Climate change financing is a key part of green finance, essential for driving investment towards climate action and achieving the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) carbon peaking and neutrality goals.

Building intellectual capacity and fostering learning partnerships enhance long-term capabilities in organizations and communities. Localized solutions rooted in indigenous knowledge and governance reforms empower societies to achieve resilient, sustainable development.

Lead exposure remains a significant public health threat in Asia and the Pacific, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The global effort to address lead poisoning must focus on stricter regulations, enhanced healthcare capacity, and coordinated international action to protect vulnerable populations.

Extreme heat is an invisible but increasingly tangible climate risk. It varies by time and place and has wide-reaching but unequal impacts, particularly to women and vulnerable people. As global temperatures rise, extreme heat events (heat waves) are becoming more frequent and severe.

Asia and the Pacific is central to global climate change efforts, but robust capital markets are needed to mobilize private climate finance. Sustainable finance frameworks, transition finance, and carbon markets can build deeper markets that empower climate action.

Colorado voters on Tuesday rejected Proposition 131, which would have upended the way elections are conducted in the state and moved the state to a ranked-choice voting system.

Prop. KK will create an excise tax on firearms and ammunition, primarily to pay for victim services.

Coloradans have rejected a proposed ban on mountain lion and bobcat hunting -- a hit for wildlife advocates who have worked to outlaw or change the practice for years.

Colorado voters will decide whether to repeal the state constitution's now-defunct marriage definition that only recognizes unions between a man and a woman.

Colorado Democrats looked set to maintain their supermajority in the state House as of Wednesday afternoon, though they fell short of reaching the same threshold in the Senate.

This is the third presidential election in a row that the state's voters have rejected Trump -- after going in 2016 for Hillary Clinton, and in 2020 for President Joe Biden.

President-elect Donald Trump is starting to fill key posts in his second administration.

Hansen was comfortably reelected to the state Senate last week, winning 84% of the vote.

Denver police sergeant Stephanie Neblock was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence assault in Douglas County, the Denver Police Department said in a press release. 

The mountain lion was considered a public threat and had activated a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents.

Broncos assistant head coach Mike Westhoff, an instrumental figure in the team’s special teams success, is stepping down to monitor a potential health issue.

This study examines the impact of economic development in forestry on the indigenous people who have traditionally lived in and obtained their livelihood from the forest. It takes villages in East Kalimantan, Indonesia, as a case study.

How have Latin American exporters been affected by the rapid increase in the PRC's exports to the USA and other large markets? Are PRC and Latin American exports complementary or competitive with each other?

Does competition enhance productivity growth of a developing economy? Is global competition conducive to economic development? Answers as evidenced from Korean microdata.

Case study on Singapore explains the country's resilience to swings in capital flows.

South Asia study of foreign direct investments impact in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal on economic growth, domestic investment, and export; special emphasis on the role of infrastructure.

Growth model finds evidence of agricultural convergence among Asian countries, but changes in factors including foreign aid may make this impossible to realize.

This paper examines the impact of family size on children's education in the Philippines.

In a case study on Korea, a VAR model is used to investigate the effects of capital flows on asset prices.

This paper examines the costs and benefits of the multiple currency phenomenon in Lao PDR and considers options in terms of policy response.

Bangladesh and India should pursue bilateral economic cooperation to enhance South Asian regional cooperation.

Theoretical and empirical analyses of People's Republic of China's infrastructure and rural development.

To attract infrastructure investment to meet national goals for providing electricity to consumers, India needs continued macroeconomic stability as well as an improved policy and regulatory environment.

How has the recent dramatic growth of PRC's exports affected its neighbors? Have they lost export markets and seen foreign investment diverted to PRC? This paper surveys the empirical evidence on these important questions.

This study finds contract farming in Lao PDR to be effective in raising incomes of small farmers, thus reducing poverty.

This paper examines enterprise performance in the North-East region of the People's Republic of China.

This paper is part of a cross-country study on corporate governance in Asia. A consensus has yet to be reached about exactly what factors were behind the crisis of 1998 and how these factors interacted in bringing about the crisis.

Regional disparities within and among Chinese provinces have declined, but are still a serious problem.

South Asian private sector participation in infrastructure development is examined, and recommendations are made for future development.

