FARUKH SHEHZAD

In the post-2016 period, Uzbekistan has achieved significant positive results in terms of freedom of speech and press. However, there is still a lot of work to be done in this area, and being satisfied with the achieved results does not allow us to reach new heights.

Kun.uz spoke with Navbahor Imomova, an Uzbek journalist who has worked for the Voice of America media company for several years, about freedom of speech.

Journalism and freedom of speech during the pandemic

- World journalism, including Uzbekistan, has faced a unique test during the pandemic. They were tested on how they could work in a confined space. Governments have also imposed political restrictions on the pandemic.

I can say that at that time Kyrgyzstan was the country with the largest media control in Central Asia. There, journalists were forced to cover many events virtually. But in Uzbekistan we have seen the opposite. Certain media covered the event. This was allowed.

All states have had to reconsider what freedom of speech and the press are. Because journalists need to walk among more people. It must be in a certain process. During the pandemic, the journalist also had to broadcast from home.

At this juncture, the government has become more powerful in blocking access to information. Maybe it's an opportunity that many officials have dreamed of. Kim was able to easily determine what information to give and how much. Journalists, on the other hand, had to be thankful.

In addition, whatever the government did during the pandemic, it benefited them. For example, special pages have been opened on social networks. However, the same could be done on other problematic issues.

Journalists, on the other hand, have become more critical of the government. Journalists from the United States to Uzbekistan have argued that the government is failing in the pandemic. In the United States, for example, the government ignored the threat of the coronavirus until mid-May. But then he began to take drastic measures.

"We work from the same house ..."

- To be honest, no one was ready for a pandemic, quarantine, even journalists. We worked from home for a few days, believing that life would return to normal. But we work from the same house. In other words, the level of freedom of the press has changed accordingly.

In addition, there was a perception that journalists could do so much in a pandemic, thanks to that.

Of course, the pandemic has affected journalists around the world. Our main task was to stay healthy. We fought for our lives. In other words, I would say that the coronavirus has affected the media in every way. I'm not talking about the difficulties in the advertising market, how many journalists have lost their jobs. But as far as I know from my colleagues in Uzbekistan, journalists are not fired here. There were even cases when some worked for free in order not to lose their jobs. This requires courage and bravery.

Freedom of the press and speech in Uzbekistan

- It has been 4 years since Shavkat Mirziyoyev was elected president. Reforms were announced after the election, and Uzbekistan was said to be open to the world and domestic politics, and the government began to try to prove it. In other words, the world community applauded the relative changes that had taken place.

It should be noted that any positive changes should not stop, on the contrary, they should continue. In Uzbekistan, however, there is a long way to go, where there is a starting point and a finish line in the reform process. For some reason, everyone thinks about the finish line, to reach it and celebrate it, to evaluate it as a win. But the focus on the process is very low. Even in the promises of freedom of the press, we thought about reaching the top, but we did not think about how to achieve it.

On the other hand, there are those who say that we deserve the results we have achieved in the last four years on freedom of the press, and no more. Because everything was relative. The most gratifying part of this period was the increase in the number of Uzbek-language media outlets. Because until 2017, in order to get some quality information about Uzbekistan, you had to turn to a source in Russian or English, and it was a shame.

Currently, the media space in Uzbekistan is enriched and expanded with quality content in the Uzbek language.

"Maintaining and strengthening the achieved results is the next task"

- Now, of course, it is necessary to maintain the current level of the media, to consolidate their achievements and build on this result. The past 4 years have served as a foundation. The news agenda in Uzbekistan is more or less directly set by the media.

The debate between the AOCA and some media outlets, which I watch as a professional debate, I think you journalists: “Journalism is not an agency that teaches what it is, we define it; we also have our own standards, we are learning our professional responsibility; It is wrong to expect a perfect product from us in every way, because in the cauldron there is a bucket in the pot, do not hit us on the head, but do your own thing, do you issue a license, give, adapt, do coordination, ”he said.

About the body supervising the activities of the media

- At that time, I expressed my opinion on the words of Akmal Saidov. The "keyword" in his statement is control. In the case of Uzbekistan, control is only appropriate when it comes to regulation. In other words, how the media operates, how much taxes it pays, how employees should respect the law, how to work within the law - it's all about the license. There are such bodies in every state.

However, when it comes to control, censorship, restrictions, as is the age-old tradition in Uzbekistan, we say what journalism is, we set the norms and rules of freedom, we constantly remind you of the red lines, in the sense that it is unfounded.

