PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench has declared illegal the detention of two Tehreek-i-Labaik Pakistan activists under the Maintenance of Public Order Ordinance on the order of Kohat’s deputy commissioner.

Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth and Justice Mussarat Hilali disposed of a petition jointly filed by two residents of Kohat, including Pir Salim Shah and Attiqur Rehman, against their detention under the MPO, and ordered their release if they’re not wanted in any other case.

The petitioners were taken into custody by the local police on Nov 23 during a countrywide crackdown on the TLP activists.

Declares 30-day detention illegal

The deputy commissioner of Kohat had issued orders under Section 3 of the MPO for detaining them for a period of 30 days.

The DC had claimed in the order that the two were posing threat to public order through their conduct.

Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, lawyer for the petitioners, said his clients were respectable citizens and had never been charged for committing any offence.

He said the administrations of different districts had issued stereotyped orders under the MPO through which scores of people were detained under the MPO.

The lawyer said if the petitioners were involved in creating any unrest in society, they should have been charged under the Pakistan Penal Code.

He said no evidence was available against his clients to show that they instigated the people to create unrest in society.

The lawyer said his clients were no threat to public peace and tranquility and therefore, invoking Section 3 of the MPO against them was illegal.

An additional advocate general contended that in the past, the petitioners were involved in the blockade of roads and damaging of public properties and since it was feared that they would resort to similarly acts again, orders for their detention were issued.

ACQUITTED: An additional district and sessions judge has acquitted two people charged with smuggling a huge quantity of contraband over two years ago.

Judge Ashfaq Ali Haider ruled that the prosecution failed to prove the charge against Imran Khan and Farhad and that the evidence on record did not connect them with the commission of the offence.

The prosecution claimed that 50kg charas was recovered from the accused by the officials of Chamkani police station near the Motorway Toll Plaza here on Apr 13, 2016, as they travelled in a car.

The two were charged under Section 9-C of the Control of Narcotics Substance Act.

The defence counsel contended that the prosecution witnesses had recorded conflicting statements regarding the recovery of the contraband.

He argued that the prosecution failed to show any secret cavities in the car in which the accused travelled, while the Forensic Science Laboratory’s report about seized narcotics was dubious as it was produced after a delay of several days.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2018

PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit the provincial capital on Friday (today) where he would be briefed on the provincial government’s100-day plans.

A statement issued here said that the prime minister would attend a special meeting of the provincial cabinet and later a programme at Nishtar Hall.

It said that the provincial government had identified 25 initiatives to pursue during the next five years under the premier’s directions.

In health sector, the KP government has planned to recruit additional 4,000 LHWs to ensure coverage of all rural areas in addition to rolling out a rural ambulance service to transport mothers and children to health facilities. The government will also ensure that 80 per cent of expectant mothers give birth in health facilities.

“Within three years, the government is committed to ensuring that all 120 secondary hospitals in the province provide 24/7 services and each district has at least one fully operational secondary health facility within a year,” it said.

In agricultural sector, the government plans to introduce a functional IT-based market intelligence system to increase farmers profit by 15-20 per cent along with reclaiming 5,500 hectares of cultivatable wastelands.

It said that KP would become the first province to launch police station-based budget this year along with fourfold increase in the number of female police officers.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2018

ISLAMABAD: The Voice of America (VoA) has called upon Pakistan to lift a block on two of its websites, in Urdu and Pashto.

“In the interest of press freedom, VoA calls upon those responsible for blocking our content to immediately remove these constraints,” said Amanda Bennett, the director of VoA, in a statement.

“Any attempt to block our websites deprives Urdu and Pashto speakers in the region access to a trusted news source,” she continued, adding that the organisation was “troubled” by the block.

The VoA Urdu website has been partially or fully blocked since early this month and the site for VoA Deewa, the Pashto language service, since late October, she added.

The websites have been irregularly accessible in Islamabad in recent days.

Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry told VoA the block was in place due to “false and prejudiced reporting”.

“The stories they were doing were only projecting a particular narrative without any impartial view,” he said, according to a story published by VoA on its English-language site. “There are many things happening in our country and most are positive.” In the article VoA blamed the penalty on its coverage of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM).

Recently, the military warned the PTM that it will use force against them if they “cross the line”.

In January, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Pashto-language station — Radio Mashaal — was closed for airing content “against the interest of Pakistan”.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2018

ISLAMABAD: A Senate committee on Thursday called for formulation of an independent body to investigate cybercrime as specified in the law.

The Senate Standing Committee on Delegated Legislation met to discuss the progress made after promulgation of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca) 2016.

Under Peca, while the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has been authorised to block objectionable content on internet on the basis of a complaint, the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) has been designated — with the approval of the Cabinet Division — to investigate offences committed on internet such as harassment and bank frauds.

Chair observes PTA has abdicated its investigation powers to FIA

The meeting was informed that it took two years to draft rules related to FIA’s operations under Peca that were notified in September.

However, rules for the formulation of an independent body to check and investigate objectionable content on internet have not been formulated.

Committee chairman Senator Ayesha Raza Farooq observed that that the PTA had abdicated its investigating powers to the FIA.