Research on ICT and capacity building for poverty reduction, focusing on lessons learned from a distant learning course in microfinance.

Sri Lanka's post-tsunami reconstruction experience provides lessons for future major disasters, particularly for realistic needs assessment.

This paper examines the role of finance in development in the light of the experience of Township and Village Enterprises in the People's Republic of China.

Lack of access to good road networks is a major constraint on the incomes and welfare of the poor. Using household expenditure survey data for Lao PDR this paper models the causes of poverty and shows the impact on poverty levels of road improvements.

This paper analyses economic and social indicators across provinces in the People's Republic of China.

Twenty-two people drowned, while one person was saved on Tuesday after a bus carrying them plunged into a river in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district on Tuesday, according to rescue officials.

“Sixteen dead bodies have been recovered from the river, while the search for the remaining persons continues,” Senior Superintendent of Police Diamer, Sher Khan, told Dawn.com.

He added that a woman, who was a bride, had sustained injuries and was receiving treatment at a hospital.

Sharing details of the accident earlier, Rescue 1122 spokesperson Shaukat Riaz told Dawn.com that a bus coming from Astore fell into the Indus River from Telchi bridge in the limits of Diamer district in Gilgit-Baltistan on Tuesday afternoon.

“The vehicle was part of a wedding procession heading towards Punjab’s Chakwal district,” he said.

He added the passengers who were onboard the bus had been identified and women were among the drowned.

“Nineteen of them belonged to Astore while four were from the Chakwal district of Punjab,” he said.

The district administration officials were also present on the spot and supervised the search operation in the river, Riaz added.

President Asif Ali Zardari expressed his grief and conveyed his condolences to the victims’ relatives.

Road accidents are frequent in KP and GB, exacerbated by harsh weather, rugged terrain, poorly maintained roads, overloaded vehicles, and minimal traffic regulations.

The narrow, winding routes and driver fatigue further elevate risk, making these regions especially accident-prone.

In October, two people were killed and 36 others were injured when a Rawalpindi-bound passenger bus fell into a ravine in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Upper Kohistan area.

A suspect who was allegedly involved in the 2023 blast at Peshawar Police Lines mosque, that claimed 84 lives, was arrested a day earlier and has been identified as police constable Muhammad Wali, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police (IG) Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur revealed in a press briefing on Tuesday.

On Jan 30, 2023, a powerful explosion ripped through a mosque in Peshawar’s Red Zone area where between 300 and 400 people — mostly police officers — had gathered for prayers.

The banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed responsibility for the attack. It later distanced itself from the blast but sources earlier indicated that it might have been the handiwork of some local faction of the outlawed group.

Addressing the press conference in Peshawar today, IG Gandapur said the “remaining missing link” was related to who had facilitated Qari, the alleged suicide bomber.

“As a result of that effort, […] we arrested this person along with two suicide jackets from near Jameel Chowk on Peshawar’s Ring Road on 11/11, meaning yesterday,” the IG stated, referring to the facilitator.

“Based on the interrogation, it was deduced that the facilitator was our own policeman,” who he identified as Muhammad Wali.

“The suspect operated in line with the order of the banned organisation Jamaatul Ahrar and has received Rs200,000 through the hundi-hawala system,” KP IG said, adding that the policeman also received Rs40,000 to Rs50,000 from the banned group per month.

“He received Rs200,000 which cost the lives of hundreds of people who were martyred. He sold his [own] brothers for this,” the IG added.

The top cop further revealed that the suspect dropped off the suicide bomber at the Pir Zakori bridge.

“After the blast occurred, he contacted his handler named Junaid and informed him about the success of the operation via Telegram,” he stated.

While the police already knew that Jamaatul Ahrar was involved in the blast, the suspect was the “missing link” who acted as a local facilitator.

The police inspector general said that Muhammad Wali was also involved in other incidents.

In Feb 2024, the suspect handed a pistol to a person from Jamaatul Ahrar named Saifullah in Lahore to target a member of the Ahmadiyya community, the KP IG said.

He targeted a priest at Peshawar’s Jameel Chowk in Jan 2022, he added.

According to Gandapur, social media played a key role in such incidents, adding that “Fitna al Khawarij and other extremist organisations use social media to brainwash and radicalise people”.

