, he added, if any federal department applied for registration of a vehicle in Karachi, the request was entertained as per law and rules and the registration mark “GP”, reserved exclusively for federal government departments, was allotted to it.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf MPA Khurram Sher Zaman moved a supplementary question asking about the policy towards allotment of foreign registration number plates.

He said that some MPAs and ministers were also using foreign number plates of Dubai and Qatar and these vehicles could be seen parked on the premises of the assembly. He asked if the excise department issued such registration number plates.

The excise minister said that those vehicles plying with a number plate of foreign countries were allowed by the federal government.

He said that the provincial excise and taxation department registered only custom paid vehicles and the data of vehicles with foreign number plates was with the federal government. However, he would provide it to the members if they wanted.

To another supplementary question by an opposition member, Mr Chawla said that there were 500,000 number plates lying in stores of the department as the people did not turn up to collect them for years. He said that the department could not dispose of those 500,000 number plates, but they were trying to make an up-to-date system. He said that there was issue of space with the excise department for stocking number plates.

To another question, the excise minister said that no staff from any other department was working on deputation in the excise and taxation department. “Nor is any official of the excise department deputed in any other department”, he added.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2018