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ISLAMABAD: The Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) has recommended the privatisation of power distribution companies (Discos) in a phased manner to analyse the regulatory framework and identify potential obstacles before scaling up the divestment of other companies. This plan should begin with the most financially viable Discos and gradually include others, ensuring that the process is manageable and that lessons from earlier phases are applied to subsequent ones, SDPI suggests in its new report, “Privatisation of Pakistan’s Power Utility Sector”. The report says the Ministry of Energy, in collaboration with the National Electricity Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra), must establish a framework that governs the privatisation of Discos, including precise and cost-reflective tariff-setting mechanisms, service quality standards, and consumer protection measures, ensuring that private investors are held accountable for meeting these standards while maintaining transparenc...

Dr Riaz Ahmed, an associate professor and syndicate member at the University of Karachi (KU), was released on Saturday night after eight hours of alleged “illegal detention” by three police stations in Karachi upon protest and outcry. Fellow colleague Prof Tauseef Ahmed told Dawn.com that Dr Ahmed left his home earlier today to go to KU but he did not reach the university and his whereabouts were unknown. He said the KU professor was a member of its syndicate whose meeting was scheduled for Saturday to “decide about the degree issue of a judge of Islamabad High Court (IHC)”. He added that Riaz had earlier posted on X where he alleged “external pressure” on the KU syndicate regarding the degree case. Tauseef alleged that Dr Riaz’s “disappearance” could be related to the KU’s syndicate meeting. He said that rights activists had reached Bahadurabad police station, claiming that Riaz was taken away from there in two police mobiles. Bahadurabad Station House Officer Naeem Raj...

Flooding in Sindh’s Gaj River submerged roads and pathways in over 200 villages throughout the Kachho belt, including Wahi Pandhi and Gorakh Hill Station, officials said on Saturday. The floodwater also submerged villages such as Jam Babbar, Sher Muhammad Talpur, Muhammad Bakhsh Lund and Tamo Chandio, resulting in the collapse of 30 mud houses. The situation was further compounded by flooding at four points along the Nai Gaj River which severed all ground connections between Wahi Pandhi, Gorakh Hill Station and the rest of the Kachho area from Dadu Johi. The inhabitants of Kachho complained that despite the severity of the situation, the Dadu district administration and Sindh government did not implement adequate measures. They demanded the immediate restoration of the Wahi Pandhi-Johi road to facilitate transportation and ensure the supply of essential food and resources to the affected communities. Special assistant to Sindh chief minister and focal person for the relief departm...

The National Assembly has been intimated that the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has deployed the Web Monitoring System (WMS) for internet content management which is used to block applications and websites not in tandem with the law, it emerged on Friday. Internet speeds have witnes­sed a considerable decline over the past few weeks, and users are facing difficulties in sending or down­loading media and voice notes through WhatsApp when connected to mobile data, and experiencing slow browsing speeds, even on broadband. The business community and internet service providers (ISPs) had alleged that the government’s efforts to monitor internet traffic — including a so-called ‘firewall’ — had caused the slowdown of digital services, resulting in economic losses. While the country’s information techno­logy minister, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, had confirmed that the government was upgrading its “web management system” to cope with cyber security threats, she categorically denied...

KARACHI: An international survey conducted by Ipsos has suggested that only one in 10 Pakistanis believe the country is headed in the right direction. The survey, released on Friday, indicates that the rural population is more optimistic than urban residents. According to the survey, optimism has significantly decreased, dropping from 18 per cent in the second quarter to 11pc in the third quarter, bringing it back to levels seen earlier this year. “ Economic problems continue to top the list of worrying issues for Pakistanis despite some improvement,” the report said. People are increasingly worried about rising electricity prices and taxes, it added. Since the beginning of 2024, the perception of economic challenges as the most worrying issue has lessened in Pakistan, touching a two-year low. At the same time, concerns about the rising electricity prices and the burden of taxes have become significantly more pronounced, with concerns about taxes reaching a four-year high, accor...

IT is said that we stand at the cusp of the “fourth industrial revolution”. The emergence and proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-based learning is set to usher in a new era of productivity, efficiency and governance across public and private sectors. In recognition of such potential, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication laid out a draft National Artificial Intelligence Policy last year, which reportedly was to be presented before the cabinet this month. The policy sets out ambitious targets for the use, scaling and proliferation of AI, while recognising — though almost in passing — the need to ensure its ethical and responsible use, which upholds the fundamental rights and privacy of users. Given the state’s existing performance on cyber safety, particularly of women, these assurances appear unrealistic. AI is a broad field that encompasses the development of computer systems capable of simulating human learning, comprehension, problem-...