In July, the government, through an official notification, designated the TTP as Fitna al Khawarij, while mandating all institutions to use the term khariji (outcast) when referring to the perpetrators of terrorist attacks on Pakistan.

Then-KP IG Moazzam Jah Ansari had said in February last year that the suicide bomber was “clad in a police uniform”. He had said that technical evidence and information collected suggested that the blast was the work of TTP’s Jamaatul Ahrar faction.

In March 2023, the KP Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) said the mastermind and the handler of the suicide bomber had been traced, stating that both of them were Afghan nationals.

Then-CTD chief Shaukat Abbas said the suicide bomber was identified only by his alias “Qari” and his handler was identified as Ghaffar aka Salma. He had further confirmed that the attack was carried out by Jamaatul Ahrar.

The government of Punjab on Tuesday — expanding on its previous order — closed all the educational institutions up to the higher secondary level in the province from tomorrow until the end of the week, shifting them to an online mode, as the province tackles the hazardous smog situation prevalent for the past few weeks.

The recent smog situation was declared a “calamity” in Punjab last month. Schools have been closed in the province’s main divisions — Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad and Multan — until November 17 in a bid to lower children’s exposure to pollution.

Separately, the public has been barred from entering public parks, zoos, playgrounds, and museums until November 17 to reduce public exposure to smog.

A day ago, the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) representative in Pakistan called for urgent and greater efforts to reduce air pollution, noting that over 11 million children under five years of age were exposed to smog in the worst affected districts of Punjab.

The province’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a notification issued today, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com that “All the educational institutions […] up to higher secondary level shall remain closed and will shift to online mode with effect from Nov 13 within […] DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Sargodha and Rawalpindi divisions […] till Nov 17.”

Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat also announced the closure of schools during a press conference today, saying that the “decision was made in light of the complaints received from the district.”

“This drastic decision had to be taken to protect children from the deadly effects,” he said, “There is a sense of educational loss, but the decision to close educational institutions is being taken out of compulsion.

“In view of the difficulties in online teaching, an alternative strategy is being quickly brought in,” the minister added.

He also appealed to the public to cooperate and do what was in their capacity to help the government deal with this issue.

50pc of govt offices to work online

Separately, all government offices were ordered to shift half of their workforce to online mode to reduce traffic load on roads to prevent the worsening of the smog situation due to vehicular emissions.

“The physical presence of human resource(s) of offices in your jurisdiction may kindly be reduced to 50pc by shifting them to online mode/work from home,” the EPA said in a separate notification issued today.

In the order issued on Tuesday, which is seen by Dawn.com, the Punjab EPA directed all the administrative secretaries, as well as heads of attached departments and semi-government/autonomous bodies, to reduce the physical presence of human resources by 50 per cent.

According to the notification, the situation was likely to prevail for a few weeks, adding that local pollution contributing factors, especially vehicular emissions, may further exacerbate the conditions.

“Hence, the situation warrants to specify safeguards to reduce the number of vehicles on roads in order to control air pollution, through preparation and implementation of contingency plans,” the notification said.

The EPA also called for inter-departmental meetings to be convened in an online mode unless the physical presence of participants was “extremely necessary”.

Bad-quality air aggravating pulmonary diseases: doctor

Speaking to Dawn.com, a pulmonologist at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital, Dr Nasir Javed, said that asthmatic patients, who were earlier stable, are now facing chronic health conditions due to the smog.

“[Due to the smog], asthma patients would start feeling inflation in their airways and it would become difficult for them to breathe smoothly,” he said. “Even medicines have stopped working properly to cure the problem.”

He further added that asthmatics and chronic smokers with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were at greater risk and were visiting the hospitals with exacerbation of their diseases.

“Air-Quality Index is directly proportional to the symptoms/ severity which one can suffer,” he said.

“Limited outdoor activity and hydration are the mainstays to avoiding respiratory issues as antibiotics were of no use.”

Smog to persist in major cities as weather conditions worsen: NDMA

Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), in an advisory issued today, said that the smog situation was expected to persist across the urban centres in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa throughout November and December due to high humidity, low wind speeds, and upper atmospheric pressure.

According to the advisory, as reported by the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) the cities most likely to be affected by the worsening smog situation include Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Bahawalpur, Peshawar, Mardan, and Nowshera.

