Current Affairs

 Multan Sultans outclass Peshawar Zalmi to seal maiden PSL title ABU DHABI: Members of the Multan Sultans squad pose with the trophy after defeating Peshawar Zalmi in the HBL Pakistan Super League 6 final at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Thursday night. — Courtesy PCB KARACHI: Peshawar Zalmi were left heartbroken for the third time in four seasons as Multan Sultans outclassed them by 47 runs in the final to clinch their maiden HBL Pakistan Super League crown at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Thursday . Chasing a record target of 207 in a decider, Peshawar’s reply never got going as a daunting asking rate of over 10 runs an over proved too much for them. Their hopes vanished quite early in the last of Powerplay overs when towering pace bowler Blessing Muzarabani dismissed Hazratullah Zazai for just six. Muzarabani was clever enough to change his pace and the slower ball was cut by Zazai towards Shan Masood at short point. The demise of the Afghan left-hande...

 ENVIRONMENT: MANCHHAR AWAITS A MIRACLE Houseboats dot the waters of Manchhar lake as birds sit on the aquatic vegetation | Photos by Umair Ali Sixty-year-old Maula Bakhsh, a fisherman who joined his father’s line of work, remembers a time when Manchhar Lake was full of fish. “My father’s catch used to be so plentiful that we would have to distribute fish among other people,” he recalls. “Over 30 species of fish survived on vegetation in the lake because there was abundant freshwater flow.” Mustafa Mirani, who grew up in a houseboat in the area and later joined the Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF), echoes Bakhsh’s sentiments. “People here had herds of livestock and would cultivate seasonal crops on agricultural lands around the lake,” he says, recalling the all-round prosperity enjoyed by those who resided around the lake. Gone are those days. Lying in the lap of Kirthar Range, the calm waters of Manchhar Lake could fool onlookers into thinking nothing has changed. But these calm w...

  SOUTHAMPTON: New Zealand players celebrate with the trophy after winning the World Test Championship final against India at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday.—AP SOUTHAMPTON: New Zealand enjoyed the greatest triumph in their cricket history as they beat India by eight wickets in the inaugural World Test Championship final at Southampton on Wednesday. Two years on from their agonising Super Over loss to England in the 50-over World Cup final at Lord’s, the Blackcaps claimed their first major global title . Set a modest target of 139 in 53 overs, New Zealand finished on 140-2 with plenty of time to spare in a match extended into a reserve sixth day following two days lost to rain. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin reduced New Zealand to 44-2 by removing openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway to the delight of India fans. But New Zealand captain Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, the team’s most-experienced batsmen, settled any lingering nerves in an unbroken stand of 96. Williamson, who won pl...

 No recognition if Taliban take Kabul by force, warns US State Department spokesperson Ned Price also indicated that US financial assistance to Afghanistan could only continue if the country has a government that’s recognised by all. — Reuters/File WASHINGTON: The United States has cautioned the Taliban that the world will not accept a government imposed by force in Afghanistan as an intelligence report warned that the current setup in Kabul could collapse within six months after the American withdrawal. At a Tuesday afternoon news briefing in Washington, State Department spokesperson Ned Price also indicated that US financial assistance to Afghanistan could only continue if the country has a government that’s recognised by all. “The world will not accept the imposition by force of a government in Afghanistan,” said Mr Price while referring to media reports about Taliban victories against the Kabul government. “You’ve heard this from Ambassador (Zalmay) Khalilzad; you’ve heard...

• Hurriyat leaders not part of engagement • Islamabad unlikely to accept any move without restoration of autonomous status to occupied Kashmir • Test case for Gupkar Declaration signatories ISLAMABAD: In what is being seen in India as a major reversal of Narendra Modi’s hardline policy on Occupied Kashmir, the Indian prime minister is set to meet pro-India Kashmiri leaders for resumption of political process in the region, but the move is unlikely to satisfy key stakeholders on Kashmir. Modi would meet political figures from Occupied Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday (today), which would be the first high-level engagement between the pro-India leaders from Occupied Kashmir and the Centre since August 2019 when India revoked the region’s autonomy by scrapping Article 370 of its constitution and bifurcated it into two parts. The meeting is, therefore, being keenly followed on both sides of the Line of Control. Those invited to the meeting include former chief ministers of Occupied Kashmir ...

 BhattiJune 23, 2021 Climate challenges mount for Pakistan due to sea-level rise, warn experts KARACHI: The frequency of tropical cyclones’ formation in the Arabian sea has increased 10 times during the last 20 years due to continuous rise in the sea-surface temperature and in the years to come the occurrence of more intense tropical cyclones is feared due to increase in the sea temperature. “In addition to more frequent formation of intense tropical cyclones, rise in seawater temperature is resulting in sea-level rise which can seriously affect coastal ecosystems, destruction of agricultural lands along the coastal belt and may result in mass migration due to loss of livelihood,” former Director General, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) and Regional Program Manager Center for Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Dr. Ghulam Rasool said on Tuesday. Briefing on the implications of sea-level rise and increasing frequency of tropical cyclones in the Arabian sea to the coastal infrast...

