RAWALPINDI, OCT 17: /DNA/ – Per Albert Ilsaas, Ambassador of Norway called on General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) at GHQ.
During the meeting, matters of mutual interest and regional security situation were discussed. Both reiterated the desire to further enhance bilateral relations in all fields.
The visiting dignitary expressed his grief over the devastation caused by floods in Pakistan.
The visiting dignitary appreciated Pakistan’s efforts for regional stability and pledged to play his rule for further improvement in diplomatic cooperation with Pakistan at all levels.=DNA
ISLAMABAD, OCT 17 /DNA/ – IPC is an international Organization, that works closely with individual members of national Parliaments across the globe to jointly resolve global and regional issues that invariably impact the whole of humanity. Among other thematic areas of IPC, one of its important mandates is to send the delegation from IPC to monitor and observe the elections held in the world to assess free, fair, and transparent elections and its electioneering process, and seek guidance from the country’s electoral procedures.
With continuous effort, IPC gained accreditation for election observation missions from various countries and sent delegations to observe the Parliamentary elections of the United Kingdom (2019), Jordan (2020), Netherlands (2021), and the Presidential elections of Colombia (2022), and published reports.
In regard to this, IPC formed close ties with the Association of World Election Bodies (A-WEB), the largest association of Election Management Bodies (EMBs) worldwide with a vision to foster efficiency and effectiveness in conducting free, fair, transparent, and participative elections worldwide. A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between both organizations to further work in unison towards election management bodies and foster mutual goals.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) and the Secretariat of the A-WEB invited the IPC Secretariat to attend the 5th General Assembly Meeting of A-WEB and the International Conference on “Safeguarding Election Management Bodies in the Age of Global Democratic Recession”,that is takingplace in Cape Town, South Africa from19thto 21st October 2022.
A delegation from IPC is sent to South Africa to ensure its participation in the General Assembly meeting as well as in the international conference. This participation will not only strengthen the role of the IPC globally but also enable IPC to share its experience of electoral missions and its reports and seek guidance for IPC’sfuture activities to implement them in a more experienced way.
ISLAMABAD, OCT 17: Founding Chairman (now Patron-in-Chief) of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), academician, statesman, veteran politician who is also internationally known as the father of Islamic Economics Professor Khurshid Ahmad has been bestowed with Turkey’s prestigious Islamic Economics Award for his lifelong contributions to the field of Islamic Economics and Finance, during the 10th Islamic Economics Workshop being held in Istanbul.
The award is announced each year by the Islamic Economics Research Center (IKAM), which is based in Istanbul, and works under the umbrella of the popularly known ILKE Science, Culture and Education Foundation (İlim Kültür Eğitim Vakfı), Turkey.
The prestigious award, which has been previously won by eminent scholars like Dr Omar Chapra, Prof Monzer Kahf and Dr Sabri Orman (late) in the preceding years, was received by Istanbul-based Pakistani academician Ahsan Shafiq on behalf of the Professor, who could not travel to attend the ceremony himself due to his old age and staggering health.
Islamabad, OCT 17 /DNA/ – The President has urged the need for early finalization of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with the UAE to enable Pakistan to increase its exports, adding that Pakistan also needs to explore new avenues in economic diplomacy and investments with UAE. He said that bilateral trade between Pakistan and UAE could be further increased from its current level of USD 10.6 billion to make it commensurate with our excellent relations and close geographic proximity. He made these remarks while talking to Pakistan’s Ambassador-designate to UAE, Mr. Faisal Niaz Tirmizi, who called on him, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, today.
The President highlighted that there was huge potential for cooperation between the two countries in the field of renewable energy, commercial, industrial, infrastructure development and hospitality sectors. He noted that 1.6 million strong Pakistani diaspora in the UAE was an asset and was playing a significant role in the progress and development of the two countries. He said that the remittances sent by the Pakistani diaspora stood US $ 5.814 billion in 2021-22 which hugely helped Pakistan to overcome its foreign exchange requirements.
