NEWS

• The Supreme Court has settled the case related to the dispute between the tribals, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, and Gilgit-Baltistan governments over the land of Diamer Bhasha Dam. The dispute was earlier handled by the local tribal jirga. The case was heard by a three-member bench headed by the Chief Justice. During the hearing, the Additional Attorney General explained that tribals f Diamer and Kohistan are locked in a dispute over an 8 km stretch of land parcel. of land ten years ago. Four people were killed in tribal clashes in Thor area of Gilgit-Baltistan and Harban area of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The Jirga decided on the dispute and Rs 4 crore was paid to the victims. Now, while the conflict between tribes has ended, the conflict between Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has not ended. The Chief Justice of Pakistan told the Advocate General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that they should not bring disputes between the governments to the court. Such disputes should be referred to the Common Interests Council. (Jasarat)

• The Sindh High Court has ordered the recovery of Anisur Rehman and other missing persons. Hearing the case, Justice Nimatullah Phalphoto pulled up the home secretary for lackadaisical probe and for submitting a status report without his signature (Jasarat)

• The head of the Anjum Naujawanan-e-Islam, Mohammad Salim Attari said that the implementation of Nizam-e-Mustafa will bring stability to the country.  He said that if the rulers are serious about the country, then the government should implement the teachings of the Prophet. (Jasarat)

• Pakistan has decided not to participate in the conference of regional partners on Afghanistan in Moscow. Foreign Office spokesperson told reporters that no decision has yet been taken to send back Obaid Nizamani, Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan. (Jang)

• Wheat prices have gone up in the Sindh to four thousand per mann, after that wheat has become expensive in Punjab. Sources said that the difference in the price of wheat in Sindh and Punjab isy 1000 rupees per mann. (Jang)

• Sexual assault cases are increasing in Karachi.  In the past one and a half years, there has been a 41% increase in sexual assault cases in Karachi courts. From July 2021 to December 2022, 426 cases of rape reached the court. Only in 55 cases the accused were punished. (Jang)

• The Ministry of Finance confirmed that the negotiations between Pakistan and the IMF for the ninth loan program of 1.1 billion dollars have ended but staff level agreement could not be reached since the IMF asked for more time for it. According to sources, the head of the IMF’s review mission had a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif through video link. Both discussed regarding the settlement of matters. It is said some issues between Pakistan and the IMF are pending settlement, which will be decided with the approval of Washington. (Daily Express, Daily Jinnah, Ummat, Nawaiwaqt)

• According to the sources, unknown persons opened fire on the convoy of the Returning Officer of Dera Bugti, as a result of which one Levies officer was martyred and three were injured. After the incident, a heavy contingent of Levies and FC reached the spot and started investigation. So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. It may be remembered that polling took place in various union councils in Dera Bugti today. (Daily Express, Ummat, Nawaiwaqt)

• Chief Justice Umar Atta Bandyal said solution to all the problems of the country is possible only with the decision of the people.  He made the remark when a  lawyer of the federal government said that the court should not rule. The CJP made it clear that the court does not want to rule.  All the problems in the country can be solved only by the decision of the people. The court adjourned further hearing till 10th February. (Nawaiwaqt, Ummat)

• The Inter State Public Relations Department of the Army has termed as baseless the speculations about the visit of Army Chief General Asim Munir to the US. Director General ISPR said in a tweet that Army Chief was on a visit to Britain from 5th February to 10th February.  (Nawaiwaqt, Daily Jinnah, Daily Express, Ummat)

•  Petrol pumps have closed at Alipur Chatha, Sheikhupura, and Patuki amongst several other places. But illegal agency owners are doing a roaring business selling at 300 rupees per liter. The district administration is watching the situation as a silent spectator. Due to the closure of petroleum outlets, prices of food, vegetables, fruits and other food items have increased many folds. (Nawaiwaqt)

• Now only 2.91 billion dollars are left in the national treasury. During the week, foreign exchange reserves further decreased by 17 crore dollars, after which Pakistan’s dollar reserves fell to the lowest level in 9 years. According to the data, the State Bank had less than 3 billion dollars in reserves. Currently, there are 2.91 billion dollars in the treasury. According to the report, the total dollar reserves of Pakistan are 8.5 billion dollars. Government reserves are 2.91 billion dollars and banks have 5.62 billion dollars. (Ummat, Nawaiwaqt)

• Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has convened a meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee in Islamabad to review the increase in prices of medicines and other issues. In the meeting, Prices of 119 medicines are likely to be approved under the hardship category. (Ummat)

• Pakistan Interior Ministry has written to the Election Commission of Pakistan that it cannot provide needed security to elections in Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assemblies as demanded by the CEC. (Aeen)

• Balochistan Aman Jirga Chief Lala Yousaf Khilji said that former president Gen. Pervez Musharraf was a killer of Nawab Akbar Bugti, Baloch and Pashtun people. He added that Nawab Akbar Bugti will always be remembered with good vibes but no one will remember the cruel dictator Pervez Musharraf, who met his fate in exile. (Qudrat)

• Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has accepted the recommendations of the moderate expenditure committee to save the public money. If these recommendations are acted upon then the ruling elites, members of parliament, Judges, and military and civil officers will not be able to enjoy many of their present privileges. Under the proposed plan, salaries of all senators and members of federal and provincial assemblies would be reduced by 15 percent. Budgets of all provinces, government institutions, and embassies in foreign countries would be cut by 15 percent. Security protocol should be reduced for all.  Development funds would not be given to the members of parliament; nobody  would be paid  pension of more than 5 lakh rupees from the public exchequer, and there will be no luxury cars to government officers, (Islam Daily)

• Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismael has again attacked Ishaq Dar and said “after removing me they should have appointed some economist-type person. ML-N has able persons like Ahsan Iqbal. He should have been appointed”. He said that Ishaq Dar was very ambitious to become the Finance Minister. He ran a campaign against me and boasted that he could bring the dollar to 160 rupees and reduce the price of petrol. He is a relative of Nawaz. Ismael went on to add: PM Shahbaz Sharif was satisfied with my performance, but I was removed very unceremoniously. I have many friends in PTI but I will remain with the ML-N and will not contest any election. (Islam Daily)

• The employees of the Sui Southern Gas Company have announced a total strike in Sindh and Balochistan in protest against no increase revision since 2016. They also staged a dharna at the head office. If the administration does not accept their demands, they will stop working after 14 days. The union also demanded that all the temporary employees should be made permanent. (Intekhab Daily)

• The 50-bed Jam Ghulam Qadir govt Hospital in Hub has no medicines. It stopped all surgeries too. Operations are performed if the patients provide medicines and other essentials. People have asked the Balochistan government to provide medicines and surgery materials to the hospital, so that poor people can get medical treatment.  (Intekhab Daily)

• Chief of Karachi Jamaat e Islami Hafiz Naeem Ur Rahman has voiced concern over rising street crimes and armed robberies in the city. The confession of Additional IG Javed Alam that the crime rate has increased by 16 percent is a proof of the failure of the police. More than 7 thousand cases were reported in the month of January alone.  Armed robbers had killed 13 people and injured more than 50 citizens, he said and added that the Sindh government and police have failed in their duty. (Dunya Daily)

• Jacobabad’s Union Council, Sher Khan, protested in front of the DC House against the non-receipt of aid to the rain victims. Somar Jamali, Imtiaz Shahani, Abid Ali and other protestors stated that they have not been helped by NGOs and that the aid due to them has been usurped (Urdu Point)

• At Gwadar, a trawler team engaged in illegal trawling attacked the fisheries patrol team, threw the two officials of fisheries into the sea, and abducted the fisheries inspector Abdul Mutalib Zamrani. Officials of the Department of Fisheries and the Maritime Security Agency went out in pursuit of the trawler. (Urdu Point)

• Chairman, Voice for Baloch Missing Persons, Nasrullah Baloch, has stated that Rashida Bibi and her husband Muhammad Rahim have been  missing from Sariab area. The Government, related institutions and judiciary should ensure their safe recovery. (Urdu Point)

EDITORIALS

• On one hand, Pakistan is pinning hopes that Afghanistan will play its role for our betterment. On the other hand, Afghanistan is playing its role to weaken Pakistan economy. Global media reports say lakhs of dollars are getting smuggled out of Pakistan into Afghanistan every day. All the trade taking place on Pak-Afghan borders is in dollars. The Afghan role is also seen behind terror attacks in Pakistan. Even rulers have admitted on different occasions that TTP in Afghanistan is behind these attacks. Camps of security forces on the borders near KPK and Balochistan are also under attack from the Afghanistan side, killing our forces. Despite all this, why our government still keeps supporting Afghanistan? Shall we still keep making appeals from global forums for aid to Afghanistan? These are amongst key questions which put Pakistan rulers in testing times vis a vis Afghanistan. After failure to check smuggling of dollars, our rulers are also failing to check smuggling of wheat to Afghanistan. Entire country is looking up to government with high hopes that authorities take effective and strong measures on economy-related and Afghanistan-related matters. (Kawish, Edit, Feb.9)  

