PESHAWAR, Nov 25 (APP):A four-day training on “Harnessing Youth for Peace” was held at FATA University from November 21 to November 24 for 26 students selected from newly merged districts of the province.

The event was an initiative of the Higher Education Regulatory Authority (HERA), Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, supported by Community Resilience Activity–North (CRA-N), USAID, and implemented by International Organization for Migration (IOM)

Students from Kurram, Orakzai, Khyber and North Waziristan and 24 faculty members of FATA University attended the event.

The keynote speakers of trainings were Rashad Bukhari, Kayenat Hameed Khan, and Mufti Asad Gul. Their hands-on training sessions were focused on civic engagement and community resilience themes including tolerance, critical thinking, leadership, conflict resolution, and positive social action.

This will help the young generation to break down existing negative stereotypes approach resulting their positive engagement in society, they said adding that only educating youth could help to cope up with the post violence scenario and would also play an important role in the reconstruction of the society and improving the quality of life.

The closing ceremony was graced by Dr. Fazl e Qadir, Chairman, HERA, Prof Dr Muhammad Jahanzeb Khan, Vice Chancellor, FATA University, Dr Yasir Kamal, Member, HERA.

The Vice Chancellor in his speech emphasized on the fact that this initiative of empowering and engaging youth would develop strategic network and opportunities for collaborative working on peace building.

Dr. Yasir Kamal, Member HERA added that by establishing synergies of collaboration between young students could result in an understanding of diversity, exchange of knowledge, networking, and best practices in society.

The chief guest distributed certificates among the participants and nine shields among the three best performers of each session.

                ISLAMABAD, Nov 25 (APP):A solo show of exquisite calligraphic art pieces will be on display here on November 26 by artist Shehla Tiwana at Islamabad Art Gallery for art lovers.

Based on medium of oil on canvas, the art pieces carry Islamic Calligraphy in vibrant colors and patterns that are eye catching and soul soothing.

“I feel that I was born with a passion for colors and an innate aesthetic sense. My late father was also an amazing sketch artist. Seeing him with paper pencil was more than enough to make me discover my inborn passion at the age of five. Later I found my mentor, Sir Saeed Akhtar, he made me the painter I am today. He fine-tuned my arty instincts and encouraged me to experiment with different subjects like nature, portraits, history, animals, calligraphy. My work explores universal values of love, life, faith, prayer, beauty, and the divine that synthesizes feelings and pictograms through lettering,” said Shehla about the work.

“I feel an artist is not about just being a painter, my art is evident in whatever work I do. I learned photography from well-known American photographer Malcolm. Whichever field of work I did, be it photography, makeup or dress designing, my core aim was to deliver something artistic and stylish.  I firmly believe that such a creative mind, talent that can actually cover so many fields and it is purely a gift of God,” she said.

She has been doing different subjects mostly horses and flowers however now she is more focused on doing Islamic calligraphy, she believe Islamic calligraphy is not like ordinary writing meant for ordinary communication, it beautifies the creator’s revelations with colors and writing. Her painting is in two steps, she first makes the background with oil and with colors, and then comes the calligraphy, synchronizing the meaning with colors. “I wish beauty exists in my paintings which can make emotional and spiritual bonds between the viewers,” she added.

                ISLAMABAD, Nov 25 (APP):Minister for Defense Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Friday said flood victims should be compensated timely and without any prejudice.

Responding to a point of order on the floor of the National Assembly, he made it clear that neither the federal nor the provincial governments were distributing flood relief goods on the basis of party affiliation.

The minister said if there was any sort of distinction in some areas, it should be sorted out on priority adding that he would bring the matter into the limelight of the federal cabinet to address the grievances of the respective colleague of the house.

He also mentioned that because of the winter season, it would be quite difficult for the flood victims to spend nights under the open sky.

He said it was the responsibility of the government to provide them shelter before the temperature reaches freezing point.

The government also had given a package for farmers, particularly in those areas which were severely affected by the monsoon rains and flash floods.

He said the government had very limited resources but despite that, it was financially stretching other institutions to provide relief to the flood-affected people.

The minister also lamented that it was the flaw of our political culture that the candidate of the winning party was provided the funds for development schemes while the candidate of the opposition party was not entertained equally.

He said he had experienced this biased practice during the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government which did not provide even a single penny to the members of opposition benches because of that the people of their constituencies were deprived of the development work.

He said this political flaw should be eliminated and every member of this august house should be treated equally.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Hashim Notezai of Balochistan National Party proposed that the government should provide timely compensation to the farmers.

He said the farmers should be given leverage in case of electricity bills and they should be facilitated by solar panels to meet their electricity needs.

He said the flood-affected people should be provided cash so that they could build their houses as early as possible.

On this occasion, Ghous Bakhsh Mahar of the Grand Democratic Alliance expressed his grievances on the delay in providing relief to the people affected by the monsoon rains and flash floods, particularly in Sindh.

He said the government had announced a Rs 5,000 subsidy per acre to the farmers but they had not paid yet.

