PAKISTAN
Long-delayed refining policy

Khaleeq Kiani

Published August 23, 2021

The new refining policy advocates a vertically integrated oil refining and marketing infrastructure in the country to directly support domestic oil and gas exploration and production activities. — AFP/File


Although the oil refining industry in the country is completing a century now, four out of five local refineries are obsolete by international standards while the fifth one is also over two decades old. The refining capacity is about 20 million tonnes per annum. About 60 per cent of the country’s requirements of diesel and over 30pc of petrol are met by local refineries. The rest is imported as refined products.

Also, about 31pc of Pakistan’s energy requirements are met by oil. Despite these lucrative numbers, no new refinery could be set up for more than a decade, according to the petroleum division. Similarly, upgrades of the existing refineries have not kept pace with the latest technology. The announcements about major investments from friendly countries remained on paper.

Being capital intensive, refining requires long term investment based on the country’s policy-cum-political view that has generally been missing. The 1997 petroleum policy provided various incentives and pricing formulas for new refineries but the industry did not find it attractive. An incentive package, based on the consideration of mega refinery investment from Saudi Arabia and UAE, was approved in April 2018 that could not take off with the change in political government.

An upgraded policy was finalised in March this year that could not see the light of the day following the removal of then special assistant to the prime minister Nadeem Babar. The petroleum division has been trying to get formal approval to a new refining policy from the Cabinet Committee on Energy or Economic Coordination Committee of the Cabinet — a case of borderline jurisdiction. The deadlines for fiscal and policy incentives have been extended by one year and in some cases four years.

The new policy advocates a vertically integrated oil refining and marketing infrastructure to support domestic oil and gas exploration and production activities

The new refining policy advocates a vertically integrated oil refining and marketing infrastructure in the country to directly support domestic oil and gas exploration and production activities and value addition through the utilization of local natural resources.

Under the policy, expected to come up for approval this week, all new deep conversion oil refinery projects of a minimum of 100,000 barrels per day refining capacity, as well as infrastructure projects such as single point mooring, single buoy mooring, jetties, subsea and land oil pipelines, oil terminals, petrochemical plants and tank farms, shall be treated as separate projects and to be set up anywhere in the country and start the construction of the project before December 31, 2025, shall be eligible for a 20-year income tax holiday from profits and gains from the date of commissioning. The income tax holiday on this count will be for 10 years to existing projects upgrades to achieve equivalent standards.

All the above projects would also be entitled to exemption from customs duties, surcharges, withholding taxes, any other levies, general sales tax, or any other ad valorem tax on import of any equipment to be installed, or material to be used in the projects without any precondition for certification by the Engineering Development Board. The federal government shall facilitate a similar exemption of provincial and local taxes.

Construction, operations and engineering services performed in Pakistan, whether by local or foreign firms operating in Pakistan, as well as procurement of any local materials, shall remain subject to applicable local taxes, whether provincial or federal. These projects shall be exempt from the application of the Companies Profits (Workers’ Participation) Act 1968 and the Workers’ Welfare Fund Ordinance 1971. The Federal Government shall facilitate a similar exemption of provincial statutes if any.

Temporary imports by contractors/sub-contractors of all machinery, vehicles, plant and equipment, other materials and spares in connection with setting-up, operation, maintenance and repair, which are to be repatriated after completion of the works, shall be exempted from all customs duties, taxes, surcharges and levies on import, and shall be released by the customs authority on the provision of a bond by the importer, for a defined time period of use.

The government will not guarantee product off-take and the refineries would be free to market their products through their own or other marketing companies or export after meeting local needs. However, import of finished products by oil marketing companies (OMCs) shall be limited to only the deficit projected by the government, ensuring the uplifting of locally refined products first.

Locally produced crude shall be allocated to the closest refinery that can handle crude with such specifications. Once allocated, it would not be cancelled if a new refinery comes up closer to the crude source, unless mutually agreed amongst the existing user and new proposed user and the petroleum division. After uplifting of local crude, the refineries shall be free to import crude oil from any source except prohibited countries, with no obligation or guarantee on the part of the Government of Pakistan.

Refineries will be allowed export of surplus petroleum products or products with specifications that do not have local demand under the intimation to the Oil & Gas Regulatory Authority and Petroleum Division. No refinery shall be allowed to market, in Pakistan, petroleum products of inferior quality than those notified by the Petroleum Division from time to time, unless it has a waiver from the government. If it produces products of inferior quality and does not have a waiver to sell them locally, it shall be free to export.

The Product Pricing Formula of refineries shall be based on “True Import Parity Price” to be derived from Arab Gulf Mean Freight Onboard (FOB) spot price, or if not published shall be derived from Singapore Mean FOB price. All other elements including premium, freight, port charges, incidentals, import duties, exchange rate, provincial taxes as applicable and other price adjustments shall be added, as per Pakistan State Oil’s (PSO) actual imports, in the above FOB price to arrive at “True Import Parity Price”.

Additionally, prevalent inland freight of imported crude oil to refineries and provincial duties, levies, cess and taxes (with import duty on crude oil, if any) at the import of crude oil shall be added for refineries. There shall be no import duties and sales tax on import of petroleum crude oil with effect from July 1, 2022, being the main raw material, by refineries themselves. The finished products, however, shall be subject to import duties and sales tax notified by the government from time to time.

There will be no guarantee of the rate of return for existing, or new, refineries provided by the regulator or the Government of Pakistan. The refineries shall be allowed to open and maintain foreign currency accounts and retain a certain portion of export proceeds in foreign currency to meet operational requirements.

There shall be tariff protection in the form of a 10pc import duty on motor gasoline and diesel of all grades as well as imports of any other white product used for fuel for any kind of motor or engine, effective from the date of commission for six years, provided that refinery starts construction of the project before December 31, 2025, ie the protection would now stay until December 31, 2031, instead of June 30, 2026, envisioned by Nadeem Babar.

The policy envisages a shift to complete deregulation of the oil sector, including products and pricing by December 31, 2027, instead of June 30, 2026, targeted in March this year. The principle to be followed for that deregulation will be that all OMCs will be free to set the prices themselves, based on the quality of fuels, the location and other services being provided like High Octane Ron 97 at present. However, the government would set the price for PSO pumps to give protection to consumers.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, August 23rd, 2021

KEEP IT MOTHBALLED
Criteria for Pakistan Steel revival approved

The Newspaper's Reporter

Published August 28, 2021 -
In this Feb 8, 2016 picture, a man walks past machines at the hot strip mill department of the Pakistan Steel Mills. — Reuters/File

ISLAMABAD: The Board of Privatisation Commission (PC) on Friday approved documents pertaining to the pre-qualification criteria of investors for the revival of Pakistan Steel Mills Corporation (PSMC).