She asked the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoIT) for a timeline on how soon the independent body would be set up to figh cybercrime.

Responding to some of the observations made by the committee, MoIT secretary Maroof Afzal said that they were in the process of forming a new independent investigation agency to probe cybercrime. The inter-ministerial committee (IMC) was in the process of deciding its areas of operations, he said.

“Similarly, work on a forensic laboratory that will have advanced capabilities is also ongoing,” he told the meeting.

The meeting was informed that a new inter-ministerial committee was constituted in November that wanted to revisit the law on cybercrime for better understanding and that the new IT minister also wanted to review Peca.

Responding to a question as to how soon the independent body could be formed to investigate cybercrime, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Khan assured the committee that he would push the IMC to expedite its formulation.

“While social media is a powerful source for information, it can be a potent tool for abuse and can be used negatively. Social media cannot be allowed to malign anyone’s reputation and lines must be drawn,” the state minister said. He argued that nowhere in the world there was complete freedom of speech.

The committee was informed that after consultations with stakeholders, mostly security agencies, it could take anywhere up to three months before the independent investigation body was formed.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2018

The Supreme Court while hearing a suo motu case on the shortage of clean drinking water in Balochistan's Bhagnari area on Friday formed a commission tasked with coming up with recommendations for ending the shortage.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had taken suo motu notice of the non-availability of pure and safe drinking water to the people of Bhagnari, Bolan. The notice was taken on a viral video that showed people and animals of the area drinking contaminated, polluted and unhygienic stagnant water from the same pond outside Bhagnari.

The video was played in court before a three-member bench headed by the top judge today, to which the chief justice said: "Look at this situation, how people are being made to drink poison."

When asked who was representing the provincial government, the advocate general responded that the chief secretary was currently in Iran. The chief justice then suggested calling the chief minister to court.

Justice Nisar asked the deputy commissioner Bolan if the video played in court was authentic, to which the latter replied in the affirmative.The DC said that all the problems in the area were due to a shortage of water, and added that an RO plant would be set up there in two months.

"It is not the government's responsibility to provide clean drinking water, it is the responsibility of the concerned individuals to clean water and give it to citizens," Justice Nisar said. "At the very least, the pond's water could have been been treated."

Despite a total expenditure of Rs2,400 million being spent, not a single RO plant had been set up in Balochistan, the top judge observed, adding that none of the funds was spent on development projects.

Residents of Bhagnari, who appeared in court today, told the bench that their situation is "even worse than Thar".

They told the chief justice, upon questioning, that Bhagnari is 200 kilometres away from Quetta. "Only one road leads to Bhagnari, and it is an hour's journey," they said.

Upon mention of Thar during the hearing, the chief justice summoned MNA Ramesh Kumar to the rostrum.

"Even in Thar, no one seems ready to drink water from an RO plant," Justice Nisar, who had recently visited the area, said. He wondered why a development authority had not been formed for Thar, and directed the Sindh advocate general to ask the chief minister to form a Thar Development Authority.

"Engro has been given a contract in Thar," the chief justice said. "All the money goes into salaries. Do you know how much their directors' salaries are? I have intentionally remained silent."

Read more: Resigned due to 'indifference' of Sindh rulers towards Tharis, says Thar mining firm's CEO

"Drinking water is not just an issue in Bhagnari," the chief justice said. "I will summon the Balochistan chief minister, I will summon the entire cabinet if I have to."

The court formed a two-member commission headed by Supreme Court Bar Association President Amanullah Kanrani. Engineer Usman Babai was appointed as the second member of the commission.

The body was ordered to probe the issue, to come up with recommendations for ending the shortage, and to submit a report on the matter within two weeks.

"Make a list of areas in Balochistan where there is water issue," the chief justice told Kanrani, who replied that he could make a report and submit it to court within a week.

Additionally, the court ordered the setting up of an RO plant and submission of a report within two weeks.

Officials from Irrigation and other departments were directed to fully cooperate with the commission.

The case was adjourned for two weeks.

MNA Shahzain Bugti, speaking outside the court, thanked the chief justice for taking notice of Balochistan's issues. He said that the province also faces a shortage of doctors, with only one doctor for every 120 hospital beds.

ISLAMABAD: The government and the opposition have failed to break the deadlock over the terms of reference (ToR) of the parliamentary panel on election rigging.

A meeting of the sub-committee of the parliamentary panel presided over by federal Minister for Education and Professional Training Shafqat Mehmood on Thursday reviewed the ToR presented by the two sides, but failed to reach a consensus. They, however, agreed to place the matter before the main committee headed by Defence Minister Pervez Khattak.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, Shafqat Mehmood claimed that the brief ToR of the opposition were comprehensive in nature and took into account all aspects linked with the conduct of general elections.

About the controversy over the mandate of the committee to probe matters concerning polls, Mr Mehmood said a letter about Article 225 had been written to chairman of the committee Pervez Khattak who had sent a reference to National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser, seeking a ruling if the committee could hold a probe. He said the speaker has asked for resolving the matter within the parliamentary committee.

He said the main committee would also decide if the sub-committee could comprise more than four members. A writ petition challenging the composition of the sub-committee has been filed. He, however, said the sub-committee had completed its work and its fate would be decided by the main committee.

