Current Final

Category: Others

  • Pakistan to get $1 billion investment from Egypt

    Pakistan to get $1 billion investment from Egypt

    Egyptian Ambassador Ahmed Fadel Yacoub has said that Egypt is keen to invest $1 billion in Pakistan over the next one year in different sectors including energy, infrastructure, halal food and tourism, The Express Tribune reported.

    According to the details, the envoy, while speaking at the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) said that bilateral trade had been on an uptrend and it currently stood at $260 million per annum compared to $200 million last year.

    The envoy told the meeting that Egypt would be declared Hepatitis-free country by 2020 and urged Pakistan businessmen to establish joint ventures in pharmaceutical and health sectors, stressing that Egypt could help Pakistan completely get rid of Hepatitis C.

    “Both countries are enjoying good relations and there is a need to further increase exchange of delegations and information,” the ambassador added.

    Ministry of Commerce Joint Secretary Maria Kazi has said that special incentives would be provided to Pakistani companies for participating in trade fairs in Africa under the ‘Look Africa’ initiative.

    She also urged the private sector to focus on exporting a higher volume of merchandise to Africa.

  • Media outlet announces PEMRA’s ban on Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s press conference on air

    Media outlet announces PEMRA’s ban on Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s press conference on air

    One of Pakistan’s leading media outlets, Geo News while showing JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s press conference live announced on air that they have to cut off the live streaming because of PEMRA’s instructions that his pressers cannot be covered on the media anymore.

    Member of the opposition, Rehman, in the past couple of weeks has been making headlines after he announced that he is planning to march towards Islamabad in an attempt to topple Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government. His “Azadi March” plans to enter Islamabad on October 31.

    As per reports, a written order has not yet been issued but the orders have been sent through WhatsApp messages. It is pertinent to note that it is illegal to issue “written and verbal” directives to “blackout” any particular party or leader.

    Previously, Geo News anchor, Hamid Mir, on October 12 had tweeted that Pemra has “forced TV channels not to show” the press conferences of Maulana Fazalur Rehman. He said that the government was showing weakness by “imposing unannounced censorship” in Pakistan.

    Meanwhile, other journalists on Twitter applauded Geo News for its bold stance.

  • Cash-strapped PIA promotes 1,000 officers while even fuel supply remains terminated

    Cash-strapped PIA promotes 1,000 officers while even fuel supply remains terminated

    Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has promoted 1,000 officers to the next grades amid a halt in flight operations after PSO terminated fuel supply to the national carrier due to the non-payment of impending dues, The News International reported.

    According to the details, out of the total 1,000 crew members, almost 750 have been promoted from group 4 to 5, and 121 from group 5 to 6. Similarly, 84 out of 280 flight pursers working in group 6 have been promoted to group 7 as senior pursers.

    The top management of PIA, mostly on deputation from Pakistan Air Force (PAF) believes the promotions will motivate the already demoralised staff to perform well and get the PIA out of this financial quagmire.

    The reports, however, claim that the management has promoted such a large number of employees from group 4 so that it could get the maximum number of officials out of the PIA unions.

    The employees from group 1 to 4 can become a member of PIA unions because from group 4 onwards ‘officer category’ starts, which restricts them from being a member of the PIA unions.

    Adding to the already piled up problems of PIA, a disturbance in the flight operation at Allama Iqbal International Airport was caused when flights PK-305 (Lahore-Karachi) and PK-652 (Lahore-Islamabad) were canceled due to non-availability of fuel.

    PIA spokesperson Mashood Tajwar has said that the flights were stopped due to non-provision of oil, adding that both national organizations are holding talks to resolve the conflict.

  • Govt announces action against Fazlur Rehman’s stick-wielding platoon

    Govt announces action against Fazlur Rehman’s stick-wielding platoon

    The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) government has announced initiating legal action against Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s stick-wielding army, the constitution of which it says is in “violation of both the law of the land and the National Action Plan (NAP)”.

    Volunteers of the religio-political party’s Salar Force earlier this week presented a guard of honour to Fazl, taking an oath to safeguard their leadership even at the cost of their lives.

    The demo came as the JUI-F gears up to take on the federal government as part of its Azadi March to Islamabad on October 31; with plans of locking down the capital in protest against the “fake” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government.