“The advisory highlights the rising smog levels in the affected areas, driven by the current weather conditions, and advises residents to avoid prolonged outdoor exposure and adopt protective measures to safeguard their health,” the *APP report said.

“[…] The National Emergency Operation Centre has been monitoring the current smog situation in Pakistan and surrounding regions.

According to the advisory, the team has access to advanced ground-based and space-based monitoring tools, enabling the analysis and projection of pollution emissions from various sources, including industry, transportation, and agriculture.

Precautionary measures

The NDMA advisory recommended the public adopt several measures to mitigate the effects of smog, such as avoiding unnecessary outdoor exposure during peak smog hours, especially in the morning, and wearing masks during outdoor activities, according to the APP.

“Staying hydrated, using dehumidifiers and air purifiers to improve indoor air quality, and adopting efficient transportation methods—like carpooling and eco-friendly driving, along with using COx and NOx filters—are also advised,” it said.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said on Tuesday it has asked the sport’s governing body to explain India’s refusal to send a team to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy next year.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) informed the PCB last week that India would not tour Pakistan for the eight-team tournament, leaving the fate of the event hanging in the balance.

Pakistan had previously rejected the option of a hybrid arrangement that would allow India to play their matches at neutral venues, for example in the United Arab Emirates.

“The PCB has responded to last week’s ICC letter seeking clarifications for the Indian Board’s decision not to travel to Pakistan for next year’s Champions Trophy,” Sami-Ul-Hasan told AFP.

Deteriorating political ties have meant the bitter rivals have not played a bilateral cricket series for over a decade — squaring off only in ICC multi-nation events.

Pakistani media reported on Tuesday that the PCB would be unwilling to accept security reasons for India’s refusal to visit.

New Zealand have toured Pakistan three times in the past two years, with England visiting twice and Australia once in the same period.

Pakistan also visited India for last year’s ODI World Cup and the PCB had expected the gesture to be reciprocated for the Champions Trophy.

The Champions Trophy is slated to be played across three venues — Lahore, Rawalpindi and Karachi — from February 19 to March 9 next year.

But a final schedule due to be announced this week has been postponed over the stand-off — which PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi termed disappointing.

“Almost every country wants the tournament to be played in Pakistan and it will be disappointing if they don’t come,” Naqvi, who is also the interior minister, said last week.

“I don’t think anyone should make this a political matter. We’ll give every team as many facilities as we can.” Naqvi said Pakistan would consider pulling out of events in India as a response.

“Pakistan has shown great gestures to India in the past, and we’d like to say clearly India shouldn’t expect such friendly gestures from us every time”.

India is due to host the women’s ODI World Cup and Asia Cup next year and will co-host the Twenty20 World Cup with Sri Lanka in 2026.

AFTER silently watching Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza for the past one year, the leaders of the Arab and Muslim countries have once more met in Riyadh to discuss the escalating conflict.

The so-called international alliance conceived by Saudi Arabia, with its aim of pressing for the establishment of a Palestinian state, failed to formulate a concrete plan of action to stop the Israeli invasion that has been extended to Lebanon.

Interestingly, the resolution issued at the conclusion of the joint summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Arab League is restricted to the usual condemnation of Israeli aggression. It doesn’t even plainly describe the ongoing Israeli military action in Gaza, which has killed more than 43,000 people, mostly women and children, as a genocide.

There is no suggestion to sever the diplomatic and trade ties with Israel that some of these countries continue to have, despite the war crimes being committed by the Zionist forces. With the complete blockade of the Gaza Strip, more than a million people face death by starvation and disease. Mere condemnation cannot stop Israel’s genocidal war. It is nothing short of a betrayal of the hapless people of Palestine.

In fact, the inaction of the Muslim world has given impunity to the Zionist state, which is now threatening to annihilate the entire occupied territory. The latest summit was held a year after a similar gathering in Riyadh. Then, too, the leaders had merely condemned the Israeli military action in Gaza. They could not agree on even a minimum plan of action to stop Israeli atrocities.

The OIC-Arab League resolution does not go beyond the usual condemnation of Israel.

They did not even leverage their oil and economic capabilities to apply pressure on countries supplying arms to Israel to stop the war. One year of war crimes doesn’t seem to have brought any change in their position, which can be described as capitulation. The resolution is as toothless as the previous one.

