News

The business community of Lahore on Thursday announced to observe a shutter down strike on September 2 (Saturday) against the inflated electricity bills and rising inflation. In a statement, Mujahid Maqsood Butt – President of Traders Association – said that markets across Lahore will remain closed on Saturday (September 2) in protest against inflated electricity bills and rising inflation in the country. Traders cannot pay such heavy bills, as it is destroying our businesses, Butt said and urged the Caretaker PM Anwaarul Haq Kakar to take back the recent hike in the electricity bills. Meanwhile, Karachi traders have also announced a shutter down strike on September 1 against inflated electricity bills. Countrywide protests The inflated power bills triggered country-wide protests from Karachi to Khyber and protests in some parts of the country are turning violent. The protesting masses have been demanding that the government should end the provision of free electricity to the notables and provide them relief as the bills they have been receiving are more than their salaries. Earlier on Wednesday, Caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar said the government cannot provide more subsidies on the electricity bills while being in program of the IMF. Source:https://www.nation.com.pk/31-Aug-2023/electricity-bills-lahore-traders-to-observe-shutter-down-strike-on-sept-2

FLORIDA-Hurricane Idalia has hit Florida and is now crossing into Georgia, bringing powerful winds and potentially life-threatening conditions. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says the eye of the storm has now left Florida, leaving 250,000 people without power in its wake. He says there are no officially confirmed deaths, though US media are citing Florida’s Highway Patrol as saying two drivers died in road accidents during the storm. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says 16ft (4.8m) storm surges are expected in some areas as fierce winds push seawater inland. Some areas of the state have been hit with flooding as knee-deep water covers roads and inundates towns. Nearly 280,000 people are without power as the storm tears through, and residents are warned to be careful of downed power lines. Following Hurricane Idalia’s landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast, nearly 264,000 energy customers are in the dark as the storm moves inland. At least 263,964 customers are without power, according to poweroutage.com. The outages continue to be concentrated around the Big Bend region of Florida with outages in Taylor County at more than 81% of customers, Dixie County at more than 78% and Lafayette at more than 76%. Farther inland, in Suwannee County, more than 95% of customers are without power and 80% are dark in Columbia County. In southern Georgia, more than 99% of customers are without power in the small county of Echols, nearly 76% of customers have lost power in Brooks County and Lowndes County is 54% out. Hurricane Idalia is expanding its impact on the Southeast as the powerful hurricane tracks farther inland. The storm stretched from Central Florida to southern Georgia, around 250 miles, as of Wednesday morning. Hurricane-force winds slammed inland parts of northern Florida near Idalia’s center. Winds gusted to 85 mph in Perry, Florida, which is 45 miles southeast of Tallahassee as Idalia passed nearby and the center is moving into Georgia now. Idalia’s strong winds are not just confined to its center. Tropical storm-force winds span 175 miles, from Tampa and Orlando northward to Jacksonville and into Valdosta, Georgia, where a 67 mph wind gust was reported. The most-damaging wind gusts will expand across more of northern Florida and push into southern Georgia by late Wednesday morning. Winds aren’t the only threat. Water levels along Florida’s Gulf Coast remained at record highs after several feet of storm surge. More surge is expected along the Atlantic Coast next, in places like Savannah in Georgia, Charleston in South Carolina and Wilmington in North Carolina, as Idalia keeps tracking across the Southeast. Hurricane Idalia is expanding its impact on the Southeast as the powerful hurricane tracks farther inland. The storm stretched from Central Florida to southern Georgia, around 250 miles, as of Wednesday morning. Hurricane-force winds slammed inland parts of northern Florida near Idalia’s center. Winds gusted to 85 mph in Perry, Florida — which is 45 miles southeast of Tallahassee — as Idalia passed nearby and the center is moving into Georgia now. Source:https://www.nation.com.pk/31-Aug-2023/hurricane-idalia-slams-into-florida-and-georgia

