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Yemen: Diplomats push for extension of truce as deadline nears

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Officials see window of opportunity to extend and deepen ceasefire, with signs of battle fatigue on both sides

Supporters of Yemen’s Shiite Houthi rebels gather to commemorate Eid al-Ghadir in the capital, Sanaa, on 17 July 2022 (AFP)

By  
Sean Mathews

Middle East Eye – Published date: 29 July 2022 14:44 UTC |  

Diplomats are shuttling between Middle Eastern capitals in a final push to extend and deepen a fragile truce in Yemen, before it expires on Tuesday.
In the past week, UN special envoy Hans Grundberg has travelled between the Yemeni port city of Aden, Oman and Riyadh for talks with Yemen’s internationally recognised government and Houthi negotiators. This week, Tim Lenderking, the US Special Envoy for Yemen, is visiting both Riyadh and Amman.
Efforts to broker a deal come at a critical time for Yemen, where the truce in its civil war – which was first announced in April and extended for two months in June – has brought much-needed respite from fighting that has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.
“We are at a phase now where the truce is becoming more of a commitment for both sides,” a western official with direct knowledge of the talks told Middle East Eye, on the condition of anonymity. “It’s going to be hard for either to walk away.”
‘Right now at least, the whole region is singing the same song. They want the truce’
-Western official 
The truce has led to a 60 percent drop in civilian casualties, with most now occurring as a result of landmines and unexploded ordnance, according to the UN.
The number of displaced people has been reduced by half. International flights have resumed in a limited capacity from Sanaa and fuel shipments to the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah have increased.
“The truce has been transformational for Yemen. It has made a tangible difference to people’s lives,” Grundberg said in a statement this month.
‘Freeze the fighting’
Yemen descended into civil war in 2014, when Iran-aligned Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognised government to flee to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh and a coalition of regional allies, chiefly the UAE, intervened in March 2015 to push the Houthis back.
Seven years of fighting has failed to dislodge the Houthis, who control northern Yemen and about 80 percent of the country’s population, along with major urban centres.
The fighting has led to what the UN says is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Millions of Yemenis are grappling with starvation and malnourishment and 80 percent of the country’s population of 29 million are dependent on aid.
Thousands of civilians have been killed by coalition air strikes, while the Houthis have been accused of errant shelling, using child soldiers and launching drones and missiles at civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

Yemeni pro-government forces during fighting with Houthi rebels on the front line at Marib, the last government stronghold in northern Yemen, on 10 November 2021 (AFP)

The April truce came after some of the most bitter fighting, as the Houthis attempted to take the strategic city of Marib. The coalition held them off, and reorganised its forces to go on the offensive in Shabwah, where it dealt the Houthis a rare defeat. Analysts say the ceasefire was likely driven by these developments on the battlefield.
“The truce benefits the Houthis right now because the Marib battle exhausted them,” Maysaa Shuja Al-Deen, a senior researcher at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, told MEE.
Meanwhile, Riyadh has been searching for an exit from the war. In April, Yemen’s Saudi-backed president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, long seen as an obstacle to peace talks, resigned. He was replaced by an eight-member presidential council, which Riyadh urged to negotiate with the Houthis.
“Yemen is a headache for Saudi Arabia. They just want to freeze the fighting and stop cross-border attacks,” Deen said, referring to the Houthis’ missile and drone strikes on the kingdom.
Shifting priorities on both sides of the conflict, even if for the short term, have led diplomats to believe they have a window of opportunity as they push for an extension of the truce from two months to six.
“Right now at least, the whole region is singing the same song. They want the truce,” the western official said.
Roads, airports and salaries
A number of obstacles could still derail talks. One of the main issues has been the Houthis’ refusal to reopen roads to the besieged city of Taiz, in southwestern Yemen, officials and analysts say.
“The government feels they have given a lot of concessions and not gotten much in return,” a second western official familiar with the government’s thinking told MEE.
Analysts say the Houthis are negotiating from a position where they believe they have the upper hand on the battlefield.
“The Houthis still harbour military aspirations, while the Saudis and Emiratis no longer have the military appetite to continue the fight, and the Houthis are well aware of that,” Mohammed al-Basha, a senior Arabian peninsula analyst at the Navanti Group, told MEE. “Yemen has entered the stalemate phase of no peace and no war,” Basha adds.
Diplomats are also trying to strike an agreement between the two sides on the payment of salaries to civil servants, to which the Houthis have asked the government to contribute in the areas they control. The potential compromise, officials tell MEE, would be to link the payment of salaries in Houthi-controlled territory with the government’s call for more transparency on the tax revenue the rebels collect at Hodeidah port.
However, burden-sharing agreements are complicated, because Yemen’s financial system is divided, with a central bank in Sanaa and one in Aden each printing its own currency.