The special parliamentary committee constituted by the NA speaker to probe allegations of rigging in the July 25 general elections had on Nov 9 formed a sub-committee headed by Shafqat Mehmood to finalise ToR for it.

The parliamentary committee comprising 15 members each from the government and opposition benches was formed in October. The committee, mandated to review allegations of irregularities, was formed following the opposition’s demand, but Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry raised questions over its legality, citing a constitutional provision (Article 225) under which electoral disputes can be taken only to the election tribunals, even before finalisation of the committee’s ToR.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2018

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday inaugurated a shelter home in Peshawar during his one-day visit to the provincial capital.

According to Radio Pakistan, the prime minister will inaugurate three more shelter homes that have been built by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government as part of its 100-day plan. The homes will have the capacity to accommodate more than 400 people.

Last month, the premier laid the foundation stone of a shelter house for the homeless in Lahore.

An official statement said that the prime minister will also attend a special meeting of the KP cabinet today and later a programme at Nishtar Hall. He will be briefed on the province's 100-day performance.

It said that the provincial government had identified 25 initiatives to pursue during the next five years under the premier’s directions.

In health sector, the KP government has planned to recruit additional 4,000 LHWs to ensure coverage of all rural areas in addition to rolling out a rural ambulance service to transport mothers and children to health facilities. The government will also ensure that 80 per cent of expectant mothers give birth in health facilities.

In agricultural sector, the government plans to introduce a functional IT-based market intelligence system to increase farmers profit by 15-20 per cent along with reclaiming 5,500 hectares of cultivatable wastelands.

It said that KP would become the first province to launch police station-based budget this year along with fourfold increase in the number of female police officers.

At the Tanjai Cheena school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa students squeeze into makeshift classrooms where plastic tarps serve as walls and electricity is sparse, as a surging population overstretches the country's fragile education system.

Sandwiched behind desks like sardines, students repeat words learned in Pashto and English during an anatomy lesson: “Guta is finger, laas is hand”.

Two teachers rotate between four classrooms at the school, which lacks even the most basic amenities including toilets.

“The girls usually go to my house and the boys to the bushes,” says principal Mohammad Bashir Khan, who has worked at the school in the picturesque Swat Valley for 19 years.

With birth control and family planning virtually unheard of in this ultraconservative region, the ill-equipped public school system has not kept up with population growth.

“In 1984, when my father started the school, there were 20 to 25 kids. Now they are more than 140,” Khan says.

Pakistan sits on a demographic time bomb after years of exponential growth and high fertility rates resulted in a population of 207 million — two-thirds of whom are under the age of 30.

And each year the country gains three to four million more people, overburdening public services from schools to hospitals.

'Emergency education'

At the Malok Abad primary school in the town of Mingora, 700 boys share six classrooms, many of which remain damaged from a 2005 earthquake with clumps of plaster still falling from their ceilings.

The youngest students study in the courtyard sitting on the ground, while others are forced to gather on the roof under the baking sun.

“We are doing our best. But those kids are neglected by the system,” says teacher Inamullah Munir. On the girls' side, the situation is even more dire with the smallest classes hosting up to 135 students packed into a space measuring about 20 square metres.

“This is emergency education,” said Faisal Khalid, a local director at the education department in Swat. The stakes are high in a country where education has long been neglected and received little in the way of funding as Pakistan focused on fighting militancy.

Swat shouldered the extra burden of combating a deadly Taliban insurgency that saw dozens of schools destroyed and the shooting of schoolgirl and education activist Malala Yousafzai in 2012.

As peace has returned to the region, public spending on education has increased, but it still falls short of the province's growing needs.

Prime Minister Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf has made “quality education for all” its rallying cry since taking the helm of the provincial government in 2013.

In the last five years 2,700 schools have been built or expanded, while 57,000 new teachers have been recruited.

Authorities have also more than doubled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's education budget between 2013 and 2018.

“That was the biggest increase in the history of this province,” explains Atif Khan, the former provincial education minister.

Low literacy levels

But the rise in spending is no match for the country's swelling demographics, even as the government plans to expand existing facilities and extend working hours in an attempt to meet demand.

The top-ranked public high school in provincial capital Peshawar is a striking example of the challenges facing educators and students, who number 70 to a room despite the addition of a dozen new classrooms.

“The more classrooms we build, the more they will be filled,” says Jaddi Kalil, who heads the educational services department in the area.

Pakistan now spends 2.2 per cent of its GDP on education, the country's Minister of Education Shafqat Mahmood told AFP, adding that the amount was set to double in the coming years.

Even more worrying, the increased funding has failed to put a dent in the province's illiteracy rates, with only 53 per cent of children above 10 years of age able to read and write.

The situation is replicated across Pakistan, with 22.6 million children out of school nationwide — a figure that is likely to increase, given the country's unbridled population growth.

The quality of teaching is also a cause for concern with just one in two students able to solve basic math problems upon completing primary school, according to the finance ministry.

“Only elites have access to quality education,” a recent report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said.

With its economy already on the rocks, Pakistan faces the unenviable task of having to create between 1.2 and 1.5 million skilled jobs annually to employ recent graduates, the UNDP report said.

