Day: March 26, 2023

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Defence Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said the government is ready to hold comprehensive dialogue for the sake of the country covering all the issues, but engaging in transactional dialogue will be a waste of time.

Briefing the foreign media along with Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb here in Islamabad on Friday about prevailing political situation in the country, he said Imran Khan has not offered materially anything for negotiations with the coalition government.

The Minister said Imran Khan is a desperate man and believes in violence, which he demonstrated during the last week, which was never happened even in the history of Pakistan. He said during the past few days, the constitution was undermined and violated. He said we are handling the crisis precipitated by Imran Khan on daily basis.

Khawaja Asif expressed the confidence that the government would come out of the prevailing situation successfully including from the economic front. Regarding allegations of Imran Khan being levelled on some personalities about killing him, the Defence Minister said these are baseless with no reality.

Replying to another question, he said holding elections is sole responsibility of the Election Commission of Pakistan. However, the security situation in the country has deteriorated and the Finance Ministry has not enough funds to hold elections separately. So, the Election Commission decided to hold the elections in October.

Answering yet another query about recent statements of the former US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation about Pakistan’s internal politics and in favour of the PTI Chief, Khawaja Asif said Zalmay Khalilzad should have also spoken about grim human rights situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Palestine and also about the Afghan refugees, who have been hosted by Pakistan for the past many decades and about their repatriation as well.

On the occasion, a video was also shown to the foreign media about vandalism and attacks on security forces including police by the PTI armed gangs.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China have reaffirmed their commitment to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and agreed to remain engaged in its expansion.

At her weekly news briefing here in Islamabad on Friday, Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said the affirmation to this effect was made during the Third Round of Pakistan-China Bilateral Political Consultations held in Beijing.

She said the two sides also agreed to expand and reinforce political and security cooperation, bilateral trade, economic and financial cooperation, cultural exchanges, tourism, and people-to-people ties. The Spokesperson urged India to stop suppression of journalists and human rights defenders and its policy of stifling freedom of expression and assembly in the occupied territory.

ISLAMABAD: Meeting of Sub-Committee of Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting was held here at Parliament House on Friday with Senator Irfan ul Haq Siddiqui in the Chair.

The Senate Body deliberated on financial issues faced by Radio Pakistan. Tahir Hassan, Director General Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation (PBC), apprised that deficit has been continuously increasing for last two years and the current deficit of Radio Pakistan stands at Rs2246.007 million.

He added that one of primary reason of increase in deficit is cessation of Grant in Aid worth around Rs12 crore to each station, provided by China Radio International. Senator Irfan Siddiqui suggested that Rs500 fee should be charged from all vehicles owners at the time of registration and payment of token fee.

However, he directed the PBC to ensure payment of pension and salary to all the employees and pensioners before the 20th of Ramadan. Moreover, Senator Syed Waqar Mehdi inquired about the outstanding dues, which are not being paid by private individuals or entities in last few years and what measures are taken by Pakistan Broadcasting Corporation regarding the recovery of dues.

Director General PBC stated that the outstanding dues currently stands at approximately Rs7.5 crore and PBC has written letter to all defaulters for the payment of dues but unfortunately no recovery has been made so far.

Senator Syed Waqar Mehdi also pointed out that PBC has properties located at prime locations in different cities all across the country but unfortunately PBC has leased these properties to private stakeholders at throw away prices and in order to combat this financial crisis PBC needs to revisit these leased properties.

While appointing the Additional Secretary Sohail Ali Khan as Coordinator for PBC, Senator Irfan Siddiqui directed the PBC to come up with a comprehensive plan which could help PBC in attaining financial independency. He also stated that Radio Pakistan is our asset and we will leave no stone unturned in making PBC financially independent.

ISLAMABAD: Chairperson of the National Commission on the Status of the Women of Pakistan Nilofar Bakhtiar attended as a chief guest and a keynote speaker a houseful event organized by Nighat Khan, Founder and Chief Editor of the Magazine Dream America in New Jersey, USA.

The event was organized in collaboration with Proud Pakistan Awards and Dukhtaran-e-Pakistan for Women’s Empowerment. While speaking at the event, Nilofar Bakhtiar admired and appreciated Pakistani women’s hard work and dedication all around the world, says a press release received here on Friday from New Jersey, USA.

She said we want to inform the world that our women from Pakistan are brave and resilient and work together with men in all fields of life. They are in no way any less compared to those women from the west, she added.

She said our women in Pakistan work in all professions including flying fighter jets and working as judges in the higher courts. She said we want women of Pakistani descent based in America and elsewhere outside Pakistan to become our brand ambassadors.

Nilofar Bakhtiar also answered questions asked by some of the key members of the community. Nighat Khan, in her concluding remarks, thanked Asif Jamal, chief operating officer of ARY Digital Network, for being the event’s official media partner and applauded Salman Abrahni of Proud Pakistan Awards for his support. She also thanked Mehmood Syed of Jinsoy for the beautiful arrangement and food. Lastly, she appreciated the community members who supported the event’s success.

ISLAMABAD: World Tuberculosis Day was observed on Friday to raise awareness towards eliminating the disease.

This year theme is ‘Yes! We can end TB!’ On the occasion, World Health Organization announced that it will expand the scope of a five-year-old initiative in efforts to eradicate one of the world’s top infectious killers by 2030.

LAHORE: The Punjab cabinet on Saturday approved provision of free 20kg flour bag to each poor family under the Ramadan relief package announced by the federal and provincial governments.