The board meeting, chaired by Minister for Privatisation Mohammadmian Soomro, approved the Request for Statement of Qualification (RSOQ) and Expression of Interest (EOI) documents. In light of the federal cabinet’s decision, PC will invite EOI after filing of scheme arrangement (SOA) by Pakistan Steel Mills with the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan.

Mr Soomro said the PC has come a long way, with a focused objective to revive the largest industrial unit of Pakistan, which could run in its best capacity and contribute to the national economy.

In view of the decision of the cabinet committee, EOI for investors would be invited for the purpose the pre-qualification of investors. The draft document containing eligibility criteria along with basis of disqualification for the potential investors was placed before the PC Board for deliberation and approval.

Country’s largest industrial unit lying non-functional since 2015

According to the approved transaction features approved by the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP), the identified core operating assets would be transferred to the new subsidiary owned by PSMC named Steel Corp (Pvt) Ltd, and then the divestment of equity stakes of the subsidiary will be 51 to 74 per cent through bidding process.

The revival of PSM is one of the important objectives of privatisation plan. The mill is not working since 2015 while the government has planned to bring foreign and domestic investors for the revival of the largest industrial corporation of Pakistan. There have been consecutive meetings with the stakeholders and ministries to resolve the issues, a press release issued by the PC following the board meeting said.

The PC Board also recommended the highest bidder – Faisal Town Pvt Ltd – for Service International Hotel (SIH) along with the offered bid which is higher than the reserved price. The letter of acceptance to the successful bidder will be issued after seeking approval of the CCoP and the federal cabinet.

The board was informed that great efforts were made by the financial advisers who reached out maximum potential investors but due to resource mobilisation, liquidity constraints and overall macro-economic outlook in the backdrop of Covid-19 pandemic, the response of the potential bidders appears lacklustre.

The Ministry of Privatisation widely publicised open auction of SIH transactions in all the leading newspapers. Social and electronic media were also used for the wider circulation to make the process open and transparent.

In pursuance of the approval of PC Board, twelve pre-qualified parties for Jinnah Convention Centre have been notified for participating in the future steps of bidding, the commission added.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2021

PAKISTAN POSTFORDISM

Local mobile phone production exceeds imports

Kalbe Ali

Published August 27, 2021 -

Out of the 12.27m mobile phones locally manufactured between January and July, only 4.87m were 4G compatible smartphones. — AP/File

ISLAMABAD: The country manufactured 12.27 million mobile phones compared to the imports of 8.29m sets during the first seven months of 2021, data released by the Pakistan Telecomm­unic­ation Authority (PTA) showed on Thursday.

However, 2G compatible sets continue to dominate local manufacturing compared to smartphones production in the country.

Out of the 12.27m mobile phones locally manufactured between January and July, only 4.87m were 4G compatible smartphones, whereas the bulk of 7.4m mobile phones sets were 2G technology.

Responding to a query, a manufacturer said the trend was changing and the ratio between the smartphones and old 2G technology-based sets will narrow in the coming months. “In the year 2020, only 2.06m smartphones were manufactured in Pakistan against 10.98m 2G sets. This year, almost 5m smart phones have already been rolled out and the gap with 2G sets is not too wide,” said Amir Allahwala, the CEO of Tecno.

PTA hails conducive policies for growing production in Pakistan

While the PTA has said that the successful implementation of Device Identification Registration and Blocking System (DIRBS) and conducive government policies including the mobile manufacturing policy has created a favourable environment for mobile device manufacturing in Pakistan.

The PTA said a mobile ecosystem has been implemented in Pakistan by eliminating counterfeit device market providing a level playing field for commercial entities. This has created trust amongst consumers due to the formulation of standardised legal channels for all sorts of device imports, it added.

The authority said the Mobile Device Manufacturing (MDM) Regulations of January 2021 encouraged manufacturers to establish their units in Pakistan.

Till now, 26 companies have been issued MDM authorisation enabling them to manufacture mobile devices in Pakistan. These include renowned brands such as Samsung, Nokia, Oppo, Tecno, Infinix, Vgotel, Q-mobile etc.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021

Two Afghan women resign themselves to future under Taliban

Reuters

Published August 28, 2021 - 

This file photo shows a woman carrying a child as passengers board a US Air Force C-17 Globemaster III assigned to the 816th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron in support of the Afghanistan evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan. — Reuters/File

TEACHER Shirin Tabriq spent five days and nights outside Kabul airport trying to get on a flight from Afghanistan. Humiliated and enraged by her ordeal, she has given up and plans to return to her village to start a new life under the Taliban.

Midwife Shagufta Dastaqgir also tried, and failed, to flee. She, too, says she has lost faith in the West’s commitment to help Afghanistan and is heading back home.

Their stories reflect the stark reality for many Afghans who want to leave the country now that the Taliban are back in power. Thousands have been evacuated, but they are far outnumbered by those who could not get out.

Tabriq, the second wife of a former Afghan government official who fled to Pakistan in February, is furious with what she sees as the United States’ failure to do more to evacuate people since the Taliban seized Kabul on Aug. 15.

Some Afghans fear Taliban reprisals against those associated with the ousted, Western-backed administration. Women feel exposed: the last time the group was in power, it banned them from work and girls from school and brutally enforced its version of Islamic law.

In recent days the group has vowed to respect people’s rights and allow women to work within the framework of sharia, but what that means in practice is still not clear.

Scenes of chaos outside the airport have dominated news bulletins around the world. On Thursday, at least 85 people died in a suicide attack by militant Islamic State (IS) group that Western countries had warned about. Others have been killed in gunfire and stampedes.

“I would rather live under the new regime than be treated like garbage by foreigners,” the 43-year-old told Reuters, after nearly a week of living in squalor and fear with her husband’s first wife and their three children.