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Board of Revenue’s (FBR) nearly five-month tax registration drive in 42 cities has brought thousands of traders onto the tax roll, but an average income tax collected from an individual under the Tajir Dost Scheme (TDS) is around Rs2,432 per month. Despite contributing 20pc to the gross domestic product, the tax contribution of the retail and wholesale sector stands at a mere 4pc. The government has been striving for years to effectively bring this sector into the tax net. Only 300,000 of an estimated 3.5 million retailers are actively filing tax returns. The TDS aims to bring the remaining 3.2m into the tax net. Since April 1, tax authorities have registered over 64,000 traders under the scheme. In the first phase, the scheme was implemented in six cities: Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar, Quetta and Rawalpindi. The registration scope was extended to another 36 cities in July. Official sources told Dawn that on Wednesday, the FBR collected Rs503,363 in...

Sindh Inspector General (IG) of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon on Wednesday said that the medical report of Natasha Danish, the driver booked in the case of the deadly Karachi traffic accident last week, shows she was under the influence of the narcotic methamphetamine (crystal meth). On August 19, a speeding Toyota Land Cruiser, driven by Danish, hit three motorcycles and another car before overturning on the city’s Karsaz Road. Sixty-year-old Imran Arif and his 22-year-old daughter Amna were killed in the accident, while three others were wounded. The driver was arrested and booked for manslaughter charges. In a court hearing on Aug 21, a counsel of the victim had called for a probe into the “kind of drug” that the suspect was allegedly under the influence of at the time of the accident. The court had subsequently sent Danish on a 14-day judicial remand. IG Memon had previously said that the report of the driver’s blood test was expected soon, and in light of the medical reports, mo...

ISLAMABAD: After a consistent rise over the past two decades, air pollution in South Asia declined by 18 per cent in one year possibly on the back of above-normal rainfall in that year but still was the biggest external threat, said the 2024 report by the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI). Despite this slight decline which also led to a drop in global air pollution levels, South Asia remains one of the most polluted regions, accounting for 45 percent of total life years lost due to high pollution. The report stated that the average person living in the region would gain 3.5 years in their lives if WHO guidelines of 5 g/m3 were met. In Pakistan , pollution decreased the average resident’s life expectancy by 3.3 years. In more polluted areas, such as Peshawar and Lahore, it is shortening lives by more than 5 years. “In Pakistan…the PM2.5 standard is much stricter (set at 15 g/m3), and virtually the country’s entire population breathes air that doesn’t meet the standard,” the report noted....

Multan experienced a record-breaking torrential downpour on Tuesday, the highest of the previous 48 years, as a rain emergency was imposed by the Water and Sanitation Agency (Wasa). Rainfall figures from Wasa as of 8:45pm showed that Chungi No 9 disposal station received 172 millimetres of rain, Kirri Jamandan disposal station received 137mm and Old Shujaabad Road disposal station received 90mm of rain. A statement from the agency said the previous rainfall record was 134.5mm in 1976. It added that Wasa Managing Director (MD) Khalid Raza Khan imposed a rain emergency and a drainage operation was underway with the MD continuously monitoring the operation. Wasa said that MD Khan instructed all deputy directors to inspect the roads in their jurisdiction and remove the manhole covers on all roads while Multan Deputy Commissioner (DC) Waseem Hamid Sindhu visited different areas of the city to review drainage arrangements and directed that operations be sped up. The agency also submi...

KARACHI: The Dawood Foundation’s MagnifiScience Centre unveiled its latest exhibit, Ocean Odyssey, on Monday in an attempt to raise environmental awareness. Located on the third floor of the Shahzada Dawood Building, the new exhibit was inaugurated by TDF trustee Abdul Samad Dawood, who is the vice chairman of Dawood Hercules Corporation. The space was designed entirely in shades of blue, emphasising the movement and environmental impact of water. The floor, painted in varying blue tones to mirror ocean waves, added to the overall beauty of the exhibit. Scientific facts were displayed on the walls in both English and Urdu, making the information accessible to all visitors. As the space is themed around oceans, the facts highlighted various aquatic organisms and species found beneath the water’s surface. The MagifiScience Centre’s new section blends interactive fun with insights into marine conservation In addition, there was a designated game corner for children where they coul...

