E-Paper 25-10-16 KHI

g FO SPOKESPERSON CONFIRMS 48HOUR CEA SEFIRE ANNOUNCED WITH AFGHANISTAN FROM 6PM WEDNESDAY, AGREED AT TALIBAN ’S REQUEST

tsaid Pakistani forces had repulsed an attack by the Afghan Taliban along the Balochistan border, killing approximately 15 to 20 fighters in that action The ISPR described the assault as “cowardly attacks at four locations in [the] Spin Boldak area in the early hours of Wednesday and said the attacks were effectively repulsed by Pakistani forces State broadcaster PTV News reported that Pakistan’s armed forces carried out “precision strikes” in Kandahar province and Kabul quoting security sources who said key Taliban hideouts and battalion headquarters had been destroyed The post on X citing unnamed security sources claimed that Afghan Taliban Battalion Number 4 and Border Brigade Number 6 in Kandahar were completely destroyed and that dozens of foreign and Afghan operatives” were killed A later PTV update said the “centre and leadership of Fitna al-Hindustan” were tar-

geted in Kabul The broadcasts emphasised that strikes were “meticulously selected isolated from civilian populations and that the Pakistan Army possessed the full capability to give a befitting response to any aggression (PTV and security posts framed the targets as Taliban battalions and affiliated groupings designated by the state )

Imran offers to help defuse escalating Pak-Afghan tensions if released on parole: Barrister Gohar

R t Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Barrister Gohar Ali Khan said on Wednesday that incarcerated former prime minister Imran Khan has offered to help defuse the escalating tensions between Pakistan and Afghanistan if he is released on parole Imran imprisoned since August 2023 in a £190 million corruption case is also facing several trials under the Anti-Terrorism Act linked to the May 9 protests His party has repeatedly voiced concern over his health and detention conditions, as well as those of the former first lady The offer comes amid three days of cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan which killed and injured several people on both sides before a temporary ceasefire was announced earlier today The clashes erupted over ongoing disputes concerning cross-border terrorism and the repatriation of

Afghan refugees

Speaking to reporters outside Adiala Jail after meeting the PTI founder, Barrister Gohar quoted Imran as saying:

I offer you people that release me on parole and I will solve the Afghanistan problem for you

Earlier, Imran s sister, Noreen Niazi told journalists that her brother was distressed by the hurried repatriation of Afghan refugees, noting that Pakistan had hosted them for decades

She quoted him as saying that it was “the job of politicians to achieve peace and that he was ready to contribute if released on parole They should think because the conditions of Pakistan have become such that three million people have left the country, multinational companies are leaving, and there is no foreign investment He says peace comes only with political stability ” she added though expressing doubt that authorities would consider his offer A

RAWALPINDI

Security forces on Wednesday repelled coordinated attacks by the Afghan Taliban along the Balochistan border killing between 15 and 20 assailants, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said, as cross-border hostilities between the two neighbours entered a dangerous new phase In a statement the military s media wing said that Afghan Taliban fighters launched cowardly attacks at four locations in the Spin Boldak area in the early hours of Wednesday, but the assaults were “effectively repulsed” by Pakistani troops The ISPR said that as troops responded around 15–20 Afghan Taliban were killed and several others injured The situation is still developing There are reports of further buildup at staging points of Fitna al-Khwarij and the Afghan Taliban,” it added, using the state-designated term for the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

According to the statement the attacks were orchestrated through divided villages in the area, with no regard for [the] civil population, while the Afghan Taliban “destroyed the Pak-Afghan Friendship Gate on their side ” displaying “their

NA Committee calls for immediate payment of five months’ salaries to USC employees standing committee urges swif t ac tion from the ministr y of industries and produc tion to

Corporation (USC) According to

by

mittee,

(MNA) Syed Hafeezuddin,

reports the

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to address the

MNA

During the

Romina Khurshid Alam Convener of the Sub-Committee presented a report highlighting that employees of USC have not received their salaries for the past five months The committee expressed deep concern over the ongoing non-payment of salaries, noting the significant financial hardship being faced by hundreds of families affected by the delay Members of the committee strongly emphasized that it is unacceptable for employees to be deprived of their rightful earnings for such a prolonged period In light of this the committee urged the Ministry of Industries and Production to take immediate and decisive action to ensure the outstanding salaries are paid without further delay The meeting was attended by MNAs Ms Kiran Imran Dar, Dr Mahesh Kumar Malani Dr Mahreen Razzaq Bhutto and senior officials from the Ministry of Industries and Production among others