The most shocking part of the resolution is the decision “to affirm support and express appreciation for the tireless efforts made by the Arab Republic of Egypt and the State of Qatar in cooperation with the United States of America to achieve an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip… “. It couldn’t get more outrageous given that the ongoing genocide in Gaza is essentially supported by the US. It is massive American military aid that has helped Israel sustain its war.

Notwithstanding the occasional rebuke by US officials, there has never been any real American pressure on Israel to implement a ceasefire. In fact, the Biden administration has repeatedly vetoed resolutions in the UN calling for one. Some of the Arab rulers are believed to have tacitly supported what Israel has described as its war against Hamas. Moreover, America has its bases in Arab countries, and concerns have been raised that they could have supplied Israel with weapons to kill Palestinians. These countries have not prohibited the use of these bases.

Significantly, the latest summit took place soon after Donald Trump’s victory, which has been hailed by some member countries, prompting observers to conclude that it was meant to send a message to the incoming US administration. It seems that the ‘international alliance’ is now pinning its hopes on the incoming Trump administration to get Israel to agree to a ceasefire and accept the creation of a Palestinian state.

For instance, while addressing a Council of Foreign Ministers preparatory meeting a day before the summit, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar expressed the hope that the incoming US administration would “lend its weight to reinvigorate efforts for peace in the Middle East”. His remarks show his utter ignorance about Trump’s hard-line approach to the Middle East conflict.

Such expectations from the president-elect, who is considered even more pro-Israel than the outgoing Biden administration, are unrealistic. During his election campaign, Trump had called on Israel to finish the offensive and “get the job done”. He has stated that he would “defend our friend and ally in the State of Israel like nobody has ever”.

How can one forget that in his previous term he shifted the American embassy to occupied Jerusalem? The move defied Washington’s earlier position of not recognising one of the most sacred of Islam’s holy places as Israel’s capital. In his previous term, Trump had also endorsed Israeli settlements in occupied West Bank, which are illegal under international law. Under the so-called Abraham Accords, he oversaw the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel, the UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco.

Although Saudi Arabia did not enter into such an agreement, it did indicate its willingness to recognise Israel in return for security and economic benefits, though insisting there would be no diplomatic ties without a Palestinian state. Some analysts believe that the Riyadh summit has sent a clear signal to the incoming Trump administration that it can rely on the kingdom as a strong partner in extending American interests in the region. The summit has pushed for greater American leverage in bringing the war to an end.

But it is very clear that the incoming Trump administration will not push for the establishment of a Palestinian state as envisaged by the ‘international alliance’. There has been no mention of the two-state solution in his recent statements on the Middle East conflict.

Since winning the election, Trump has spoken to the Israeli prime minister more than once. Therefore, it’s not surprising to see the right-wing Israeli government harden its position after Trump’s election.

In a recent statement, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying it was “unrealistic”. Surely the inaction of the Arab and Muslim countries has made things worse for the Palestinians. The joint resolution indicates that these countries do not have any intention of using their leverage to put pressure on Israel and its allies to end the war.

The writer is an author and journalist.

zhussain100@yahoo.com

X: @hidhussain

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024

The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday announced that the recently established constitutional bench will start hearing cases on November 14 and 15.

Earlier, the SC constituted a three-judge committee to fix cases, issue court rosters, form benches, and decide weekly caseload for its recently established constitutional bench.

The committee held a meeting today which was chaired by Justice Aminud Din Khan (head of the constitutional bench) and attended by Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, who participated through a telephone call from Karachi.

The SC said in a press release, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, that the purpose of the meeting was to discuss matters for the formation of the constitutional bench.

During the meeting, the committee was briefed by the court’s registrar’s office regarding the pending constitutional cases, the statement said adding, “[The] committee resolved that priority shall be accorded to the oldest cases.”

On Nov 5, the Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP), in its maiden session, had picked Justice Amin as head of the constitutional bench by a seven-to-five majority.

Chaired by Chief Jus­tice of Pakistan (CJP) Jus­tice Yahya Afridi, the reconstituted JCP for­m­ed a seven-member con­stitutional bench, inc­­luding Justices Ami­nud Din Khan, Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Muha­m­mad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha A. Malik, Hassan Azhar Rizvi, Musarrat Hilali and Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

Today’s press release mentioned that Justice Ayesha Malik will not be available on Nov 14 and 15 and “a bench comprising all available Judges shall be constituted to proceed with cases on these dates.”