FENI: River waters in low-lying Bangladesh are receding after days of deadly floods but 300,000 people are still in emergency shelters requiring aid, disaster officials said on Sunday. The heavy floods , which killed at least 18 people in Bangladesh, have added to the challenges of a new government that took charge this month after a student-led revolution. Rescue teams, including joint forces of the army, air force and navy, are helping those forced from their homes and bringing aid to those who have lost everything, disaster management minister Faruk-i-Azam said. “The flood situation is improving as the flood water started to recede,” the minister said. More than 307,000 people are in shelters and more than 5.2 million have been affected by the floods, the ministry said. Floods fuelled anger between Dhaka and New Delhi, with India rejecting blame for deliberately releasing water from an upstream dam “Now we are working to restore communication in the affected areas so that we...

KHYBER: The Kukikhel protesters on Saturday announced to boycott the polio vaccination campaign and block the main Torkham highway from Monday to press the government for acceptance of their longstanding demand of ensuring the early return of the remaining internally displaced persons to their homes. Announcing their new plan at the Bhagiyaree checkpost where they have been stationed since Aug 21 (Wednesday), they said a jirga of tribal elders and politicians from seven merged districts would also be convened if there was no headway in their parlays with the government officials. Barkat Afridi, a spokesman for the protesting Kukikhels, said they had been showing leniency towards private cars but the road would be completely closed from Monday morning, with only patients being allowed to proceed. Attendance at the protest camp, however, remained thin on Saturday with organisers urging residents of Jamrud to attend the protest in large numbers. Meanwhile, heavy vehicles loaded mostly...

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Saturday denied media reports about the potential closure of automated teller machines (ATM) and a telecommunication blackout in the country due to the non-renewal of long-distance international (LDI) licences. The LDI operators’ main function is to provide international incoming and outgoing telecom call services. Most of the 10 operators’ licences will expire in July-August 2024. The LDI operators are Worldcall, Redtone, ADG-LDI, Telecard, Dancom, Wise­comm, Circlenet, Wat­een, 4B-Gentel and Multinet. Most of them have not yet paid the principal overdue for the Universal Ser­vice Fund (USF) in their 20-year licence contract, which will soon expire. Their total outstanding principal amount reportedly stands at Rs24 billion, and the PTA has asked them to settle their dues in order to renew their licences for the next 20 years. The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications has reconstituted a steering committee to ad...

ISLAMABAD: Senators attending a house committee meeting on Friday cautioned that the 7pc export target set for automakers could not be achieved if locally-made vehicles failed to meet international standards. The Senate Standing Committee on Industries and Production, which met with Aon Abbas in the chair, formed a three-member sub-committee under Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee to analyse the country’s electric vehicle policy. Officials informed the meeting that after the government had set the export target at 7pc for 2024-25, the companies obtained a stay order from a court, saying they would not be able to meet the target. Senator Saleem Mandviwalla regretted that cars produced in the country were not of international standards, adding that it is impossible to find suitable export markets for these vehicles. Senate committee discusses vehicle policy Senator Nyazee stated that no manufacturer should be allowed to produce cars that do not follow the WP-29 regulations, questionin...

Karachi police resorted to baton charges and aerial firing on Friday when Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) workers attempted to move towards the Central Police Office near Tower to register their protest. The TLP workers had organised the protest for police not lodging a first information report (FIR) against the organisers of the minority march at Frere Hall for allegedly spreading “fake” propaganda against section 295(c) (use of derogatory remarks, etc., in respect of the Holy Prophet (PBUH)) of the Pakistan Penal Code. City Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Arif Aziz told Dawn.com that the police resorted to baton charges and aerial firing to disperse the protestors as they allegedly attacked police personnel, injuring many and misbehaving with them. A statement from the City police spokesperson said the protesters pelted stones at the SSP Aziz’s vehicle and injured several officers of the force. Aziz said police contingents led by him and Keamari SSP Faizan Ali prevented ...