    WATCH VIDEO:

    Reacting to the march and the creation of the force, KP Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai on Wednesday warned the JUI-F against stick-wielding, uniformed workers marching on the roads.

    “When you are marching on roads in uniforms it means that you are erecting a force. This is a violation of the NAP and will not be tolerated,” Yousufzai said.

    “I know who is pushing [Fazlur] Rehman; money is pushing him. He is threatening institutions, he is trying to use seminary students,” the minister said.

    The information minister added that the JUI-F chief was struggling to get incarcerated former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and former president Asif Ali Zardari out of jail.

  • VIDEO: Journalist trolls Imran Khan for ‘another broken promise’

    VIDEO: Journalist trolls Imran Khan for ‘another broken promise’

    Journalist and anchorperson Shahzeb Khanzada has tolled Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan over “another broken promise”, and it’s hilarious.

    Khanzada, in his show last night, aired an old video of PM Imran promising that he will create such opportunities in Pakistan that people from foreign countries will be seeking jobs in the country.

    He also said that former Finance Minister Asad Umar had earlier claimed that people from foreign countries were already seeking executive positions in Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), but in reality, the positions were still vacant and PSM was still inoperational.

    Continuing his brutal trolling of premier and his aides, Khanzada also aired a video of Finance Adviser Abdul Hafeez Sheikh saying, “Our government’s target is to increase foreign employment of Pakistani citizens”.

    He was heard as adding that this year from January to August, the government had sent around 373,000 people from Pakistan to foreign countries for employment.

    Shahzeb then said that the government instead of providing job opportunities was now taking credit for sending people abroad for jobs.

  • Fawad Chaudhry tells nation not to look towards government for jobs

    Fawad Chaudhry tells nation not to look towards government for jobs

    Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry created a stir once again when he said that the nation should not look towards the government for jobs.

    Addressing a conference in Islamabad on Tuesday, the minister said that the government is, in fact, going to disband 400 departments.

    “If you start looking towards the government for jobs, our economy will collapse,” he stated.

    Chaudhry explained that his statement was taken out of context and was being misinterpreted. In a tweet, he explained that jobs are provided by the private sector while the government’s responsibility is to create an environment where jobs are created. But the government cannot accommodate everyone in government departments.

    Meanwhile, PTI’s manifesto states otherwise:

    Create 10 million jobs and strengthen the labour market

    PTI will strengthen the labour market and create 10 million jobs over 5 years in key sectors: SME, housing, ICT, health, education, green economy and tourism.

    Article 38 of the constitution states that the “state shall provide for all citizens, within the available resources of the country, facilities for work and adequate livelihood”. Approximately two million additional youth enter the labour force each year, which totals to 10 million over the next 5 years. We believe Pakistan’s youth can become its biggest asset. However, if we do not take action, the youth dividend can also become our biggest challenge and lead to drastic economic and social consequences.

    Meanwhile, Minister for Water and Resources, Faisal Vawda, in early April had said that there will be a burst of jobs in Pakistan in the coming weeks.

    Six months later we have seen no burst. Is the PTI going back on its promises?

    https://youtu.be/uQDjmtSxgKE?list=PLJPlBvZludM5xdTtXjTIlrbYVBHpXZSpm
  • ‘60% of recent railways appointments from minister, his nephew’s own constituencies’

    ‘60% of recent railways appointments from minister, his nephew’s own constituencies’

    The Lahore High Court (LHC) has issued a stay order on 845 recent appointments in Pakis­tan Railways (PR) through “balloting” — a move that had earlier been challenged by PR Employees (PREM) Union, journalist Asad Malik tweeted Tuesday.

    According to Dawn, the PREM Union had last week pointed out that a majority of the newly appointed staff belonged to the two Rawalpindi constituencies of Railways Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed and his nephew Sheikh Rasheed Shafiq.

    Filing the petition before the Rawal­pindi bench of the LHC through its counsel Imran Shafique, the union had requested the court to set aside the inductions.

    PR authorities had advertised 322 posts of different categories in BS-1 to BS-5 in October 2018, according to the petition. Another advertisement was published only a month later, with the number of vacant positions being increased from 323 to 845, the court was informed.