APPOINTMENT,

FBR begins consultation to regulate and tax cr yptocurrenc y in Pakistan

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has initiated consultations with experts to draft legislation aimed at formally introducing cryptocurrency into Pakistan’s financial and tax systems according to a news report

The FBR is also considering mechanisms to tax the profits generated from cryptocurrency transactions and the assets created through digital currency deals The move follows a complaint filed with the FTO which asked the FBR to clarify its tax policy concerning cryptocurrencies

With 560 million digital currency users globally, Pakistan stands as the sixth-largest adopter of cryptocurrency, with approximately nine million users Despite this growing market the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has not declared cryptocurrencies illegal though it issued a cautionary circular in 2018 about their risks The FTO has raised concerns over the lack of regulation in Pakistan’s cryptocurrency market, where significant commercial transactions occur outside

cryptocurrency dealings remain undocumented and untaxed The FBR s Policy Wing has confirmed that this issue is under review in consultation with experts The FTO has recommended that the FBR engage all relevant stakeholders and incorporate necessary provisions into the upcoming Finance Bill urging that cryptocurrency regulation be prioritized to broaden Pakistan s tax base

NEPRA approves tariff adjustment, raising electricity rates by Rs2 per unit for consumers

Consumers of Distribution Companies (Discos) and KElectric (KE) will experience an additional financial burden starting October 2025, with an increase of about Rs 2 per unit in their electricity bills due to adjustments under the monthly tariff mechanism according to the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) According to media reports the decision announced following a public hearing held on September 30 2025 includes a reversal of a negative adjustment of Rs 1 79/kWh for September 2025, replaced by a positive adjustment of Rs 0 0796/kWh This will result in a net increase of Rs 2/kWh including GST to be recovered in the October bills in addition to the Debt Service Surcharge (DSS) of Rs 3 23/kWh During the proceedings NEPRA s Member (Technical), Rafique Ahmad Shaikh, highlighted that inefficiencies within the power sector are contributing to escalating financial burdens He pointed out that the operation

OGRA RAISES RLNG PRICES BY 2% FOR OCTOBER 2025

creams

Pakistan repels Afghan Taliban attack along Balochistan border; 15–20 killed

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

AFGHAN VERSION OF EVENTS Before the ISPR statement Taliban government spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid posted on X that Afghan forces were forced to retaliate after alleged attacks by Pakistani troops in Spin Boldak Kandahar He claimed that over a dozen civilians were killed and more than 100 injured in Pakistani attacks using light and heavy weapons ” Mujahid further alleged heavy Pakistani losses claiming that Afghan forces had captured posts and weapons assertions Islamabad has dismissed as propaganda PRESIDENT PM COMMEND TROOPS; ACCUSE KABUL OF VIOLATIONS

President Asif Ali Zardari strongly condemned the cross-border attacks, calling them a “blatant violation” of Pakistan’s sovereignty “Attacks from Afghanistan are a blatant violation of Pakistan s sovereignty the president was quoted as saying in a PPP statement on X He lauded the armed forces for their courage and professional expertise and accused the Taliban regime of providing safe havens to Taliban terrorists,” thereby violating the 2020 Doha agreement, which barred Afghan soil from being used against other countries

Zardari warned that such actions were destabilising the entire region and urged Kabul not to allow its territory to be used for terrorism or anti-Pakistan activity Any aggression against Pakistan will be met with a strong and unequiv-

ocal response he stressed

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a separate statement paid tribute to security forces for repelling the unprovoked aggression in the Kurram sector

He expressed concern over incitement by the Afghan Taliban, Fitna al-Khwarij, and Fitna al-Hindustan the state’s term for militant organisations operating in Balochistan and vowed that national integrity will be defended at all costs

The use of Afghan soil for incidents of terrorism in Pakistan is condemnable, the prime minister said, reiterating Islamabad s call for peaceful, cooperative ties with its neighbours but warning that “aggression will be met with a strong response ”

Mounting tension along the border

The latest clash marks the third major skirmish between Pakistan and Afghanistan within a week following an overnight confrontation in Kurram on Tuesday and earlier fighting that began on Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning at several locations

According to the ISPR, 23 Pakistani troops were martyred and 29 injured in the earlier incidents that began with cross-border attacks from the Afghan Taliban The military said credible intelligence and damage assessment indicated that more than 200 Taliban and affiliated terrorists were neutralised in Pakistan s response

Kabul had claimed those attacks were “retaliatory,” alleging that Pakistan had conducted air strikes inside Afghan territory last week a claim Islamabad neither confirmed nor denied but reiterated its right to self-defence

Will the SIFC mechanism work for all disputes?