Saudi-Hezbollah meeting secured Yemen ceasefire and Hadi resignation

“The goal is to reach in principle agreements which can be deepened and worked out technically during the next truce,” the western official told MEE.
An agreement could also be reached on expanding flights from Sanaa. While flights to Amman have resumed, Egypt has allowed only one flight to Cairo and is requesting more security checks at the airport. A list of additional destinations is being floated, which officials tell MEE contains cities in the region currently reachable from Aden airport.
Even if the two sides reach an agreement extending the truce, few predict a breakthrough on a political settlement any time soon.
“The truce has developed confidence-building measures between actors that will probably never be able to reconcile,” Raiman al-Hamdani of the Yemen Policy Center, told MEE.
The UN says each side continues to send reinforcements to the front lines. Just last month the UK intercepted what it said was a shipment of Iranian missiles in the Gulf of Oman likely destined for Yemen.
If Saudi Arabia steps back from the conflict, Yemen would still be left with a disparate mix of armed rivals, including within the coalition. Groups like the secessionist Southern Transitional Council have fought both the Houthis and the government. Al-Qaeda has also stepped up its operations in south Yemen.
“There could be a long-term truce on cross-border attacks on the Saudis, but within Yemen we still have a long way to go,” Hamdani added.

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UAE minister says youth are main tool for building sustainable future

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The Arab News – www.arabnews.com

The UAE’s Minister of Culture and Youth, Noura bint Mohammed al-Kaabi. (File/AFP)

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Updated 12 August 2022

ARAB NEWS

August 12, 202213:58

DUBAI: The UAE’s Minister of Culture and Youth, Noura bint Mohammed al-Kaabi, said investing in young people, and empowering them to make a contribution to their countries and communities is the foundation of a nation’s development.
“Youth are the real capital and the main tool in our growth journey to build a sustainable future. In order to prepare them for future leadership positions, it is imperative to include them in key decision-making roles today,” she said in a statement on the occasion of the International Youth Day, marked annually on Aug. 12.
The UAE government, she said, is keen to hear the voices of young people and empower them to achieve their goals.
The National Strategy for Cultural and Creative Industries is one of the strategies which enables the UAE to invest in young talent and “helps nurture creativity and harness their energy to work towards a sustainable future,” according to state news agency WAM.
The UAE has also launched initiatives and found specialised organisations that cater to young people’s needs.
This includes establishing the Federal Youth Authority (FYA) which implements 35 youth initiatives through 15 creative youth hubs across the country to engage the young population in various sectors of society.
The minister also said that the UAE also focuses on young people from all over the world.
“This is the reason why Arab youth have chosen the UAE, for 10 consecutive years, as the best country to live and work. It goes to show that the country’s strategy in attracting and caring for creative youth and providing them with a conducive environment is bearing fruit and enhancing the capabilities of the country and youth alike,” she said.

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Tanzania’s power utility firm in joint venture with UAE’s Masdar

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The East African
URL: https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/business/tanesco-in-joint-venture-with-uae-masdar-3913500
August 16, 2022

    

Tanzania’s installed power generation capacity is about 1,600MW. PHOTO | FILE

By BOB KARASHANI
More by this Author

Tanzania’s power utility firm Tanesco has entered into a joint venture with a United Arab Emirates company to generate a further 2,000MW of electricity using renewable sources by 2024.
This will add to the expected 2,115MW from the ongoing Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project in southern Tanzania.
Read: Power dam delays Tanzania electric train launch
Under the agreement signed with Abu Dhabi’s Masdar in Dar es Salaam on August 5, 600MW of solar and onshore wind capacity will be developed initially, as the remaining 1400MW is uploaded in subsequent phases.
According to both Tanesco managing director Maharage Chande and Masdar’s head of business development Abdulla Zayed, the target is to bring all 2,000MW of renewable electricity on board by early 2024, which will coincide with the scheduled commissioning of the dam project on the Rufiji River.
According to Energy minister January Makamba, the deal is as a result of President Samia Suluhu ’s visit to the UAE in February.

