Category: Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said the government was committed to providing facilities and incentives to overseas Pakistanis and their families, for their immense contribution to the development of Pakistan. Terming the overseas Pakistanis an invaluable asset, he said the remittances were playing a key role in stabilizing the country”s economy. Chairing a meeting on the increase witnessed in remittances, the prime minister stressed the need for steps to provide more incentives to the Pakistanis living abroad. The prime minister directed to devise a comprehensive strategy regarding the foreign exchange and other economic needs in view of stability of economic growth and asked the relevant ministries to set targets. The meeting discussed the incentives given by the government to overseas Pakistanis, success of Roshan Digital Account, increase in domestic exports, especially from Information Technology sector, promotion of foreign investment and bilateral agreements concluded with various countries. The State Bank of Pakistan informed the meeting that the government’s policy of providing attractive incentives to Pakistanis abroad in terms of remittances was showing positive results. The meeting was informed that Roshan Digital Account had so far received $1.561 billion in just 10 months. It was highlighted that remittances had been steadily increasing since the financial year 2018 despite the coronavirus pandemic, which reflected the confidence of overseas Pakistanis in the policies of Prime Minister Imran Khan. The meeting was informed that the ‘National Remittance Loyalty Programme’ would be launched soon to facilitate Pakistani community abroad. Under this programme, a mobile application will be introduced and more remittances will be extended to Pakistanis abroad besides provision of financial incentives. The programme will be launched in collaboration with Pakistan International Airlines, Federal Bureau of Revenue, National Database and Registration Authority, State Life Corporation of Pakistan, Overseas Pakistanis Foundation, Benevolent and Old Age Employees Fund and other government agencies. The overseas Pakistanis associated with this programme will receive benefits from these institutions. The meeting was updated on the achievements related to Roshan Digital Account, Roshan ‘Apni (own) Car’ scheme and Roshan Samaji Khidmat (social service). Also, the ‘Roshan Apna Ghar’ is on the cards to provide houses on soft loan. PM’s Adviser on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood gave a detailed briefing on the possible growth in exports in various sectors, especially in harnessing the country”s potential in the Information Technology sector.

LAHORE: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday suspended a show-cause notice, issued by the Lahore High Court (LHC) to SP Operations (Sadr) Hafeez-ur-Rehman Bugti. The court also stopped the LHC proceedings against the SP and issued notices to parties while adjourning further hearing. A division bench comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah passed the orders while hearing a petition, filed by the SP against issuance of a show-cause notice by the LHC over an alleged misstatement. At the outset of the proceedings, a counsel for the petitioner argued before the bench that the respondent did not present all facts before the LHC and attempted to mislead the court by presenting incorrect facts. He submitted that his client did not make any misstatement in the court and pleaded with the court to set aside the show-cause notice issued by the LHC. The LHC registrar also appeared before the court and submitted the case record in compliance with the earlier orders of the bench. Subsequently, the bench suspended the show-cause notice and stopped proceedings against the SP and issued notices to the parties, while adjourning further hearing. Meanwhile, LHC Chief Justice Muhammad Qasim Khan Friday deferred proceedings for an indefinite time period against the SP after it was told that the Supreme Court had suspended the proceedings. The LHC CJ had issued show-cause notice to the SP over giving a misstatement in the court. He had many times rejected unconditional apology by the SP in the matter. A citizen had filed a petition against illegal occupation of his property by the Township police. The petitioner told the court that the police officials visited his home and threatened him. The SP had claimed that an opinion from the DIG legal had been sought before the police visit to the petitioner’s residence. However, the DIG told the court that the matter was not related to his office and he held no meeting with the SP.

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court (AC) on Friday once again rejected the acquittal pleas filed by three former National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials in a case of misuse of powers. The AC Judge Asghar Ali pronounced the reserved verdict filed by former DG NAB Khursheed Anwar Bhinder, Subah Sadiq and Mirza Shafiq. It is pertinent to mention that NAB had filed references against three of its officers in 2016 for abuse of power. The court earlier had rejected their acquittal applications in March 2020 while the convicted had re-filed an application to the court which had been dismissed again after completion of defence and prosecutor arguments.

