NEWS

• If the Pak-Iran gas pipeline project is not completed, Pakistan is likely to be fined 18 billion dollars, the Ministry of Petroleum told the Public Accounts Committee. The US has been asked to review the ban on obtaining gas from Iran. PAC directed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to contact the American Ambassador in this regard. Chairman of Public Accounts Committee Noor Alam said that America should give us relief of 18 billion dollars or allow the implementation of the agreement. (Jang)

• High alert has been sounded in Islamabad. The spokesman of the capital police said that alert was issued due to the possibility of terrorist attacks and other threats. Demonstrations are banned around courts. Only lawyers, journalists, and people connected with the cases will be allowed in the court premises.  People are requested to report any suspicious or uncommon activities. (Islam Daily)

• One person was killed in a bomb blast in Kalat area of Balochistan. According to Levies, unknown terrorists had planted an improvised explosive device on the road side. (Jasarat)

• The Institute of Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), a non-governmental organization, has revealed that 58 incidents of terrorism took place in the country last month in which 59 people were killed. Of them, 27 were civilians, 18 security force personnel, and 17 militants. As many as 134 people were injured, including 54 civilians and 80 security forces personnel. According to the PICSS database, for the first time since June 2015, Pakistan faced 58 attacks in a single month. The rising trend of anti-state violence continued in February. Although 32% more attacks were recorded in February compared to January 2023, the number of fatalities fell by 56 percent compared to January. Most of the deaths in January 2023 were due to the Peshawar Police Line suicide attack. The number of suicide attacks also increased in February, but their impact was not as devastating as in January. In February, three suicide attacks killed nine people and injured 37. In January, 106 people were killed and 216 injured in two suicide attacks. The month of February saw a significant decrease in terrorism in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while attacks in the former FATA (tribal districts of KP) and Balochistan increased. The number of attacks also increased in Punjab and Sindh. The TTP attack on the Karachi police headquarters was the most high-profile attack of the month. In February, Pakistani security forces intensified their operations against militant groups and killed at least 55 suspected militants. 75 suspected militants from across the country were also arrested. The majority of the accused were arrested from Punjab and KP. According to PICSS, the highest number of militant attacks was reported from Balochistan where PICSS recorded at least 22 attacks in which 25 people were killed and 61 injured. The former FATA faced 16 attacks in which 16 people were killed and 39 injured. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa faced 13 attacks in which 6 people were killed and 8 injured. Four militant attacks took place in Punjab, in which two were killed and eight injured, while 10 people were killed and 18 were injured in three terrorist incidents in Sindh. (Jasarat)

• Amir Jamaat-e-Islami (Balochistan) Maulana Abdul Haq Hashmi said that the conspiracy of depriving Maulana Hidayat-ul-Rahman Baloch of his legal rights and trapping him in false cases will be foiled. Jamaat-e-Islami will observe a day of protest on March 3 against the arrest of the Maulana.    Rallies will be taken out at the district headquarters throughout Balochistan. (Jasarat)

• Public Accounts Committee has sought records of all privileges and perks being enjoyed by retired judges and generals.   The PAC Chairman said country was economically deep down in trouble and VIPs were enjoying hundreds of liters of free oil and other perks. (Ibrat)

• Zamindar Action Committee has decided to block all national highways across Balochistan today against non-acceptance of their demands.    Zamindar Action Committee of District Pashin and Qila Abdullah announced a wheel jam strike on March 2 against illegal loadshedding of WAPDA. (Urdu Point, Qudrat)

• Chairman Jamaat-e-Islami Siraj-ul-Haq asked how a leader will protect the nation when he himself cannot go out on his own. We want a Pakistan where there is a rule of law; the system will change only when people’s attitudes and morals also change.  He said that if we want to change the judicial system, our judicial system will be completely different. When our government comes, the Holy Quran will be placed in the hands of the Chief Justice. All Masjids will be converted into educational institutions and barren lands will be greened.  (Ummat, Daily Express, Nawai Waqt)

• A Chinese company started the construction of a fish processing factory in Gwadar Free Zone South (Phase I). The Heztian Pelagic Fishery Overseas Base Company started importing machinery from China last month. Now cold storage and other necessary facilities are being constructed. The industry is linked to the skills of the local workforce and therefore has the potential to benefit the local population in terms of both employment and business opportunities. (Nawai Waqt)

• In the first seven months of the current fiscal (July 2022 to January 2023), Pakistan’s ability to receive foreign loans has decreased by 50% compared to the same period of the previous financial year. The main reason for this is the postponement of the IMF’s aid program. According to government data, the dollar remittances in the form of foreign loans decreased from 12.02 billion to 6.1 billion dollars. (Jang)
• Chairman of Flour Mills Association Chaudhry Aamir said that the food department is supplying poor quality wheat to the mills and it is also in small quantities. He said that despite the supply of wheat being less than the quota, there is pressure to supply cheap flour. Flour Mills will not tolerate any form of blackmail. Effective from today, the Flour Mills Association has announced immediate closure of all flour mills in Karachi. (Daily Express)