Because in many countries this is not allowed by law.

For example, there are gold laws in the United States. The Voice of America cannot interfere in our activities, even if it receives direct funding from Congress and the government agency that administers us receives funding from the government. These things are prescribed by law.

"Confessions are being ignored"

- The current situation with freedom of speech in Uzbekistan, frankly, gives hope to journalists like me. First of all, it is commendable that journalists are fighting for themselves. Unity between them is as important as water and air. At the same time, the media are spiritually supporting each other (when necessary), even though they are rivals. You know who is feeling, and you remind your students that you are unhappy with the situation.

Of course, members of the government say, "This is progress, what more do you want?" can say. It was not like that before. But sometimes such confessions also start to hurt. But today this recognition is obsolete, because such applause was more important two or three years ago.

After all, Uzbekistan does not want to stand still, but the government must pursue new goals.

Tolib Rakhmatov spoke.

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COURTESY kun.uz

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 10: Hours after a major power breakdown plunged the entire country into darkness, the ministry of energy said that efforts were under way to restore electricity through the national grid.

The blackout was reported a little before midnight by citizens on social media from across the country, including major urban centres such as Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Multan, as well as smaller towns and cities.

The Ministry of Energy spokesperson, tweeting from the ministry's official Twitter handle, said that according to initial reports, the Guddu power plant developed a fault at 11:41pm on Saturday night.

“The fault caused the country’s high transmission lines to trip, which in turn caused the system frequency to drop from 50 to 0 in less than a second.

The drop in frequency caused power plants to shut down.”

Some time later, the energy minister tweeted that power supply was being restored to cities in phases, starting with Islamabad.

According to Ayub, the power breakdown was caused after the frequency in the national power distribution system suddenly fell from 50 to zero.

Ayub said all technical teams had reached their respective stations, adding that he was personally supervising the restoration work as the federal power minister.

He said citizens would be kept updated on the restoration efforts periodically.

Restoration efforts

By late morning, power had been restored to some areas of major cities such as Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi, authorities announced on Twitter.

"132kv Grids Around Lahore Energized," Ayub tweeted just before 8am.

The K-Electric, which is the sole power distributor in Karachi, also said that power was being restored in phases to the port city.

Engineering teams are making "full efforts" to restore electricity supply, the utility service provider said on Twitter.

There were no immediate reports of disruption at hospitals, which can often rely on back-up generators.

AFP quoted a water and power ministry spokesman as saying that power had been restored to some parts of the country but many areas in Lahore and Karachi were still waiting.

He added that an investigation has been launched to probe the cause of the blackout.

Netblocks, which monitors internet outages, said internet connectivity in the country “collapsed” as a result of the blackout.

Connectivity was at “62 percent of ordinary levels,” it said in a tweet.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 10: The Citizens Foundation (TCF) is the winner of South Asia’s“Best Presented Annual Report Award 2019” in the Non-Government Organization category, as declared by SAFA –the South Asian Federation of Accountants.

SAFA is a forum of the highest-ranking accounting bodies in the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) area, which includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

The SAFA Committee for Improvement in Transparency, Accountability, & Governance (ITAG) announces awards for best presented annual report each year on the basis of its evaluation of published annual reports entries from aforementioned South Asian countries.

TCF has been declared the winner of the “Best Presented Annual Report” for the fourth time. Previously, it has received the Runner-up award and Certificate of Merit multiple times.

"TCF has always been committed to the highest standards of ethical principles, governance and transparency in its disclosures," said Asaad Ayub Ahmad, President and CEO, TCF. "We give it all to ensure that our donors and other stakeholders know how much donations are being raised and how they are being utilized for various programmes within TCF.”

Established in 1995, “TCF is perhaps the largest network of independently run schools in the world." as quoted by “The Economist.” It is educating 266,000 deserving students across its network of 1,625 schools in Pakistan where girls make up 50% of the classroom.

About The Citizens Foundation (TCF):

TCF is a non-profit organization set up in 1995 by a group of citizens to bring about positive social change through education. 25 years later, TCF is now one of Pakistan’s leading organizations in the field of education for the less privileged, educating 266,000 students across 1,652 schools in Pakistan.