“The Americans have insulted each Afghan. I come from a respectable family ... but to live on streets for 5 nights made me feel like I am begging people who have no respect for women and children.” She was speaking hours before the bomb attack. The prospect of an ultra-radical offshoot of IS disrupting the Taliban’s attempts to rule has only heightened the sense of foreboding in Afghanistan.

Washington has agreed with the Taliban that it will withdraw all its troops from Afghanistan by Aug 31. President Joe Biden has come under fierce criticism from Afghans and in the West for not doing more to put a better evacuation plan in place.

American officials at Kabul airport say they have worked around the clock to airlift people, adding that evacuating thousands of Afghan staff along with foreigners has been a complex task.

A total of 105,000 people have been evacuated from Kabul since Aug 15, the White House has said.

The US military will now prioritise the removal of US troops and military equipment on the final days before the deadline, an American security official stationed at Kabul airport told Reuters. At least 13 U.S. troops were among those killed in Thursday’s attack.

Bank to home village

Since seizing the country, the Taliban have sought to reassure Afghans and the West that they would respect human rights and not seek revenge. Reports of abuses and threats by members of the movement have undermined confidence.

Tabriq, who is 43, said she had all the documents she required to travel to Pakistan, but there appeared to be one rule for foreigners trying to fly out of Kabul and another for Afghans.

“Not a single person tried to stop any foreigner ... I have all the legal documents to travel out, and why is America stopping me from getting out? Who are they to stop anyone?” Although some Afghan dual nationals appear to have been held up, there has been little sign of Westerners being prevented from reaching the airport. Many Afghans who were airlifted expressed gratitude to foreign troops for helping them.

Taliban officials have urged Afghans not to leave, saying they are needed to help them run the country and make it prosper in the future. Some employees of the outgoing government have returned to work, though others are in hiding.

The insurgents swept across Afghanistan in recent weeks with surprising ease, but are struggling to form a government in a country that has for years been propped up by Western aid and military spending.

Having lost hope of leaving Afghanistan by the end of August, Tabriq has made up her mind to stay. Others are waiting for a better opportunity to leave the country if the chaos subsides.

“I have decided to ... relocate to our village home in Faryab,” she said, referring to the northern province.

“I think we will live a better life there. We have some farmland; we grow wheat there and some fruits. We have a well. We don’t need anything more ... The Americans can all leave, and I hope never to see them again in my country.”

Dastaqgir, the midwife, is from Mazar-i-Sharif in the north of Afghanistan. She is a trained midwife and speaks fluent English and German, and worked for a German non-governmental organisation that she declined to name.

As long ago as 2020, she said German embassy officials had given reassurances to more than 20 Afghan staff that they would be relocated to Germany if the security situation deteriorated.

Then the Covid-19 pandemic struck and the NGO’s offices were closed, and, as Dastaqgir continued to work on a small number of projects she went on receiving her salary.

Taliban attacks in and around Mazar-i-Sharif intensified last month as the group swept aside Afghan forces.

Since July 23, she said she had called and emailed the German embassy and NGO she worked for dozens of times seeking clarity on her situation.

When she did not hear back, the 29-year-old’s father and cousin drove her from Mazar-i-Sharif to Kabul where she hoped to board a flight out of the country.

The road trip was fraught with risk, with Taliban roadblocks stopping her vehicle every few miles and the security situation across the north in a state of flux.

“They (the Taliban) stopped us and we told them we were going to see family in Kabul,” she said. “Some of them even laughed at us and called us stupid to be leaving our home.”

Like Tabriq, Dastaqgir ended up in the tumult outside Kabul airport where she spent four days and three nights.

“Soon I will head back to Mazar,” she told Reuters, speaking the day before the suicide attack. “I am not angry right now because I am tired. You know, I always admired the Germans ... but now I see an indifferent side of these foreign powers.” The German foreign office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on complaints that they did not make good on promises to evacuate local staff if the security situation deteriorated and that the embassy did not react to messages.

Germany ended evacuation flights late on Thursday. Its military, a major part of Nato’s forces fighting the Taliban, evacuated 5,347 people including more than 4,100 Afghans.

Germany previously said it had identified 10,000 people who needed to be evacuated, including Afghan local staff, journalists and human rights activists.

“After seeing all the desperation at the airport, I feel like we have been an abandoned, and Allah knows Afghan civilians did no wrong to any foreign nation.”

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2021

Pakistan needs contraception

Zafar Mirza

Published August 27, 2021 - 

The writer is a former SAPM on health and currently serving as a WHO adviser on Universal Health Coverage.


SOME may find the title of this article provocative and others may find it amusing. But this is a very serious issue: Pakistan needs contraception and contraceptives are not available.

In a special report in Dawn on Aug 14, 2021, Javed Jabbar wrote a brilliant article counting the things to be proud of in contemporary Pakistan. Despite giving a marvelously optimistic perspective he couldn’t help saying that “the failure to substantially reduce the rate of population growth has become an albatross which stalls our speed and erodes gains…”. Absolutely!

In Pakistan today, the biggest development challenge, both social and economic, is unhindered population growth. National development visions and plans would not be able to beat the rising population tide. High population growth, an unstable economy, depleting resources and climate change challenges coupled with high poverty and poor human development indices are all ingredients to land and live in a classic Malthusian trap. And the biggest issue is that it is not being perceived as an issue. We have an eyes-wide-shut policy attitude when it comes to the population elephant in the room.

Read: Why does Pakistan have low contraception and high abortion rates?


At the time of independence, the then West Pakistan had a population of around 36 million, today we are over 220m, more than a six-fold increase. We have become the fifth largest country in the world, only after China, India, the US and Indonesia. With an annual population growth rate of 2.4 per cent (the Asian average is 0.92pc), Pakistan adds 5.2m people every year to its headcount which is close to adding one Norway annually! At this rate of growth, we are going to be 350m by the year 2050. Last year, an average woman in Saudi Arabia bore 2.34 children whereas a Pakistani mother bore 3.5 children. In the backdrop of these depressing stats, the most disturbing is our contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR).

Couples don’t have timely access to and actionable information about contraceptives.

CPR is defined as the proportion of women of reproductive age who are using or whose partners are using a contraceptive method at a given point in time.

Pakistan’s CPR is extremely low at 34.5pc. To put this in perspective, Iran has a CPR of 77.4pc, Turkey’s is 73.5pc and even Bangladesh’s CPR has climbed to 62.4pc. Pakistan’s CPR of 34.5pc means that 65.5pc of women of reproductive age or their husbands are not using any contraceptive method. And this is why Pakistan needs contraception.