The decision was taken during the 11th meeting of the provincial cabinet held under the chair of Punjab Caretaker Chief Minister Syed Mohsin Raza Naqvi in Lahore. The meeting decided that under the Ramadan package, a family could procure 20kg free flour at the same time under the Ramadan relief package and the decision would be implemented from March 29.

The decision was taken in order to save the citizens from the trouble to go to the flour distribution centres again and again to obtain free flour. Now they could get 20kg sack at the same time. In the meeting, a detailed review of the provision of free flour throughout Punjab was taken. Chief Minister Naqvi asked all the provincial ministers and secretaries to continue their visits to the flour distribution centres and send their report to the CM office.

In the meeting, various proposals regarding simplification of the registration process were reviewed and a committee consisting of provincial ministers and senior officials was formed which will present its final recommendations regarding the registration.

The Punjab cabinet expressed its satisfaction on the process of providing flour. The meeting was briefed that so far more than seven million bags of flour were distributed to the deserving people. CM Naqvi also directed the officials to take measures for the provision of essential items at fixed rates, besides ordering them to visit bazars and markets to check quality and prices of the commodities.

The cabinet also approved the appointment of doctors and other staff in the Department of Specialized Health Care and Medical Education and the Department of Primary and Secondary Health Care on ad hoc basis. The meeting also gave approval to regularize services of contract employees of Public Health Engineering Department. The cabinet also gave its assent to give extension in the tenure of contractual employees of the Social Welfare Department and Baitul-Maal.

For the establishment of a state-of-the-art autism center for special children, the cabinet approved to transfer more than 26 kanal land in Johar Town of the Specialized Healthcare and Medical Education Department to the Special Education Department.

The cabinet expressed dissatisfaction on the performance of Child Protection Bureau and calling for its restructuring. The cabinet members were briefed that there were 1,050 children in the centers of Child Protection Bureau while these centres has staff of 750 people. The cabinet approved an MoU between the Social Welfare and Baitul Maal Department and the Lahore Institute of Health Sciences.

The meeting also gave approval for the establishment of Cabinet Standing Committee for Universal Health Insurance. Provincial Minister Specialized Health Care and Medical Education Dr Javed Akram will be the head of the committee while Provincial Minister of Industry SM Tanveer will be the chairman of the committee.

The cabinet approved appointments of chairpersons at drug courts in Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala. The audit reports of the accounts of the Government of Punjab for the year 2020-21 and 2021-22 were also approved. The meeting also endorsed the decisions of the last 10 meetings of the Punjab Cabinet. Provincial ministers, chief secretary, inspector general of police and secretaries of the concerned departments attended the meeting.

PAKPATTAN: Seven people of a family were slaughtered in Pakpattan on a property dispute on Saturday morning.

A man with the help of his accomplices stormed into the house of his brother and shot dead his mother, brothers, sister-in-law and children at Sehri time in village Barri Rakh of Pakpattan. A seven-year-old girl was seriously injured in the firing who was rushed to hospital for emergency treatment. After no response from the Rescue 1122 service despite repeated calls, the injured girl was rushed to the hospital in a police van.

Police said the slain included their mother, Sherbaz, Iftikhar and his wife, two sons and a daughter. A large contingent of police along with forensic teams have arrived at the crime scene. The police have launched an investigation as the accused fled from the scene after committing the gruesome crime.

It may be mentioned here that on March 7 last a man had murdered his two brothers and sister-in-law over a property dispute in Pakpattan. The triple murder was reported in Village 48-SP in Chakbedi Police Station precincts. The land dispute had led accused Saleem to open fire on his two brothers Aslam and Yousaf and Yousaf’s wife, Kalsoom. They all died on the spot. Pakpattan DPO Hassan Iqbal took notice of the triple murder and constituted a police team to arrest the accused.

RAWALPINDI: Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said on Saturday Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif could face contempt of court over delay in elections.

In a series of tweets, the former interior minister said the tenure of the caretaker government would end after 90 days, adding that the government had postponed the elections due to rising popularity of PTI Chairman Imran Khan. “Those who are not ready to hold elections on April 30 will not let it happen on Oct 8,” he said.

Mr Ahmed said inflation had broken all records as it hovered around 50 per cent, adding that such a situation would prove the last nail in the coffin of the coalition government. He said the international community was worried about Pakistan but rulers were busy in photo sessions at flour distribution points.

Saying there were no positive vibes from the IMF, he said the country was heading towards collapse. The AML chief said now the whole responsibility had fallen on the shoulders of judiciary. He said the PTI was being lured to a grand dialogue but, at the same time, its workers were being arrested from their houses. He said the authorities had blocked roads leading to Minar-i-Pakistan.

He recalled that the PML-N ministers used to dare the PTI to dissolve assemblies for fresh elections but now they were running away from polls out of fear of defeat. ‘I will attend PTI’s power show at Minar-i-Pakistan,” he said.

LAHORE: An old woman who came to collect a free flour bag was killed in a stampeded at a flour distribution centre in tehsil Jatoi, district Muzaffargarh on Saturday.

According to rescue officials, an old woman, Zohra Mai, w/o Allah Ditta and r/o Basti Arif, tehsil Jatoi, came to get a free flour bag at a flour distribution centre. But a large number of people were already gathered there. She, too, entered the rush to get the handout. But she was pushed and shoved by the crowd during a stampede for free flour. The old lady collapsed and died soon.

Deputy Commissioner Agha Zaheer Abbas Shirazi took notice of the incident and ordered an inquiry into the incident. Government is giving free flour to the underprivileged under the Ramadan package. Millions of low-income families across the country have been registered under the scheme.