DNA

ISLAMABAD: Zainab Nawaz, Grade 8 student, wins Bronze Award in international essay competition “The Queen’s Commonwealth Essay Competition 2022” representing Pakistan.

The competition was held under the aegis of Royal Commonwealth Society, London among the young creative writers of commonwealth nations and was participated by 36300 students this year in junior and senior category.

Zainab, who is an avid reader, clinched this prestigious award in junior category expressing her creative innovations and writing skills. The essay topic was “Imagine you are a grandparent in 2022. Tell your grandchildren a bedtime story about an inspirational person”.

Her essay centered around two iconic figures of Pakistan late Benazir Bhutto and Malala Yousafzai.

DNA

Islamabad, NOV 2: President Arif Alvi has called upon the Oversees Pakistanis to contribute more to the progress and prosperity of the country by sharing their knowledge, experience, intellect and expertise in the relevant fields, adding that online platforms have made it easier to share their knowledge without being physically present here.

He made these remarks while addressing the ceremony held today to recognize the invaluable contributions of Overseas Pakistanis. The Ceremony was attended by the Chairman of the Welfare Society for Overseas Pakistanis Rights, Mr Dawood Ghaznavi, a large number of prominent overseas Pakistanis and others.  

Addressing the ceremony, the President said that Pakistan desperately needed educated, trained, refined and highly productive human resources, which was a fundamentally essential element for ensuring the progress and prosperity of the country. He called upon all stakeholders, government and private sector to take concrete and meaningful steps to create enabling conditions for the retention of productive human resources as the physical resources of a country remained unexploited due to a shortage of trained manpower in the past which adversely impacted the development and progress of the country.

He said that he had been making efforts to get voting rights for Overseas Pakistanis which could easily be possible with the help of technology or I-voting.  He said that since the majority of Overseas Pakistanis could not opt for postal ballot due to laws of their host countries or could not physically travel to Pakistan for casting their votes, therefore, a credible, verifiable and technology-based electronic voting system was the best possible solution. He said that the world was making progress by leaps and bound with the help of technology, unfortunately, we were lagging behind in adopting technology in our country. He called upon the stakeholders to continue deliberating upon the adoption of technology-based solutions to provide voting rights to Overseas Pakistanis.

The President said that there was an increasing trend amongst the Overseas Pakistanis to resettle in Pakistan with a view to provide their children acceptable social and cultural environment which, he said, was a welcoming trend and should be leveraged to utilize their high-quality learning, knowledge and expertise to bring about marked improvement in the quality of our products and services. He also called upon the government to take all necessary steps to adjust and employ qualified, educated, knowledgeable and high-quality Human Resources of Pakistan which was currently needed to catalyze growth and progress in all sectors of the country’s economy.

He further said that the dignity of our people and our country would improve proportionally by uplifting our economic and financial outlook, improving the quality and quantity of trained and educated human resources, applying the law in a fair and just manner, creating transparent, verifiable and practical business processes and by bringing more transparency in our business transactions.

He acknowledged the valuable contributions of Overseas Pakistanis towards strengthening the country’s economic and financial outlook by sending their hard-earned sizable remittances to Pakistan. He said that there were around 10 million Pakistanis living abroad and they all were ambassadors of Pakistan. He requested them to use formal banking channels for the transfer of remittances so that their hard-earned money could properly be used for the progress and development of the country.

Chairman Welfare Society for Overseas Pakistanis Rights, Mr Dawood Ghaznavi, said that it was the first time in the history of Pakistan that we were celebrating the successes of the Overseas Pakistanis and recognizing their invaluable contribution.

Later, the President also gave awards to Overseas Pakistanis who earned their name in different fields abroad.=DNA

ISLAMABAD, NOV 1: The Judicial Commission of Pakistan (JCP) on Tuesday approved the nomination of Senior Puisne Judge Justice Aamer Farooq as the new chief justice (CJ) of the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The JCP meeting was held under the chairmanship of Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Umar Ata Bandial to consider the appointment of IHC’s CJ.