Poor education is a “recipe for frustration”, while good education “allows for more cohesion and less extremism”, said Adil Najam, the author of the UNDP study.

“All the important problems of Pakistan are related to education.”

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had won the people's mandate in the 2018 general elections without dishing out billions of rupees in development funds and solely on the basis of its performance.

Speaking at a ceremony held in connection with the completion of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government's 100 days in office, the prime minister thanked the people of KP for re-electing his party this year and said that the PTI had not employed any "traditional, political tactics" to win the polls.

"In 2013 [elections], we got a coalition government and in 2018, the people of Pakhtunkhwa who never give another chance [to political parties] gave the PTI a fantastic mandate," he said in his address at Peshawar's Nishtar Hall.

In a reference to the PML-N, he claimed that the previous government of Punjab had spent billions in development funds in order to influence the 2018 elections.

He termed KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan as an "honest" man. He said the people had "made a lot of fun" when the PTI elected Usman Buzdar, who hails from a backward region, as the Punjab chief minister.

"The people of Punjab were in the wrong habit for the past 30 years of seeing a chief minister who acts a king," he said, referring to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and president Shahbaz Sharif. In comparison, he said, Usman Buzdar was a "simple man" who did not use a heavy protocol or spend lavishly.

"[Buzdar] is an honest and a courageous [man] who stood up in the face of big mafias," Khan said.

He said it was for the first time in Pakistan's history that a government (of PTI) was making efforts to create a uniform education system in the country which he said would be crucial in bridging the rich-poor divide.

He reminded the ministers and officials seated in the audience that all of them needed to go to their offices daily and remain there till the evening, adding that he will know whether or not they are going to their offices.

"And then none of you should say 'my ministry was taken away from me' [if you are replaced for not going to work]," the prime minister cautioned.

In a lighter vein, Khan said previous governments always used to be afraid that if a minister is removed, he or she will form a forward bloc and "the government will be toppled". "We don't even face that issue now," he added, amidst laughter from the audience.

"Keep in mind, I am receiving messages from a lot of MPAs who all want to become ministers, so if you don't work [be ready to be replaced]," he said tongue in cheek while addressing the ministers.

The premier reminded the provincial lawmakers that the sole target of their 100-day plan should be to create policies for the uplift of the poor segment of the society. He urged the officials to remind the bureaucrats working under them that they needed to ensure 'ease of doing business' to generate investment in the country.

'Pakistan has arranged US-Taliban talks'

Prime Minister Khan reiterated that the same United States "that had been asking us to 'do more'" is now asking Pakistan to facilitate its talks with the Afghan Taliban.

"When I used to say this matter cannot be resolved without dialogue, [they] would term me 'Taliban Khan'," he said, revealing that Pakistan had arranged talks between the US and the Taliban that are scheduled for December 17.

If peace is achieved in Afghanistan, he said, Peshawar would become a hub for tourism and commerce. He also announced that the Balahisar Fort in the city would be turned into a centre for tourism in order to generate revenue.

Khan said the government was collecting funds for the Mohmand dam, which when constructed will "solve Peshawar's water problem forever".

Before the ceremony, the premier inaugurated a shelter home in Peshawar during his one-day visit to the provincial capital.

The prime minister was also briefed on four more shelter homes that have been built by the KP government as part of its 100-day plan. The homes will have the capacity to accommodate 200 people each.

Last month, the premier had laid the foundation stone of a shelter house for the homeless in Lahore.

An official statement had said the prime minister would also attend a special meeting of the KP cabinet today. He will be briefed on the province's 100-day performance.

It said that the provincial government had identified 25 initiatives to pursue during the next five years under the premier’s directions.

In health sector, the KP government has planned to recruit additional 4,000 lady health workers (LHWs) to ensure coverage of all rural areas in addition to rolling out a rural ambulance service to transport mothers and children to health facilities. The government will also ensure that 80 per cent of expectant mothers give birth in health facilities.

In agricultural sector, the government plans to introduce a functional IT-based market intelligence system to increase farmers profit by 15-20 per cent along with reclaiming 5,500 hectares of cultivatable wastelands.

It said that KP would become the first province to launch police station-based budget this year along with fourfold increase in the number of female police officers.

A prayer leader at Sarhandi mosque in Hyderabad was arrested on Friday after a video of him allegedly beating seminary students with a pipe circulated on social media, Sindh police announced via Twitter.

In the video doing rounds on social media, an individual is seen hitting a child with what appears to be a pipe. When the person filming the ordeal asks the teacher to refrain from doing so, the two share an exchange of words in which a third individual also joins in. The individual beating the children tells the camera person to not interfere in the matter and instead offer his prayers.

Following the exchange, the video again shows the individual hitting another child. When the person filming the video asks the child why he was being punished, the pupil, who was in tears by then, said he had been "absent yesterday and the day before".

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took notice of the incident and sought a report from the Hyderabad commissioner.

"Violence against children will not be accepted under any condition," CM Shah was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his spokesperson. A counselling programme should be formed in consultation with the education and religious affairs departments, the chief minister said.

"Children are innocent, their education and training should be done with compassion," he said.