LAHORE: The Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) has procured 6000 new waste containers to place across the city and first consignment of 950 containers were delivered to Data Gunj Bakhsh Town (DGBT). LWMC conducted a special handing over event for the distribution of new containers for DGBT. Provincial Minister Dr. Yasmin Rashid was the Chief Guest in the event. While talking to the media, she appreciated LWMC for providing 6000 garbage containers to the nine towns of the Lahore city. She added that LWMC by identifying the problem of waste collection, devised a deployment plan of these new containers which will improve cleanliness across the city. The minister said that the LWMC was getting new heights in its planning and its revitalization will be very beneficial for the Lahorites. LWMC was continuously striving to improve the standards of services in accordance with the policy of Punjab government, she continued. Dr Yasmin Rashid observed that cleanliness had direct implications over health and the clean environment was necessary to ensure healthy life. The minister was briefed that keeping in view the waste collection from different areas, these new containers were of two different sizes i. e. 0.8 cubic meter and 5 cubic meter. Initially, 8000 containers had been placed in the city for the disposal of waste out of which currently 3000 were available in the field. After placement of new 6000 waste containers, the disposal of garbage will be more easy and efficient. The LWMC will provide new uniforms and shoes to the workers while delivery of more than 2000 hand carts was also the part of plan for the field workers in all the towns. The capacity of primary waste collection was enhanced by employing 3000 new workers to control the spread of garbage at the micro level. Dr. Yasmin Rashid appreciated the efforts of the CEO Rafia Haider.

KARACHI: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to run two special flights for Doha. As per media reports the spokesperson said Thursday that the first flight will depart from Islamabad on July 5 and the second on July 12.These flights will leave for Islamabad from Doha on July 6 and 13 the spokesperson added. Reservation of the tickets will be made on the first come first serve basis. The passengers have been asked to start booking tickets at the earlies.

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) has been moved for initiating contempt of court proceedings against information minister Fawad Chaudhry.  The contempt of court pleas has been filed by National Bank Cashier holder and chief organizer staff union taking the plea that Fawad Chaudhry has not only criticized IHC decision on removing president National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) from his post but also has raised questions on judicial system. The petitioner has also prayed the court to launch contempt of court proceedings against finance secretary and senior vice president NBP saying that president NBP and chairman board of directors have not been removed from their posts so far despite court s orders. It is feared that the these two can remove the record of their irregularities. The court has been requested to summon Fawad Chaudhry and Finance secretary in person and initiate contempt of court s proceedings against them.

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court (SC) has ordered 15 technical contract officers of grade 17 in Railway to qualify Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC) test. The court has maintained Islamabad High Court (IHC) has given time of six months and the officers should go and qualify FPSC test. A 3 member bench of SC presided over by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Gulzar Ahmad took up for hearing Thursday petitions regarding regularization of 15 technical officers of railway. Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan while addressing the counsel of employees during the hearing of the case remarked there are several decisions of SC wherein it is mandatory to pass FPSC test against the post above grade 16. If you have capability then go and qualify the test. Railway has already been ruined earlier by making appointments without test. The situation is before you the way the jobs were distributed in railway. No one can be regularized in government departments without test and interview. The counsel for the petitioners took the plea during the hearing of the case his clients are performing duties since the last 11 years. It becomes difficult to qualify test. I am lawyer of SC since last several year and if I have to appear in LLB examination now then it will become difficult for me to pass it. FPSC test schedule has been announced for July 28. I request the court to give some time for preparation of the test. CJP while addressing the counsel for petitioners remarked they are in grade 17 and are not ready to appear in basic test.

ISLAMABAD: New research analyzes the effect of cigarette smoke on MRSA strains and finds that it makes the bacteria more persistent more invasive and more resistant to certain antibiotics. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death across the world with tobacco use including smoking being responsible for over 7 million fatalities each year. In the United States over 16 million people have a smoking related condition and tobacco smoking causes 1 in 5 deaths each year. Researchers and healthcare professionals know that smoking impairs a person s immune system and the defenses against infections. However they do not know much about how cigarette smoke affects microbes that live in the nasopharyngeal cavity in particular. A new study aims to remedy this gap in research by examining the effect of cigarette smoke on Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Maisem Laabei from the Department of Biology & Biochemistry at the University of Bath in the United Kingdom is the lead author of the new research which appears in the journal Scientific Reports. Dr. Laabei explains the motivation for the research saying We wanted to study S. aureus because it s so common in humans and it can cause a range of diseases so we wanted to see what happened when we exposed it to smoke. S. aureus is part of the nasal microflora of 30 60% of people. The pathogen can cause various infections that can range from minor such as superficial skin infections to very severe and potentially fatal such as pneumonia or endocarditis. Antibiotic resistant strains of S. aureus are a significant contributor to the microbial resistance public health crisis. Methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) specifically causes 94 360 invasive infections each year in the U.S. and about 18 650 people die as a result. MRSA is a clonal pathogen explain the researchers and several studies have singled out a few predominant clones that are responsible for the majority of the global prevalence of MRSA and subsequent disease burden.