EDITORIALS

1. Before convening an all-party meeting, the government should have contacted all parties. Anyway, it is better late than never. Hopefully, the all-party meeting taking place on Feb.9 would send a message of unity amongst parties on the country’s key issues. This time even PTI has indicated that if invited for the rescheduled meet, it (PTI) also could participate. This shows that PTI has reviewed its earlier decision of staying from such an important all-party meeting on major national issues. PTI’s earlier decision to stay away from this meeting had earned it flak that the party is giving more importance to its narrow political gains than larger national interest.  As long as all parties are not on one page on the country’s major issues, the world community would keep hesitating to extend a helping hand to Pakistan. Hence, keeping home in order and united is paramount need of the hour. (Edit in Pahenji Akhbar, Feb.7)

2. The APC called by the federal government has been postponed in view of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to Turkey to express solidarity with people there in their hour of sorrow. The visit is a good gesture. Some such gesture is needed on the home front. Political issues confronting the nation should be resolved through talks and not through protests and Jail Bharo campaigns. The nation is already in doldrums; hence it is the time to first stabilize the nation economically and politically. We must make the country safe on the security front too. Instead of confronting each other, the PTI and PDM should talk to each other to thrash out their differences and thus put more efforts to save the country from another episode of terrorism. (Edit in Aeen)

3. Ulema Ahl-e-Sunnat Convention has made it clear that Pakistani Ulema are never with any armed militant movement against the state. The Ulema also made it clear that they are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the government for the safety and integrity of the nation. It is definitely a responsibility of the religious fraternity to show the correct and right path to the misguided people under the guise of religion. Terrorism is not a religious act in any case and it is not an act of Sharia. The Paigham-e-Pakistan Conference was attended by a big number of Ulema and a clear message was given that terming any state department like Army or security agencies non-Muslim is against the Sharia law. It was said that the use of force and terror to impose Sharia is completely forbidden in Islam. Well, it is time for the misguided to correct their perceptions with regard to the ideology of Pakistan. (Edit in Kashmir Express)

4. All is not well in Sindh.  MQM recently boycotted the civic polls and has now  announced plans to hit the streets over the issue of delimitation of civic wards. It has given one week time to set delimitations right or else it will take to agitation. It is also using non-parliamentary language forgetting that it can face political isolation like the PTI is experiencing these days. Cabinet expansion, maladministration in Sindh and MQM threats add up to give big political challenges for the Sindh government, which has not been able to spend its development budget year after year. Sindh Chief Minister needs to come to grips with the problems confronting the rich province for a smooth sail in the days ahead. (Edit in Kawish, Feb.7)

5. Lakhs of dollars are being smuggled to Afghanistan from Pakistan. It is a big reason for our economic crisis but the government is not paying the needed attention to this grave problem. Our foreign exchange reserves are touching the bottom. The government is accepting the hardest conditions of the IMF to get a one billion dollar loan. But despite all this, the government is not taking any serious steps to stop the smuggling of dollars to Afghanistan. According to a foreign economic news agency Bloomberg, smugglers are sending 50 lakh dollars daily to Afghanistan. This smuggling is not new. For the last year, it was in the news. But the government has not taken any satisfactory steps to control it. (Edit in Dunya Daily)

6. Energy crisis has engulfed Gilgit-Baltistan this year.  Cities like Skardu are facing load shedding up to 30 hours. The Gilgit-Baltistan government has made agreements with private electricity producers and the 65MW supply will start after March at a cost of Rs.18 per unit. There are many other measures underway like constructing a regional grid station to connect all the districts, and establishing the 26MW Shigar Thang Power Project.  Right now, however there is no relief in sight in these days of snow fall and cold wave. The Liquid Gas project has not seen any real progress. The need is to complete all energy projects as early as possible to provide relief to the masses. (Edit in Baad-e-Shimal)

NEWS

7. Bloomberg says, daily 50 million dollars are smuggled from Pakistan to Afghanistan.  It also says that these smuggled dollars have become the lifeline of the Taliban government. While illegal flow of dollars is helping Afghanistan, it is adding to the woes of the be leagued Pakistan economy. (Jasarat)

8. Evfen six months after the recent floods, waters are not drained out of many areas of Faizganj Tehsil (of Khairpur) and Thari Mirwah Tehsil. Dozens of villages are still marooned.   Pakka Chang,  Folri Union Council, Aman Union Council and nearby areas, all in Thari Mirwah are under two to five feet of waters. (Jasarat)

9. In Lakki Marwat, 12 terrorists of the outlawed TTP were killed in the course of an operation against the terrorists. A large number of arms and ammunition were recovered from their possession. According to the police, the operation was carried out on a tip-off when the terrorists were going to Tank with the intention to carry out terrorist acts. (Jang)