The wildfire in Greece’s northeastern region of Evros raged for the 12th day, forcing the evacuation of more settlements, local media reported on Wednesday. The fire continued to rage despite the best efforts of Greek and foreign firefighters, who are assisted by firefighting planes and helicopters, on two main fronts, said the state-run AMNA news agency. Consequently, residents of Yiannouli and Sidiro villages in the region were instructed to evacuate, it said, adding that the shift in wind direction from northeastern to southern has hampered efforts to contain the fire. On Tuesday, the EU’s Copernicus Earth Observation Program said the fires in northeastern Greece, the largest in Europe in the past two decades, have burned an area of ​​808.7 square kilometers (312.2 square miles), an area bigger than New York City. Moreover, Balazs Iravju, spokesman for the EU Commission on humanitarian aid and crisis management, said the union has sent over 400 firefighters, 11 firefighting planes, 62 vehicles, and one helicopter in response to wildfires in Greece’s Evros region. SOURCE:https://www.nation.com.pk/31-Aug-2023/more-settlements-in-evros-region-evacuated-as-wildfire-rages-for-12th-day-in-greece

MIAMI -Tropical Storm Idalia strengthened as it passed by the western tip of Cuba on Monday, taking aim at the Gulf coast of Florida as forecasters predicted it could become a hurricane “at any time.” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis warned the storm — likely to make landfall there as a major hurricane by Wednesday — could have major impacts along the Gulf of Mexico, telling a news conference that evacuations would take place and residents should prepare. “The combination of a dangerous storm surge and the tide will cause normally dry areas near the coast to be flooded by rising waters moving inland from the shoreline,” the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said in an 11 pm (0300 GMT) update. SOURCE:https://www.nation.com.pk/30-Aug-2023/tropical-storm-idalia-strengthens-off-cuba-barrels-toward-florida

GENEVA – At least 183 people have been killed since July in clashes in Ethiopia’s Amhara region, the United Nations said Tuesday as it appealed for the killings, violence and rights abuses to end. “We are very concerned by the deteriorating human rights situation in some regions of Ethiopia,” UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado told reporters in Geneva. “In Amhara region, following a flare-up in clashes between the Ethiopian military and the regional Fano militia, and the declaration of a state of emergency on August 4, the situation worsened considerably. Source: https://www.nation.com.pk/30-Aug-2023/at-least-183-killed-in-clashes-in-ethiopia-s-amhara-un

A policeman was martyred in a firing incident on Benazir flyover at Spini road in Quetta this morning. According to police sources, the martyr policeman was going to police line for his duty. Source:https://www.nation.com.pk/02-Aug-2023/quetta-policeman-martyred-in-firing-incident