• Pakistan’s biggest challenge is the budget deficit. During the first six months of the current fiscal (July to December), the budget deficit has reached 16830 billion rupees. The total income was 4698 billion rupees while expenditure was 6382 billion rupees. 2573 billion rupees were paid as interest. 296 billion was borrowed from external sources to meet the budget deficit, according to the Ministry of Finance. (Edit Jang)

•  Inflation is out of control in Pakistan and due to this, problems of the people are increasing. The parties in the government came to power with the claim that they have the full capacity to deal with the country’s problems, but their performance during their ten months in office has disproved this claim. Yet, instead of admitting their failure, the ruling coalition is putting all the blame on the former PTI government, although in the last fifteen years, PTI ruled only quarter to four years. For the rest of the time, PPP and PML-N had a say in the government one way or the other like now. Apart from the PTI, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is being held responsible for inflation and worsening conditions in the country.  Well, there are reports that Pakistan and the IMF have reached agreement on most issues including privatization, reforms and the like, but the Memorandum of Economic and Financial Policies (MEFP) is yet to be inked. The government is willingly accepting every condition of the IMF; as a cursory the graph of its popularity among the people is falling. There is the possibility that the people will not trust the parties in the ruling coalition in the upcoming general elections. (Edit, Nawaiwaqt)

• During the hearing of a petition against the amendments to the NAB rules, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial remarked that solutions to all political problems can be found only in Parliament. The court is not the right place for it. But unfortunately for the last 10 months, all the problems that can be solved in Parliament are being referred to the judiciary. For some reason, our political leadership is shy of dialogue and is avoiding democratic procedures. This attitude is increasing the political heat and creating economic and social problems. It has now become clear that any single political party cannot solve the country’s problems. Consensus amongst all political parties is needed for moving forward. For this, all parties have to sit together. (Edit-Dunya Daily)

• No matter how many pacts are signed but as long as Punjab is not honestly releasing Sindh share of water, mistrust will continue between both the provinces and along with Sindh, Balochistan too will suffer water shortage. It is for the federal government and IRSA to ensure implementation of water treaties on water; both must take measures against water thefts taking place within Punjab’s limits. For that purpose, we should install a telemetry system too if that is the solution to stop thefts of water meant for Sindh. Or else we will have to appoint Sindh’s engineers to monitor barrages in Punjab, let federal government play its role for this purpose. (Pahenji, Edit, Feb.9)   

• Northern Sindh is rocked by kidnappings. At least six kidnappings a week are reported in Thal taluka. Police have some success in releasing the kidnapped. Yet police are yet to come to grips with the menace. Final assault on the dacoit factor in the Sindh is possible only with co-operation of Punjab and Balochistan police. Also, police need to be given modern weaponry to take on dacoits. Most police operations have failed in the past because police were found no match to dacoits. Police must get modern weapons and be also equipped with satellite surveillance systems. Hopefully, Sindh government will do needful in this regard”. (Ibrat, Edit)  

• Despite tall claims of the government, flour rates are not coming down. People are buying it at whatever price it is available.   Flour is not available in the market at government fixed rates. The corruption factor and monopolistic practices of flour mill owners are largely behind acute flour shortage. An official report said food department’s statistics are not verifiable.   We think it is the government’s responsibility to ensure affordable flour in the market. Action must be taken without any loss of time against hoarders and flour mill owners so that people do not have to move from place to place in search of affordable flour. (Sindh Exp, Edit)  

• Punjab Cyber Crime Wing has reported the most incidents of financial and electronic fraud, and theft of government and private data during the last five years. In order to prevent cybercrime, it is necessary for the Government to conduct a special awareness campaign in all educational institutions. Also direct the FIA authorities to take prompt action on cyber complaints and punish the culprits according to law. (Daily Pakistan Edit)