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“In Tunisia, the new Constitution has revived the debate on identity and religion”

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The new Magna Carta, approved in a referendum with a low turnout of 30%, stipulates that the state has to work to achieve the purposes of Islam.

JONATÁN SORIANO
www.evangelicalfocus.com – Protestante Digital · TUNIS · 11 AUGUST 2022 · 09:00 CET

Image of a poster during the referendum campaign in Tunisia calling for a vote in favour of the new Constitution / Youssef Chml, Wikimedia Commons. 

That the figure of Kais Saied is unpredictable and unsettling at the political level is evidenced by the very way he has governed since he became Tunisia’s President in October 2019. He did so by winning a presidential election, without a great display of means, appealing to promises that had to do mainly with the economy and corruption, and at a time of some instability, following the death of former president Béji Caïd Essebsi and with the vacancy being filled on an interim basis by Mohamed Ennaceur.
Since then, Saied has asserted his leadership over Tunisia with gestures that some international analysts are reminiscent again of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the dictator who ruled the country from 1987 until the Arab Spring revolution in 2011.
Until now, the most prominent of these gestures has been the declaration of a state of emergency, which has been active since July 2021, with which Saied dissolved parliament and has been ruling for one year on the basis of presidential decrees.
The latest manoeuvre has been to hold a referendum, the first in the country’s history, to vote on a new Constitution to replace that of President Moncef Marzouki in 2014. A new basic law that, according to critics, will further entrench Saied’s position by concentrating more powers under his control.
 
Is the referendum representative?
The statement with which Saied has proposed the referendum already highlights the very different character with which the President distinguishes his Constitution from the previous one, which was largely annulled during his last year in office. Tunisians had to answer “yes” or “no” to a question about “correcting the course of the revolution”.
The first version of the new Magna Carta was published in the Official Gazette on 30 June, and updated on 8 July with a number of changes, in a process that some, such as the Tunisian religious freedom organisation Attalaki, have criticised as “unilateral” and disregarding the opinions of experts from different spheres of society.
“The president has not taken into account the opinion of the experts who drafted the document. Nor did he take into account the dialogue that he himself promoted, nor the results of the virtual consultation that he himself launched at the beginning of the year, in which nearly half a million Tunisians participated, and whose results do not recognise the change to the Constitution”, told Attalaki’s President and co-founder, Rashed Massoud Hafnaoui, to Protestante Digital.
The new Magna Carta was approved with 94% of the votes, although for many the vote lacks legitimacy as only 30.5% went to vote. “From the stage that the country is going through from 25 July 2021 until now, with this new draft constitution or the new republic, as the president calls it, we conclude that it is important only for the President and his followers. The President is the government and the government is the President, the President is the people and the people are the President”, he remarks.
 
A referendum on the figure of Saied
After the referendum vote, President Saied said: “Tunisia has entered a new phase”. “What the Tunisian people have done is a lesson for the world and for history, on the scale on which the lessons of history are measured”, he says.
 

Kais Saied has been ruling Tunisia under a state of emergency for one year. / Houcemmzoughi, Wikimedia Commons. 

However, the low turnout in the referendum has tarnished his plan to pass a new Constitution with visible popular support. This broad consensus between diverse political forces and civil society as a whole was something that the European Union had stressed was necessary. Indeed, Saied’s figure has become increasingly compromised in the eyes of his own countrymen.
“Over the past few months, the streets of Tunisia have become a battleground between supporters and opponents of the referendum called by President Saied”, explains Hafnaoui. “Supporters of the referendum see it as a lifeline that will pull the country out of the difficulties and crisis left by the 2014 Constitution, and opponents see it as a setback and a step backwards that will bring setbacks to the country”, he says.
“The atmosphere in Tunisia is now turbulent” and “the division in the streets may lead to further repercussions”, Hafnaoui observes.
“The president has not changed the way he has treated his opponents, in particular, and has worked to bring Tunisians together without using the rhetoric of betrayal and division”. Hafnaoui says he favours the decision to “freeze the work of parliament”. “Since the parliament was constituted in 2019, it has spread negative messages to society and incited hatred and bloodshed”, he writes.
“However, we reject the President’s unilateral attitude and his failure to involve other national actors in building a new future for Tunisia”, the representative of Attalaki adds.
 
