NEWS:

The energy crisis, which began with a fuel shortage in April, continues. Long hours of power outages across the country are having a negative impact on the weak economy. And the heat wave has forced the citizens to take to the streets to protest in many areas. Protestors in Liaquatabad, Lyari and other places blocked roads and indulged in arson. Police used batons and tear gas to disperse crowds.  One woman was killed and several others injured in the police action. (Jang)

The government is in talks with the security establishment to come up with a legal solution to the issue of missing persons. This issue involves human rights concerns. It also causes embarrassment to every government and agency. (Jang)

Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights found that Missing Persons Bill is unavailable or missing.  The Committee met under the chairmanship of PTI Senator Waleed Iqbal at Parliament House to discuss the issue of arrests, kidnappings and harassment of politicians and political activists. Officials of the Ministry of Human Rights also are also unaware of the whereabouts of the bill documents. The Committee Secretary Rabia Anwar pointed out the bill on missing persons was passed by the National Assembly and asked the Ministry of Home Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs to trace the bill. (Jang-Jasarat)

Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan Deputy Amir Professor Muhammad Ibrahim Khan has said that the decision of the Sindh government to recruit music teachers is illegal and unconstitutional. This decision of the Sindh government is a deliberate conspiracy to make the country secular and liberal. We will not allow the conspiracy to succeed under any circumstances. (Jasarat)

The FIA arrested four suspects involved in human trafficking. Sultan Mehmood was arrested from Abbottabad and Sheikh Qamar from Rawalpindi, while Muhammad Yasin and Shahid Ali were arrested from Peshawar. (Urdu Point)

Mayor of Peshawar Haji Zubair Ali has supported traders protest against the oppressive endowment act of the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa Government.  Speaking at the traders’ protest camp on Ashraf Road by traders, he stated that his party stands side- by -side the business community and demanded roll back of the Endowment Amendment Act. (Daily Pakistan)

People of Kohat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have protested against prolonged power outage and unannounced load shedding in Jangal Khel. (Daily Pakistan)

Former Deputy Chief of JUI (F) Maulana Gul Naseeb has said the real reason behind Maulana Fazal Ur Rahman calling Imran Khan a Jew Agent is politics. “It was just a political statement”. In an interview with ARY News (TV channel), Naseeb said the Maulana was asked to present proof at Majlis e Shoora but he shrugged his shoulders saying it is a political statement. It is improper for a religious leader to give a political statement. He said that Fazal Ur Rahman is a supporter of America. The Maulana is not anti-America as he says. Maulana Gul Naseeb said if the JUI is freed from the Maulana’s control, he will rejoin the party, and after that, the party will support Imran Khan. (Ausaf Daily)

The power crisis in the country is becoming more serious day- by- day. Now the shortfall of power has increased to 8911 MW. According to Power Division sources, intense heat has highly increased electricity consumption, which has created the shortfall. At present, the demand is 30233 MW while the production is only 21322 MW. The sources added that the load shedding period has increased to 14 hours in the cities and to 18 hours in villages. In some areas, it is even 20 hours long. (Islam Daily)

The trawler mafia has attacked the leaders of the National Party while they were protesting against the illegal fishing in the season of hatching. They had taken a rally to protest at the Fisheries department in the Sonmiani coastal town of Balochistan. They complained that June and July are the months of egg hatching for the fish, therefore fishing is banned during this period but some persons are fishing even in this period by using banned nets. They were demanding a stop to illegal fishing. When they were returning after lodging their complaint, the district General Secretary of NP, Salim Baloch, was attacked near a police station by the illegal trawler mafia. Other workers and office-bearers tried to protect him and were injured. The protesters staged a dharna in front of the police station. After that, the attackers were arrested. (Intekhab Daily)

The Chief of Jamaat e Islami Siraj Ul Haq has said that progress and prosperity are not possible with supporters of interest-based economy in drivers’ seat. If they have decided to continue their war against Allah and His Prophet then we will also continue our war against them. Filing a case by the banks in Supreme Court against the judgment of the Shariat Court is a mutiny against the constitution of Pakistan. People should boycott these banks. The rulers have crossed all limits to show their loyalty to the IMF and colonialism. He said that we are intensely working for a corruption-free Pakistan. We strongly condemn the government’s decision to increase the prices of petroleum products by another 50 rupees gradually. Jamaat-e-Islami will not remain silent on oppression (Dunya Daily, Ummat, Daily Jinnah, Nawai Waqt)

Tehreek-e-Labbaik has announced candidates for one national and three provincial by-elections in Burewala. The names were announced by Chairman South Punjab TLP Pir Syed Sarwar Shah Bukhari at a press conference. (Nawai Waqt)