The Population Council estimates that there are around 9m pregnancies in Pakistan annually. Half of these are unintentional. And around 2.25m end up in abortion — which is mostly unsafe. Had these couples had access to contraceptive methods and the appropriate information about their use, these unwanted pregnancies would not have occurred in the first place.

With such grave numbers, let us now look at the contraceptive situation.

A range of contraceptives, implants, condoms and intrauterine devices (IUD) continue to remain in short supply in government as well as private facilities in Pakistan. There are continued and unattended stockouts which reflect the federal and provincial governments’ neglect of this mega development issue. According to reliable data available from the Pakistan Logistics Management Information System, between January and March this year, 50pc of districts in Pakistan didn’t have a government supply of condoms, a situation which only worsened between April and June when 68pc of districts were out of condom stocks. Likewise, combined oral contraceptive pills were out of stock in 41pc and 47pc of districts during the same months, copper IUDs were not available in 59pc and 65pc districts and injectable contraceptives were out of stock in 38pc and 49pc of districts during the first and second quarters of this year. This dismal picture is not only of the first six months in the current year, rather it is a trend seen year after year.

Whatever the causes, the consequences are clear: a burgeoning population increase. Couples don’t have timely access to and actionable information about contraceptives even when they want to control the size of their families. No wonder, out of 9m pregnancies each year in Pakistan, 4m are unwanted.

Why are there continued stockouts of contraceptives? Drilling into the causes would reveal supply chain issues, fragmented and discordant procurement cycles, unappealing business volumes to producers, overwhelming reliance on imports with no indigenous production and so on. This situation has only worsened in the last 10 years or so since the 18th Amendment has made it extremely difficult to have nationally coordinated procurement and supply of contraceptive commodities.

There is also no policy to guide and facilitate the local manufacturing of contraceptives. Out of around 650 licensed pharmaceutical manufacturers in Pakistan there are less than 10 companies involved in oral and injectable contraceptives production. Despite having put up expensive dedicated injectable hormonal production plants, some of these companies have more than 90pc unutilised production capacity. No company in Pakistan produces condoms and there is no local production of simple IUDs in the country. There have been two failed attempts at condom production in the past but because of lack of facilitation by the government these initiatives couldn’t see the light of day.

The non-availability of contraceptives and chronic stockouts, however, are indicative of a much bigger problem. The hard reality is that population control has not been a major priority for successive governments in Pakistan. Instead of taking the population bull by the horns, sadly, the only trend we see is that government interest has gone down further over the years in this area. Population ministries and departments are chronically underfunded and badly governed, and have been pushed to the public policy junkyard. Staff working in population ministries/ departments is least motivated. One way of mainstreaming population issues is by merging population departments with health departments. In some provinces it has happened and in others such efforts are politically stalled due to power and trough issues.

Unless Pakistan undertakes a complete paradigm shift on the population issue, we will only be compounding the problem.

The writer is a former SAPM on health and currently serving as a WHO adviser on Universal Health Coverage.

zedefar@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2021

American hubris

A.G. Noorani

Published August 28, 2021 - 

The writer is an author and lawyer based in Mumbai.


“THE reality, secretly guarded until now, is [that] … it was July 3, 1979, that President Carter signed the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul. And that very day, I wrote a note to the president in which I explained to him that in my opinion the aid was going to induce a Soviet military intervention.” This was said by Jimmy Carter’s national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinsky in the Paris weekly Le Nouvel Observateur in January 1998.

The over 40 years that have elapsed since have exacted a heavy toll on lives; mostly Afghan. President Joe Biden is welcome to distinguish, however disingenuously, between the US flight from its embassy in Saigon in 1975 and the one from Kabul in 2021. Historians are certain to view the record differently. American business, especially Big Business, did not do too badly when it comes to the Afghan war.

Since World War II, America’s foreign policy has been marked by militarism, unilateralism and a disdain for diplomacy. This was amply reflected in the talks with the Afghan Taliban. Why did the US not involve Nato from the very outset in the talks with the insurgent group?

No responsible leader will frame foreign policy without consulting the leaders of his country’s armed forces. But in militarism it is the armed forces that lead the political leadership by the nose. It is well said: “Militarism is the domination of the military in society, an undue deference to military demands, and an emphasis on military considerations, spirit, ideals, and scales of value, in the lives of states. It has meant also the imposition of heavy burdens on a people for military purposes, to the neglect of welfare and culture, and the waste of a nation’s best manpower in unproductive army service.” In this mad pursuit, presidents have sometimes acted against the professional advice of the leaders of the armed forces, to the harm of the nation.

US diplomacy has been marked by militarism and unilateralism.

Drunk with power, the United States developed a taste for unilateralism and a contempt for its allies. They were not treated as allies but as members of the ‘coalition of the willing’, ie subordinates. For this, the allies themselves are to blame. Nato was set up in 1949 to face an impotent and weak Soviet Union. It was in no shape to invade Western Europe. Its pleas for summits had fallen on deaf ears. An upstart like president Harry Truman brazenly rejected the advice of a man of experience like Winston Churchill to hold a summit with Stalin. He died a sad man. Letters exchanged among Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt during World War II show Roosevelt agreeing to a summit with Stalin without the presence of Churchill. In 1945, Roosevelt cheated Britain on the atom bomb and access to Saudi oil.

With all this goes a disdain for diplomacy. Saddam Hussein was very much prepared for a good deal to avert America’s invasion. So were the Taliban. They were furiously knocking at the doors of the US State Department, specifically on the doors of Karl F. Inderfurth. The documents were published by the US National Security Archive at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

The US Institute of Peace was set up by a congressional statute as an independent think tank. It published in 1991 an excellent monograph by Raymond Cohen titled Negotiating Across Cultures. It quotes one authority as saying that culture “consists in patterned ways of thinking, feeling and reaction, acquired and transmitted mainly by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (ie, historically deri­ved and selected) ideas and especially their attached values”.

The history of diplomacy is strewn with ins­tances of misunderstandings because of differences of culture. In 1918, the Germans thought that they had Russia by their throats, driving Trotsky to wire Lenin for permission to attend a meeting in formal attire. Lenin’s response was crisp. “Go in a petticoat if necessary.”