The President conveyed his gratitude to the UAE government for providing assistance to the flood victims in Pakistan, which included 57 humanitarian assistance flights and 2 ships carrying relief goods from UAE. He appreciated the support of UAE to Pakistan at FATF and IMF and the deposits made by the Government of UAE to the tune of US$ 2 billion to enhance Pakistan’s liquidity and foreign exchange reserves. While expressing his satisfaction over the Foreign Direct Investment of US$ 2.9 billion made by UAE in Pakistan, he said that there was a need to increase this investment in the coming years.
The President asked the Ambassador-designate to create digital linkages of the Pakistani diaspora with the online higher education institutions of Pakistan like AIOU and Virtual University to help them improve their digital skills and also take up high-value courses to enhance their capacity and skills level, which would help them in improving their income. He especially highlighted the DigiSkills Training program of the Prime Minister, which could be promoted among the diaspora in order to equip them with the requirements of developed economies.
The President also advised the envoy to sensitize the UAE leadership with regard to increasing cases of Islamophobia in Indian society and their pursuit of Hindutva, which was endangering the lives of minorities, especially Muslims.
ISLAMABAD, OCT 17 /DNA/ – Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) organized a delegation visit to Gwadar from October 11-14, 2022. Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Director-General ISSI led the delegation comprising senior diplomats, businessmen, academics, and media persons.
The objective of the delegation visit was to familiarize members of academia, business community, diplomats and journalists to the Gwadar port and city that is central to the success of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Visit provided delegation an opportunity to learn first-hand about the ongoing development and future plans of Gwadar port and city.
During the visit, delegation received briefings from Gwadar Development Authority, Gwadar Port Authority, China Overseas Port Holding Company (COPHC), and armed forces representatives. Delegation interacted with local business community, district administration and local people.
Delegation also visited Gwadar University to interact with faculty and students. Ambassador Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, DG ISSI, delivered a talk on ‘Regional and Global Imperatives of CPEC’ at Gwadar University.
ISSI intends to follow-up on the visit with via producing a detailed report and convening events to focus on the development of Gwadar port and city.
Delegation members included, Amb. Naghamana Hashmi, former Ambassador to China; Ms.Aisha Faroouqi, Additional Secretary SCO, MOFA; Mr. Zahid Latif Khan, President Islamabad Stock Exchange; Raja Amer Iqbal, former President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Mr. Shakeel Munir, former President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry; Dr. Zahid Anwar, Pro-Vice Chancellor Peshawar University; Mr. Farrukh Pitafi, anchor person PTV World; and Dr. Talat Shabbir, Director China-Pakistan Study Center.
Ambassador of Nepal Tapas Adhikari says the two countries enjoy cordial political relations
Exclusive
Ansar Mahmood Bhatti
Ambassador of Nepal Tapas Adhikari talked exclusively to daily Islamabad POST. The ambassador discussed various issues including bilateral relations, SAARC and regional cooperation. Here is the text of his interview.
1. Nepal and Pakistan relations
The relationship between Nepal and Pakistan have always been cordial and friendly. The establishment of diplomatic relations in 1960 further enriched bilateral engagements and understanding. Both the countries enjoy excellent bilateral relations based on goodwill, mutual trust and cooperation. We celebrated the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2019. Both countries hold similar views on many issues of common interests at various regional and international forums. Nepal had opened its Embassy in 1962 in Karachi which was later shifted to Islamabad. Similarly, Pakistan has its Embassy in Kathmandu since 1963.
The relations between Nepal and Pakistan further strengthened by the high-level visits and interactions between the political leaders. Bilateral trade, people-to-people contacts, similar cultural and social values, tourism and mountaineering, cooperation in education sectors,among others, have further enriched the bilateral cooperation. As founding members of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), both countries have full faith in the SAARC Charter and its objectives to promote regional cooperation. In a nutshell, there are various aspects of our relations. I won’t go into all the dimensions but would simply like to highlight five major aspects:
First is political relations: the two countries enjoy cordial political relations. There are various high-level visits between the two countries. This aspect is important to give momentum to overall aspects of our relations as well.