The TCF model focuses on providing quality education through purpose-built schools located in the heart of Pakistan’s urban slums and rural communities. The organization ensures that girls represent nearly 50% of overall student enrolment. To magnify its impact, improve enrolment and quality of education, TCF also adopts Government schools across Pakistan. www.tcf.org.pk

Social Media Handles:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TCFPak/

Instagram: @tcfpak

Twitter: @TCFPak

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGmlICVUptpBZPtXrTtZ_yQ

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COURTESY whenwherehow

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 10: The Higher Education Commission has reminded students who are looking forward to applying for scholarships abroad that three of the programmes deadlines’ were right around the corner.

Taking to Twitter, the HEC on Friday said: “These #scholarship programmes are currently open/active for intake of September 2021 batch.”

The scholarships include the Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarships, Commonwealth PhD Scholarships, and Chinese Government Scholarships, it said.

Deadlines to apply:

• Stipendium Hungaricum Scholarships — January 15

• Commonwealth PhD Scholarships 2021 — January 18

• Chinese Government Scholarships 2021 — January 18 

ISLAMABAD, JAN 10: New pension system in Pakistan 2021 has announced by the Finance Department, Government of Pakistan and official notification issued to the The Governor, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Karachi and The Controller General of Accounts, FBC Building, Sector G-5/2, Islamabad which is publishing on 9th January, 2021 on employeesportal.info.

I am directed to refer to the Finance Division’s letter No.12(9)Reg,612012(pt)1453 dated 5th January 2016 regarding new pension system in Pakistan through DCS and to state that following clarifications are hereby made:

1. The pension shall be paid to a pensioner through a bank account either current or PLS maintained in his own name.
2. For payment of pension through bank account as mentioned at (I) above, a Joint account shall not be valid,
3. Dedicated pension bank account shall not be mandatory for drawl of pension.
4. The requirement of indemnity bond from a pensioner, as laid down in para 3(1) and 9(xii) of the Revised SOP 2014 Issued vide Finance Division’s letter No.12(9)Reg,612012-568, dated 14-07-2014 is discontinued.

New Pension System 2021 – Disbursement of Salary

It is highlighted that Finance Division vide letter No.F.9(3)R.6/2015-548 dated 28-09-2020 has already decided that no separate bank account is required for draw / disbursement of pension for all new retirees and that it may be ensured that the pensioner starts receiving pension payment on the date it falls due, in the same bank account, he or she was receiving the salary before retirement, if he or she, desires so.

It is pertinent to mention that after necessary amendments in the relevant rules, the Federal Government is going to launch a new pension system which would cater for all the requirements/documentations digitally to further facilitate the pensioners.

Federal Pension System 2021 – Best Features

Salient features of the system are as under:-

(a) A pensioner drawing pension under clause (Iii) of sub-rule(6) of Federal Treasury Rules shall be facilitated to undergo biometric verification from any branch of a bank maintaining his pension account, every year in the months of March and October, If the pensioner is unable to undergo biometric verification due to incapacitation by bodily illness, Infirmity or if his fingerprints do not exist due to old or a genetic condition, he will provide a life Certificate signed by a person authorized under rule 343 every six months.

(b) The declaration shall be obtained yearly from pensioners who pension is terminable by their marriage or remarriage and shall be attached to the pension bill paid in September instead of December and June.

(c) Further, submission of declaration regarding marriage or remarriage will be dispensed with after the widow or daughter of the pensioner attains the age of sixty years.

(d) If a person drawing pension fails to submit, a life certificate or falls to undergo biometric verification during the months of March and October or a pensioner does not draw pension for consecutive six months, the account shall become dormant.

Accordingly. it is requested that necessary instructions may please be issued to all the banks / concerned Accounts Offices in this regard to facilitate the pensioners.

 Notification of New Pensions System in Pakistan 2021

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COURTESY whenwherehow

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WhatsApp has become a widely used messaging app across the world and many users use it on their browsers as well.

The Facebook-owned app allows users to use the messaging platform on their desktop, laptops by using the WhatsApp web feature.

You can connect your WhatsApp by scanning the QR code that will come on your screen once you open WhatsApp web.

Considering the amount of usage of the app across different areas. Users must be wondering if they can use any shortcuts while using the WhatsApp web feature.