Closer home, a fateful misunderstanding was recorded by the distinguished Pakistani diplomat, the late S. Iftikhar Murshed in his very informative book Afghanistan: Taliban Years. He records a meeting between the Taliban chief Mullah Omar and the visiting Saudi envoy Prince Turki in 1998 at which Murshed was present. After pleasantries, Turki asked that Osama bin Laden be handed over in fulfilment of an earlier promise. Omar’s denial of such a promise drove Turki to be rude. Omar’s response was a wild retort and “he went out into the courtyard in front of us and … poured a bucket of cold water over his head”. Mutual charges of lying led to a collapse of the talks. Turki should have known better.

The writer is an author and lawyer based in Mumbai.

Published in Dawn, August 28th, 2021

PAKISTAN
Case registered against Mehran Town factory owner, officials after blaze kills 16
Dawn.com Published August 28, 2021 

A team of firefighters extinguish the fire at the chemical factory on Friday. — APP

Karachi police on Friday registered a case against the owner and several officials of a factory in Mehran Town following a devastating fire that killed 16 workers.

"Proper investigation has been initiated in this case and justice will be ensured," Karachi Administrator Murtaza Wahab said on Twitter on Saturday.



The FIR, also shared by Wahab, has been registered under Sections 322 (punishment for murder) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

The case has been registered against building and factory owner Ali Mehta, manager Imran Zaidi, supervisors Zafar and Rehan, and guard Syed Zareen.

The FIR stated that the building did not have an emergency exit or an emergency alarm in case an untoward incident were to take place. "The building is constructed in such a way that no one can exit if there is an emergency situation," it said.

Meanwhile, Wahab also said that the families of those killed in the incident will receive Rs1 million as compensation by the the provincial government.

In a statement, the Karachi administrator said that the provincial government stands with the heirs of the deceased during this difficult time. He added that those injured in the fire were being provided the best possible medical treatment.

Factory fire

All the workers suffocated to death in the fire that was apparently caused due to a short circuit.

According to officials and witnesses, the blaze erupted under the stairs of the ground-plus-two-storey factory, situated in Mehran Town of Korangi Industrial Area, and spread rapidly to other places due to some "adhesive chemicals" kept there.

Initial investigation identified short circuit as the cause of fire, while a post-mortem examination revealed cardio-respiratory failure, secondary to asphyxia, caused by inhalation of smoke and soot from the fire led to suffocation and subsequent death.

Five members of an extended family, including three brothers, were among the victims.

A senior officer who wished not to be named said the factory manufactured trolley bags and had stored adhesive chemicals.

When the fire broke out, it spread rapidly because of presence of chemicals and more deaths occurred. The factory was located in a congested area and it was obvious that safety measures were not in place, the officer said.

Additional input by Imtiaz Ali

Alberta leaves National Day for Truth and Reconciliation stat holiday up to employers

By Emily Mertz Global News
Posted August 27, 2021 

For the first time, Sept. 30 will mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Allison Bamford explains who gets it off and how others are recognizing a date – Aug 18, 2021




While the government of Alberta “encourages all Albertans to reflect on the legacy of residential schools” on Sept. 30, it’s leaving the implementation of a statutory holiday up to individual employers for provincially-regulated industries.

In June, Ottawa declared Sept. 30 the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation — a federal statutory holiday that is meant to give public servants an opportunity to recognize the legacy of residential schools.

The designated paid holiday for federal employees also addresses one of the 94 calls to action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

READ MORE: There’s a new federal holiday in September. What does it mean for you?

“For provincially-regulated industries, the question on a work holiday is a decision for individual employers, unless an employee’s employment contract or collective bargaining agreement specifically grants federally-regulated holidays,” explained Adrienne South, press secretary for Alberta’s ministry of Indigenous Relations.

The province encourages reflection, and will lower flags on Alberta government buildings on Sept. 30 “to honour lives lost at residential schools, and commemoration ceremonies will take place.

“We must not limit our acknowledgement to the legacy of residential schools to just one day. Alberta’s government will work with First Nations and Métis communities in establishing a permanent memorial on the Alberta legislature grounds for the victims of the residential school system,” South said.

She added the province is “committed to implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s provincial calls to action, including helping Indigenous Albertans reclaim their traditional Indigenous names.”

READ MORE: Stoney Nakoda celebrate name change of Alberta mountain landmark

Mountain loses racist and misogynistic name, returns to former title – Sep 29, 2020

However, the Assembly of First Nations Alberta Association said it’s upset the provincial government is not considering legislation to widely observe Sept. 30 as a statutory holiday.

“There have been too many stories in recent days of this provincial government ignoring First Nations peoples and communities in the province as of late, enough is enough,” Regional Chief Marlene Poitras said in a news release Friday.

“Why won’t the government step up and acknowledge this day, which directly responds to the TRC calls to action to bring more awareness to the struggles Canada’s First Peoples have gone through in dealing with colonization?


“This refusal to formally acknowledge the Sept. 30 federal holiday within Alberta flies in the face of reconciliation with First Nations and shows a disdain and lack of care or respect for Alberta’s Indigenous population.”

Poitras also pointed to concerns raised by an Alberta First Nation about not having adequate access to the referendum questions and senate vote being included in many Oct. 19 municipal elections.

“I have also been told that the government is not taking any steps to ensure that First Nations can participate effectively in referendum items during upcoming municipal elections in regards to Daylight Saving and the equalization formula.

“While $10 million is being funneled into municipalities to support ease of voting on these items, no booths are being set up on the Nations, who are not municipalities and do not follow the same electoral rotation as other communities.

“Instead, we are told: ‘drive to the nearest community.’ For some nations in Alberta, this is an over 100-kilometre trek in one direction. For others, they are fly-in communities and are left without any options to participate in the democratic process.”

Poitras says this sends a message to First Nations peoples that their voices don’t matter.

“I call upon the government of Alberta to course correct these actions immediately, set up polling stations on referendum items on reserve and also to acknowledge the Sept. 30, 2021 National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.”

Elections Alberta and the ministry of Municipal Affairs confirmed Thursday some people will have to travel to a nearby municipality or vote by mail to participate.

“Not every community hosts an election this fall; summer villages, improvement districts, special areas, First Nations, and the Alberta side of the City of Lloydminster do not have municipal elections this October,” Minister of Municipal Affairs spokesperson Mark Jacka told Global News.