A risk to freedoms and rights
Several points in the new Constitution are causing human rights organisations to be alarmed. Human Rights Watch says the new constitution “undermines the independence of the courts, which is fundamental to safeguarding the rights of individuals”. The organisation is also concerned about how the document alters the High Judicial Council, without specifying how its members are chosen.
Attalaki also views some aspects of the new Constitution with a sense of alarm. “The new draft Constitution abolished the principle of the civil state and did not address the universal principles of human rights as principles that all nations seek to achieve within a democratic state”, says Hafnaoui. The organisation is concerned about “the lack of mention of these internationally recognised universal principles, replaced by talk of human rights in general, with the absence of the idea of a civil state”.
“This leads us to think about the future of human rights and democracy in Tunisia, which are only mentioned twice in the Constitution, where the President has replaced the concept of democracy with that of a society based on the rule of law.
In a context where human rights organisations have raised alarm over what they see as “institutional violations” in Tunisia, such as the trial of journalists and political opponents, there are serious doubts about what vision the President has about rights and freedoms. “Tunisia faces social and economic challenges in the absence of signs of stability or political progress”, Attalaki reiterates.
 

The new Magna Carta replaces President Marzouki’s Magna Carta of 2014. / Ennahdha, Wikimedia Commons 

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Religious freedom in the new Constitution
One of the areas where the new Magna Carta is clearer, albeit worryingly so, is with regard to religious fact and freedom. “Although Islam is no longer listed as ‘the religion of the state’, as it was in Article 1 of the 2014 constitution, Article 5 of the new constitution states that ‘Tunisia is part of the Islamic Umma’ [the whole community of Muslims] and it is incumbent upon the state alone to work to achieve the purposes of Islam by preserving soul, honour, property, religion, and freedom’”, Human Rights Watch said. “This provision could be used to justify restrictions on rights, such as gender discrimination, based on religious precepts”.
“No one doubts that the new Constitution has revived the debate over identity and religion in Tunisia, after Tunisians believed they had resolved this issue in the 2014 Constitution, following lengthy discussions among various political and civil actors. This controversy has overshadowed the other issues in Saied’s constitution. Many parties have objected to the vague references in the preamble and article 5 of the draft to the state’s relationship with religion”, says Hafnaoui.

“A Constitutionalisation of the purposes of Islam”
He also refers to the conclusions of constitutional law professor Sanaa Ben Achour, who says that “the Constitutionalisation of the purposes of Islam implies that they become the general principles of legislation in all areas”. Ben Achour adds that the President’s powers have been established in such a way that he is above all responsibility because he is considered the knowledgeable, responsible and infallible imam, trustworthy, because the inclusion of the term ‘Islamic nation’ in the country’s Constitution.
There is a risk that President Marzouki addresses the nation “as an imam, a guide”, as if he “does not need the people or the citizens to watch over him or question him, but only owe him their loyalty”, he warns.
Attalaki, which a year ago published its first report on the state of religious freedom in Tunisia and has been in contact with the administration and participated in initiatives with other entities and faith groups, considers that, based on Article 5 of the new Constitution, “nothing prevents the issuing of laws that limit public and individual freedoms in order to achieve the purposes of Islam”.
“Preserving religion, and what Muslim jurists mean by it, is to protect Islam and Muslims from the advocates of disbelief and the change of religion or the introduction of beliefs contrary to Islam and the preaching and calling for something other than Islam”, Hafnaoui points out.
In his view, the controversial Article 5 of the new Constitution is worded in a way that “does not allow for interpretation” and “opens up the conflict over identity, which can easily be used to restrict religious freedom, especially the right of religious minorities to organise and celebrate their rites freely”.
In fact, the new Magna Carta adds something that did not appear in the 2014 document, namely the possibility of practising religious services in freedom as long as “public security is not compromised”, as stipulated in article 25.
This means, says Hafnaoui, that “the Constitution can be used by the authority to restrict the citizens’ right to practise their religious rites in complete security and freedom, under the pretext of protecting religion, that is, the religion of the majority, as mentioned in article 5”.