The last eight matches of the total 34 matches of Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2019, will be played in Pakistan — with three in Lahore and five in Karachi, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) revealed on Friday while announcing the schedule for the fourth edition of the cricket league through a press release.

The final is set to held on March 17, 2019 in Karachi.

The schedule was also shared by the franchise on Twitter.

The matches set to be held in Karachi will be played at the city's National Stadium while the matches in Lahore will be played at the Gaddafi Stadium.

The tournament will kick-off with an opening match in Dubai on Feb 14, between defending champions Islamabad United and the sixth-ranked team, formerly Multan Sultans, whose contract was terminated by the Board due to their inability to meet their financial obligations under the PSL agreement.

In addition to the matches scheduled to be played domestically, 14 matches will be played at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai, four at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and eight matches at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah.

“The PCB believes the HBL PSL is a gateway to resumption of international cricket in Pakistan. By successfully staging eight matches in Lahore and Karachi with the support of the local authorities, the PCB is optimistic that it will once again prove to the world that Pakistan is as safe and secure a place as any other part of the world to play international cricket," the press release stated.

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister Pervez Khattak to deposit Rs1.365 million in ten days for a provincial government advertisement in which his photograph was featured.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar was hearing a suo motu case pertaining to media campaigns run by the governments of Sindh, KP, and Punjab. The top judge had taken suo motu notice of the issue in February.

During the hearing today, the additional advocate general for KP said that Khattak was willing to deposit Rs 1.365m and would pay the amount out of his own pockets.

The court allowed him to do so within a period of ten days and added that a report should be submitted after the amount was deposited.

In the same case, former Punjab chief minister and current Leader of the Opposition Shahbaz Sharif has already paid Rs5.5 million while Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has paid Rs1.4 million.

On April 4, CJP Nisar — during a hearing of the case — had deemed using pictures for self-promotion as inappropriate.

"The use of pictures in government ads on TV or in print is henceforth prohibited by the court," he had ruled.

ISLAMABAD: Amid criticism over abrupt devaluations, the government and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Friday said the country’s exchange rate has now reached ‘near to equilibrium’ and is reflective of the market conditions.

At a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Finance & Revenue, SBP Governor Tariq Bajwa reluctantly agreed to discuss recent depreciation of rupee against dollar after his assertions to hold in-camera briefing were rejected by the panel.

Bajwa explained that exchange rates generally move on demand and supply in the market and the key reason behind the recent devaluation was the last fiscal year’s $19-billion current account deficit.

“Such a large gap had to be met from somewhere,” said the governor, explaining either the central bank could have intervened in the market to protect the rupee-dollar parity or let it move according to market forces, more so when reserves were not enough.

Read more: Govt wants SBP to consult Centre on exchange rate

The governor said unlike countries with huge reserves following fixed or those with pegged and floating exchange rates, Pakistan had been following a graduated approach — intervening at times to support exchange rate and making adjustments occasionally. “We have been doing both things.” The SBP kept exchange rate unchanged for quite a long time but since December 2017 has made six adjustments as its reserves dropped from $18bn to about $7.5bn.

According to Bajwa, Pakistan’s current account deficit was a true reflection of the $36bn trade gap (imports at about $60bn while exports at $24.5bn), which was partly financed by $18-19bn remittances in the absence of any major support in the form of foreign direct investments.

He said the results of current adjustments, jointly made by SBP and the government, have started to show results as the imports dropped from a 24pc growth in FY18 to 0.7pc decline this year while exports have risen by 4pc. He said the policy objective at this stage was to ensure stabilisation and growth and the government was also working on incentives to attract higher remittances.

The governor noted that the overvalued currency had played an adverse role because it meant keeping imports cheaper that ate up foreign exchange on one hand while affecting industry on the other, which is evident from continuously declining industrial growth as percentage of GDP since exports became expensive and handicapped to compete.

Bajwa said that with policy rate of 10pc, the real effective interest rate in Pakistan was now about 4-4.5pc which was generally in line with regional countries because the underlying objective was to ensure stabilisation. “Once that is achieved, only then we could move to the next stage of higher economic growth and low inflation,” he said.

Read more: What lessons can we learn by examining the roots of Pakistan’s current account malaise?

Responding to a question, he said the level of current account deficit at the year-end was unsustainable but market sentiments also played a role as the central bank and its reserves came under pressure. Bajwa also conceded the inflation had gone up as aggregate demand increased but steps were in place to contain prices and keep economic growth at a certain level to ensure stability and growth.

The economic team, which also includes Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar, faced criticism as flight of capital was still on from all the major airports and through Peshawar land route while undervalued imports continued to flow from China.

Azhar said the government targeted luxury imports through the supplementary bill soon after coming to power and has now signed a memorandum of understanding with China for electronic exchange of trade data to crack down under-invoicing.

He too agreed the exchange rate was unnecessarily and artificially overvalued in the last few years before former finance minister Miftah Ismail allowed devaluation to Rs124 per dollar but it still wasn’t enough as industry had already suffered a lot. “With the latest exchange depreciation, we are now quite near to equilibrium,” he said.

Published in Dawn, December 14th, 2018

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) had won the people's mandate in the 2018 general elections without dishing out billions of rupees in development funds and solely on the basis of its performance.

