The return of Nawaz Sharif - Imran Khan should tell the truth

 

The Imran Khan government is showing the level of seriousness to bring back Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan from the UK as it was earlier determined to send the convicted PML-N leader abroad just a year ago on medical grounds.

The matter was discussed in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Imran Khan wants to use every possible forum to repatriate his chief rival to Pakistan. The issue attracted Imran Khan’s attention when a picture went viral online where Nawaz Sharif is seen walking worriless on a London street with his son, Hassn Nawaz, also a wanted person in Pakistani courts.  Moreover, federal minister Fawad Chaudhry has stated on the record several times that the release of Nawaz Sharif and later his departure to the UK has damaged Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s narrative on strict accountability.

In the fresh cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Imran Khan has discussed the ordeal of bringing Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan and in this regard, he asked his Adviser on Accountability Shahzad Akbar and Law Minister Farogh Naseem to use every possible forum and option to meet the task.

Why is this sudden U-turn in Mr Khan’s views as earlier he was willing to allow Nawaz Sharif and Asif Zardari to get medical treatment and now he wants to see Nawaz Sharif in jail. It is, however, strange to see that certain cabinet members asked the prime minister to allow Mr Sharif to stay in the UK for his medical treatment as that would also be good for politics.

This point can be debated.

Several people may agree with this point, and several others may just laugh.

The fact, however, either side may not differ is Nawaz Sharif needs to justify his stay in London and he needs to prove his illness case. Month after month, the PML-N has been submitting medical reports which lack any medical substance. Earlier in February last, the Punjab government showed its dissatisfaction with the reports presented by the party and subsequently, the provincial cabinet did not extend the bail granted on medical grounds to the former prime minister.

This is the time Nawaz Sharif returned to Lahore immediately from London. His initial days will be in Kot Lakhpat jail. He has a good team of lawyers.

Civil society loves him publicly, though what it says about the former prime minister in private conversations is another debate.

The media love him too. What he did to the media and the people through PEMRA, PECA and other laws is another debate.

The law loves him.

History will dub it nothing short of a miracle that a convicted person, serving jail terms in Al-Azizia mill case, was released on bail for eight weeks by the Islamabad High Court on October 29, 2019 for treatment abroad. Later, bail was extended for a further eight weeks. Again, bail was to be automatically extended, therefore it was extended for 16 weeks, says Law Minister Raja Basharat.

These weeks have passed weeks, weeks ago but Mr Sharif is roaming on London streets.

The government should go to courts and plead the case.

Before that it should go to the public and explain the reasons for being too lenient towards Nawaz Sharif.

Shahzad Akbar has already spoken the fact.

That it was the agriculture department that lent NRO to the Sharif family.

History will judge them differently if Imran Khan, Nawaz Sharif and the mehkma ziraat also speak up.  

 

 

How Muharram mourning activities boost up economy in Pakistan

 The 10-day Muharram mourning days stimulates the economy in Pakistan.

According to rough estimates, Rs300 to 500 billion is spent on different rituals of the mourning – majalis, mourning processions, security, upkeep of imambargahs, procession routes and ziarat, and last but not least langar.

Religion-driven activities have a great economic touch, be it Eids, Haj, Umra, Christmas, fasting and Muharram.  

The fact that Muharram boosts up the economy is shocking for many people as it is contrary to the widespread belief that the economy suffers blows because of the prevalent road blockades and holidays on Muharram 9 and 10. Those holding the notion that Muharram is an anti-economy period are right because soon after the passage of Eidul Azha, the first and foremost thing on the mind of the government of the time is the security of the first 10 days of Muharram. These are the days when the commemoration of the martyrdom of the grandson of Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad is marked across the country. The event needs heavy security because of the fierce sectarian divide. Almost every district arranges special police contingents and security plans the enhanced security of the mourners and their venues. On Muharram 9 and 10, almost all roads are blocked and there is no market open. Only mourners are seen on roads invoking the blessings of the martyrs of Karbala, chanting ‘Ya Hussain’ amid nohas.

The massive mourning and the closure of the whole country, however, does not halt the economic activities of the country. When people come out of their houses to pay their tributes to the martyrs of Karbala, this sets in the biggest turnover in economy.

Factors stimulating economy

With the sight of Muharram moon, majalis begin almost in every part of the country. Majalis – mixed (where male orators recite majlis, while the audience is mixed) and women-only (where a woman orator address women) – are held in imambargas as well as insides houses.