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Tunisian government, unions agree to talks on IMF reform programme

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August 12, 2022 – Reuters.com

Noureddine Taboubi, secretary general of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) speaks to supporters of the union during a national public strike called by them, outside their headquarters in Tunis, Tunisia June 16, 2022. REUTERS/Jihed Abidellaoui/File Photo

TUNIS, Aug 12 (Reuters) – Tunisia’s government and both its main labour and commerce unions agreed on Friday to start talks on Monday over economic reforms required by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for a rescue programme.

To view the rest of this story, please click here 

Reporting by Angus McDowall; Editing by Aurora Ellis

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Symbolic recognition damages Palestinian prospects

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August 4, 2022 at 4:47 pm |  Middle East Monitor

US President Joe Biden (L) meets Israel’s President Isaac Herzog (R) at the presidential office in West Jerusalem, on July 14, 2022. [Israeli Gov’t Press Office (GPO) – Anadolu Agency]

Ramona Wadi
 walzerscent

August 4, 2022 at 4:47 pm

Although US President Joe Biden is merely paying lip service to the two-state compromise, given that the Trump administration’s legacy still holds sway over US foreign policy with regard to Israel’s settler-colonial expansion, the Palestinian Authority persists in seeking symbolic recognition of a “State of Palestine” to keep a defunct paradigm valid within diplomatic circles.
According to Wafa news agency, during a meeting with US Congress members in Ramallah, the PA Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh called for recognition of the State of Palestine “which would contribute to the realisation of the two-state solution, in light of the systematic destruction that this solution faces due to Israeli measures on the ground.”
Symbolic recognition is thus viewed as a step towards legitimising the Palestinian people’s anti-colonial struggle, yet that struggle has been legitimate for decades under international law. For tokenistic symbolism to become a pillar upon which the Palestinian struggle is granted some legitimacy is a backward step and one that can be exploited. If anti-colonial resistance is legitimate under international law, there is no need for symbolism to take precedence in terms of conferring legitimacy on the Palestinian struggle.
It is also worth keeping in mind that Shtayyeh is not calling for decolonisation, but rather encouraging the international community to accept the meagre, stripped back and defenceless Palestinian state that will be subject totally to the whims and demands of the apartheid state. Israel has never declared where its borders lie — the only UN member state not to do so — and its Zionist ambition is to colonise every inch of Palestinian territory. That is why the two-state compromise cannot be used as the foundation for any political framework for Palestinians, not even as a symbol of the international community’s alleged commitment to a Palestinian state. The international community cannot get away from the fact that the two-state paradigm disregards the Palestinian people’s legitimate anti-colonial struggle, because there is no reference to them living outside the colonial framework of “two states living side by side in peace”. Such a paradigm condones the ethnic cleansing of Palestine from 1948 onwards.
So what is Shtayyeh calling for, exactly? If recognising the state of Palestine is now being touted as the means to keep the two-state paradigm afloat, the outcome is only an accelerated form of colonisation which would leave Palestinians with less land, not more, and no independence; and very swiftly. The more that the PA calls for symbolic gestures to aid international diplomacy, the more that Palestine is shredded. Meanwhile, the international community’s adherence to Israel’s colonial narrative remains intact.
When considering that Palestinian loss of territory has been huge, tiny steps towards correcting the international community’s stance are not helping, particularly when symbolic recognition of a Palestinian state does not influence the more pressing issues, such as colonial expansion, state and settler violence, and the economic and diplomatic ties from which Israel benefits. As always, the PA’s stances are not only repetitive and futile, but flaunted entirely deceitfully as political efforts in the name of the Palestinian cause. Meanwhile, there is no concentrated effort to halt Israel’s settlement expansion, because holding Israel accountable is too costly for a complicit international community and a Palestinian Authority which — astonishingly — still cooperates with and protects the occupation state.
Attempts to ameliorate Palestine have failed. In the face of such loss, why not consider the alternative to “there is no Plan B” and allow the Palestinian people rather than the PA to take the helm in decision-making that affects them directly? Shtayyeh’s loyalty is towards the PA and the ideology it espouses, within which there will never be a space for decolonisation. Nor, for that matter, will it have space within the Zionist narrative to which the international community is in thrall.