Speaking at a ceremony held in connection with the completion of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government's 100 days in office, the prime minister thanked the people of KP for re-electing his party this year and said that the PTI had not employed any "traditional, political tactics" to win the polls.

"In 2013 [elections], we got a coalition government and in 2018, the people of Pakhtunkhwa who never give another chance [to political parties] gave the PTI a fantastic mandate," he said in his address at Peshawar's Nishtar Hall.

In a reference to the PML-N, he claimed that the previous government of Punjab had spent billions in development funds in order to influence the 2018 elections.

He termed KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan as an "honest" man. He said the people had "made a lot of fun" when the PTI elected Usman Buzdar, who hails from a backward region, as the Punjab chief minister.

"The people of Punjab were in the wrong habit for the past 30 years of seeing a chief minister who acts a king," he said, referring to PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and president Shahbaz Sharif. In comparison, he said, Usman Buzdar was a "simple man" who did not use a heavy protocol or spend lavishly.

"[Buzdar] is an honest and a courageous [man] who stood up in the face of big mafias," Khan said.

He said it was for the first time in Pakistan's history that a government (of PTI) was making efforts to create a uniform education system in the country which he said would be crucial in bridging the rich-poor divide.

He reminded the ministers and officials seated in the audience that all of them needed to go to their offices daily and remain there till the evening, adding that he will know whether or not they are going to their offices.

"And then none of you should say 'my ministry was taken away from me' [if you are replaced for not going to work]," the prime minister cautioned.

In a lighter vein, Khan said previous governments always used to be afraid that if a minister is removed, he or she will form a forward bloc and "the government will be toppled". "We don't even face that issue now," he added, amidst laughter from the audience.

"Keep in mind, I am receiving messages from a lot of MPAs who all want to become ministers, so if you don't work [be ready to be replaced]," he said tongue in cheek while addressing the ministers.

The premier reminded the provincial lawmakers that the sole target of their 100-day plan should be to create policies for the uplift of the poor segment of the society. He urged the officials to remind the bureaucrats working under them that they needed to ensure 'ease of doing business' to generate investment in the country.

'Pakistan has arranged US-Taliban talks'

Prime Minister Khan reiterated that the same United States "that had been asking us to 'do more'" is now asking Pakistan to facilitate its talks with the Afghan Taliban.

"When I used to say this matter cannot be resolved without dialogue, [they] would term me 'Taliban Khan'," he said, revealing that Pakistan had arranged talks between the US and the Taliban that are scheduled for December 17.

If peace is achieved in Afghanistan, he said, Peshawar would become a hub for tourism and commerce. He also announced that the Balahisar Fort in the city would be turned into a centre for tourism in order to generate revenue.

Khan said the government was collecting funds for the Mohmand dam, which when constructed will "solve Peshawar's water problem forever".

Before the ceremony, the premier inaugurated a shelter home in Peshawar during his one-day visit to the provincial capital.

The prime minister was also briefed on four more shelter homes that have been built by the KP government as part of its 100-day plan. The homes will have the capacity to accommodate 200 people each.

Last month, the premier had laid the foundation stone of a shelter house for the homeless in Lahore.

An official statement had said the prime minister would also attend a special meeting of the KP cabinet today. He will be briefed on the province's 100-day performance.

It said that the provincial government had identified 25 initiatives to pursue during the next five years under the premier’s directions.

In health sector, the KP government has planned to recruit additional 4,000 lady health workers (LHWs) to ensure coverage of all rural areas in addition to rolling out a rural ambulance service to transport mothers and children to health facilities. The government will also ensure that 80 per cent of expectant mothers give birth in health facilities.

In agricultural sector, the government plans to introduce a functional IT-based market intelligence system to increase farmers profit by 15-20 per cent along with reclaiming 5,500 hectares of cultivatable wastelands.

It said that KP would become the first province to launch police station-based budget this year along with fourfold increase in the number of female police officers.

A Hyderabad police official who also taught seminary students at Sarhandi mosque was arrested on Friday after a video of him allegedly beating pupils with a pipe circulated on social media, Sindh police announced via Twitter.

The suspect was recruited by Sindh police in 2016 and was currently posted at Cantt police station, revealed Hyderabad SSP Sarfraz Nawaz Shaikh.

Following his arrest, an FIR was registered against the suspect on the complaint of one of the children's father. The suspect has been charged under Section 328-A (exposure and abandonment of child under 12 years by parent or person having care of it) and Section 337 (punishment for doing any act with the intention of causing hurt) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

"Had he not been a police official, he would have faced only criminal proceedings but for being a constable he is facing departmental proceedings as well. He might lose his job for committing the brutal act," added SSP Shaikh.

In the video doing rounds on social media, the suspect is seen hitting a child with what appears to be a pipe. When the person filming the ordeal asks the teacher to refrain from doing so, the two share an exchange of words in which a third individual also joins in. The individual beating the children tells the camera person to not interfere in the matter and instead offer his prayers.

Following the exchange, the video again shows the individual hitting another child. When the person filming the video asks the child why he was being punished, the pupil, who was in tears by then, said he had been "absent yesterday and the day before".