In Gandhi Park, a locality in Gulberg II, almost 20 houses are arranging women-only majalis, says Syed Ali Shah, a resident of the area. The males of the area go to Masjid Muhammadi on Hali Road for majlis. Away from Lahore, in Jhang’s area of Athhara Hazari, 15 majalis venues are arranged in one union council. While a women-only majlis inside a house is arranged by a single family, events in Muhammadi Masjid or majalis in Athhara Hazari are arranged by associations of people. The expenditures of one venue costs Rs1 million to Rs 3 million, depending on the fee of the orator (zakir or allama), lighting, amplifier, security, a little repair of the imambargah, preparation of ziarat and a daily langar.

The most important chunk of the expenses is orators’ fee. On average, an orator is given Rs500,000 fee for their 10-day hourly address. In certain cases, the zakir or allama in high demand charge is Rs 3 million to Rs 5 million.

According to Tanveer Abbas, of Athhara Hazari, Zakir Mushtaq Shah, of Jhang, is a crowd puller zakir and is high in demand in Punjab. Tanveer Abbas has interest in the affairs of majalis and he says Zakir Mushtaq Shah charged Rs 3 million per imambargah for the 10-day service last year and this year, he has been booked for Rs 5 million per place. Like Zakir Mushtaq Shah, the other zakirs charging in millions include Zakir Waseem Baloch, Nasir Bajara Wala, Rabbani Shah, Qazi Waseem, Saqlain Ghallu, Shaukat Raza Shaukat and so on.

The other major part of the Muharram expenses is the preparation and running expenses of the imambargah. Syed Abis Gardezi looks after Shah Gerdez imambargah affairs in Multan. According to him, this year the event cost them Rs 500,000 in terms of lights, repair, amplifier, banners, and stage from where the orator addresses the majlis.

Langar is a must part of every majlis. Catering services providers hires extra staff for Muharram.

“We get more orders of degs during Muharram from a peak wedding season,” says Muhammad Sadiq, the proprietor of the catering services in Gulberg II.

During Muharram, people order and distribute Haleem and Biryani.

This year, Rs 7,500 is the rate of a Haleem deg and Rs 6,500 a Biryani deg.

One haleem deg serves 300 people if served on a naan, while a biryani deg can feed 100 people.

Sadiq said he was getting 50 to 100 deg orders a day for Muharram. For Muharram 9, he will cook 180 degs to be served at the procession of Karishan Nagar.

Thousands of people give away langar at procession and their budget runs in hundreds of thousands.

Other than the major distributors of langar, several individuals distribute langar in the shape of bread, juice box, water bottle, rice, qeemay wala naan, aalo wala naan, paratha, fruit, milk and so on. Bakers and confectioners display their ads announcing special deals for Muharram niaz.

During Muharram’ majalis, ziarat are taken out at the end of a majlis. Of them, zuljinnah is prominent for it is taken out on Muharram 10. The upkeep of Zuljinnah is a constant and expensive affair. Zuljinnah depicts the ride of Hazrat Imam Hussain in his final hour at the battle of Karbala. It wears a saddle, an embodied sheet, traditional shields, a wreath of flowers, a sword, a crown and a rein. Besides Zuljinnah, the other ziarat include Ta’zia, alam (flag of Hazrat Abbas), Pangora (cradle in the memory of Hazrat Asghar, the six-month-old son of Imam Husain), saij and so on.

Each ziarat is decorated with sheets and ornaments. A Ta’azia is prepared Rs 100,000 to Rs 1 million, mostly in Chiniot.

The last but not least is the black colour that is the part of Muharram. Before the Muharram month, every Shia takes it binding upon themselves to get a new black dress. Shopkeepers in Ichhra and Anarkali say they buy bulk of lawns in black colour. Recently, certain brands have also seen an occasion in Muharram to do a roaring business and have started introducing dresses in black which can match Muharram as well as afterword. Many people prefer simple clothes with black pattern and design.

Also, mourners buy flogging knives fort chest beating and many try to fly to Karbala to spend the mourning days there.

All these factors stimulate the economy.

 

Case of two bottles of liquor takes nine years to be settled

Screen beauty Atiqa Odho must be a happy woman today as she has been acquitted of the charges of smuggling two bottles of liquor into Pakistan in August 2011.

The verdict, which was delivered in August 2020, after a good nine years has become a talk of the town. She won innocence after a long ordeal.

Here is a brief data on her case.