Second, despite a huge trade potential between the two countries the current volume of export from Nepal to Pakistan is just NPR 100 million and import from Pakistan to Nepal is NPR 1.14 billion in 2020 with a deficit of NPR 1.04 billion for Nepal. Bilateral trade statistics have suffered a major setback during the COVID pandemic, but the recent data shows the improving situation. The Embassy is working with businesses towards further enhancing the trade relations in the days to come.
Third, tourism and the people-to-people contacts are also excellent. Many Pakistani friends visit Nepal as tourists and Nepali and Pakistani mountaineers are working together in various mountain expeditions. At this stage the absence of direct air link has hampered large flow of tourists, so a direct air link could increase the number of tourists between Nepal and Pakistan in many folds.
Fourth and fifth include academic and cultural cooperation.As both Nepal and Pakistan are engaging in their social-economic development, the Pakistan Government’s Pakistan Technical Assistance Programme (PTAP) has been an important platform to expand educational opportunities to other countries. Nepali students are getting easy enrollment in Pakistani colleges and universities under PTAP in particular medical and engineering fields, and we are thankful for that. The Pakistan trained medical doctors or engineers have been contributing to various sectors of national development in Nepal and are serving as goodwill Ambassadors of Pakistan.
Since both countries have high mountainous terrains, including high peaks, climbers from both countries and their expeditions have further enriching mutual support, understanding, sharing the skills and training and expanding tourism opportunities between Nepal and Pakistan.
2. Business Relations
Pakistan is a big market with a large production base with a variety of productions. In the last two-year, I met and interacted with hundreds of Pakistani entrepreneurs, business leaders and executives. I also have visited more than a dozen chambers of commerce and industry, interacted with the executive and members of the chambers and found a great interest to increase business relations with Nepal. Although, for the last two years we were mostly busy dealing with Covid-19 and could not concentrate on the implementation of the meetings and interactions, the situation is now improving to further increase direct business interactions between Nepali and Pakistani businessmen.
3. Foreign Direct Investment
Nepal Government has opened almost all areas, except few, for inviting foreign direct investment. Foreign investors can invest up to hundred percent of equity and repatriate the profit or capital as and when the investors desires. Business opening and closing processes have been simplified with a one window policy where investors can open business ventures at one place with a time bound decision process. Tax incentives and simplified visa regime are other important aspects, and the Government provides additional benefits to the investment in the priority or remote areas. Export oriented businesses or the business ventures who provide a large number of employment opportunities can get additional incentives. Firm and land registration process is simplified and Nepal has surplus electricity that could be utilized for industrial sectors. Special economic zones have been established to attract export oriented business.
Nepal is a developing country and all countries are focusing on attracting foreign direct investment. We would like to learn from Pakistan’s and other countries best practices and policy to make our rules, regulation and system more competitive to attract foreign direct investment to increase economic and employment opportunities.
4. Mount Everest Day
Human civilization has always been aspiring to do new things and when the surveyors confirmed that the Mt. Everest was the highest peak of the world in the 19th century, they tried to reach the top of the peak. In this process, different groups of mountaineers tried to reach the top of Mt. Everest and on 31 May 1953 Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edumnd Hillary succeeded to reach at the top of the world. At that time the mountaineers were not trained like modern days. Their communication equipment, weather forecast system, mountaineering gears, transportation systems etc. were totally different in comparison to modern days but they climbed and made a history of humankind reaching top of the world. To commemorate the first scaling of Mt. Everest which we call Sagarmatha and Chomolongma in local languages, the Government of Nepal decided to celebrate Mt. Everest Day in 2008. The day is also dedicated to the mountaineers who succeeded and those who lost their life while trying to climb Mt. Everest.
Beside the commemoration of the first scaling of Mt. Everest, the day is also celebrated to generate awareness of the mountain ecosystem, climate change and the importance to preserve the mountain and mountain people’s life and culture.
5. Gandhara civilization
Pakistan has rich in religious and cultural heritage. It is the place where great religions and philosophy of the world like Hinduism, Buddhism Sikhism and Sufismwere first established or flourished. Among them, the Gandhara civilization is one of the important historical and cultural heritage of Pakistan and human kind. There are Buddhists artifacts scattered across Taxila, Takhta-i-Bahi and in different areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other areas of Pakistan. Taxila used to be a center of learning and propagating Buddhism in different parts of the world. It shows that Buddhism had deeply rooted in these areas.