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah took notice of the incident and sought a report from the Hyderabad commissioner.

"Violence against children will not be accepted under any condition," CM Shah was quoted as saying in a statement issued by his spokesperson. A counselling programme should be formed in consultation with the education and religious affairs departments, the chief minister said.

"Children are innocent, their education and training should be done with compassion," he said.

The Balochistan government has stepped up action against 'ghost' employees and chronic absentee teachers to improve the woeful state of education in the province, where over a million children remain out of schools.

At least 1,800 state-run primary, middle and high schools in the province have been found to be non-functional. Another 2,200 schools are without shelter and 5,000 primary schools across Balochistan are being run by single teachers, according to documents of the education department obtained by DawnNewsTV.

"We have suspended 179 teachers, ordered inquiries against 97 and issued show-cause notices to 82 during the past one month," said Balochistan Education Secretary Tayyab Lehri while talking about the government crackdown on ghost and absentee teachers.

See: Schools without roofs: the state of govt-run schools in Balochistan

The education department has also deducted over Rs141 million from the salaries of chronically absent teachers during the last three years, the documents show.

The total number of government-run primary, middle and high schools across Balochistan is said to exceed 13,000. The government has already declared an education emergency in the province to ensure implementation of Article 25-A of the Constitution, which guarantees free education for children aged five to 16.

Despite this, however, "Over one million children [in Balochistan] are presently out of schools," Lehri told DawnNewsTV.

In order to remedy the sorry state of affairs, the provincial cabinet recently approved the Balochistan Essential Education Service Act, 2018. Under the proposed legislation, teachers will be barred from observing strikes, lock classrooms or boycott classes to have their demands met.

The move has sparked a strong condemnation from the teachers' community, who term it a violation of their constitutional and basic human rights. "We will not accept this act since it negates fundamental human rights," Agha Zahir, the chief of 'teachers action committee' told a crowded press conference at the Quetta Press Club.

Teachers have also warned they will launch a protest movement to force the government to withdraw the proposed law.

The returning officer of Punjab's PP-168 (Lahore-XXV) constituency on Friday confirmed the victory of PTI candidate Malik Asad Ali Khokhar in the by-elections held a day earlier.

The PTI candidate defeated PML-N’s Rana Khalid by a margin of 701 votes, according to the final consolidated result (Form-49) submitted by the returning officer.

Earlier in the day, the returning officer had ordered a recount of 33 polling stations on the request of PML-N’s candidate. Khalid had argued that the count of rejected votes was higher during the by-polls.

As per provisional results, Khokhar had a lead of 687 votes over Khalid, 1.89 per cent of the total cast votes which were 36,337.

Under Section 95(5) of the Elections Act, 2017, returning officers are to recount the ballot papers at one or more polling stations in a constituency if a contesting candidate requests so in writing and the margin of victory is less than 5 per cent of the total votes polled in the constituency, or 10,000, whichever is lesser.

Therefore, a recount was ordered by the returning officer. According to the final consolidated result, Khokhar obtained 17,571 votes whereas his opponent bagged 16,870 votes.

KARACHI: Scores of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) workers, led by provincial ministers and members of the Sindh Assembly, on Friday staged a protest rally outside the Karachi Press Club against the suspension of gas supply to the province for almost a week and announced plans for a sit-in at the Sui Southern Gas Company office in the city if the situation does not improve within 24 hours.

The charged workers chanting slogans against the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government and Prime Minister Imran Khan called for immediate restoration of gas supply that had badly disrupted the transport system of the province, leaving hundreds of thousands of people stranded due to absence of buses and other vehicles of public transport.

Addressing the protesting workers, Sindh Minister for Local Bodies Saeed Ghani criticised the PTI’s federal government and Prime Minister Imran Khan and called the ruling party at the Centre a “bunch of opportunists” and termed the prime minister “eggs seller”.

“When the leader of the national stature of the PTI finds economic growth in selling eggs and raising buffaloes, the nation should get ready for any crisis. We hope the gas issue will be resolved within the next 24 hours, but if the situation doesn’t improve, we will hold a protest sit-in at the SSGC office,” the PPP leader declared.

He said that although Sindh produced 70 per cent of the total gas production in the country, the province was being deprived of the gas supply in violation of Article 158 of the Constitution under which the province had the first right over its natural resources.

The minister said that non-supply of natural gas was also adversely affecting the generation of electricity.

“The Sindh government has taken up the matter with the federal government and the chief minister is himself looking into the issue which has raised hope the problem will be solved soon,” Mr Ghani said.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2018

KARACHI: Federal Petroleum Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan on Friday assured Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah that the gas issue would be resolved soon and the provinces would be given due representation in the federal oil and gas organisations.

Federal Minister for Power Umer Ayub, in a separate meeting, committed that the provincial government would be taken on board in resolving all issues of power projects. In response to his request, the chief minister assured the power minister of his support to the massive drive to be launched against illegal electricity connections in the province.

Ghulam Sarwar and Umer Ayub called on the Sindh chief minister at the CM House separately to learn the point of view of the provincial government on the pressing issues related to gas and energy projects.