“To ensure easily accessible voting information as well as easy access to voting opportunities, partnering communities will provide First Nations residents with election notification and the information required to cast their ballots.”

READ MORE: Alberta First Nation feels left out on fall referendum votes, senate election

Concerns raised over lack of on-reserve voting in Alberta referendum, Senate votes

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees (AUPE) said Aug. 25 it was filing formal policy grievances against employers, including Alberta Health Services (AHS), that are refusing to acknowledge the newly created National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

The union said some employers “are not honouring the new holiday” despite “collective agreements which compel the employers to acknowledge holidays created by the federal government.”


READ MORE: Alberta pledges $8M to help First Nations locate and honour graves at residential schools

However, a spokesperson for AHS told Global News the health agency “may or may not be obligated to recognize a new federally-regulated holiday as part of signed collective bargaining agreements with unionized employees.”

The issue is being reviewed, said Kerry Williamson.

“AHS has been working with stakeholders, including the Wisdom Council, on how to best recognize the day in a meaningful way and planning is underway.

“AHS has been recognizing Sept. 30, Orange Shirt Day, for many years,” Williamson said.

Saskatchewan events commemorate Orange Shirt Day

Meanwhile, Saskatchewan has not declared Sept. 30 a provincial holiday but it falls on the same day as provincially-proclaimed Orange Shirt Day — a day on which people honour residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad, who had her orange shirt taken away on the first day of school.

“We continue to proclaim Sept. 30 as Orange Shirt Day and recognize it as an important day of remembrance for those who have suffered harm and to honour those lives that were lost at residential schools,” said a government of Saskatchewan spokesperson.

Employees still have to work that day, but all provincial government buildings will lower flags to half-mast.

Similarly, in Saskatchewan schools, staff and students will be in the classroom on Sept. 30.

How to move forward with the TRC’s calls to action – Jun 26, 2021

© 2021 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

First Nations furious over province's refusal to declare holiday recognizing residential school tragedies

“This government’s actions are showing that First Nations aren’t just an afterthought, they are outright unimportant.”

Author of the article: Bill Kaufmann

Publishing date: Aug 27, 2021 • 

Members of the Bear Clan sing and drum at the Calgary City Hall memorial for children who did not return home from residential schools on Thursday August 26, 2021. The City is looking at creating a permanent memorial site.

 PHOTO BY GAVIN YOUNG /Postmedia


Alberta First Nations are angry over the UCP government’s plan to let employers decide whether or not they will recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation as a statutory holiday.

The federal government recently passed legislation to give that designation to Sept. 30 and make it a federal stat holiday, giving Canadians an opportunity to recognize the brutal hardships endured by Indigenous people in the residential school system and honour Indigenous legacies.

It is up to each province and territory to decide if it will follow Ottawa’s lead and make the day a holiday. The UCP government has decided to leave it to employers in provincially regulated industries as to whether they’ll give their staff that day off work.

Already some organizations are making Sept. 30 a day of special recognition. The Calgary Catholic School District and Calgary Board of Education are marking the day by suspending classes for students.

The government of Alberta encourages all Albertans to reflect on the legacy of residential schools, Adrienne South, press secretary for the ministry of Indigenous Relations, said in a statement.

“For provincially regulated industries, the question on a work holiday is a decision for individual employers, unless an employee’s employment contract or collective bargaining agreement specifically grants federally regulated holidays,” South noted.

She said the province on that day will also be lowering flags to half-mast “to honour lives lost at residential schools, and commemoration ceremonies will take place.”

But that isn’t sufficient, says the Assembly of First Nations Alberta Association, which accused the UCP government of giving short shrift to reconciliation by not declaring a statutory holiday.

“There have been too many stories in recent days of this provincial government ignoring First Nations peoples and communities in the province as of late; enough is enough,” Regional Chief Marlene Poitras said in a statement Friday.

“This refusal to formally acknowledge the September 30th federal holiday within Alberta flies in the face of reconciliation with First Nations and shows a disdain and lack of care or respect for Alberta’s Indigenous population.”

Poitras said fully honouring a day of reflection would fulfil the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s call to actively promote awareness “to the struggles Canada’s First Peoples have gone through in dealing with colonization.”

South said remembering the legacy of residential schools shouldn’t be limited to one day and that the government will collaborate with First Nations and Metis communities to establish a permanent monument to that history on the legislature grounds.

“Those who were so deeply affected by the terrible legacy of residential schools will forever be remembered,” she said.

The government will also continue to fulfil the TRC’s vision by restoring Indigenous names, such as a recently renamed mountain near Canmore.

The B.C. government has advised public sector employers to give staff the day off on Sept. 30.

“Our government is calling on all of us who deliver services to the public to use this opportunity to consider what each of us can do as individuals to advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and to recommit to understanding the truth of our shared history,” Murray Rankin, Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation, and Selina Robinson, Minister of Finance said in a joint statement in B.C.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees has filed a formal grievance with the employers, including the AHS, for not honouring the federal statutory holiday.

“To stick their noses up at the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is a new level of heartless disrespect,” said AUPE vice-president Bobby-Joe Borodey.

“How dare they refuse to acknowledge a day to reflect on such a serious issue.”

The Alberta ANF’s Poitras also castigated the province for not planning to provide polling stations on First Nations so their residents can vote in this October’s referendum questions on the federal equalization program and daylight time.

“Instead, we are told ‘drive to the nearest community.’ For some nations in Alberta, this is an over 100 kilometre trek in one direction; for others, they are fly-in communities and are left without any options to participate in the democratic process,” she said.

“This government’s actions are showing that First Nations aren’t just an afterthought, they are outright unimportant.”

BKaufmann@postmedia.com

Calgary Board of Education to recognize National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Dave Dormer

CTVNewsCalgary.ca Digital Producer
Published Friday, August 27, 2021


CALGARY -- Calgary Board of Education schools will be closed Sept. 30 to recognize the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.

CBE Supt. Christopher Usih made the announcement in a letter to parents and guardians on Friday.

"The intention of the day is to recognize and honour residential school survivors, their families and communities. It will also ensure that public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and legacy of residential schools remains a vital component of the reconciliation process," it read.

Related Stories
New federal holiday will help Canadians 'understand that truth' of residential schools

Union accuses Alberta Health Services of denying staff new statutory holiday

Because it is a federal holiday, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation only automatically applies to the federal government, federal crown boards and agencies and federally regulated companies.