    The petition said thousands of people had applied for the posts, but the appointments were made through balloting rather than on the basis of merit.

    “The candidates who secured highest marks in the skill/written test and proved their mettle in the interviews deserved to be appointed on the basis of open merit, but the railways authorities, while changing the criteria, placed all successful candidates in the same position and decided their fate on the basis of draws/balloting,” it added.

    Informing the court that more than half of the so-called successful candidates belonged to the constituency of the incumbent railways minister and his nephew, MNA Shafiq, the petition said it was unfortunate how “secret balloting was staged to select the blue-eyed ones”.

    The LHC was informed that 58 per cent seats were to be filled on the basis of open merit, 20 per cent quota was reserved for the children of railways employees, 10 per cent was reserved for ex-employees, 5 per cent for orphans and handicapped, and 2 per cent for disabled persons.

    However, the petition maintained, even those quotas were not taken into consideration during the induction through balloting.

    When approached, PR Chairperson Sikandar Sultan Raja told Dawn that the directions to fill the vacancies from BS-1 to BS-4 through balloting were issued by the federal government.

  • Happy Birthday Babar Azam: Lord’s wishes ‘one of the finest in the world’

    Happy Birthday Babar Azam: Lord’s wishes ‘one of the finest in the world’

    It’s Pakistani Cricketer Babar Azam’s birthday today and with all of the wishes pouring in for the batsman, Lord’s, which is considered as the “Home of Cricket”, has also forwarded its greetings to the vice-captain of the men-in-green.

    Lord’s Cricket ground from its Twitter handle has posted a video of Babar Azam playing in a Test match and wrote, “One of the finest in the world at the moment Wishing Babar Azam a very happy birthday!”.

    The video shows right-handed batsman playing during a test match in Lord’s cricket ground between Pakistan and England in 2018.

    A day earlier, Lord’s cricket ground from its account had also wished Pakistan’s former cricketer and right-arm off-spin bowler, in which they wrote, “Here’s a throwback to his battle with Adam Gilchrist in the Lord’s Bicentenary Match in 2014”.

  • Buzdar-led Punjab govt’s tax collection jumps 44%

    Buzdar-led Punjab govt’s tax collection jumps 44%

    Chief Miniter (CM) Sardar Usman Buzdar-led Punjab government has registered a 44% growth to Rs77 billion of tax collection in the first quarter of the ongoing fiscal year, The Express Tribune reported.

    According to the details, the Finance Department on Monday held a review meeting during which Finance Minister Makhdoom Hashim Jawan Bakht briefed the members about the performance of the provincial government.

    The meeting was told that despite the financial backlog left by the previous government, the incumbent government gave a surplus budget of Rs233 billion in order to meet financial requirements of the federal government to comply with conditions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programme.

    Meeting participants also noted that a revenue collection target of Rs388 billion was fixed for Punjab for the fiscal year 2019-20, which was 44% higher than the previous fiscal year.

  • KP girl becomes first woman PAF fighter pilot from province

    KP girl becomes first woman PAF fighter pilot from province

    Kainat Junaid has become the first woman from Khyber Pakthunkhwa (KP) to be selected for fighter pilot training in Pakistan Air Force (PAF), The Express Tribune reported Monday.

    According to reports, hailing from Lower Dir’s Balambat area, Kainat not only secured the top position in PAF’s test for GD pilot, but also became Pakistan’s first female fighter pilot to serve the country alongside her father.

    Kainat cleared her matric examinations by obtaining 1,030 marks from PAF College Badaber and aced her intermediate exams by obtaining 937 marks from Jinnah College, Peshawar.

    Kainat’s father, Squadron Leader Ahmed Junaid, has said that his longstanding desire of watching his daughter become a fighter pilot has been fulfilled.

    “I am so proud of my daughter… she is inspired by Marium Mukhtar, the first female pilot of PAF who sacrificed her life in the line of duty and embraced martyrdom,” he added.

    Flying Officer Marium Mukhtiar was a PAF fighter pilot who lost her life after her PAF FT-7PG aircraft crashed near Kundian in Mianwali district on November 24, 2015.