EDITORIALS

On the one hand, the Shehbaz government said yes to the IMF to all its conditions and on other hand, it made big statements about giving relief to people even when it had no plans to get any relief to people? Why was the PDM Government brought in? Was it for packing off PTI and for the good of people or was this changeover from PTI to PDM aimed to appease a few politicians or some families? Whatever be the reasons till today people are not benefited from this change. If rulers are helpless before the IMF, then the rulers should not make big promises to people. The rulers should realise that people have lost their patience, and the ever-rising inflation is getting on their nerves. If conditions continue to remain like this then peoples’ very survival will not just be   a great struggle, but it will be impossible. (Kawish Edit, June 29)

The education system in Sindh can be made better by recruiting teachers on merit. But, if bureaucratic interference or corruption comes in way, then all attempts being made by the Sindh government and its education department will go down the drain and deserving ones will be deprived of their rights. Sindh government and education ministry should wake up on this issue and deterring action be taken against bureaucrats to leave lessons for others. (Pahenji Edit, June 29)

Not only grievances of Karachi, but power related grievances of people in interiors also should be addressed. If this is not done immediately, we should see that people in interiors get solar plates on installment payments basis so that power thus saved can be given to people in the cities. We hope government will take steps for un-interrupted power supply in country. (Ibrat Edit)

Majority of countries in world are free from curse called polio by now. Pakistan and Afghanistan are two such countries where polio cases keep getting reported. It happens because it is difficult to administer polio drops in these two countries.  Be it polio cases or attacks on polio teams, both are matters of big concern. This is affecting country’s image; it sends out message that Pakistan is not serious in the fight against polio. Hence, whosoever is involved in the recent attack on polio team in North Waziristan that resulted in the killing two policemen and one polio team volunteer, strict action be taken against them. (Sindh Express Edit)

The Government of Pakistan has received a draft Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies from the IMF for the 7th and 8th Joint Review. The IMF has combined the completion of 2 reviews, namely the 7th and 8th reviews, which are currently subject to the approval of the IMF Executive Board. On the basis of this review, the Prime Minister and the finance minister have claimed that the way has been paved for the release of two installments of 1.9 billion to Pakistan. It appears that Pakistan will have to implement the conditionalities as soon as possible to realise the two installments. The finance minister has avoided details of the conditions set out in the draft but claimed that Pakistan is out of the danger of becoming a “defaulter”. Unfortunately, there is no sign of resistance from government circles to the IMF’s terms. (Edits- Jasarat, Jang, Jehan Pakistan)

Unidentified gunmen opened fire on an anti-polio team in Datta Khel Tehsil, North Waziristan, on Tuesday and killed two policemen and a polio worker. One child was also injured. Prime Minister voiced his concern. So did the Health Minister Abdul Qadir Patel.  Paying homage to the front-line heroes of the security forces and polio workers, Patel has vowed to achieve the goal of making Pakistan polio-free despite the challenges. After the intervention of Ulema, many hurdles to the polio drive have been removed. Yet terrorist attacks are taking place on polio teams. While the government is doing its best to control polio, people and social institutions should play their part in making this campaign a success. (Edit Jang)

The area on both sides of the Indus River crossing, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan, is called Kacha has been in the grip of criminals and robbers for decades. The Government should immediately pay attention to the reasons why the police in these areas are helpless and what are the factors behind this decades-long problem.  Now that PPP in Sindh and the PML-N in Punjab, the two Provincial Governments should work together to end this menace. (Daily Pakistan Edit)

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in his ‘Turn around Pakistan” Conference, gave the good news that we will get a 2-billion-dollar loan from the IMF and in the same breath declared that our goal is self-reliance. It is a fact that loans can give us temporary relief but can’t solve our economic problems. Loans can’t provide us with the much-needed self-reliant economy. Nations always progress by their internal resources, not by foreign loans. Unfortunately, the loans in the past were not used for the purpose they were taken. Self-reliance depends on economic stability, which in turn depends on economic policies. We need more buying power for our people for a stable economy but our governments are curtailing their buying power by fanning inflation. Unless we change our economic policies and our way of working and taking care of people, self-reliance is not possible. (Edits – Dunya Daily, Daily Pakistan, Daily K2, Baad-e-Shimal, Aeen, Qudrat)

Even in Pakistan, there are dangers of a Sri Lankan-like situation, but its economy has a chance to breathe.    But bad governance can waste that opportunity. The leaders of the political parties in the current coalition government must show extraordinary intelligence and help the government to ensure good governance. (Edit Daily Express)