DHAKA: A United Nations team arrived in Bangladesh on Thursday to discuss with the interim government the process of investigating alleged human rights violations during the recent movement which toppled the government of prime minister Sheikh Hasina earlier this month. About 300 people, many of them university and college students, were killed during protests that began last month after students agitated against quotas in government jobs. The protests spiralled into demands for ouster of Sheikh Hasina, who was in power since 2009. An interim government, headed by Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, was sworn in after Hasina fled the country and flew to New Delhi following the student-led uprising. The UN office in Bangladesh said in a media advisory that the team from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights will be in Dhaka from Aug 22 to 29. “The purpose of this visit is to understand their priorities for assistance in promoting human rights,” said the media advisory, a...

Eleven policemen were martyred and seven were injured as a result of an ambush by riverine dacoits in the Machka area of Punjab’s Rahim Yar Khan on Thursday, police said. Bahawalpur Regional Police Officer (RPO) Rai Babar Saeed confirmed to Dawn.com that “11 personnel were martyred and seven were injured in the attack.” A statement from the Punjab police said that two police vans were returning from weekly duties in Rahim Yar Khan’s riverine Machka area when one of the vehicles developed a malfunction, after which sudden rocket attacks occurred. It added that the Rahim Yar Khan district police officer was present at the scene, while Punjab Inspector General of Police Dr Usman Anwar took notice of the incident, requested a report from the Bahawalpur RPO, and proceeded to the location with several other senior police officials. The injured were transported for treatment, and the Punjab police chief ordered that they be provided with the best possible medical facilities. Condem...

Palestinians watch as smoke rises from a building hit by an Israeli strike in the Rimal neighbourhood of Gaza City, on Wednesday.—AFP • Acknowledges differences, calls for ‘maximum flexibility’ from both Israel and Hamas • Egypt tells top US diplomat ‘time has come to end the ongoing war’ DOHA: Top US diplomat Antony Blinken headed home on Wednesday after failing to secure a Gaza ceasefire, warning both Israel and Hamas his plan may be the last chance to avert a broader war. The US secretary of state appealed to Hamas to urgently accept a US-backed truce proposal, while also entering into a public spat with Israel over its future presence in the Gaza Strip. “Time is of the essence,” Blinken said after stops in key Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt as well as Israel on his ninth tour of the region aiming to halt the more than 10-month war. “With every passing day, more bad things can happen to more good people who don’t deserve it,” he said before flying out of Doha. “This needs...

Four bodies were found on Wednesday aboard the sunken wreck of a yacht belonging to the wife of British tech magnate Mike Lynch, sources close to the rescue operation said. The identities of the victims were not immediately given by the authorities. Three of the bodies were brought ashore and taken to nearby hospitals for formal identification. The fourth corpse was being taken to land as evening set in. Britain’s Daily Telegraph reported that two of the dead were Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter. Local authorities in Sicily declined to comment on the report. The British-flagged Bayesian, a 56-metre-long superyacht, was carrying 22 people and anchored off the port of Porticello when it was hit by a fierce, pre-dawn storm on Monday. Lynch, 59, was one of the UK’s best-known tech entrepreneurs and had invited friends to join him on the yacht to celebrate his recent acquittal in a US fraud trial. Besides Lynch and his daughter, the other people unaccounted for after the disas...

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has imposed a fine on the Pakistan International Airlines Corporation (PIA) for filing frivolous applications seeking review of an earlier order. Comprising Justice Muhammad Junaid Ghaffar and Justice Agha Faisal, the two-judge bench dismissed the review applications with costs of Rs25,000 each for being frivolous and devoid of merit, and directed the petitioner/applicant to deposit the same in the account of the SHC clinic. The PIA had filed petitions in 2022, assailing respective interlocutory orders rendered by the National Industrial Relat­i­ons Commission (NIRC) and the SHC had dismissed the same in November 2022. Thereafter, the bench noted that the petitioner preferred review applications ostensibly beyond the pale of limitation in January 2023. The dismissal of the petitions was inter alia predicated upon the observation that since the governing law, Industrial Relations Act (IRA) 2012, contained no provision of appeal in respect of inter...