Here’s a list of shortcuts you can use:

• Create a new group by pressing Ctrl + Alt + N
• Open your own WhatsApp profile by pressing  Ctrl + Alt + P 
• Open WhatsApp Settings by pressing Ctrl + Alt + ,
• Search your chats and messages by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Shift + /
• If you’re searching for messages in the current chat press Ctrl + Alt + F
• If you want to archive a chat press Ctrl + Alt + E
• If you want to mute the current chat press Ctrl + Alt + Shift + M
• Need help and want to contact support press Ctrl + Alt + Shift  + H
• Mark the current chat as unread by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Shift + U
• Delete the current chat by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Backspace
• Open the last chat by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Shift + [ 
• You can also open the next chat by pressing Ctrl + Alt + Shift + ]

You may not need all of these shortcuts but they may come in handy if so it worth a shot to remember them.

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COURTESY whenwherehow

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 10: Cities across Pakistan were left in the dark as a major electricity breakdown occurred late Saturday night.

The cities facing disruption include Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Quetta, and Peshawar.

The breakdown extended as far as Azad Kashmir. Furthermore, 29 districts across Balochistan descended into darkness.

Within Karachi, outages were reported from Korangi, Defence, Garden, Clifton, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, MA Jinnah Road, II Chundrigar Road, Liaquatabad, and FB Area.

Even the Jinnah International Airport remained without power.

Within minutes of the breakdown, the term #blackout became a top trend on Twitter in Pakistan with more than 12,000 tweets.

'NTDC lines have tripped'

A few minutes into the breakdown, Islamabad Deputy Commissioner Hamza Shafqaat said that the National Transmission Despatch Company’s lines have tripped, causing outage.

"It will take sometime before everything gets back to normal," he added.

Power minister explains issue

Minister for Power Omar Ayub, in a statement on Twitter, said that the "frequency in the power distribution system suddenly dropped from 50 to 0 which caused the blackout".

"We are trying to ascertain what caused the drop in frequency."

Ayub said that Tarbela "will be activated so a phase wise restoration can be carried out".

He requested the nation to exercise patience.

"All of our teams have reached their respective stations. As the Minister for Power I am personally overseeing the work for restoration of power.

"We will keep you updated periodically over the progress in power restoration," he added.

#Blackout becomes top trend

Within minutes of the breakdown, the term #blackout became a top trend on Twitter in Pakistan with more than 20,000 tweets.

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COURTESY THE NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 2021: The Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS), Islamabad organized an Online Conference on, “Evaluation of India’s Detrimental Attitude towards Peace and Stability in South Asia and beyond”.

The conference aimed to expose India’s malicious and hostile acts in the region especially in Pakistan and Indian Occupied Kashmir. It also aimed to discuss a pragmatic and sound approach towards India’s multi-dimensional threats against Pakistan.

The conference was commenced with the welcome remarks from Mian Abdul Rauf, Former Advocate General, Islamabad High Court. He stated that we as Pakistanis have a key responsibility to highlight the truth behind India’s false propagations. India has continued its prolonged agenda of destabilizing Pakistan. This conference is a great opportunity to discuss these issues in detail and formulate effective policy recommendations.

Mr. Tariq Bakhtawar, Former Director Anti-Money Laundering at the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan discussed India’s subversive activities of Money Laundering and Terror Financing. He highlighted that India is involved in sponsoring terrorism and financing terrorism against its neighbors, providing terrorists’ outfits with finances, weapons, equipment, and training, etc. Indian sponsored terrorist activities include terrorist attacks at PC Gawadar, Agriculture University in Peshawar, Army Public School in Peshawar, Peshawar Police, Mardan Judicial Complex, and intrusions in Azad Jammu Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan.

He also highlighted the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act that offers preferential treatment to non-Muslim immigrants from certain neighboring countries as they seek Indian citizenship on grounds of religious discrimination. He further highlighted the economic terrorism sponsored by India in its neighboring countries, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, and attempt over China.

He suggested that developing a long-term media strategy is imperative to effectively address media threats and wherever material facts are misrepresented by Indian media, an effective response before the global community/ international agencies must be put forward by Pakistan. He concluded by emphasizing that Pakistan needs to strategize its outlook and meet its international AML/CFT obligations considering the underlying geopolitical situation.

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Khan, Professor, Department of Politics and IR, International Islamic University, Islamabad discussed India’s Undermining Sovereignty and Territorial Integrity in Neighborhood. He rightly pointed out that India has been playing a game of over-powering the neighbors.

He mentioned the disintegration in 1971 that took place by provoking ethnic factor and creating hate against the federation of Pakistan through socio-political unrest and in its eastern wing (former East Pakistan). Despite its extreme act of disintegration of Pakistan, India continued conspiring against the state of Pakistan through its direct and indirect acts of destabilizing Pakistan through terrorism and extremism.