The petroleum minister told the CM that he would hold a meeting with the Sui Southern Gas Company officials to take a final decision on the gas supply.

The two sides agreed that a meeting of the provincial representatives with the petroleum minister would be held prior to next session of the Council of Common Interests so that a consensus could be developed to resolve all the issues unanimously.

Murad holds separate meetings with federal ministers for power and petroleum

Earlier, pleading the Sindh case during his meeting with the federal petroleum minister, Chief Minister Shah urged the former to order resumption of proper gas supply to the province. He pointed out the negative impact of the curtailment of supply to Sindh saying it was a violation of Article 158 of the constitution and had rendered thousands of industrial workers and transporters jobless.

During the meeting, the petroleum minister headed a delegation comprising senior officials of his ministry while the chief minister was assisted by Provincial Energy Minister Imtiaz Shaikh, the CM’s Adviser on Law Murtaza Wahab, Energy Secretary Musaddaq Ahmed Khan and Director of Sindh Energy Department Tariq Shah who also gave a presentation to the participants of the meeting.

Quoting Article 158 which says “the province in which a well-head of natural gas is situated shall have precedence over other parts of Pakistan in meeting the requirements from that well-head,” the chief minister said Sindh produced 2,600 to 2,700 mmcfd daily against which it was being provided a quota of 1,000 to 1,100 mmcfd.

“In Karachi there are 400 industrial units with a workforce of 100,000 employees. The entire industry in the city is facing gas closure for the last three days,” he said and added CNG sector was also facing three-day closure in a week. “This situation is alarming and causing heavy unemployment,” he said.

Mr Shah said Sindh has no presentation in Ogra and proposed that every province should be given representation with one member in the regulator.

Anti-power theft drive

The federal power minister during the meeting informed the chief minister that his ministry was launching a massive drive against kunda and illegal connections in Sindh and requested the chief minister for his support. The chief minister assured him of his government’s support.

Responding to power-related pressing issues in Sindh which were raised during the meeting, the federal minister said he was making the system in his ministry more effective and efficient so that the projects awaiting approval and similar other business could be expedited.

He gave assurance to the chief minister that he would look into all the pending cases of the provincial government and dispose them of accordingly. He also said that the provincial government would be taken on board in resolving all the issues of power projects.

At the start of the meeting, the chief minister drew attention of the federal minister to non-cooperative attitude of the federal government to the Sindh government, saying the provincial government had launched 4,000MW green energy projects in 2015but it still awaited approvals by the federal power division. “How we will be able to meet energy requirements of the people in such circumstances,” Murad Ali Shah asked.

He said renewable energy was the cheapest source of energy not only in Pakistan but worldwide. “The province of Sindh is the energy hub of Pakistan as it has the only successful and economically viable wind corridor, highest solar radiation, biogas, geothermal and waste for energy projects,” he said.

Later the federal petroleum minister also called on Governor of Sindh Imran Ismail at Governor House and discussed with him matters pertaining to gas supply and informed him of the measures being taken to overcome the existing gas shortage.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2018

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has given the Punjab government two weeks to decide about taking over the Pakistan Kidney-Liver Transplanta­tion Institute (PKLI) and issued direction to include the top military doctor in the PKLI’s administration committee.

A three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar during the hearing of a case related to the institute expressed displeasure over the Punjab government’s performance, saying that it was taking least interest in the health sector.

It said all the healthcare related projects were standstill in Punjab and the provincial government had failed to constitute a healthcare board.

The apex court directed the Punjab government to decide on the summary about the legislation that would empower it to take the PKLI under its administrative control.

Supreme Court says provincial government is taking least interest in health sector

CJP Nisar asked the provincial government to seek consent from the army to include the surgeon general of Pakistan, the top doctor in the army’s echelons, in the PKLI administration committee.

During the hearing the advocate general for Punjab told the court that the provincial government was going to decide on the legislation about changing the administrative control of the Institute since it was being governed through a trust. He told the court that the summary regarding the said legislation had been forwarded to the provincial cabinet.

The CJP remarked that the PKLI had so far spent Rs22 billion out of its budget of Rs34bn.

When the CJP asked PKLI’s Dr Saeed Akhtar about his monthly salary, he replied it was Rs2.2 million per month. Dr Akhtar said he had been working with the Institute since 2015.

“You have been getting Rs2.2m from the PKLI for the last three years?” asked CJP Nisar. “I never received salary from the PKLI,” replied Dr Akhtar.

To another question, Dr Akhtar informed the bench that the Institute had done 21 cases of kidney transplant.

CJP Nisar remarked that this institute was established for liver transplantation as the facility of kidney transplant was available with several other hospitals. He said that with Rs22bn the Punjab government could establish five hospitals.

Talking about the case of a boy who was brought to PKLI for liver transplantation, the CJP expressed his surprise that despite having such a huge spending the institute could not conduct the boy’s operation even though an organ donor was available and its administration was seeking another seven months to commence the procedure.

The CJP said this matter might be referred to the National Account­ability Bureau or the Anti-Corruption Estab­lish­ment, Punjab. The institute did not have prerequisites like operating theatres, human resource and equipment for the liver transplant, he remarked.

The case has been adjourned for a fortnight.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2018