The Lahore police registered a case on Tuesday after the staff of the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH) and the Young Doctors Association (YDA) alleged that a five-year-old girl was raped on the facility’s premises. The protest was led by Punjab YDA President Dr Shoaib Niazi and Dr Azam Saeed, president of the YDA’s chapter for the hospital. The demonstration was also joined by the staff and students of the hospital as well as the Fatima Jinnah Medical University (FJMU). A note of demands by the protesters said: “An incident of rape/attempt of rape on the premises of SGRH Lahore has occurred, which was pushed under the carpet by the administration. The victim was said to be a minor of five years old. “The students of FJMU/SGRH demand transparency and an investigation of the case. The students further demand the administration to answer their criminal silence. If such incidents are covered up and silenced, it raises a question mark for the hospital administration!” Among others, the pro...

QUETTA: Balochistan Minister for Home and Tribal Affairs Mir Ziaullah Langove on Monday said the youth should reject the politics of violence, anarchy and hatred and lead in the development of the province in a democratic manner. Mr Langove, who is also the central vice president of Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), said talented youth were a valuable asset of the nation. He was of the opinion that Balochistan’s was lagging behind in the progress because of those few self-interested people who provoked the youth to pick up guns instead of encouraging them towards education, health and employment. He said the top priority of the present government was to settle education, health and sports fields in the wider interest of the province. The minister said that revolutionary steps taken in the education sector under the leadership of Balochistan CM Sarfraz Bugti were yielding positive results. “Balochistan is a bouquet of different nations, we must embrace peace, love and brotherhood among...

A smart person learns from the mistakes of others, while the simpleton only learns by committing those same mistakes firsthand. Or so the saying in Urdu goes. But, there is also a lot that never learns, just like the people running Pakistan who relish repeating the same set of self-destruction without ever grasping the consequences. In case you were wondering, I was talking about Pakistan’s repeated adventures with the internet . Even a decade after this obsession first started on a scale, those in power are as serious as ever about reenacting the same blunders, only bigger and better this time. Whether it’s wilful ignorance, brash arrogance or just good-old incompetence, nobody knows. What we do know is that the authorities — whichever ones call the shots — have been throttling connectivity for more than a year now, just around that fateful day we shall not name. Everyone has experienced it: at home, in the office or while commuting. Doesn’t matter if you rely on fixed or mobile b...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday expressed the government’s resolve to stop power theft , reduce line losses, and improve the power distribution system across the county. Presiding over a meeting in Islamabad to review the matters of the power ministry, the prime minister directed the power minister and secretary of power division to coordinate with the provinces concerning halting electricity theft, the performance of power distribution companies (DISCOs), and other matters of the sector. “A whole of the government approach should be adopted to resist power theft across the country,” the prime minister said. He informed the meeting that the government had appointed new board chairmen and members in five DISCOs through a transparent process, adding that he hoped that the appointments would further improve the performance of the distribution companies. The prime minister instructed provincial governments to maintain the necessary police force and Tehsildars according to th...

KARACHI: A former Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) official, who was the last living survivor of the 1965 Cairo crash, passed away in London. Salahuddin Siddique, 93, had retired in 1980 as general manager (public affairs) of the national flag carrier. He was one of the people on board the ill-fated inaugural PIA flight from Karachi and London, which crashed near Cairo airport on May 20, 1965. The flight was supposed to stop over in Dhahran, Cairo and Geneva. The plane had 128 passengers and crew on board, of whom only six had survived. Mr Siddique had been living in London for a long time. According to family sources, he is survived by a son and a daughter. A PIA spokesperson, on behalf of the management of the national flag carrier, condoled with the bereaved family, saying PIA would always remember Mr Siddique’s services. Published in Dawn, August 18th, 2024 from The Dawn News - Home https://ift.tt/PtA9pod

Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD on Saturday announced plans to open a car production plant in Pakistan, where it will also start selling three models through a partnership with Mega Motors. BYD is the first major new electric vehicle (NEV) entrant in the Pakistani market , where there is a lack of charging infrastructure. “Our entry into the Pakistani market is not just about bringing advanced vehicles to consumers,” said Liu Xueliang, BYD’s general manager for Asia Pacific. “It’s about driving a broader vision of environmental responsibility and technological innovation.” BYD also plans to open three “flagship stores and experience centres” in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, the company said at a launch event in Lahore, adding it plans to start selling two SUV models and a sedan from the fourth quarter of 2024. Mega Motors is a unit of Pakistan’s largest private utility Hub Power Co Ltd, known as Hubco. “We will establish Pakistan’s first NEV assembly plant […] dedicate...