10. Former Finance Minister Miftah Ismael has said that Pakistan is under the burden of heavy loans and that foreign exchange reserves are depleting rapidly. We must increase exports through CPEC to earn dollars in big way. In an interview, he also said “CPEC framework has given us roads and powerhouses, but we are unable to increase our exports. We are continuously borrowing loans for the last 30 years. To pay back a previous loan we take a new loan. Thus, we are increasing the amount of loans. The floods of last year have also badly damaged our economy. At present Pakistan is in debt of 50 thousand billion rupees”.  (Intekhab Daily)

11. After the expulsion of the PTI members, 119 seats have fallen vacant in the 342-member National Assembly.  As a result, Parliament cannot amend the constitution which required two third members present and voting.  This bizarre situation has arisen for the first time. the National Assembly lost its two-thirds majority. This is the first National Assembly that is unable to make any amendment to the constitution. Now it has only 223 members, while for the two-thirds majority, it needs 228 members. It is short of 5 votes to make any amendment to the constitution. (Intekhab Daily)

12. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has asked the government to seriously view   atrocities against minorities. The panel also called for revision of their quotas in the field of education and employment. In its report, the Commission said that during 2021-22 some worrying trends were observed, which showed that the government is not serious about its claims for the protection of the rights of minorities. Incidents of forced conversions are regularly happening in the Sindh. The Ahmadiyya places of worship are desecrated but the government has not taken any action against the culprits. The declaration of faith in the marriage certificate has increased the problems of the Ahmadiyya community. The government must assure the laws of desecration of a religion or disgracing a religious personality are not used as a weapon for personal revenge. (Intekhab Daily)

13. There is a severe shortage of petrol in many cities of Punjab. Most petrol pumps are closed. The  few open are dispensing small quantities of petrol. There are long queues of vehicles and bikes at such petrol pumps. Petrol is given at the rate of 200 rupees for bikes and  at 500 rupees  for vehicles. The owners of the petrol pumps said that the petroleum dealers are supplying them with a reduced amount of petroleum products. (Intekhab Daily)

14. The Provincial General Secretary of the National Party Khair Bakhsh Baloch and the provincial spokesman Ali Ahmed Langau have said the census form has many flaws. First, it has eliminated the Identity Card, so Afghan migrants can easily get themselves registered and change the demography of the province. Second, the communities are neglected and language is considered as the base. But the Baloch community speaks different languages. So, the language box should be replaced with the community to identify the Baloch community. These flaws should be removed for a fair census.  (Intekhab Daily)

15. The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has prohibited all television channels from airing news or reports on the F-9 Park rape case in order to protect the victim’s identity. (Daily Times)

16. Senior investigative journalist Siddique Sajid revealed in a report on his YouTube channel that Imran Khan had tasked President Dr. Arif Alvi to find a way to holding Imran’s meeting with new army Chief, General Syed Asim Munir. When this was not possible, a contact on phone was suggested, but after the other side rejected this request also, Imran Khan became angrier and showed great displeasure with President Alvi. (Urdu Point)

17. The flour crisis is still going on across Balochistan including Quetta. The price of flour has not decreased and the citizens are forced to buy 135 to 140 rupees per kg of flour from the open market and 20 kg bag of flour for 2800 rupees. (Urdu Point)

18. People in Abbaspur are mulling a protest movement as the government has failed to reconstruct school buildings damaged in the October 2005 earthquake. Schools are held these days in the open. Thousands of girls and boys are compelled to sit under the open sky on stones in all seasons.  (Siasat)

19. Mangla Dam affected people are in distress as no one is ready to hear and address their plight. Neither WAPDA nor the local authorities are paying any attention to their problems. The infrastructure situation is in complete mess with broken roads;, educational and health facilities turned into animal yards. People are waiting for some messiah to come and resolve their grievances. (Shaheen)

20. Election Commission of Pakistan has requested 57 thousand security personnel for security during general elections in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and N A by-elections. The EC expressed worry that there is a threat of terrorism during elections and it cannot be claimed that future elections would be completely peaceful. (Aeen)

21. Concern has been expressed by people in Dera Ismail Khan over the presence of large number of Afghan citizens; their number increasing daily in the entire district. Many Afghan migrants are staying illegally and local authorities have no records of such migrants. (Aeen)