The SC Registrar Muh­ammad Salim Khan released the court roster of a six-member constitutional bench which will begin hearing cases at 9:30am on Nov 14.

The bench will include Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, Justice Musarrat Hilali and Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

The SC directed the Registrar to schedule cases for hearing before the bench.

The next meeting of the committee will be held on Nov 13 at 12:30pm after Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar arrives in Islamabad.

JERUSALEM: Aid agencies slammed Israel for continuing to obstruct the delivery of aid to Gaza, despite Tel Aviv’s claims that it had opened an additional crossing into the besieged territory on the eve of a US deadline to boost relief deliveries.

The United States last month warned Israel to improve the humanitarian conditions in Gaza or risk a cut to its military support.

A day before the deadline, the Israeli military said it opened the Kissufim crossing “as part of the effort and commitment to increase the volume and routes of aid” to Gaza.

But the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) and eight humanitarian groups said Israel was still not doing enough to get aid in as the situation in the besieged north becomes especially “catastrophic”.

On eve of US deadline to restore aid supplies to Gaza, Tel Aviv claims to have opened another border crossing

The eight organisations, including Oxfam and Save The Children, said Israel “failed to comply” with US demands — “at enormous human cost for Palestinian civilians in Gaza”.

“The humanitarian situation in Gaza is now at its worst point since the war began in October 2023,” they said in a joint statement.

Asked about whether there were signs the situation had improved ahead of Wednesday’s deadline, Louise Wateridge, an UNRWA emergencies officer, highlighted that “aid entering the Gaza Strip is at its lowest level in months”.

No food was permitted to enter besieged northern Gaza for an entire month, Wateridge said, adding that UN requests to access the area have been repeatedly denied.

Wateridge said that testimonies from the north painted “an endlessly horrific” picture that was becoming “more critical” by the hour.

“Hospitals have been bombed, the doctors inform us that they have run out of blood supplies, they have run out of medicine… there are bodies in the streets.”

Separately, a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council told Al Jazeera that Israelis were obstructing aid from entering through the crossings.

“Aid is arbitrarily rejected and essential supplies are not allowed in, including timber to help people build shelters as they face winter. Sometimes the requests to access those crossings are denied for over a month,” Shaina Low, NRC’s communications adviser, told Al Jazeera.

Once the aid enters Gaza, aid workers must request safe routes through which they can safely distribute the aid.

“Israel often denies requests to move from place to place in order to reach Palestinian families that are in desperate need,” Low said.

However, the US State Department on Tuesday said that Israel was not violating US law on the level of aid entering Gaza, but called for further progress.

Asked if Israel had met the US demands, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said of Israel, “We have not made an assessment that they are in violation of US law,” but added: “The overall humanitarian situation in Gaza continues to be unsatisfactory”.

“But in the context of the letter, it’s not about whether we find something satisfactory or not; it’s what are the actions that we’re seeing,” he said, adding that Tel Aviv was taking steps in the right direction.

Attacks on Gaza

Gaza’s civil defence agency said that at least 14 people were killed in Israeli strikes on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, residents said Israeli tanks advanced deeper in Beit Hanoun and besieged four displaced families before ordering them to leave towards Gaza City.

The health ministry in Gaza said on Tuesday that at least 43,665 people have been killed in more than 13 months.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024

ISLAMABAD: As a last resort after losing the election symbol, PTI on Tuesday filed a curative petition with the Supreme Court, seeking to overturn the Jan 13 and Oct 21 rulings that supported the Election Commission of Pakistan’s decision to deny the party its ‘bat’ symbol.

The curative petition is a final remedy that allows the SC to reconsider a dismissed review petition.

The 32-page petition, moved by Advocate Ajmal Ghaffar Toor, says the present petition has been necessitated by circumstances during the hearing and therefore based upon the principle of natural justice.

Besides the verdict is per incuriam and not a judgement at all, argued the petition, adding the petition was relying upon the Aug 22 Mubarak Ahmed Sani case in which the Supreme Court had altered its earlier decision.