"However, for the 2021-22 school year, Thursday, Sept. 30 will be a non-operational day to commemorate truth and reconciliation across the Calgary Board of Education. This means there will be no classes and schools will be closed for the day," said Usih.

"As a result of this change, Friday, Dec. 10 will once again be a regular school day."

That will only apply for this year, added Usih, and CBE officials will determine how to mark the day going forward.

CBE has asked that all schools recognize Truth and Reconciliation Week from Sept. 27 to Oct. 1, 2021.

"This week will honour Every Child Matters and Orange Shirt Day and provides flexibility for schools to select at least one school day within this week to recognize Orange Shirt Day with students while learning about the history and legacy of residential schools," said Usih.

The provincial government says it will encourage all Albertans to reflect on the impact residential schools had on Indigenous people and Canada as a whole. Officials said government buildings will have their flags lowered on Sept. 30 and ceremonies are planned to take place.

As for the holiday itself, officials say the decision about whether or not employees will have a day off is up to the employer in cases where a collective bargaining agreement does not expressly say that federally regulated holidays are granted.

Nevertheless, the Alberta government says the memorial for the victims should not take place on just one day.

"Alberta’s government will work with First Nations and Métis communities in establishing a permanent memorial on the Alberta legislature grounds for the victims of the residential school system, so that those who were so deeply affected by the terrible legacy of residential schools will forever be remembered," said Adrienne South, press secretary for Indigenous Relations Minister Rick Wilson in an email to CTV News.

"The government of Alberta is also committed to implementing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s provincial calls to action, including helping Indigenous Albertans reclaim their traditional Indigenous names."

Profile | He quit fashion to graffiti Hong Kong streets, and it became a business – New York-born Stern Rockwell on tagging Brooklyn as a teen and designing for Cartier and Christian Dior


Stern Rockwell knew from an early age that he wanted to be an artist, and started doing graffiti in Brooklyn, New York when he was 11, he tells Kate Whitehead

A spell in fashion design, for Cartier and Christian Dior among others, led him to Hong Kong, where’s he returned to street art and found his own pace

Kate Whitehead
 28 Aug, 2021
SCMP

Stern Rockwell talks about racism at school, getting into graffiti and how he’s now found his own pace. Photo: SCMP/Edmond So

Brooklyn baby I was born in Brooklyn in 1968. My father was a foreman for the New York City Housing Authority and my mother was a stay-at-home mum.

We lived in Brooklyn Heights, across the street from the promenade. You could smell the salt water coming off the Hudson and we had a great view of Brooklyn Bridge and New York City.

The area was just starting to become gentrified and there were a lot of artists and creatives living in the building. One of my babysitters was an established artist in Mexico and my uncle was also an artist and encouraged me to draw. I knew from age five I wanted to be an artist.

My brother is older by a year. He is light-skinned, like my mum, and I came out dark-skinned, like my grandmother on my mother’s side. My brother was also creative, but he went down a more cerebral path with maths, science and electronics.

Rockwell’s graffiti at Posto Pubblico restaurant in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Edmond So

Bad boys The New York subways in the 1970s ran trains from the ’30s, with wicker chairs and round windows. I remember asking my mum about the black scrawl on the trains. There was a graffiti crew called The Bad Boys and there would be panel after panel of “TBB”.

In 1975, our rent was raised from US$60 to US$80 a month. My dad decided we should move. He was a Vietnam vet, although he didn’t talk much about that, and he got a GI loan to buy a house in Park Slope, which at the time was a predominantly Puerto Rican neighbourhood and also had a lot of Italian and Polish immigrants. We went from an area that was being gentrified to basically a slum.

Crime in New York at that time was bad and people walked around with their nose in the Bible because it was like Armageddon – lawlessness, crooked cops.

In Park Slope, there was graffiti everywhere and I started hanging out with the local kids and found out who was doing it and how to do it. I started doing graffiti when I was 11.

I was writing Stern – it means “star” in German; my father is part German. I used to do it in the hallways of the junior high school. There was a layover where the trains were parked overnight in winter to keep them warm and they showed me how to get in there. We painted using spray cans, markers and shoe dye. It’s about leaving a mark, but there’s a style to it. You don’t space your letters, it has to be a specific angle and style.

A subway car marked with extensive graffiti in New York, 1973. Photo: Getty Images
Uphill fight In high school, the students were from all over south Brooklyn and there were fights and knifings. Kids would get robbed in school – they’d steal your sneakers or jacket at knifepoint or gunpoint.

In the education system, they absolutely had classes for the coloureds and the whites – although they wouldn’t come out and say it. I couldn’t be in the same class my brother was in and my life in the school system was completely different to his. We used to fight a lot. He did well at school and the teachers were constantly telling me to be like my brother.

It got to me after a while. They didn’t like me answering them back and it became personal. If I answered the teachers back in high school, I’d get sent out of class and roam the corridors. Sometimes I got picked up and sent to the dean’s office.

Art by Rockwell on a building in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong. Photo: Instagram/@stern_rockwell

Kindred spirits When I was 14, I went to the High School of Art and Design. It was a pretty prominent high school in New York, but it was a bunch of artists, so everyone was smoking weed and the drop-out rate there was incredible. You got to meet people from all over New York City who were just as talented or more talented, it was awesome. There was a lot of meet-and-greet and then we’d go and do our own thing.

I was constantly thinking about art supplies, the process, seeing colours and looking at objects and thinking of beauty versus ugly, dissecting everything, but in my early 20s I gave up art for a year. I went into construction, doing demolition work for an architect, which was awesome. I was breaking down walls and hanging out with regular people, the working class, but the boss fired me because she thought I was too talented.

I got a job at Dazian Fabrics, working with a man called Clel Ashley Jones; he made me his assistant and I started doing textiles right away.

I’d experienced racism in the fabric company – the owner was so racist he wouldn’t acknowledge me or pay me what I deserved

Stern Rockwell

In demand In my 20s, someone told me about a programme where you could go to college and get your high school diploma and at the same time receive college credit. I went and met the faculty and was accepted at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I was also working freelance for brands like Cartier andChristian Dior, doing home furnishings like tablecloths, place mats, drapes, bedsheets and making good money.