TH E concession by Shehryar Chishty of control of Karachi Electric to Prince Mansoor bin Muhammad bin Saad Al-Saud has probably settled the tortured history of the privatization of the country s only vertically integrated utility but has thrown up new questions about the way the Special Investment Facilitation Council is being operated The latest development in the K-Electric saga was dissected by this newspaper ’s sister publication Profit and it comes at an interesting time It has happened just months before the government tries to privatize three DISCOs so it sends a clear signal that any privatizations made will stick Though the botched privatization of PIA last year sent an opposite signal and while the government’s renegotiation of terms with Independent Power Producers spoiled the atmosphere for foreign investment the current development should improve it More important KElectric will gain the corporate governance that it has been lacking as Mr Chishti and Prince Mansoor battled for control The problem was because the Prince was the minority shareholder in the company which had bought Abraaj Group’s stake in K-Electric The Abraaj Group had sold to Chishty because its chief Arif Naqvi had gone bust and was arrested Shanghai Electric had also gotten involved agreeing to buy from Naqvi when he had gone bust and occasionally insisting on the performance of the agreement When Shanghai Electric finally admitted defeat

The globalization of English B e t w e e n g r a t i t u d e a n d b e t r a y a l

Afor the violence of gangs and “biradarism” for nepotism in the interests of clans Common nouns atta ziarat gol gappa blend into English sentences as seamlessly as they refer to objects for which the English language

So when you see the headline or commentary in the newspaper, remind yourself of what the sign on the border says. In Pakistan, English is not just an externally enforced set of norms but an unfolding tapestry of local identity imperatives

EV ERY society must carefully distinguish between legitimate dissent and reckless agitation Protest may well be the language of the unheard, but when it descends into violence, vandalism, and slogans against the very state that sustains you, it ceases to be a struggle for rights and becomes an act of betrayal The unrest in Azad Jammu and Kashmir illustrated this descent with striking clarity What could have been resolved through dialogue and patient negotiation has instead been transformed into a spectacle of disruption, chaos, and ingratitude

The Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), which proudly declares itself apolitical, has in reality led citizens into direct confrontation with the state The tragic loss of policemen and civilian lives is the inevitable result of such reckless leadership Ordinary citizens were misled into believing that their grievances required confrontation rather than constructive engagement Responsibility for this outcome lies not only with those who blocked roads and raised hostile slogans but also with those who incited them trading the language of negotiation for the theatre of agitation

The demands raised by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) are not unfamiliar Calls for hydel royalties, abolition of migrant seats, and curbing elite perks have circulated for years But instead of pursuing these issues through dialogue, the JAAC chose confrontation Strikes, lockdowns, and marches paralyzed life for days punishing small shopkeepers daily wagers and students the very people the movement claims to represent while leaving elites largely untouched The irony of a rights movement that robs its own people of livelihood and education is glaring More alarming, however, has been the descent into dangerous symbolism Reports of protesters chanting ‘Pakistan Murdabad’ and tearing down the national flag cannot be brushed aside as mere anger They reveal an undercurrent of separatism and ingratitude If this agitation were truly about civic rights it would have remained anchored in justice and governance Instead, it has veered into an anti-state campaign, eroding its legitimacy and exposing troubling motives This hypocrisy stands out even more when set against Pakistan’s financial lifeline to AJK Every year Islamabad funnels over Rs 200 billion into the

territory funding salaries pensions subsidies and development projects Without this support the AJK government would collapse overnight More tellingly, AJK residents enjoy privileges unavailable to most Pakistanis: electricity at just Rs 3 per unit compared to nearly Rs 40 nationwide, alongside subsidized groceries and other essentials These extraordinary concessions sustained by the Pakistani taxpayer are rarely acknowledged Instead they are met with hostility and slogans against the very state that keeps the system afloat This is not a fight for fairness It is political blackmail disguised as agitation, one that exploits the goodwill of Pakistan while holding ordinary people hostage to chaos To grasp the contradiction history offers clarity When the Tarbela Dam displaced 83 villages including those near Ayub Khan s hometown the victims received no special resettlement and still await fair compensation Yet, when Britain sought labour in the 1960s, it was the Mirpuris displaced by Mangla Dam who were granted preferential visas to the UK Today, entire British towns are filled by this diaspora living far more comfortably than most Pakistanis Treated