Judgement was per incuriam, 32-page petition argues

The petition argues that the judgement was per incuriam, meaning it was made in ignorance of the terms of a statute or rule having the force of a statute. A decision made per incuriam can be considered a mistake and may not be binding.

The petition also relied on the Aug 22 Mubarak Ahmed Sani case, where the SC had altered its earlier decision, setting a precedent for revisiting previous judgements.

On Oct 21, the SC headed by former chief justice Qazi Faez Isa rejected PTI’s petition, seeking to revisit Jan 13 verdict in the bat symbol case.

The review petition was dismissed on the grounds that no illegality or material error in the judgement was pointed out by the petitioner.

During the case, the senior counsel Hamid Khan had pleaded before the apex court that he did not want to argue before a bench headed by a person who “harbours bias against PTI”.

It is the case of the petitioner that both judgements of Jan 13 and Oct 21 were void and non-existent in the eyes of law. The petition has raised questions of public importance with respect to fundamental rights and interpretation of the laws relating to the electoral rights of the people who were true sovereigns, by seeking to invite SC’s attention towards two of its own judgments, the curative review says.

On May 26, 2021, PTI had moved a curative review petition before the SC against Justice Isa who had won a case on a review petition. Then the curative review petition was moved against the majority order in favour of Justice Isa.

Later on July 21, 2023, ex-CJP Umar Ata Bandial rejected in chambers PTI’s curative review petition against Justice Isa whereas Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah in his additional note stated that a second review or a curative review or whatever given name, was not maintainable under Article 188 since this provision envisages only one-time exercise of this jurisdiction, whether made on a review petition or suo motu in respect of any of its judgments.

Now the fresh curative petition pleads that the SC judgment of Oct 21 was virtually an ex-parte order as no substantive hearing took place in view of the objections raised against former CJP Qazi Faez Isa and therefore it would serve the interest of justice that the judgement was set aside and the review petition was fixed for hearing again.

The curative review argued that both Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Musarrat Hilali, who were members of the bench which heard the review petition then, signed allegedly a blatantly biased orders, dictated by then CJP and therefore they have disqualified themselves from hearing the present petition.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024

• Holds introductory meeting with finance minister
• Govt pledges to end gas supply to captive power plants by Jan
• Lender’s team to hold joint session with power and petroleum divisions today

ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has sought a detailed, output-based update on Pakistan’s digitalisation plans for its revenue system, including the use of artificial intelligence to expand the tax base and increase collections.

On the energy side, the country has pledged to halt gas supply to captive power plants (CPPs) by January 2025, redirecting them to the national grid despite a strong pushback from influential rent-seeking industrialists. The IMF has firmly rejected any amendments to this programme benchmark.

The visiting IMF team, led by Pakistan’s mission chief Nathan Porter, held an introductory meeting on Tuesday with Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb. Minister of State for Revenue Ali Pervez Malik, State Bank Governor Jameel Ahmad and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Chairman Rashid Mehmood Langrial were also present.

The mission is also holding separate technical sessions with all the stakeholders, including the FBR, power and petroleum divisions and the energy sector regulatory authorities. In all these engagements, the mission appeared to have not expressed its mind so far, except from raising exploratory questions, participants told Dawn.

It is not yet clear if the dialogue would lead to policy-level discussions that had been a critical part of IMF programmes’ quarterly reviews.

The current $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), however, has been designed in a manner that the IMF and Pakistan authorities should hold biannual review meetings for the disbursement of about $1bn instalments during each cycle.

The first formal review has to take place based on the end-December performance for Pakistan to qualify for disbursement for a second instalment of over $1bn by March 15, 2025.

Officials said the IMF mission has called for detailed explanations on the digitalisation of FBR’s processes for revenue collection, application of artificial intelligence for identifying and tracing tax evaders and their taxable incomes and businesses and involvement of specialised expert firms. They have also sought a complete update on the track-and-trace system.

In initial meetings, the FBR attributed recent revenue shortfalls — particularly in the first month of the second quarter — to the declining inflation.

The power sector’s performance appears to be within agreed limits concerning circular debt and current revenues.

Circular debt rose by about Rs70bn, below earlier estimates of Rs240-250bn. A circular debt management plan was approved only last week by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), led by the finance minister.