I submitted work I did for Cartier as a class project. I was humouring the teachers because I was already doing a lot of the stuff they were teaching. One of the black professors was a mentor to me, he knew the struggle. I’d experienced racism in the fabric company – the owner was so racist he wouldn’t acknowledge me or pay me what I deserved.

The professor asked what I was doing and I told him: “I’m getting the piece of paper, that’s what the white folks want or they won’t pay me what I deserve.’ He said: ‘Just say you’ve got it, no one will check it.’” All the professors wanted to hire me, work was plentiful.

Rockwell’s graffiti at Posto Pubblico. Photo: Edmond So

After a fashion I went from home furnishings to fashion – in New York it’s a Jewish community and everyone knows everyone. I worked for everyone in fashion and all these brands. I met my first wife in the industry, and we had two kids, but I don’t like to talk about that because it was a horrible divorce, she did a real hatchet job on me.

The Rabin family owned a company called Kids Headquarters, which they sold to Li & Fung and which later became LF USA. In 2011, Li & Fung opened a branch in Hong Kong called LF Asia. When they heard I was available, they made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. I came out with my then-girlfriend and her daughter and we moved into a new four-bedroom flat in The Hermitage, at Olympic in Kowloon. She didn’t like it here and we split after six months. I chose to stay.

It was a difficult decision, but I loved it here. However, living in the clouds and exiting into a mall was a weird life; it wasn’t me. After three years in the clouds, the company wanted me to move to Singapore, but I wanted to stay in Hong Kong.

Art by Rockwell. Photo: Instagram/@stern_rockwell


Painting Hong Kong I took a year’s sabbatical and started going out and painting on the streets, spray painting corrugated gates, and met two other people doing it. At first, I was doing it illegally for free and then some people saw me doing it and offered to pay me to do it for them and it became a business.



I paint restaurants and cafes, I’ve even painted someone’s forklift and a 27-storey building on Queen’s Road and Possession Street. I met my German wife, Eva, in Hong Kong. She works in administration at the German Swiss International School, and we’ve been married about five years.


Graffiti is easier to do when you’re younger. Once you hit the age of 17, then you’re going to jail. I’m an artist and do street art – murals. There are a lot of young kids out there, they saw what I was doing and decided to give it a go, now it’s catching up with the rest of the world. I consider myself working retired – working but at my own pace.




Kate Whitehead  is a journalist and author of two Hong Kong crime books, After Suzie and Hong Kong Murders. She is also a qualified psychotherapist and recently won the MIND Media Award for the second consecutive year.

RIGHT ON !

'Let employees rest and vacation': China labels '996' work culture as illegal

WION Web Team
Beijing, China Published: Aug 27, 2021

China 996 work culture Photograph:( Reuters )

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

China's Supreme Court has ordered companies to let employees 'rest and vacation', adding that companies who go against the order will face strict measures

In a surprising move against leading technology firms, China’s Supreme Court has declared 9 am to 9 pm working hours as an illegal practice.

Majority of the Chinese technology companies unofficially ask their employees to work 9 am to 9 pm for six days a week. However, China’s Supreme Court and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security have now declared this practise as illegal in their newly published guidelines.

"Recently, extreme overtime work in some industries has received widespread attention," the Supreme People's Court wrote in its statement, which it issued with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Also read | What are recommendation algorithms that China is cracking down on, and how do they affect internet users?

Supreme Court has ordered companies to let employees 'rest and vacation', adding that companies who go against the order will face strict measures.

The practise, commonly known as '996' in China has increasingly become popular but has also attracted criticism from several other parts of the world. Authorities criticised big tech firms for making long working hours a code of honour.

In the past, several top level executives have labelled the 996 work culture as an idle work environment. Jack Ma, the celebrated entrepreneur had also once labelled the 996 culture as a 'blessing' and had asked his employees to always be prepared to pull extra weight in form of long working hours.

Also read | Air pollution leads to increased mental illness and decreases intelligence: Study

"To be able to work 996 is a huge bliss," Ma once said, as quoted by western media. "If you want to join Alibaba, you need to be prepared to work 12 hours a day. Otherwise, why even bother joining?"

The Supreme Court used several examples of several Chinese companies promoting the '996' work culture. The officials also narrated an example of an unnamed tech firm that made its employees sign an agreement to give up their overtime pay but asked employees to work overtime on a daily basis.

China says a media worker collapsed 

in the break room and died as a result 

of the country's brutal '996' work culture -

and now the state is promising to 

clamp down on unpaid overtime

Stephen Jones

Fri, August 27, 2021

• China has produced a document highlighting the dangers of some companies' "996" work culture.

• 996 refers to people working 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., six days a week.

• The practice has come under fire from workers, some companies, and now the state.

• See more stories on Insider's business page.

A Chinese state report says a media worker collapsed in a company break room and later died from heart complications. 

The person's unnamed employer was forced to pay the worker's family 400,000 yuan (about $61,700), according to a paper published by the Chinese state ministries on Thursday. 

It's one of 10 examples of court disputes mentioned in the paper, which highlights the effect of the "996" work culture - working 9 a.m. until 9 p.m., six days a week - that pervades many of the country's top firms, Bloomberg reported.

The document, which was published by the Supreme People's Court and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, defined what constitutes overtime and provided examples of when employers failed to follow the rules.

The 996 culture has been promoted by the country's increasingly dominant tech founders, including Alibaba's Jack Ma, but has seeped into other sectors. Ma once described the practise as a "blessing" for younger workers. 

It has recently drawn criticism from the Chinese public, and some companies, for its effect on workers and wider productivity. 

By law, Chinese workers have to be paid extra when they work more than eight hours a day, but firms have been avoiding paying them by exploiting loopholes, the document said, as reported by Bloomberg. 

One company mandated that workers qualified for overtime pay only after 9 p.m., while another insisted that any request needed sign-off by a manager, the document said. 

The document is part of a wider effort by the state to develop clearer guidelines on overtime and clamp down on firms that don't pay workers what they are legally entitled to. More generally, President Xi Jinping is trying to realign the relationship between Chinese corporations and the state by placing increasing restrictions on private enterprises. 

Workers have also been calling for change.

Exhausted and disenfranchised with endless work hours, many Gen Zers and millennials are taking to social media to promote the idea of "tang ping," which translates to lying flat.

The spiritual movement encourages people to take more time to unwind and be happy with their current life, rather than chasing money or long work hours.