L a h o r e t o L o n d o n : W h y E n g l i s h i s o u r l a n g u a g e t o o

has no exact words Those words aren’t mistakes; they are instruments of exactness freighted with cultural meaning It occurs in three broad registers At the pinnacle is the acrolect the formal nearly-standard English of elite circles and the media of the nation In the middle is the mesolect, where professionals, teachers, and bureaucrats differentially change their codes of language in accord with the circumstances Informal talk best resides in the basilect where English intermixes with Urdu as an unconscious idiom Each of the three registers allows English both to traverse place as well as cross class: an Islamabad lawyer and a shopkeeper in Peshawar may differentially use English but converse on the same page The institutional role of English is not in doubt Universities carry on their teaching in English; the civil service functions in English; and the courts hear cases in English In addition scientific and technical activities take their course in English To the young Pakistanis, command over English provides access to the rest of the world as well as domestically, especially in the fields of information technology business process outsourcing science and foreign affairs Its pragmatic worth illuminates why parents value English education so much and why private educational centers market English medium as the way forward But in Pakistan, English functions as a mirror of inequity With access to quality English education confined to elite private educational institutions the language ends up solidifying social privilege In employment interviews professional evaluations, and mainstream media outlets, the priority given to English speakers presents insurmountable barriers for those who do not enjoy access to quality English education Its detractors claim an overemphasis on English could disenfranchise both local languages as well as the mother tongue Urdu holding the view that for most children access to their native language in-depth will enrich their educational journey These tensions have given rise to sensible middle paths A trilingual approach robust early instruction in the mother tongue a solid

foundation in Urdu, and a systematic introduction to English can provide both equity and global access In practice many teachers and students already operate in hybrid modes: they acquire technical vocabulary in English discuss concepts in Urdu, and compose reports in English This pragmatic blending mirrors reality more than ideology There’s also a less obvious argument to keep in mind With more non-native English speakers worldwide today than native ones the gravitational centre of the language is slowly shifting World communication depends more on comprehensible, useful English instead of strict observance of British or American variants Pakistani English figures in just that Its distinctive neocoinings code-switching patterns and pragmatic applications add to an ever-wider global repertoire

When the Pakistani negotiator speaks English the scientist speaks English the novelist speaks English, they add their local know-how into an international language and enrich it thereby It should be an enabler of freedom for our Pakistani readers English should be regarded as an asset not just a trophy Put to use effectively it brings learners closer to international scholarship binds businesses to foreign trade and binds civilians in worldwide discussion But when used ineptly as an exclusionary credential it isolates So the question changes from use vs nonuse to how we might use it as a bridge for the many not as a barricade for the few So when you see the headline or commentary in the newspaper remind yourself of what the sign on the border says In Pakistan, English is not just an externally enforced set of norms but an unfolding tapestry of local identity imperatives From London to Lahore, English doesn’t belong just to those who use it; it belongs to all who take it as the medium of ideas problem-solving storytelling Its future will hinge on how inclusively it gets learned how candidly it addresses inequity, how imaginatively it gets remade for life in Pakistan

The writer can be reached at atkhan6333@gmail com

Doubt over Gaza plan

TAmerica in deadlock

Republicans of trying to hollow out safety nets for the poor and elderly under the guise of fiscal responsibility Immigration is another wedge issue: Trump has demanded increased funding for a fortified border system and deportation enforcement positioning it as central to his America First agenda Democrats counter that this amounts to cruelty and political theatre, especially in the wake of unrest tied to immigration enforcement raids earlier this year Climate and energy policy further complicate negotiations Trump and his allies are determined to revive coal and oil drilling projects and reduce federal funding for renewable energy initiatives, while Democrats argue that reversing progress on climate goals would undermine both domestic innovation and international credibility In this standoff both sides see political advantage For Trump the shutdown is an opportunity to reassert control and demonstrate strength He portrays himself as a leader willing to withstand temporary pain for

u r r i n g e p i s o d e s i n A m e r i c a n p o l i t i c a l l i f e , s y m p t o m a t i c o f d e e p e r d y s f u n c t i o n . U n l e s s t h e n a t i o n Ês l e a d e r s r e d i s c ov e r t h e w i l l t o c o m p ro m i s e , e a

Healthcare remains one of the most explosive flashpoints with Democrats accusing

that has, for the moment, ended the carnage in Gaza came about because the president was “moved especially by images of starving children and saw their airing on major international networks as a public-relations disaster for Israel