Sources said the government had been going back and forth over the disconnection of gas supply to inefficient captive power plants, belonging mostly to the textile sector, to utilise surplus capacity in the national power grid.

The industrialists have, however, now mustered support from gas companies. Some stakeholders are now pushing for the supply of imported LNG to CPPs at a weighted average cost of local and imported molecules on the premise that electricity connections were not available or were insufficient in certain areas.

The IMF mission is scheduled to have a joint session with the power and petroleum divisions on Wednesday (today) to discuss their interrelated issues, including circular debt, planned tariff adjustments, loss reduction programmes and recoveries.

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024

• Omar Ayub, Shibli Faraz, Asad Qaiser among those detained, then released
• Party slams govt over detention of senior leaders who sought to meet Imran in prison
• Police cite Section 144 violations as basis for action

ISLAMABAD: Several PTI leaders were briefly detained on Tuesday outside Adiala Jail while attempting to meet the party’s incarcerated chairman, Imran Khan, sparking condemnation from the party.

Opposition leaders in the National Assembly and Senate, Omar Ayub Khan and Shibli Faraz, former National Asse­mbly speaker Asad Qaiser, Opposition Leader in the Pun­jab Assembly Malik Ahmad Khan Bhachar, and Sunni Itte­had Council (SIC) Chairman Sahibzada Hamid Raza were among those arrested.

The police claimed that the party leaders were arrested under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) but were later released with a warning.

Mr Qaiser told Dawn that PTI had approached the Islamabad High Court (IHC) after being denied access to meet Imran Khan. “The court summoned the jail superintendent, who assured us that we could meet Khan Sahib. On Tuesday, we arrived around 2pm with the court order in hand, but the jail authorities still barred our entry,” he said.

“It feels like there’s a law of the jungle in Pakistan. We were taken to a nearby police post and, after contacting others through our mobile phones, the media arrived, and we were eventually allowed to leave,” he said.

“We have decided to lodge an FIR, submit a privilege motion and raise the matter in sta­nding committees,” he added, denou­ncing the act as a violation of basic human rights and contempt of the IHC’s directive.

The PTI leaders also accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sha­rif, Punjab Chief Minister Mar­yam Nawaz and Inspector Gen­e­ral of Police in Punjab Dr Usman Anwar for issuing ord­ers of their illegal detention.

A police official told Dawn that the PTI leaders were taken to a police post after they ignored warnings about the prohibition of gatherings due to Section 144. However, they were soon freed after being issued a warning. “If they had refused to leave, the police would have taken legal action against them,” a senior police official said.

‘Absolutely shameful’

The PTI also condemned the incident on social media.

“Absolutely shameful! Omar Ayub Khan, Shibli Faraz, Asad Qaiser, Ahmed Bhachar and Sahibzada Hamid Raza have been arrested outside Adiala Jail for simply exercising their right to meet with Imran Khan, as permitted by law. This should alarm anyone who values the rule of law, as it shows how basic freedoms are being trampled upon,” the party said on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

A video posted online by the party showed Omar Ayub in a vehicle with police officers nearby, and Hamid Raza being pulled aside by uniformed personnel. A police van was also visible in the video.

Later, at a press conference, Mr Faraz decried the police action, calling it a breach of constitutional rights. He said the party leaders who went to meet Imran Khan were arrested even though they did not hold any rallies or public meetings or show any aggression.

In a statement, PTI’s Central Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram denounced the government’s actions as a violation of democratic freedoms and called for legal consequences for those responsible.

He denounced the government’s “disregard for the judiciary” and for allegedly committing contempt of court, urging the court to take stern measures against those responsible for violating the law.

Mr Akram said that the senior PTI leaders waited until 3pm outside Adiala Jail but were not allowed to meet Imran Khan. However, when they attempted to leave, they were taken into custody.

He said the government was “crossing all limits of barbarism and brutalities” as the PTI leaders, workers and supporters were being detained and harassed in total disregard for the law.

Maryam’s trip

Separately, the PTI lashed out at the Sharif family over Maryam Nawaz’s visit to Geneva for what the party called a “minor medical procedure”.

The party’s spokesperson accused Ms Nawaz of abandoning the residents of Punjab, who are facing severe smog, inflation and rising crime, while she seeks treatment abroad at public expense.

Mohammad Asghar in Rawalpindi also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2024