• The federal government has ended electricity subsidy for farmers and export industries and increased the petroleum levy under the pressure of the IMF.  According to details, the government withdrew the subsidy of 3.60 rupees per unit on electricity for agricultural consumers under the Kisan package on the terms of the IMF. From 1st March, agricultural consumers will get electricity at the rate of 16.60 rupees per unit instead of 13 rupees. The federal government will get 14 billion rupees by June due to this hike alone. (Nawai Waqt, Daily Express, Ummat)

• In Hub, the industrial city of Balochistan, hoarders, and profiteers are robbing people with both hands. The floor is sold at 150 to 160 rupees per kg.  Prices of vegetables and other food items have gone through the roof. Government agencies responsible for controlling the prices are silent spectators. They are not moving a finger against the hoarders and profiteers. The shopkeepers are openly violating the rate chart issued by the government but no one is taking action against them. (Intekhab Daily)

• Seven months after floods, the displaced people are forced to bear the brunt of the weather. The government is paying no attention to their plight. Even the survey of affected families for payment of compensation has not made any headway. The suffering people demand immediate steps for rehabilitation. (Urdu Point)

Editorials

• Going by the Supreme Court verdict on polls in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab within 90 days, it looks as though the country is heading for one more political crisis. It can take our country, already hit by serious economic meltdown, further deep into economic crisis. All political parties continue to be adamant and arrogant and each of them wants things to go as per their designs and calculations. Our only appeal is that matters be sorted out amongst parties as early as possible; If this is not done, fingers will be raised against institutions which will do no good to our democracy”. (Ibrat Edit)
• After the decision of the Supreme Court regarding the elections of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab assemblies the political crisis of the last one and a half months should end now. This judgment has clearly stated that there is no scope for postponing the election except for the situations mentioned in the constitution. This judgment also has cleared all the doubts about who can declare the dates of the election, what powers the President and the governors have, and what is the responsibility of the Election Commission. (Edit in Dunya Daily, Intekhab Daily, Daily Pakistan, Jehan Pakistan)
•  It is because of the PDM government’s economic policies that we are witnessing price rise at its peak. The finance minister said inflation will still go up. It seems current government   will keep adding to peoples’ misery and hardship. (Sindh Express Edit)
• Pakistan is staring at 1998 like terms and conditions for the IMF bailout just when the international rating agency, Moody’s has downgraded the rating from CAA one to CAA3. However, according to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, the government is determined to complete the IMF program. The preconditions set to support Pakistan’s economy include a permanent surcharge of Rs 3.82 per unit on electricity tariffs, further hike in interest rates, and written assurances on external financing besides linking the exchange rate to market. There is disagreement on the primary deficit and current account deficit. The IMF is sticking to its calculations. The implementation of the four preliminary measures can pave the way for the issuance of a billion-dollar tranche under the Islamabad-IMF staff-level agreement and the $6.5 billion extended fund facility. (Edit, Jang)
• The government has reduced the price of three types of POL by five rupees to 15 rupees per liter. The government should further reduce the prices of petroleum products because due to its increasing transportation costs, the essential commodities have become costlier and have gone beyond the reach of the common man. The prices of domestic gas cylinders, including LPG, are also in dire need of revision. (Edit, Nawai Waqt)
• A staff-level agreement with the IMF is unlikely this week as the government of Pakistan and the IMF are at loggerheads over exchange rates, interest rates, external financing targets and the imposition of a debt servicing surcharge of 3.82 rupees per unit on electricity bills. The conditions imposed by the IMF are intended to protect the financial interests of its donors. The IMF is ready to help Pakistan but also want to ensure recovery. Economists are warning that the current inflation rate, which is currently at 25%, may reach 35% and the dollar will cross the 300 rupees mark after accepting the strict IMF conditions. The main reason for the decline in remittances during the last few months has been attributed by experts to the artificially low rate of the dollar in the interbank market. Our negligent economic managers and politicians should realize the fact that we have to make a plan to develop on our own, taking advantage of the break that will come with the help of the IMF. (Edit, Daily Express)
• 25 PTI activists were arrested as they went on a rampage at the judicial complex premises when their leader Imran Khan appeared in different courts and secured bail in two cases. In the third Toshakhana case, he did not attend the court and was issued non-bailable warrant. The court asked local police to present Imran Khan before March 7. Imran Khan kept avoiding appearing before courts and also kept getting relief. In fact, courts should not be influenced by Imran Khan’s position or popularity and he should be treated like any other before the eyes of laws of land. According to Islamabad police, PTI leaders were instigating crowds at judicial complex premises for rioting. There were also apprehensions of attack on the High Court too. The rampage by PTI leaders and cadre cannot be justified on any ground. The way Imran Khan and his party misbehave can give the PDM government enough reasons to book Imran Khan and put him behind bars. The courts also should treat Imran Khan like any other ordinary citizen and give facilities and benefits any ordinary person is entitled. (Kawish Edit, March 1)