The meeting was attended by senior judges of the Supreme Court, Law Minister Ayaz Sadiq, Attorney General for Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali, representatives of the Pakistan Bar Council and other members.

Under Article 175-A of the Constitution, the JCP recommended the appointment and confirmation of the judges, whereas the Parliamentary Committee on Judges Appointment endorsed these recommendations.

The IHC CJ office was vacated after the JCP last week appointed Justice Athar Minallah to the Supreme Court.

Justice Farooq took oath as an additional judge of the IHC on January 1, 2015, and on the JCP’s recommendation, he was confirmed as a judge of the high court on December 23, 2015.

During seven years in the IHC, he decided over 10,000 cases in the single bench and about 5,000 cases in the division bench.

He authored landmark judgments in criminal, civil and corporate matters.

Justice Farooq got his Senior Cambridge certificate in 1986 from St Anthony’s High School Lahore and his Higher Senior Cambridge certificate from Aitchison College in 1988.

He secured his LLB degree from London University and qualified as a Barrister-at-Law from Lincoln’s Inn in 1993. He was enrolled as an advocate of the Lahore High Court in 1994 and as an advocate of the apex court in 2007.

He established his law practice in Lahore with an office in Islamabad as well, mainly dealing with banking, commercial, tax, and civil matters. From 2009 until his elevation, he was part of the adjunct faculty at the Lahore University of Management Sciences.

ISLAMABAD: JUI-F’s Senator Kamran Murtaza Tuesday filed a constitutional petition in the Supreme Court against the PTI’s long march, as it continues to move toward its final destination in Islamabad.

The senator has included the federal and provincial governments, PTI Chairman Imran Khan, and his party in the petition as respondents, asking the top court to ensure the safety of citizens as its long march approaches the capital due to security concerns.

In October, the federal government had also filed a contempt of court plea against the PTI chairman in the Supreme Court over his long march.

In its petition, the government said, “Imran Khan is making announcements to attack Islamabad”, which it claimed was a violation of a court order. It urged the apex court to direct the PTI chief to ensure the implementation of its orders related to protests and sit-ins.

The petition by JUI-F has asked the SC to direct relevant governments to issue guidelines for conducting political rallies and order the Khan-led party to not exceed the designated number of days approved for its jalsa and sit-in.

JUI-F’s petition has been filed a day after the PTI wrote to the Islamabad High Court seeking permission to hold its jalsa and sit-in in the federal capital and also sought security provisions for marchers.

Senator Kamran, in his petition, wrote that the PTI’s intentions are to create chaos and panic in the country — particularly in the federal capital— through its long march through “force” and “illegal arms”.

The senator also indicated towards an alleged audio leak of PTI leader Ali Aim Gandapur who was heard talking to a man named Asad Khan about bringing arms and ammunition to the capital, and causing trouble in the process.

The petition also carried an attachment of the audio call’s transcript.

It further mentioned that the governments of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan are all led by PTI, and given the past conduct of the party chaos and trouble is expected to ensue.

The senator shared fears that this situation could also be misused by miscreants, terrorist groups, and militants. He also mentioned that the PTI has stirred chaos during its rallies in Islamabad in the past.

The petition added that despite assurances and undertakings by the party’s leadership of limiting the rally to a designated place, they moved toward D-Chowk causing havoc across the capital.

The senator also mentioned that the PTI chief has previously also violated the law during his party’s 2014 sit-in that troubled citizenry across Islamabad, particularly the red zone.

Firing broadsides at Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, PTI chief Imran Khan on Tuesday said that the PML-N leader’s “time has come now”. “There isn’t any more time left now. I know you are sweating now […] Sanaullah, you and Shehbaz Sharif […] These rats are threatening us.

“Listen to me, when we reach Islamabad […] listen to me Sanaullah […] when we reach Islamabad […] the police you are spending millions on will join us because they too are against thieves,” he said.