Charge

The Humsafar star came into spotlight when she was reportedly caught with importing two bottles of foreign liquor in her luggage while she landed in Rawalpindi from a Karachi-to-Rawalpindi PIA flight. During the check out, customs officials found two fine quality bottles of liquor in her luggage. She was detained by the ASF officials, however, she was released on the alleged intervention of an influential person’s call. That time, she was the office-bearer of the All Pakistan Muslim League, led by retired Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Criminal Case

Once the matter hit the media headlines, the proactive Supreme Court of that time came up with a suo moto on the issue. Then chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry took interest in the case - the reported recovery of bottles, her brief arrest and release despite recovery of two bottles of wine from her luggage. Once the top court invoked suo moto, the police and Customs officials proceeded against the actress and lodged a complaint with the Airport Police Station.

Trial

The first thing Ms Odho was to get an interim bail from the court of Rawalpindi additional district and sessions court judge. The police had registered a case under Hudood as well as the Pakistan Penal Code.

Total number of hearing days                                           190 days

The number of times Ms Odho attended hearing                      100 days

Number of judges who heard the case                            Three

The total duration of the case                                                   Nine years

She moved the court three times claiming innocence but every time, the court did not take up the plea.

Later, she moved the Supreme Court seeking the conclusion of her case.

Verdict

Rawalpindi Civil Judge Yasir Chaudry acquitted the Sitara Aur Mehrunisa fame actress of illegally importing two bottles of foreign liquor in her bag.

The judge noted that there is no proof that the liquor was seized from Ms Odho.

Reaction

Ms Odho is very happy at the outcome of the case, though justice delayed is denied. She says the nine years were very painful and she faced severe societal and professional setbacks. She, however, says that she had full trust in the judicial system of the country.

Lessons to be learned

The case is gaining prominence because of the nine years delay. The thing to be pondered is hundreds of thousands of such cases have been lingering in courts for decades and their disposal should also get attention. Retired chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa worked hard to clear the backlog of superior courts through e-courts and action against false testimony. Now, the bar and the bench can take the cause forward and clear the courts of the backlog.

 

 

World class universities’ free courses for Pakistani people

Sidra Batool wanted to have a career in videography and photography but she had no money to get proper training to polish her skills and compete with experienced photographers. She contacted the National College of Arts and some other private institutions to enroll in short related courses but could not make to them because of odd timing and higher charges. Sidra, being a schoolteacher, hardly found time and energy to reach the NCA at 2pm to attend the class when her school would be over at 2pm. She gave up the idea of becoming a videographer and photographer.

This was back in 2008.

In 2018 she learnt advanced techniques of videography and photography from famous videographers of the world and also has earned a certificate.

Sidra did so without spending even a single penny, and the completed courses at her own pace and convenience.

“If you have a computer and an Internet connection and can read and write English, you can have access to free online courses from world’s renowned universities,” says Sidra, who is now a multimedia director with a news website, and earns a salary in six figures.  

Sidra’s niece Fatima is an O level student. While her class fellows would spend almost Rs 40,000 to Rs 60,000 per month on tuition of math, chemistry, biology, physics and even history, Fatima found plenty of tutorial material on Khan Academy, a free online course website, where lessons on school subjects are offered free of cost. She did all elusive math problems with the help of Khan Academy video lessons.

During the lockdown stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic, people all over the world had plenty of time for being at home, and they took such courses to grow their knowledge as well.

While students and adult learners may find a good number of educational and vocational videos, the basic difference between the course websites and Youtube lessons is that dedicated online courses offer a complete package – course material (reading, videos, assignments, interactive discussion forums, interaction with teachers and combined projects, etc.) whereas Youtube videos only offer a one-way lecture on a topic with a limited scale.

In 2013, I met Bilal Musharraf, the son of retired General Pervez Musharraf  in Doha at one of the world’s biggest annual events on education — WISE (World Innovation Summit for Education) 2013 where he delivered his presentation on ‘Education for anyone, anywhere’. At that time, he was the Dean of Translation with US-based Khan Academy. This is the time I came to know about this a not-for-profit website that aims at changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere. Since then, I have been tracking online course programmes and have completed more than 100 online courses on language, journalism, parenting, history, online marketing, public speaking, research and so on. These courses were offered by US universities.

Based on my consistent chase of the online education world, here I offer a list of recommended high quality sites that offer free courses.

KHAN ACADEMY

  Since 2004, the site has uploaded more than 100,000 lessons on mathematics, history, healthcare, medicine, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics, cosmology, organic chemistry, macroeconomics, microeconomics, computer science, and even history and art. These videos have been watched more than 1,000 million times. More than 10 million learners use the website every month from 200 countries and more than a billion practice exercises have been solved on the platform. The website has translated and uploaded more than 1,000 videos in Urdu on YouTube.