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Protests against militants’ return echo in National Assembly

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Amir Wasim Published August 11, 2022  Updated about 13 hours ago

Left – Defence Minister Khawaja Asif speaks during the National Assembly session on June 27. — DawnNewsTV

ISLAMABAD: Expressing his apprehensions at the success of talks with the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Wednesday admitted on the floor of the National Assembly that anti-Taliban feelings were growing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) as people were holding protest demonstrations in various parts of the province against the Taliban presence in their area.
Responding to independent MNA from erstwhile Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) Mohsin Dawar who drew the attention of the house towards the rise in terrorism in KP after arrival of Taliban from Afghanistan, the defence minister admitted that the law and order situation was worsening in the province. He, however, termed it a “national issue”, instead of a provincial matter.
Editorial: TTP talks’ oversight
The minister regretted that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leadership, including former prime minister Imran Khan, had in the past welcomed the Taliban people in the province, but now the PTI’s provincial government was itself protesting against the presence of the Taliban in the province. He said there were reports of the protests from Dir, Swat and other places in the province against the Taliban.

 He also expressed his apprehensions about the success of the talks with the TTP. “This assembly was given two briefings [on the issue of talks with the TTP]. May Allah keep the affairs [talks] on track as per the briefings,” said the minister, adding: “the danger is gradually increasing.”

Khawaja Asif says anti-TTP sentiments growing in KP; lawmakers assail ‘anti-army’ campaign; Soomro de-seated
Mr Asif expressed the hope that the Taliban would not force imposition of their “own system and implement their “intentions” which they showed from time to time”.
The minister said that a committee comprising political elders had been constituted to visit the Pakistan-Afghanistan entry point at Ghulam Khan area in North Waziristan to persuade the protesters to open the trade route which they had closed in protest for the past two weeks over the killing of some JUI-F members and tribal people. He hoped that the committee members would succeed in pacifying the protesters to resume the stalled trade activities with Afghanistan. He said the closure of roads had badly affected trade between Pakistan and Afghanistan, besides affecting economy of the area.
‘Terrorism across KP’
Speaking on a point of order, Mr Dawar earlier said the people of North Waziristan had been protesting for the past 26 days and they were only demanding “peace and protection”.
The lawmaker claimed terrorism had spread across KP and warned it would soon grip the whole country. Recently, he said, a PTI MPA was attacked and many of his companions were martyred. Similarly, he said, a police official and an army major were abducted from Swat.
Mr Dawar said the Taliban were telling the local people that their leadership had directed them to return to the area in the wake of the ongoing talks between Pakistani authorities and the TTP.
The MNA from Waziristan ridiculed the PTI leaders for protesting against Taliban, recalling that the previous PTI government had welcomed and celebrated the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan. He criticised the “non-seriousness” of the authorities to tackle the issue, declaring that the people of KP would not accept “project-Taliban policy” and would resist it at all cost.
Anti-army campaign
Earlier, speaking on points of order, a number of lawmakers expressed their concerns over the ongoing campaign on social and main media against the army and blamed the PTI for it. The issue came up when Dr Fehmida Mirza of the Grand Democratic Alliance blasted the government over its action against ARY News channel.
She said if someone had maligned the national institution, then the whole channel should not be punished for it.
The most hard-hitting speech came from a PTI dissident Noor Alam Khan, who lashed out at the PTI leadership over the campaign and praised the army for its services for the country in the wake of the war against terrorism. At one point, he said army was the only institution that was “functioning properly” in the country.
Without naming PTI’s Shahbaz Gill, Mr Khan said those who did not like Pakistan and its army, should leave the country.
Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf declared that only anti-state people could run a campaign against the army. He said attacking the judiciary and the army was a violation of the constitution, stating that the parliament should take cognisance of such campaigns.
Soomro de-seated
Meanwhile, the National Assembly approved a motion tabled by PPP MNA Shahida Rehmani seeking to de-seat PTI MNA from Jacobabad Mohammadmian Soomro for being absent from the house without leave for 40 consecutive days.
The speaker put the motion for vote after rejecting the leave application which Mr Soomro had submitted after the PPP’s MNA had already been placed on the assembly agenda.
Mr Soomro, who had served as the privatisation minister during the previous PTI government, had not submitted his resignation with his other party colleagues, including Imran Khan, at the time of the election of Shehbaz Sharif as the prime minister.
Legislation
The National Assembly also passed four bills and witnessed introduction of three bills.
Minister of State for Law and Justice Shahadat Awan introduced the Railways (Amendment) Bill 2022; the Control of Narcotics Substances (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the Qanun-e-Shahadat (Amendment) Bill 2022. Through the first two bills, the government has sought to substitute death penalty with life-imprisonment.
The Statements of Objects and Reasons attached to the bills state that the death penalty in the laws “is used in a disproportionate manner that violates the fundamental right to life which happens to be the most basic of all human rights.”
It state that the risk of executing innocent people exists and “the arbitrary application of the death penalty can never be ruled out” under the two laws.
The four bills passed by the assembly are the National Meteorology Institute of Pakistan Bill 2022; the Public Private Partnership Authority (Amendment) Bill 2022; the Iqbal Academy Pakistan Bill 2022 and the Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2022.
The speaker then adjourned the sitting till 9pm on Saturday.
Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2022