In 1982, much as today, the conflict played out in real time on millions of screens Hundreds of journalists flew into Beirut to cover for the first time an Arab–Israeli war without censorship by either side and new satellite technology meant major television networks could broadcast scenes filmed just hours earlier to huge audiences International reporters were banned from Gaza by Israel, but the combination of smartphones and social media has had just as visceral an impact In 1982 Israeli officials cast doubt on casualty figures considered reliable by many others, claimed that the dead were mostly combatants, and accused the PLO of using Beirut’s population as a human shield Israel’s supporters, then as now, pointed out that Arafat often worked from bunkers underneath civilian buildings including apartment blocks and so was responsible for the consequences What happened after the call from Reagan and the ceasefire in Beirut is instructive

The PLO, its factions and officials were scattered across thousands of miles and a dozen countries Washington then withdrew US-led peacekeepers – a breach of the agreement with Arafat Bashir Gemayel Lebanon s newly elected president and Israel s preferred proxy, was assassinated by Syrian security services, prompting Christian Maronite death squads to kill thousands of Palestinians in two poor southern neighbourhoods of Beirut with the negligent complicity of Israeli commanders

The US then sent the marines back in along with French and Italian troops The Israelis were soon being targeted by vehicles packed with explosives, driven by young men who made no attempt to escape death These were the work of extremist Lebanese Islamists inspired by the 1979 Iranian revolution Soon it was the turn of the US to be targeted Attacks on its embassy in Beirut and the marines barracks killed more than 300 Within a year, Reagan ended the US intervention in Lebanon The Islamist networks coalesced into Hezbollah which would threaten Israel intermittently for the next four decades and more

In The Revolutionists a book I spent 10 years researching that is published this month, I explore the stories of those involved in the political violence of the 1970s One key question I sought to answer is how the decade could begin with spectacular terrorist attacks in the Middle East that rarely caused significant casualties and were organised by largely nationalist, broadly secular left-leaning groups but ended with something so very different: mass casualty suicide attacks executed by religious militants

What happened in Lebanon provided a partial answer One reason that Hezbollah could emerge was that the years of civil war and the Israeli invasion had crippled so many other groups factions and political parties, including those many committed to programmes of radical change that did not involve faith Many more moderate individuals and groups had been wiped out The same was true across the rest of the region By the end of the 1970s the more secular and progressive ideas and methods that had seemed to offer the promise of a new future in the Arab and Islamic worlds a decade or so earlier were discredited and their main advocates and activists dead, exiled or otherwise silenced This left space for others who offered a different vision of how to overthrow the existing order and usher in a new era The results of this became very clear, very quickly: the Iranian revolution, the seizure by messianic Muslim radicals of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, a bloodily repressed uprising in Syria and the assassination of Anwar Sadat in Cairo by Islamic militants in 1981 all followed in quick succession Across the region Israel and the US now faced enemies who were considerably more intractable, lethal and effective than the leftists and nationalists of earlier years In the west the consequences of this were perverse Through the 1970s western analysts and officials had sought to understand what caused violent extremism Intelligence services produced innumerable reports explaining the factors behind the violence of individuals or groups Scholars received funding for huge studies into what would later be called “radicalisation”

Then in the early 1980s this stopped Political leaders in the US the UK and elsewhere were no longer interested in root causes of violence Instead, the dominant view was that terrorists were merely mad, bad, misled or manipulated –usually by Moscow Last week Trump reportedly told Netanyahu that Israel could not fight all the world and acknowledged in his 20-point plan Palestinian aspirations for a state – though the word legitimate was reportedly removed after Israeli objections This too was an echo of 1982

In the aftermath of the Israeli invasion of Lebanon Reagan told Israel that the strength of its armed forces alone could not bring just and lasting peace and acknowledged the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people But a US-led regional peace plan supposed to answer those complaints went nowhere From Tunis, Arafat looked on impotently Reagan’s interest in the Middle East waned Israel resisted any concessions In 1987 there was the first in-

French premier suspends pension reform to save govt

In the draft approved by his government on Tuesday France s public deficit was cut to 4 7 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) Lecornu said warning it must remain below five per cent after parliamentary debate on the budget France’s debt-to-GDP ratio is the European Union’s third-highest after Greece and Italy and is close to twice the 60pc

Lecornu,

after criticism of his newly appointed government He was re-appointed on Friday and proposed a new team of ministers on Sunday just in time for the government to approve and file a draft budget with parliament

leaders are urging him to call snap elections or resign, and even key allies such as former prime minister Edouard Philippe have distanced themselves from the 47-year-old president