COURSERA

 The website with American and European universities and organizations offer four to six weeks courses on a wide variety of topics.

OPEN CULTURE ONLINE COURSES

The site has thousands of lectures, videos and podcasts from universities around the world, such as England, Australia, Wales and many state universities around the United States.

UDEMY

Udemy’s free courses offer access to customized courses where learners can work with top professors and schools. The content is of top quality which can be accessed free as well. Advanced courses are offered on payment.

 

There is a long list: Academic Earth, edX, Alison (highly recommended), iTunesU Free Courses, Harvard, Open Yale Courses, UC Berkeley Class Central, MIT OpenCourseWare, Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative, Codecademy, Code, University of London Podcasts, University of Oxford Podcasts, BBC Podcasts, TED-Ed, LessonPaths, Memrise, National Geographic Kids, and Fun Brain.

Pakistani online influencer Rehan Allahwala (http://www.rehanschool.com/) and Pakistani-American entrepreneurial guru Muhammad Siddique (https://gsefoundation.org/) have also brought about great changes to many lives through their Pakistan-only programs.

Once you have read this piece, browse a couple of sites mentioned above, enroll in one program of your interest and take your first step towards online education. Good luck!

 

Buzdar is the best CM who is carrying out development across province & ...

A farmer of five acres can earn up to Rs 50 million through government’s tree plantation scheme. How?

 

The Punjab government has come up with a landmark public-private partnership plan under which incentives and facilities are being offered to private landowners to fill their vacant spaces with trees and earn exchequers in million. 

 

The five-year partnership earns Rs 5 million to 6 million per acre to a farmer on average.  

Beside monetary benefits, plantation is the most effective way to turn the tide of climate change.  

 

How does the government help landowners for afforestation?  

 

The government bears 70 per cent of charges for land leveling, and irrigation system installation and provides subsidized plants, seeds and saplings, free consultancy for better growth of trees and marketing strategies to sell timbers for five years.  

Usually, a plant is provided at Rs 2 and two saplings for Re 1.  

The government binds the party to nurture and cultivate the forest area for five years. During the five years of the agreement, the farmer cannot cut or sell plants. During this time, the farmer will be bound to irrigate the forest and take care of it.  

In case a plant does not grow, dies or is eaten up by passing by cattle, farmers can plant a replacement tree to fill the space.  

After five years, when plants are fully grown trees, the landowner can sell trees for a better return.  

 

Who can benefit from the scheme?  

 

Any landowner who has five acres to 15 acres can apply for the scheme.  

 

How to apply for the scheme?  

 

A landowner needs to write an application to the forest division seeking help for afforestation on their land on a paper. They need to attach the following documents with the application: 

• A copy of CNIC  
• Photo copy of land owner deed (fard malkiat) 

 

 

The economy of the scheme 

 

Under the scheme, it is advised that a farmer plants 1,200 trees per acre. The cost of the plants will be Rs 2,400. For five acres, the cost will be Rs 12,000. 

A diesel-powered tube well costs up to Rs 80,000, of which the government will provide 70 per cent of the price.  

A solar-fired tube well costs Rs250,000 to 350,000 and again the similar arrangements are in place.  

Average monthly expenses for a five-acre forest are Rs 25,000 – Rs 15,000 for a farm labourer and Rs 10,000 for diesel.  

For five years (60 months), expenses will be Rs 1.5 million altogether. This is despite the fact that in the last two years, irrigation needs diminish as trees are self-reliant to get water through their roots.   

 

A five-year-old tree is sold at Rs 5,000 to 10,000, depending on the rates of timber at that time. If the price is taken at Rs 5,000, and the number of trees 10,000, the projected income will be Rs 50 million. Take out average expenses of Rs 1.5 million, a farmer can get away with Rs 48 million. Not a bad deal.  

 

Which plants can be grown for a better return?  

It depends on the region, climate and land quality.  

These plants can be grown almost all over Punjab:  

نیم or Azadirachta indica  

شیشم یا ٹاہلی or Dalbergia sissoo  

املتاس or Cassia fistula  

سکھ چین or Millettia pinnata  

کیکر or keekar  

پیپل  or pipal  

آم  or mango tree  

مالٹا or kinnow 

جامن or jaman- 

زیتون or Olive  

شہتوت or mulberry  

بیری or berry  

 

The best season to plant trees  

Tree plantation seasons fall in January to March and July and August.  

 

Planation can be a best mean for income generation besides a best gift to local environment.