Proposals finalised by ministry of energy to be presented in today’s cabinet meeting n Info minister Murtaza Solangi says interim govt will explore ways to pass on relief to public without violating IMF programme n Lahore traders demand cut in power tariff n Jamaat-e-Islami announces nationwide strike on September 2. ISLAMABAD/KARACHI/LAHORE  –  A high-level meeting held at the Ministry of Energy where pro­posals were finalised on Monday on the issue of inflated electrici­ty bills. The protests against in­flated power bills spread to sever­al cities on Monday as the interim government is exploring options to provide some kind of relief to the electricity consumers without violating the conditions agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Citizens and traders shocked by inflated power bills took to the streets on Monday in several cities including Islamabad, Karachi, La­hore, Sargodha, Hafizabad, Vehari, Arifwala, Bahawalnagar, Hyder­abad, Gujrat, Multan, Chichawatni, Mandi Bahauddin, Rajanpur, Mu­zaffargarh, Pakpattan, Mansehra, Sahiwal, Rawalpindi, Lodhran and Sheikhupura. Information minister Murtaza Solangi said that the complete fo­cus of the government was on pro­viding relief to the masses in the electricity bills. “We are focus­ing on how to provide relief to the masses instead of looking into discussion that who is respon­sible for expensive electricity,” the minister said while talking to a private TV channel late Monday. He said the caretak­er government took the oath on August 17, and the con­sumers received inflated bills of the month of July. “These proposals will be presented in the federal cabinet meeting today (Tuesday) for a final de­cision, says a press release is­sued by the ministry on Mon­day. Also, Caretaker Minister for Information and Broad­casting Murtaza Solangi Mon­day said that the Ministry of Energy had finalised recom­mendations related to the in­flated electricity bills. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar had tak­en notice of inflated electric­ity bills, Solangi said, adding, “We are responsible caretak­er government and cannot ig­nore the issue.” He said the is­sue would be taken up today by the federal cabinet which would explore the ways to pass on relief to the public without violating the Interna­tional Monetary Fund (IMF) programme. The minister re­solved that the cabinet would decide in favour of passing on the relief to the masses. He said the prime minister held a meeting with the rele­vant stakeholders on Monday as well. The media should in­form the masses about the reasons behind increase in electricity bills, he said while responding to a query. “Polit­ical temperature is already high in the country,” he said, stressing that there was no need to resort to debate that who was responsible for the bills. To another query, he said the caretaker govern­ment wanted to hold peace­ful and fair elections in col­laboration with all political parties as per the schedule of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP). The assis­tance to the electoral watch­dog would be provided by the government, he added. The ECP would decide about the tenure of the care­taker government, he said, adding the entire schedule of the delimitation exercise was uploaded on the watchdog’s website. In light of the deci­sions of the Council of Com­mon Interests, he said, the ECP issued its schedule under Article 51 of the Constitution. He said there was need to un­derstand difference between peaceful and violent protests. ‘SHUTTER DOWN STRIKE’ Hyderabad on Monday wit­nessed a shutter-down strike in various areas of the city, while shops remained closed in Market Tower, Sereghat, Shahi Bazar, Anaj Mandi, Ma­san Road, and Prince Road. The Chamber of Commerce announced a shutdown in a meeting of business organi­sations. Hundreds of people surrounded the Islamabad Electric Supply Company (IESCO) office in Rawalpindi on Monday as protests trig­gered by inflated electricity bills continued in many parts of the country for the fourth day. The IESCO officials have called in the police for extra security as protesters shout­ed slogans against the electric utility company, demanding that the exorbitant charges be reduced or they would not pay their bills. Those attend­ing these demonstrations in­clude members of the civ­il society — both men and women — traders, farmers, and members of the legal and business fraternities. A similar situation was wit­nessed in Mansehra where all business centers across the district, including the city, re­mained closed. In other cities, protestors blocked main ar­teries, leading to traffic jams and disruptions. They held up placards and banners protest­ing what they term a “cruel” increase in the utility bill. “It was [already] difficult to af­ford two square meals a day, now where will we get money for extra electricity bill?” an elderly villager in Sargodha demanded during protests. A protestor in Bahawalpur lamented that his family had to sell their animals to pay off the bills last month, while women protesting in Multan asserted that they were al­ready struggling to make ends meet without the additional burden of power tariffs. NATIONWIDE STRIKE ON SEPTEMBER 2 In response to the Ja­maat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi’s call, over 100 protest demon­strations were staged in mar­kets across the city against the hike in power tariff. It was agreed in the joint hud­dle hosted by the JI for rep­resentatives of the civil so­ciety, lawyers, traders, labor unions, and other segments of the society that protests across the markets in the city will be staged on Monday. Meanwhile, JI Pakistan su­premo Sirajul Haq called for a nationwide strike on Septem­ber 2 against the electricity tariff hike. Earlier in the day, JI Karachi Ameer Engr Hafiz Naeemur Rehman addressed a protest demonstration held by traders at the Cooperative Market, Saddar in Karachi. Speaking on the occasion, he said that the ruling elite un­leashed a mafia named the K-Electric on Karachi to cone Karachiites. He further said that the KE itself was a de­faulter of Rs662 billion to the national grid alone. Similarly, the KE is a defaulter of heavy payments to several other or­ganizations. He said that the large scale protests across Karachi are a reflection of the future for the ruling regime. The caretaker government will have to reduce the elec­tricity tariff, eliminate the taxes and mitigate the infla­tion, he

France will ban schoolchildren from wearing abayas ahead of the upcoming academic year, the government has said, the latest in a series of contentious restrictions in the country on clothing associated with Muslims. French Education Minister Gabriel Attal said the long, robe-like garments often worn by Muslim women wouldn’t be permitted in the nation’s schools from the new term, which starts in September. “Schools of the Republic are built on very strong values and principles, especially laïcité,” he told TV network TF1 on Sunday, using a French term referring to the separation of state institutions and religions, but which some argue has been hijacked to justify anti-Islam positions. “For me, laïcité, when put in the framework of a school, is very clear: you enter a classroom and you must not be able to identify the religious identity of students just by looking at them,” Attal said. But the move was criticized by a number of opposition lawmakers. Danièle Obono, a prominent opposition politician, attacked the move as a “new Islamophobic campaign” on X, formerly known as Twitter. Jean-Luc Mélenchon, a far-left firebrand, who placed third in France’s 2022 presidential election, described his “sadness to see the return to school politically polarized by a new absurd entirely artificial religious war about a woman’s dress.” “When will there be civil peace and true secularism that unites instead of exasperating?” Mélenchon asked. France has pursued a series of controversial bans and restrictions on items of customarily Islamic dress in recent years, which have frequently drawn the ire of Muslim countries and international agencies. Last year lawmakers backed a ban on wearing the hijab and other “conspicuous religious symbols” in sports competitions. The amendment was proposed by the right-wing Les Républicains party, which argued the hijab could risk the safety of athletes wearing it while playing sports. France’s earlier ban on the niqab – full-face veils worn by some Muslim women – violated the human rights of those who wore it, the United Nations Human Rights Committee said in 2018. Muslim women are pictured in a shopping mall in Nanterre, France, in July. Romuald Meigneux/SIPA/Shutterstock “This type of policy stands in opposition to the liberal core of the 1905 Law on Separation of Church & State – a law we’ve been distorting and weaponizing since the ’90s,” Rim-Sarah Alouane, a French legal scholar and commentator, wrote of the latest abaya ban on X. “Such policies fuel the nation’s fractures,” she added. Attal was asked on TF1 whether guidelines on hijabs would be enforced in schools, but refrained from commenting on those garments, and instead continued to discuss abayas. Source:https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/28/europe/france-abayas-schools-ban-intl/index.html