COLUMNS

• Pak-America ties have been under tension for a decade. But both countries want to re-establish ties, once again. How will these ties look once re-established? Pakistan will have to re-establish its ties keeping its own interests in mind and not on the basis of what are China-America tensions or what is the level of India-America ties. Also, nor keeping in mind the Afghanistan factor. Washington will try to re-establish ties with Pakistan keeping above three factors. Internal stability and well-balanced Pakistan should be Pakistan’s priorities because economically and politically safe and stable Pakistan can be useful to America for security in the region. Better Pak-America ties can serve several purposes, for America the most important purpose will be one that Pakistan’s strategic ties with China or Pakistan’s tensions with India do not come in way of America’s Indo-Pacific strategies. Pakistan cannot have good ties with all countries but Pakistan’s better ties with America is need of hour. (Ibrat, Tauqeer Hussain)

• There are several reasons behind the spurt in suicides in Sindh. There is enough material to write a book on the subject. Today’s youth is much disheartened and disillusioned. They have either no stamina or less of it to tolerate and live with the odds and adversities of life and hence take to acts like suicide. According to my analysis, if price rise, unemployment and poverty are controlled, it can help to a great extent in bringing down suicide rate around. Atmosphere of uncertainties is also adding fuel to fire leading to rise in suicidal tendencies in people. Government must intervene and play its role to help cut down leanings amongst youth for suicide. (Sindh Hussain C in Sindh Exp) 

• PM has admitted that IMF is giving tough time but Pakistan has no options but to say yes to IMF conditions. In fact, the government has no reason to cut such a sorry figure but they(rulers) are making such dramatic statements to influence people and get their votes. Rising inflation because of IMF’s terms and conditions will have an impact on the common man while bureaucrats and political and ruling class will be unscathed. While the common man has to pay Rs.250 per liter of petrol, the bureaucrats and ruling sections move around and make merry at government cost moving around in luxuries vehicles. Despite all this, why are people keeping quiet on the government’s policies? Either because people want to see the country happier or because people have become habitual of slavery to ruling and political personalities and hence, people have become sort of addicted of any injustice or high-handedness to them. Rulers are not just corrupt but have a big role also in growing terror activities in the country. Mostly, we have had dictator-ruled governments. Dictators often have a soft corner for our neighboring country Afghanistan. Jehadi elements were prepared from Zia to Musharaf and later when these elements started frowning on their masters, NATO attacks were made on them and Pakistan played facilitators’ role in America taking over Afghanistan. Our rulers are responsible for today’s unpleasant scenario. Two big military operations against militants under the Nawaz Sharif government did give good results, but with PTI taking over the reins of the nation, activists of banned TTP militants were not just freed but were sent to Afghanistan. Over the years, these militants have become powerful enough and have now started attacking Pakistan. About 100 terror attacks were made by the banned TTP last year. This year’s biggest terror attack took place on Jan. 30 at a masjid in Peshawar’s Police Line. The Counter Terrorism Department crackdown has led to the arrest of one ISIS commander (not named) while he was collecting extortion money in Karachi two days ago. ISIS is a much-dreaded group not just in our region but across the world today. It is the most dangerous organization. Pakistan should no longer have any soft corner for Afghanistan especially now when Afghan soil is being used for attacks on Pakistan.  Pakistan should make it clear from the global forums that we stand no longer with Afghanistan. Foreign refugees, especially Afghans, should be sent back immediately to their countries. These refugees are being found involved not just in local crimes, but also have become facilitators of banned TTP.  The ouster of refugees will not only help make the law-and-order scenario better but also reduce burden on our economy.  (Ali Raza Pirzada in Kawish, Feb.9) 

• According to a World Bank report, Pakistan stores only 10 percent of the available water where as elsewhere in the world, 40 percent of available water is stored. Agriculture is the backbone of our economy and a large portion of our population is connected with it. But the shortage of water is badly affecting this vital sector. Due to the lack of a proper water storage system, we lost 29 million acre-feet of water every year to the sea. To store this amount of water we need three dams like the Mangla dam. But the construction of new dams is sacrificed at the altar of politics. The water storage capacity of our Mangla and Tarbela dams has come down.  The Indus Base Agreement is also in danger for the last three decades because India has constructed dams on the rivers flowing westwards. Now the BJP government is working on amendments to this agreement or scrapping it completely. It is a matter of grave concern for Pakistan. (Dr Sophia Yousuf in Dunya Daily)