COLUMNS

• Sindh has been under attack from more than one side, but here I will restrict my column to attack on Sindhis at Karachi’s Lyari University for information of Sindh intelligentsia. Be it print or electronic or even social media, they all are full of articles and reports on injustice and discrimination against Sindhis. When I talk to Sindhi students, some of them start sobbing. We often suffer and remain quiet lest confrontation might lead to wider flare-up and might end up as a big kabila clash. In fact this has been going on for 75 years, now we will have to confront it. The earlier we do it, the better for Sindhis. Confrontation is not good way out, but then there is no alternative, we will have to confront, no matter how long we may have to fight or how big this fight turns out to be. Attacks on Sindhi students at Lyari University in Karachi are part of multi-pronged attacks on Sindhis. Now, we will have to rise and fight. It is just cowardly to compromise with tyrants. We do not want to fight, nor is it in our ways of passing time. But, if we have to fight back, then we are ready for it. We cannot save our Sindhiyat unless we rise and fight. Enough is enough, let us not lose more. We have already suffered and lost a lot under the delusion/mistaken beliefs that others/people speak good about us. Our Sindhi students are being attacked by mask-wearing agents of gun-toting miscreants at Lyari University. Miscreants want to scare away Sindhi students. The miscreants will succeed in their designs if we take all lying low. It is not the first time that Sindhi students are ill-treated at Lyari University or at other universities in Karachi. Sometimes goons pick up fights with Sindhi students over poems of Shah Latif written on university’s walls and these poems are erased in show of hatred against Sindhis. Sometimes, Sindhi girl students are attacked at Daud University; Sindhi students are attacked at Islamic International University. All this makes Sindhi students wonder as if they were living in some other country and hence they were being ill-treated.  We are demanding through this column from the Vice Chancellor, Lyari University and also from all others concerned including the Sindh government that all that is happening wrong against Sindhi students at Lyari University and other universities in Karachi must stop. The authorities must also take measures to ensure that there is no access to any group   of miscreants to university premises. We need to note that intimidating tactics will not work anymore to suppress others’ rights. If times are changing or if times have changed, they have changed also for Sindhis too; they are now ready to fight back. (Inam Bhatti in  Sindh Express, March 1)
• Digital population surveys might be a new weapon to make political gains by getting votes of outsiders settled here in Sindh or to get more allocations under NFC award; it is locals and natives of Sindh who get affected in the process. Power-seeking politicians see greener pastures for them abroad in countries like Dubai  and hence hardly care about the impact of such surveys, but it is Sindh natives who have to stay here who get affected in such exercises. Digital survey can usher in times where Sindhis stand deprived of all their rights, political, economic and other historic ones. (Pahenji Akhbar, Mumtaz Mungi, March 1)
• Major objective behind lifelong disqualification of Nawaz Sharif was to bring in Imran Khan. Though Imran Khan had no clear majority in 2018 polls, yet with help of other parties like MQM, PML(Q) and Independents, a new hybrid system was thrust on the country with Imran and others in corridors of power. But, all that “investment” went waste and those who had brought in Imran Khan stopped helping him to pave the way for entry of PDM in Islamabad’s corridors of power. It is ironic that those running country still refuse to take lessons from history. The country is almost on verge of collapse but yet new experiments are still on. It can only usher in more dangerous times upon us. (Pahenji Akhbar, Majid Maqsood, March 1)
• Yesterday, there were reports of clashes between two student groups at Qaide Azam University. This feud started a week ago by Pushto students pushing Baloch students to wall. After a week, Baloch Council members gathered to take revenge and this led to fights between both groups resulting in injuries to several students including to one Police SHO. What could have been the consequences if instead of Baloch Council there were Mehran Council in fight with Pashto students? Would federal administration have remained neutral? After giving a thought as to what are results of training and giving weapons to Afghans and our politicians against Russia, our establishment, governments and political parties should stop playing facilitator’s role for Afghans in Sindh. Otherwise political parties who are trying to make Afghans powerful in Sindh, and other parts of country might have to repent for their decisions and policies being pursued today. (Kawish, Ali Raza, March 1)
•  The Supreme Court has ordered elections in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab within 90 days according to the constitution. But the government and its allies don’t look comfortable with this judgement. Government still seems to be planning to postpone the elections.  Though it seems that all roads are closed, finding new ways is not difficult in our country. The speeches of PML-N leaders are pointing in another direction. The question is whom our people will vote for if the elections are held in time. Past experience has taught us that our people lack a sense of choice. They don’t have the political sense to elect the right candidate. They are swayed by the promises and false polite attitude of politicians. We can’t blame only the politicians. People are also responsible for the ills of the country. They lack political consciousness and elect the wrong people to rule them.  (Mian Imran Ahmed-Dunya Daily) ####