He pointed out that the people were forced to live miserable life under the open sky.

He urged the government to release funds to the flood victims as soon as possible so that they could arrange something for their shelter, especially in this extreme winter season.

KARACHI, Nov 25 (APP):KARACHI, Nov 25 (APP): Following are the selling/buying

rates Of major currencies issued by the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), here on Friday.

CURRENCY SELLING BUYING
USD 226.64 221.66
GBP 274.67 268.61
EUR 236.24 231.47
JPY 1.6357 1.5997
SAR 60.39 58.91
AED 61.72 60.74

                ISLAMABAD, Nov 25 (APP):The long march of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has once again brought the life of the citizens of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad to a grinding halt making it difficult for them to carry on their daily routine.

The road closure at multiple locations including the entry and exit points of the twin cities due to the long march is not only creating nuisance for the commuters but patients, students and vendors also.

As a result of these halts, the people of twin cities have been facing hardships and remained stuck in traffic jams for hours.

Asifa Ikram, a mother of two children while talking to APP said, “We have suffered from a severe mental trauma due to the traffic blockage on Murree Road at night time while taking my son to the panel hospital in Rawalpindi in emergency”.

She said that my son was having breathing issues and we had to spend three to four hours in a traffic jam with my family. There were two ambulances with serious patients but the protestors were not ready to give passage to even those ambulances.

Shahid Aslam, another parent said, “The long march has created a negative impact on the academic performance of the students as once again the educational institutions have announced holidays which would waste the time of the students and affect their grades.”

He said, “It is difficult to abruptly switch over to the online mode of education for various educational institutions as well as the students due to poor network connections and unavailability of electronic gadgets for all the students”.

Arif Mujeeb, a government servant said that “I have to travel between the twin cities on a daily basis in order to reach my office but the suspension of public transport and closure of roads due to long march make the travel between the cities a trouble for us”.

“Due to the closure of main roads, the alternative routes are witnessing long queues of vehicles and people are stuck in rush for hours’ .

He said that the online cab services and private cabs also raised their fares and commuters are facing serious issues due to the mess created by the long march.

Rehana Parveen, a working woman, was of the view that from the last few years, the residents of the twin cities experience the life of a hostage every time.

Different political parties have made it a practice to move towards the capital city time and again, blocking main routes and holding the city block for an uncertain period of time which made life of the people of twin cities difficult.

Sabir Khan, a daily wager while sharing his views said that we use to earn our bread and butter on a daily basis. The suspension of routine life causes misery and pain for the daily wagers whose families heavily depend on their day to day earnings.

He said that these long-march, sit-ins and dharnas shut the whole commercial activities and due to the unavailability of work we are unable to fulfill the basic needs of our family.

He said that we have no idea how long these long-march will remain here and we are worried how we will manage our day to day expenditures in this situation.

                ISLAMABAD, Nov 25 (APP):World AIDS Day will be marked on December 1 (Thursday) across the globe including Pakistan to honor AIDS victims and focus on issues surrounding the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). A simple red ribbon is one of the most widely recognized symbols of HIV and AIDS.

World AIDS Day is the focal point of the World AIDS Campaign, which is active all year round. On December 1, there are many health education campaigns that promote the day. Anti-discrimination activities are also launched on or around this date.

Many people hold events on World AIDS Day to remember people died of AIDS-related conditions. One example is an AIDS Memorial Quilt project, which allows friends and family members of a deceased AIDS sufferer to construct quilt panels, which are then exhibited throughout the United States.

AIDS stands for “acquired immune deficiency syndrome” or “acquired immunodeficiency syndrome” and denotes a condition, which results from the damage done by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) to the immune system. The condition was first identified in 1981 and the name “AIDS” was first introduced on July 27, 1982.

HIV can only be transmitted between people through direct contact of a mucous membrane or the blood stream with a bodily fluid. Hence, there has been a lot of stigma around the spread of HIV and people living with HIV and AIDS. It has been estimated that around 33 million people around the world have been infected with HIV and that around two million people die from AIDS related conditions each year. On October 27, 1988, the UN General Assembly officially recognized that the World Health Organization declared December 1, 1988, to be World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day has also been observed on this date each year since then.

ISLAMABAD, Nov 25 (APP):Following the unprecedented rains and floods in the 2022 monsoon season, a vast majority of children have limited access to learning materials, and those having access are limited to textbooks only. 

According to a report issued by the non-profit organization Save the Children, one in five children does not have access to any learning materials.

The report having up-to-date assessment and needs of families in flood-affected areas highlights that the school children are also facing multiple issues including long travelling to the temporary school shelters, psychological stress, non-availability of instructors, and absent teachers.

The education of female students is being suffered more than boys as children have to travel one hour or more on foot to reach schools and parents are not able to afford transportation.

In response to the issues, Save the Children has reached almost 108,000 people, including almost 57,000 children through the life-saving activities under flood response 2022 and along with setting up Temporary Learning Centres and Child-Friendly Spaces.