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Hamas claims deadly attack that killed Israeli guard

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Friday evening’s attack was the latest in a long string of incidents in recent weeks. (AFP)

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Updated 02 May 2022

AP

May 02, 202218:46

JERUSALEM: The Palestinian militant group Hamas claimed responsibility Monday for a deadly shooting that left an Israeli security guard dead at the entrance of a Jewish settlement in the West Bank last week.
It was the first time Hamas has claimed such an attack targeting Israelis in the occupied West Bank since 2018. Friday evening’s attack was the latest in a long string of incidents in recent weeks. Tensions have mounted after deadly attacks on Israelis by Palestinian assailants, an Israeli military crackdown in the West Bank, and clashes between Palestinians and Israeli police at a flashpoint Jerusalem holy site.
The site contains the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest place in Islam. It is also the holiest site for Jews, who call it the Temple Mount because it is the location of the biblical Temples destroyed in antiquity. The site is a frequent flashpoint for tensions, and violence there last year helped spark an 11-day war between Israel and Gaza militants.
“This is an episode in a series of responses by Al-Qassam Brigades to the aggression on Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Hamas’s armed wing said in a short statement.
The claim of responsibility came a day after the Israeli army spokesperson told Kann public radio that two Palestinian suspects apprehended by the military did not belong to any militant group.
Israel said Saturday that it had arrested two Palestinians suspected of carrying out the shooting that killed 23-year-old Vyacheslav Golev.
On Sunday, Hamas’s leader in the Gaza Strip called for more attacks against Israelis in the West Bank, saying the “real battle arena is there.” In a speech, Yehiyeh Sinwar saluted the attackers who killed the guard.

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Attack on armed forces akin to attack on parliament: Speaker

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Constitution provides that every institution should act within its ambit, says Raja Pervaiz Ashraf

By Muhammad Anis
August 11, 2022 – The International News – www.thenews.com.pk

Speaker National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. —Twitter National Assembly of Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Speaker of the National Assembly Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on Wednesday ruled that the Constitution provides that every institution should act within its ambit and that an institution should respect the other institution. Paying tributes to the martyrs of armed forces, Ashraf declared that any attack on the armed forces would be considered an attack on the Parliament.

“Parliament is the mother of all the institutions and it represents the wisdom of 220 million people of the country and every institution should keep this fact in mind,” the speaker said.
While paying homage to the martyrs of the armed forces, the speaker said: “The whole nation mourned the martyrdom of Lt. General Sarfraz Ali, besides other officers and those soldiers who sacrificed their lives while taking part in the flood relief operation.”
 