COLUMNS

22. Imran Khan’s calling for jail bharo in the current situation is no less than a joke. Nothing is in order right now, be it politically, socially or economically. Also, most PTI cadres are social-media activists; most of them are politically ignorant and a larger section of Imran Khan’s fan club are  surviving on their parental riches without doing a bit for their livelihood. They have never faced what we call “ups and downs” or rough weather in their lives. Jails produce strong leaders. Politicians and activists come out of police torture cells as heroes. Imran Khan’s cadre is a different breed that sings songs and dance to filmy tunes. Jail bharo movement is something new or unheard of for most of them. Hence, it is testing time for most of them and it remains to be seen if his party cadre and leaders participate in the jail bharo movement or stay away and join other parties. Most of the leaders in PTI are ones who had joined PTI fearing crackdown of NAB and other agencies like FIA. Those who do not fear going to jail are most often ones who are ideologically strong who do not hesitate to go behind bars when it comes to fighting for their ideology or beliefs ,they do not hesitate to sacrifice their lives too. Unfortunately, there is no dearth of ones with vested interests in every age .Such leaders with vested and individual interests often sacrifice or weaken larger national interests in pursuit of their narrow personal goals. Imran Khan’s call for jail bharo would have put most of his cadre and leaders in a dilemma. How Shahbaz Gul and Swati had reacted on getting arrested and on facing interrogation is still fresh in peoples’ memories. Fawad Chaudhary and Sheikh Rashid are also narrating their tales about what happened to them when in custody. Will Imran Khan’s tigers be still ready to go behind bars after hearing tales from above PTI leaders while in custody? Giving such calls when people are passing through very uneasy times is beyond one’s comprehension. People are fed up, frustrated and very restless over ever- rising inflation and unemployment. It is too much to think of courting arrest and leaving families behind in such tough times. Some political observers are of the view that this call from Imran Khan is an expression of his political frustrations and out of fear of his imminent arrest. He can also face unpleasant verdicts from American courts too if he does not declare his daughter’s name in his assets. On other hand, if he admits fatherhood of his American daughter, then that also can put big question mark over his image of sadiq and ameen (truthful and honest). (Hakim Naseerani   in Pahenji Akhbar, Feb.7)

23. There are several flaws in our legal system. The major grievance against our courts of justice is that instead of strengthening democracy in the country they stood by dictators from the times of Gen. Ayub Khan to Gen. Pervez Musharraf. There are very few verdicts in courts that touch our souls or become part of national pride. All is not lost and there are still a handful few in judiciary who do justice to their job but unfortunately such good judges are not held in good esteem by rulers. Normally, when we talk about judges, we often get to hear or read sentences like” Judges do not speak, their verdicts do”. In our land, when judges started speaking to get media focus, they began forgetting their jobs. During 18 years of reporting from courts, I have gone through judgments at apex and high courts minutely. Some of them are touching too. Some such good decisions have also come from Sindh High Court like the one for betterment of the education system in Sindh and 11 guidelines for amending the tenancy act for benefit of farmers.  Sad part is there is no implementation on such decisions. If Sindh government cannot give good governance on its own, it can enforce verdicts like the above to escape intervention by courts. Such implementation will also help Sindh government earn credit for good governance. (Ibrahim Kumbhar in Kawish, Feb.7)

24. PTI has done a lot to spoil the political atmosphere and also worked on instructions of establishment to defame the country’s politicians. Imran Khan always kept saying in statements “I will make Zardari and Nawaz cry”. More than as a democrat, Imran often behaved like a dictator when he was PM. Opposition parties often used to say that times could change and it could be PTI’s turn too anytime. Those were the times when Imran Khan lived with delusions that the country had no alternative to him and he would only rule the country for ever. But tables turned against him when he got ousted not just from corridors of power but establishment also started looking the other way leaving him high and dry.  These days, we get to see the crying faces of PTI leaders, Sheikh Rashid and Fawad Chaudhary being the latest ones on TV sets. Amongst all well-wishers of establishment, Zulfikar Bhutto topped the list. But, it is before us all to see what was done against Zulfikar Bhutto at the hands of Gen. Zia. If Imran Khan and his supporters think that they have become big brands in politics today and the country will come out on roads for them, then they are living in delusion. People know it very well that PTI on its own meant nothing without establishment’s blessings. Those who see PTI as a big revolutionary party, should see PTI without independents, without PML-Q and without those who defected from PPP and PML-N into PTI;   PTI on its own does not make any big or revolutionary party. Whatever Imran Khan did to his political adversaries when he was PM, he is getting back in the same coin. But, he is lucky enough that so far nothing harsh has been done to him like what was done to Opposition leaders during the days when Imran Khan was PM. As long as he was in power, he kept targeting his opposition leaders, times have changed and he himself is being targeted. It remains to be seen as to how long his party and cadres can sustain odds in political journey. (Akhtar Hafeez in Sindh Express)

25. One and only question is being asked in every meeting, be it in offices and or amongst elders in the country. It is: “What will happen now in the country?”. Expectations were from the PDM government. People felt that it had experienced heads and political veterans and the country would come out of the phase left behind by PTI. But those hopes have turned out to be a case of expectations being belied.  How can we escape crisis upon crisis hitting the country in such an atmosphere? As it appears, the crisis will only get worse in times to come. What will be consequences from the emerging crises depend on political strength and awareness of people in provinces? Those who had joined federal structure of Pakistan with high hopes stand disillusioned today. Days of wishful thinking are over now. ( Irshad Lagari  in  Sindh Express )