Authorities in India have shut down a school days after footage of a teacher encouraging students to hit a Muslim pupil sparked outrage in the country. Tripta Tyagi, a teacher at the Neha Public School in Uttar Pradesh state’s Muzaffarnagar city, was heard asking other children to hit a Muslim child “harder” as he stood frozen before the class in tears. The teacher has been charged under several sections of India’s criminal code, and state officials told the Hindustan Times newspaper that the school has been shuttered temporarily, adding that they are seeking clarification its certification to function as an educational institute. The school in Uttar Pradesh, which is India’s most populated state, could still reopen once authorities clear the certification question, Shubham Shukla, an education official in Muzaffarnagar, told the outlet. “We have conducted an inquiry… We found that the school doesn’t meet the criteria of the department. We have issued a notice to the school to seal it and authorities are conducting an investigation to take further action. Notice has also been served to the teacher for hitting the child,” he told The Indian Express newspaper. “It’s an under-construction building and the teacher taught the students at her home,” one official told the outlet on the condition of anonymity. “There were no fans or lights for the children. There were no sections for classes 1 to 5. We have sealed it for now.” The official said the students, including the child of Muslim faith, would be given admission to a government school in Khabbupur village near Muzaffarnagar. “There is a government primary school in the village. Children who want to go there will be enrolled there. Students who wish to continue studying in the private school, can do so since they are already paying the fees. The formalities including transfer certificates (of the children) will be completed by the department so that the parents do not face any additional burden,” Mr Shukla was quoted as saying by news agency PTI. When Ms Tyagi’s family was approached for comment on the action by the authorities, they said they were “disturbed”, reported the Indian Express. However, in a separate video that later surfaced on social media, the teacher attempted to defend herself by saying that since she was disabled and could not get up to hit the child herself, she made her students do it. She said her actions did not have any religious bias. “I made a mistake by getting the child beaten up by the students. I am handicapped and could not get up,” Ms Tyagi said. She claimed the video of the incident was tampered with and only a portion of what she said was shown in it. But in another interview with Indian news channel NDTV, Ms Tyagi remained unapologetic about her actions, saying: “I am not ashamed. “I have served the people of this village as a teacher. They all are with me.” Defending her use of corporal punishment, Ms Tyagi said it was important to “control” the students at school. “This is how we tackle them,” she said. The teacher had previously dismissed the assault on the child as a “minor issue”. Local politicians on Saturday mediated a “compromise” between the family and the young boys at the centre of the incident. The father of the boy later told news channels there was no religious angle to the beatings, even though the teacher was heard in the video speaking about “Mohammedan (Muslim) children”. She told the police that what she meant was, that “the mothers of those Muslim children who do not pay attention to the studies of their wards, their academics get totally destroyed”, a senior official said. SOURCE:https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/india/muzaffarnagar-school-teacher-video-tripti-tyagi-b2400476.html