He highlighted that India has been waging a war against Pakistan in all fields; undermining its sovereignty and territorial integrity. Furthermore, the sovereignty and territorial integrity of two sovereign Himalayan states; Bhutan and Nepal have been constantly undermined by India ever since the 1950s. Commenting on the Indian hegemony in the Maldives he stated, the Maldives is being pressurized by India to part ways from the Belt and Road Initiative and its closer ties with China. He concluded by emphasizing that, Pakistan has been the sole obstacle against Indian subjugation of South Asia and its emergence as a major power.

Mr. Tariq Malik, Former Chief Technology Officer, GHQ discussed ‘Indian Chronicles’ – How India got exposed in 5th Generation Warfare against Pakistan. he presented an in-depth analysis of Hybrid Warfare objectives. By presenting recent examples of India’s attempts of fifth-generation warfare against Pakistan, he critically evaluated the psychological influence by India to create concocted virtual reality through dubious hybrid warfare propagandas on questions regarding two-nation theory, depicting Pakistanis as inferiors and other veiled cultural messages.

Furthermore, websites owned by Indians have been propagating against Pakistan by maligning their working performance in various departments. About 750+ fake media outlets, fake editors and journals, and over 550 fake domain names have been established by India to create a false perspective against Pakistan.

Tariq Malik further highlighted the hidden messages from various political party media cells in Pakistan that serve the interests of our enemies. Moreover, several fake news channels and social media accounts were discovered, they aimed to internally reinforce pro-India and anti-Pakistan sentiments and presented a positive perception about India internationally.

Barrister Waqas Aziz Qureshi, Member Board of Experts, CGSS, and Senior Law Expert & Managing Partner at Transact Advisory Services discussed India’s Secularism at Risk: Stark Violation of Human and Minority Rights Under BJP. He highlighted the human rights violations done by India against minorities, women, and children.

He also stated that under the BJP government, since 2014, we have witnessed signaling by the State to private and non-state actors engaging in vigilante justice, primarily targeted towards the Muslim community. He highlighted that, despite two reports of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), India has not repealed its Armed Forces (Jammu and Kashmir) Special Powers Act (AFSPA) 1990.

As a result, there has been no accountability for extrajudicial killings, disappearances, etc. perpetrated by Indian security forces. Since India’s unilateral revocation of Arts. 35A and 370 on 5 August 2019 the State of India has used gender-based violence (GBV) as a weapon of war in the disputed region of Kashmir. Furthermore, several UN Special Procedures mandate-holders wrote to India on the rising violence against Dalit women due to multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination including gender, caste, and poverty.

Mian Abdul Rauf, Former Advocate General, Islamabad High Court highlighted Legal prospects of holding India accountable for its acts of cross-border money laundering and terror financing. He highlighted that India has been involved in trying to sabotage Gwadar port and activities under CPEC. Many such activities are on the record where India has openly sabotaged all projects where Pakistan’s interests were involved. Furthermore, India has breached the United Nations Charter on many occasions.

He presented an in-depth analysis of the Indian Sponsored Terrorism in Pakistan and highlighted that India has been actively assembling and financing Terrorist organizations to destabilize Pakistan. Mian Abdul Rauf presented a detailed overview of the Legal Recourse that must be adopted.

He stated that comprehensive legislation should be undertaken to ensure that all recipients of terror financing should be prosecuted and punished. Moreover, the United Nations General Assembly, UN Secretary-General, and the United Nations Security Council must be apprised of appropriate action at a global level. He also emphasized that in the right circumstances, India can be taken to the International Court of Justice for its grave violations of International Law and perpetrating State-Sponsored Terrorism.

In his remarks, Maj Gen Shahid Ahmad Hashmat HI(M), (Retd), Senior Member Advisory Board, CGSS & Former High Commissioner of Pakistan to Sri Lanka highlighted that this conference has highlighted some important aspects. He said there are two major problems of India, that are creating issues for not only Pakistan but other countries as well. India is obsessed with a hegemonic mindset, they want to dominate and crush their neighbors. Secondly, the Hindutva and RSS mentality where they want to establish Hindu dominance of their culture and religion. Muslims and other minorities of India including Dalits are being brutally treated in India.

The conference was moderated by Mr. Khalid Taimur Akram, Executive Director, CGSS, and was attended by 70 participants from various fields. It was also viewed by more than 300 people on various social media networks through live streaming.

COURTESY cgss.com.pk

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