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The speaker observed that the television channels should adopt a careful approach so that they do not become part of any hybrid war against the country and the campaign to humiliate institutions like the Pakistan Army. Speaker Pervez Ashraf declared any attack on “the armed forces would be considered an attack on the Parliament.” There is a clear distinction between freedom to air views and attacking the armed forces, the speaker said.
Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) Noor Alam Afridi on the floor of the National Assembly strongly condemned the attempts to instigate the subordinate officers against the Pak Army leadership by a private channel. Speaking on a point of order, Afridi pointed out that the live statement of the PTI leader on a television channel (ARY) served the agenda of the country’s enemies and it was repeated by the Indian channels. “ Instead of stopping the transmission of the statement, the television channel not only allowed to complete the same but it was repeated time and again, the PAC chairman said.
Referring to an earlier point of order raised by Dr. Fahmida Mirza in which she protested the closure of television channels, the PAC chairman said the Constitution also provides for safeguarding institutions against any propaganda. Noor Alam maintained that the House should pass a resolution declaring no compromise on the sanctity of sacrifices by the country’s custodians. “Those who criticise this institution should leave the country and settle in some other country,” he said.
Without naming any channel, he said the same channel continued to present him as a US agent. The PAC chairman, however, observed that the institutions should also cooperate with the Public Accounts Committee in its workings. Earlier, ex-Speaker Dr. Fahmida Mirza said that there should be stronger legislation against mocking institutions.
Calling for safeguarding freedom of expression, Dr Fahmida Mirza said that instead of closing a television channel, the specific programme be banned and those responsible should be taken to task.
While responding to a point of order, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said on concerns shown by Mohsin Dawar regarding reports of presence of Taliban in KP that TTP was becoming an increasing threat and it was not a provincial issue but a national one. He said that parliamentarians were twice briefed on talks between the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Pakistan government that were in progress but a danger was still there. The situation is critical along the Pak-Afghan border, the Minister of Defence Kh Asif told the house.
Minister for Aviation Khawaja Saad Rafique told the National Assembly that the government was working on a plan to make operational Roosevelt Hotel in the United States, owned by the national flag carrier, PIA. Responding to a calling attention notice, the minister said he personally feels this hotel is a precious asset of the PIA that needs to be protected. He said a case had been sent to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet to make 300 to 400 out of 1,050 rooms of the hotel operational through a joint venture. He informed the House that efforts are being made for the restoration of various international routes of Pakistan International Airlines, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom this year. He said once these routes are restored, then there will be no justification for the European Union to bar PIA from operating in the EU countries.
The minister said certain friendly nations also do not want the reopening of routes for PIA as they are doing a thriving business on those routes, but we are working hard to restore PIA flights there. He said British Airways would restore its flights this month. He said PIA is acquiring four A330 aircraft on dry lease, two have already come and two more are about to come.
The National Assembly passed the Public Private Partnership Authority Act, 2017 [The Public Private Partnership Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2022; the Bill to establish the Iqbal Academy for promotion of the thought of Allama Iqbal [The Iqbal Academy Pakistan Bill, 2022 and the Bill further to amend the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 [The Pakistan Penal Code (Amendment) Bill, 2022.
Besides, three bills were introduced in the House including The Railways (Amendment) Bill, 2022, The Qanun-e-Shahadat (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and The Control of Narcotics Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2021. The chair referred the bills to the standing committees concerned.
Earlier, the House offered Fateha for the departed souls of Pakistan Army soldiers martyred in a suicide attack in North Waziristan.

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Speaker for maintaining sanctity and supremacy of parliament

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Naveed Butt August 10, 2022 – The Business Recorder

ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Speaker Pervez Ashraf has said that parliament being the representative of more than 22 million people of the country always strives to fulfil the desires of the common people.
He emphasized maintaining the sanctity and supremacy of parliament as it is the real icon of people’s aspirations. He said that the Parliament is the platform where people’s representatives have always been struggling to resolve the socio-economic challenges faced by the country.
He expressed these views while talking to media representatives after inaugurating three days Diamond Jubilee celebration of 1st Constituent Assembly in the Parliament House, Wednesday.
While felicitating the Nation on the Diamond Jubilee of 1st Constituent Assembly of Pakistan, the speaker said that this day reminded us the struggle of Muslims of the Subcontinent and their leaders for achieving the goal of independence of Pakistan. He said that this day also marks the “Foundation Day” of the Parliament.
He said that celebrations of 1st Constituent Assembly of Pakistan under the theme “Mera-Parliman-Rahbar-i-Taraqqi-o-Kamal” is beginning from Wednesday and this theme reflects development, progress and bright future of the country is interlinked with the supremacy of the Parliament.
Later on, he inaugurated 3-day Photographs Exhibition with the theme “Tarjuman-i-mazishan-i-Hal” where the Photographs of all leaders of House, leaders of opposition and distinguished international leaders who addressed Parliament were displayed. He also inaugurated 3-Day Art and Painting Exhibition with the theme “Pak Sarzamin shad Baad”. He applauded the diligence and skill of artists to portray their ideas in a beautiful painting.
While inaugurating the three-day Book Exhibition with the theme “Qaum, Mulk, Saltanat” in the Library of Parliament House, he examined the original copy of 1973 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan signed by members of Parliament including then Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
He paid tribute to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and other members of that Parliament for making the 1973 constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He said that these celebrations would link the present generation to the past and ultimately would provea beacon of light for their bright future.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022

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