In matters of money, and job, think twice because FATF law is watching you

Think twice before offering a financial help in the form of charity and/loan to any of your acquaintance, friend, relative or a business partner.

Before establishing a financial transaction with anyone, you must be certain of the charter and credentials of the other side.

If at any point, it is established that the person or the company, which had some monetary relations with you, is also involved in certain dealings which fall under terrorism charges, you will be in trouble.

Not only financial transactions, it is also about your job and employees too.

If you are working with such an organization, whose owner or any top director is found involved in a terror activity, you are in hot waters.

How?

The National Assembly and the Senate have passed ‘The Anti-terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020’ and the United Nations (Security Council) (Amendment) Bill, 2020’. It is said the two laws were necessitated from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) so that Pakistan was taken off the grey list. The two laws which are directly related to the welfare of the state, and the government in any way, however, faced sloganeering and strong protest from the opposition members in the house.  

Let us discuss the two laws and their effects on a common man.

First, Anti-Terrorism (Amendment) Bill, 2020

The bill is about increasing the punishment, including the fine from existing Rs10 million to Rs25 million, besides introduction of a jail sentence for 10 years for those found involved in terror financing through illegal money transfers. This means the banks and financial institutions or persons are to be held liable if the loan sum is found to be used in terror-related activities. Earlier, our legal system offered no severe punishment for terror financiers.

Look at the bill’s Section 3 (b) v: no bank or financial institution or any other entity providing financial support shall provide any loan facility or financial support to proscribed person or issue the credit cards to proscribed person; and (vi) the arms licenses, if already issued, shall be deemed to have been cancelled and the arms shall be deposited forthwith in the nearest Police Station, failing which such arms shall be confiscated and the holder of such arms shall be liable for the punishment provided under the Pakistan Arms Ordinance, 1965 (W.P. Ord.XX of 1965). No fresh license shall be issued to such person for any kind of weapons. ".

This implies that those who are convicted of terror-related charges, will never be able to obtain a loan from banks, and no arm license.  

The bill goes on:

"(3) A person commits an offence if he pays for or provides money or other property or facilitates the travel of a person anywhere for the purpose of perpetrating, participating in, assisting or preparing for a terrorist act or for the purpose of providing or receiving training for terrorist related activities. (4) The provisions of sub-section (2) shall also apply to the following; (a) organizations owned or controlled, directly or indirectly, by proscribed organizations or proscribed persons; and (b) Persons or organizations acting on behalf of, or at the direction or proscribed organizations or proscribed persons."

21 lf a legal person commits an offence under sections: such person shall be liable on conviction to a time not exceeding fifty million rupees. (3) Every director, officer or employee of such legal person found guilty shall be punishable on conviction with imprisonment for a term not less than five year; and : rot exceeding ten years with fine not exceeding twenty-five million rupees.".

The law provides punishment for those who are found funding for a terrorist’s travel, participation in a terror activity or training or any other activity will be liable for punishment.

Punishment is very tough: Rs25-50 million fine and up to 10 years in jail.

This scribe discussed the implications of the bills with a couple of lawyers.

They said the law was draconian in nature, as it made financial transactions almost impossible.

“Police can establish the links of a person on trial with almost all of their friends, acquaintances and family members,” said lawyer Naseem Abbas.

PPP Senator Raza Rabbani opposed the bills in the Senate. He was not available for comment.  

This scribe spoke to Prof Sarfraz, former director of the Area Study Center of the Peshawar University about the good and bad side of the acts.

“Making acts of law is one thing, and their judicious implantation is another,” he said.

“To my view, these laws will stifle civil society and non-government organisations, mostly the international one to get permission for welfare work.”

At the end of the day, these laws will be used against political activists, he concluded.

But there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Jahangir Rauf is a corporate lawyer based in Lahore. He said if people made their financial transactions through banks and through written contracts, they would be safe.

Now, the United Nations (Security Council) (Amendment) Bill, 2020’

The bill empowers the government to take actions recommended under the Security Council resolutions such as the freezing and seizure of assets, travel ban and arms embargo on the entities and individuals, who are designated on the sanctions list of the United Nations. The UN Security Council Resolution 1373 requires member states to implement counter-terrorism measures, especially countering the financing of terrorism through their domestic laws. This obligation is implemented in Pakistan through Anti-Pakistan Act, 1997.

This bill heralds troubles for the proscribed organizations, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, etc.

Earlier, these organizations and people affiliated with these bodies got away with such excuses that they had never violated the law of the land.

It is hoped that these bills will help the government evade the FATF grey list and help law-enforcers eradicate terrorism from Pakistan.