ISLAMABAD/KARACHI/PESHAWAR  –  Caretaker Prime Minister An­waarul Haq Kakar Saturday summoned an emergency meet­ing on Sunday (today) over the price of electricity and consum­ers’ bills. The prime minister also directed the ministry of energy and the power distributions companies to present detailed briefing over the issue, PM Of­fice Media Wing said in a press release on Saturday. The meet­ing would mull over provision of maximum relief to the mass­es over electricity bills. Separate­ly, on his X handle, the prime min­ister posted that he summoned an emergency meeting over these is­sues in the PM House and would hold consultations to provide max­imum relief to power consumers. The inflated power bills trig­gered nationwide protests, in­cluding Lahore, Karachi, Rawal­pindi, Multan, Gujranwala, and Peshawar. In Karachi, the Ja­maat-e-Islami held demonstra­tions at multiple places against the skyrocketing increase in power bills and what it said overcharging on part of the K-Electric (KE). In Rawalpin­di, protesters gathered at Com­mittee Chowk and burned bills while demanding that the gov­ernment abolish imposed taxes on electricity. Also in Peshawar, power consumers called the in­crease in electricity bills unbear­able and demanded immediate relief from the government. In Gujranwala, Protesters sur­rounded the Gujranwala Elec­tric Power Company office in protest against expensive elec­tricity. Protests were also held in other cities, including Narow­al, Attock, Sargodha, and Har­ipur, against high power bills. The protests in Multan were emotionally charged. They tied their electricity bills to donkeys as they marched towards the Gujranwala Electric Power Com­pany (Gepco) while chanting slogans against the government. Traders and citizens also in different cities held pro­test demonstrations on Friday against the rising cost of elec­tricity amid growing inflation­ary pressure, warning the gov­ernment to be prepared to face the “consequences” if did not address the issue that was con­sistently adding to the cost of living in the country. The protests began after Pa­kistan’s National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) increased the tariffs by Rs4.96 per unit last month, a condition set by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for approving a short-term $3 billion bailout package for the South Asian state. NEPRA periodically adjusts consumer-end tariffs after get­ting input from distribution companies which suggest differ­ent rates calculated on the basis of their revenue requirements. “We warn the government that if the decision to increase elec­tricity prices is not withdrawn immediately, the consequences will be borne by the incompe­tent rulers,” Muhammad Kashif Chaudhry, President of Marka­zi Tanzeem-e-Tajran Pakistan, a central association of traders in the country, said in a statement. He added the business commu­nity had launched a string of protests against the electricity price hike and were planning to gradually spread the movement nationwide. “We had already warned the rulers of this country not to become a tool of the inter­national financial institutions by implementing anti-people pol­icies,” Chaudhry said. He main­tained people residing in differ­ent cities, towns and villages had started pouring into the streets and were burning their electric­ity bills, adding it was their way of expressing “rebellion.” Meanwhile, speaking to the participants of the demonstra­tion in Karachi, Atiq Mir, Chair­man of All Karachi Tajir Ithehad (AKTI), highlighted that when traders and businessmen were compelled to protest on the streets, it signaled a “genuine economic crisis in the country.” Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, the JI chief, said criticised the gov­ernment for initially increas­ing petrol prices before raising the cost of electricity costs. He pointed out it had become chal­lenging for the common citizen to meet basic requirements. In the last 30 days, the govern­ment twice raised the fuel prices under a fortnightly cost adjust­ment mechanism, leading to an all-time high with over 15 per­cent hike. Traders underscored the recent increase in fuel and power prices, coupled with spi­raling inflation, had severely hampered their business activi­ties. Inflation in country reached a historic peak of 38 percent in May before easing to 28.3 per­cent in July, though it continues to remain significantly elevated. Meanwhile, the former law­makers of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Saturday expressed concern over the hike in electricity bills,the prevalent problem of delayed bills and urged the gov­ernment to withdraw the recent hike in units. In a statement issued here on Saturday the former MNAs Sabir Hussain Qaimkhani and Salahuddin said besides making electricity very expensive, up to 10 to 12 hours of load shedding was also being carried out, af­fecting domestic, commercial and industrial consumers. They deplored that instead of ensuring that the meter read­ing of exactly, the meter readers of Hyderabad Electric Supply Company (HESCO) take read­ings of extra days. They reiterated that the com­plaints about the burnt or de­fective transformers were not timely addressed and the con­sumers had to pay from their pockets to get the tranformers repaired even though HESCO’s stated policy was that the com­pany was reposonsible for the repair and replacement. The legislators said the ex­pensive electricity at the time when the country and its peo­ple were reeling from inflation only multiplied woes of the people.They requested the gov­ernment to withdraw the re­cent hike in the price of units and to address the services re­lated issues of the power distri­bution companies like HESCO. Source:https://www.nation.com.pk/27-Aug-2023/inflated-electricity-bills-spark-nationwide-protests