 Biden criticised for ignoring Pakistan over Afghan drawdown src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIj58dV4dCeJmiwnf94JZTd-IP1aq8mEVzBLo0hhQ20D4LT4wLQ9NYwPcQcvWx0ffdOFBftFhUfXXNk7uf-y_2NxNNdRQOpE9wT36bTywl-lqPzLq59uG7B_0qr6QAakLzvHUjq0lMzJo/s320/Biden-says-Saudi-announcement-to-come-Monday-Reute1614499612-0.jpg" width="320" /> US senator questions how troop withdrawal can be effective without coordinating with Islamabad US Senator Lindsey Graham expressed his surprise on Tuesday at President Joe Biden’s decision of not including Pakistan in the strategy for withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, warning that ignoring Islamabad could be disastrous. In a series of tweets, ahead of this week’s talks at the White House between Biden and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Kabul’s top negotiator Abdullah Abdullah, the ranking Republican senator from South Carolina criticised the Biden administration for believing that the US problem...

 Cold war II Mahir AliPublished June 23, 2021 - Updated about 2 hours ago THE North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the People’s Republic of China share a year of inception — 1949 — but beyond that have hitherto largely stayed out of each other’s way. Until this month, when China was singled out as a potential strategic threat at the latest Nato summit in Brussels. Given that Nato was set up essentially as a means of intimidating the Soviet Union during the Cold War, it may have been wise to fold it up and reimagine collective European military mechanisms when the Warsaw Pact — the Soviet-dominated eastern European bloc’s 1955 response to West Germany’s induction into Nato — went out of business 30 years ago. But the determination to demonstrate the West’s ascendancy as the Cold War victor entailed not only Nato’s survival but its eastwards expansion, notwithstanding Washington’s promises to Moscow that no such thing would occur. If anything, Nato’s military adventurism has spir...

  href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1630943/bidens-reluctance-in-engaging-pakistan-stunning-says-us-senator" style="border: 0px solid rgb(210, 214, 220); box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit;">Biden’s reluctance in engaging Pakistan stunning, says US senator Anwar Iqbal Published   June 23, 2021  -  Updated   about 2 hours ago href="https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dawn.com%2Fnews%2F1630943&display=popup&ref=plugin" rel="noreferrer" style="border: 0px solid rgb(210, 214, 220); box-sizing: border-box; display: inline-block; float: left; margin-left: -5px; margin-top: 0px; min-height: 30px; outline: 0px; text-decoration: inherit; width: 15px;" target="_blank"> Facebook Count Twitter Share 19 US Senator Lindsey Graham speaks during a news conference in Cairo on April 3, 2016. — Reuters WASHINGTON: A senior US senator, Lindsey Graham, on Tuesday described American President ...

 Saudi Arabia has agreed to restart oil aid to Pakistan worth at least $1.5 billion annually in July, according to officials in Islamabad, as Riyadh works to counter Iran’s influence in the region. The acrimony between the two long-time allies has eased after Prime Minister Imran Khan met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in May, according to Financial Time.   News of the oil deal with Pakistan comes as Saudi Arabia embarks on a diplomatic push with the US and Qatar to build a front against Iran, said analysts. Riyadh lifted a three-year blockade of Qatar in January in what experts said was an attempt to curry favour with the newly elected Joe Biden. Pakistan had shifted closer to Saudi Arabia’s regional rivals Iran and Turkey, which, along with Malaysia, have sought to establish a Muslim bloc to rival the Saudi-led Organisation of Islamic Cooperation. Khan has developed a strong rapport with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, encouraging Pakistanis to watch the Turkish hi...

  Salima believes that her well educated daughter has all the right tools to protect herself from domestic abuse... While education is a useful resource to help establish financial independence, there are many other impediments that restrict the self-empowerment of women and leave them vulnerable to abuse. Take the case of Salima: For almost two decades, Salima has worked as a cook. She lives with her abusive husband, an unemployed drug addict. Thanks to Salima’s job, the whole family lives in a tiny quarter usually reserved for factory workers in an industrial city in Punjab. “Peace”, “safe”, that is what “Salima” means, but her name is a far cry from the reality of her existence. Salima has been married for over 25 years. Six years into her marriage, and two baby girls later, she finally gives birth to a baby boy. Zakia, the second daughter, is just ten months old when he is born. Laddoo (local sweets) are sent around the workers’ colony to celebrate the arrival of the first ...

Turkey believes that this means could most effectively expand its influence in the landlocked country Andrew Korybko June 17, 2021 The Taliban recently requested the departure of Turkish troops from Afghanistan by September 11th alongside their NATO allies as part of the deal that the US reached with the group. Ankara, however, aims to militarily control of the Kabul airport, which would ensure the US’ continued access to the country. Without that facility in safe hands, America won’t be able to reliably maintain any sort of presence there, not even a diplomatic one. It’s therefore of the highest importance for Washington that Ankara is able to carry through with its plans, though it remains unclear whether it’ll be able to do so considering the Taliban’s strong disagreement with this. Some further elaboration is required in order to better understand the strategic dynamics. Turkey wants to make itself more valuable to the alliance in order to partially repair its damaged relations w...