COLUMNS

• The PDM Government has passed the Election Act, and an amendment to NAB Act first in the National Assembly and then in the Senate. And sent to the President for his assent. But the President sent bills back to the government. He is the very same President, who promulgated 63 Ordinances in three years!  Instead of going by Parliament, President went by what Imran Khan had told him.  The government got the bills passed again and forwarded to the President. This time around also the President did not oblige.  The new NAB law curtails NAB chairman’s powers. Originally, NAB was set up to check corruption and fix accountability but it was often misused for making and breaking Governments. Also, NAB never acted independently. NAB chief’s strings used to be pulled from somewhere else. Imran often used NAB to implicate political opponents. Now, Imran Khan has challenged NAB amendment laws in the Supreme Court. He has taken the stand in petition saying amendments have been made to favor or to protect the ruling coalition’s interests. As Prime Minister Imran Khan made several changes in the laws through ordinances but now in the Opposition he objects to laws and amendments passed in parliament. (Kawish, Ibrahim Kumbhar, June 29)

• In the first phase of Sindh civic polls, we saw almost every wadera distributed tickets as per his choice. And the election witnessed abuse of government machinery including of police force. Election rules and regulations were brazenly violated. We also saw display of weapons on the polling day. Ministers and government advisors were seen using their influence. We also saw the acting governor being humiliated, and abused on social media. We also saw the sardars and feudals giving instructions as to the time booths were to be kept open so that they could get the required number of votes. Sindh is badly caught in the politics of elites. As a result, corrupt and criminals not only enjoy political power to interfere in institutional functioning but the way they run these institutions leaves behind the impression as if these institutions were private offices.  People-friendly forces have to keep aside traditional and outdated ways to play a strong political role. If we do not do this, Sindh will enter into a dark era. (Pahenji Akhbar, Mumtaz Mungi, June 29)

• It is not possible that Sindh JUI chief Rashid Soomro would have given threat of continuing with protests against recent civic results without consulting his party supremo, Maulana Fazlur Rehman. He threatened to continue with his stir till transparent civic polls are held afresh in all 14 districts which were covered in the first phase.  MQM, establishment’s puppet party, has also taken strong objections on civic poll results particularly Nawabshah, Sukkur and Mirpur Khas. So did the nationalist party, Sindh United Party, which is becoming popular across Sindh. If all these parties and other nationalist groups take to joint protests, they can cause big headache to the PPP government even if their stir is peaceful. Because these parties have not merely leveled allegations but have also come up with evidence on the social media. No matter what Imran Khan says against chief election commissioner, he is an honest person. He had kept PTI’s foreign funding case alive despite pressures. Like election results were cancelled at Daska, Sialkot (Punjab) following controversy over results of that election, hopefully Sindh’s recent civic results at controversial booths will also be called and polls will be ordered afresh. (Sindh Express, Dastgir Bhatti)

• Sindh should have been an ideal province of the country in terms of development works, but the situation is quite the opposite. The PPP leadership is well aware of this. That is why they did their best to ensure the victory of their candidates unopposed in the local body elections in held in 14 districts on June 26.  Every legitimate and illegitimate tactic was adopted to secure victory for its ticket holders in every district.  These elections were full of mismanagement and rigging; the truth has now come to light on social, electronic and print media. According to reports, two persons were killed and more than 300 seriously injured during clashes at polling stations. Many opposition candidates were abducted allegedly by PPP honchos and the police. Polling staff were insulted at several places; they were even beaten by PPP candidates and their supporters. There was hardly a place where there were no reports of rigging, fighting, unrest, mismanagement. (Osama Tanovli, Jasarat)
• I had the opportunity to spend two very pleasant days in Quetta (Balochistan) during the third Literature Festival of the magnificent University Butiems. Thanks to the Literature Festival as well as all the brothers of Balochistan this experience was more pleasant, encouraging, and heartwarming than I expected. May God bless our media and government news agencies whose portrayal of going there was like jumping into a fire. Our beloved province of Balochistan also suffers from various problems due to its geographical location, tribal conflicts, poverty, and social injustices. Negative image is being projected frequently and consistently by our media, political observers and government dignitaries.  There is a mountain of misunderstanding. The love and generosity with which the friends of Balochistan take care of their guests and despite attaining high positions in their respective fields, shows their natural simplicity as well as their commitment to literature. We returned from there with a very emotional feeling and we also want to tell all the people of the country that Balochistan and its people are very different from the picture that is being shown to us.  Go and give them the same respect and status that any Pakistani considers his right.   (Amjad Islam Amjad – Daily Express)