Buddhism is the fourth largest religion by number of followers in the world and there are many Buddhist countries or countries influenced by the philosophy of Buddhism. Each country has their own type of Buddha’s image but Gandhara Buddha is different from all of them. The Gandhara Buddha image is much more influenced by Greek art, making it a unique style of Buddha’s image in the world.
I am happy to see the preservation of the Buddhist artifacts in Pakistan despite being an Islamic country and I think this is something the people of the world should know about.
The Full Moon Day in the month of May is important day in the Buddhist Calendar. It is called Buddha Purnima or the Day of Vesak. The Buddha was born, enlightened and attained parinirvanaor death on this day. To recall the teachings or philosophy of Buddha on peace, love and compassion and to respect and recall the contribution of his philosophy for the world peace, the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1999 had passed a resolution to commemorate the Day of Vesak or Full Moon Day. This year, we celebrated the Buddha Purnima or the Full Moon Day in Taxila with a small group of Pakistani friends and school children. I hope the day will get enough attention, support and contribution from Pakistani Government and people in particular as a custodian of Gandhara civilization which has such an important Buddhist heritage.
Peshawar, OCT 16: PTI Chairman Imran Khan won the by-elections in Peshawar, Mardan, Charsadda, and Faisalabad after beating the ruling coalition’s candidates, but faced defeat at the hands of PPP’s Hakeem Baloch, as unofficial results of eight National Assembly, and three Punjab Assembly constituencies pour in.
Khan bagged 57,824 to defeat his rival in Peshawar’s NA-31 by-election, according to unofficial results, with ANP’s Haji Ghulam Ahmad Bilour securing 32,253 votes — allowing the PTI chairman to win by more than 25,000 votes.
JUI-F’s Maulana Muhammad Qasim was able to get 68,181 votes in the Mardan NA-22 by-poll, while Khan secured 76,681 votes, as per unofficial results. The PTI chairman won by a margin of 8,500 votes.
In the Charsadda NA-24 by-polls, as per unofficial results, the PTI chairman managed to bag 78,589 votes and ANP’s Aimal Wali Khan got 68,356 votes. Khan won the contest by 10,233 votes.
Khan (99,602) also emerged victorious in the NA-108 Faisalabad clash as he defeated PML-N’s Abid Sher Ali (75,131), as per unofficial results, by more than 24,471 votes.
On the Punjab Assembly seats, PTI candidates Muhammad Faisal Khan Niazi and Malik Muhammad Muzaffar Khan emerged victorious from PP-209 Khanewal and PP-241 Bahawalnagar, respectively, while PML-N’s Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmed Bhangoo bagged the PP-139 Sheikhupura seat.
PTI is ahead of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) on multiple seats, according to unofficial results.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s SpaceX said on Wednesday that the world’s first space tourist Dennis Tito and his wife Akiko have signed up to fly around the moon on the space exploration firm’s Starship rocket.
Engineer turned financial analyst Tito, 82, was the first private individual to pay for a trip to space on Russia’s Soyuz TM-32 mission in 2001, when he spent nearly eight days aboard the International Space Station.
The SpaceX flight’s roughly week-long journey will see the rocket travel within 200 kilometers of the moon without landing on its surface.
Tito and his wife are the first crewmembers to be announced for Starship’s second commercial spaceflight around the moon.
SpaceX has not announced a date for the launch of Starship, the focus of Tesla CEO Musk’s ambition to ferry humans and cargo to the moon and Mars. However, the world’s richest person has said he aims to send the rocket to orbit for the first time as early as next month.
A handful of companies including SpaceX and Richard Branson-founded Virgin Galactic are striving to make space travel a reality, while Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin currently offers sub-orbital joyrides that hit an altitude of about 350,000 feet (106 km).
ISLAMABAD, OCT 16: Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf Chairman Imran Khan emerged victorious in six of the seven constituencies that he was contesting from, with PPP’s Hakim Balouch edging over him in Malir’s NA-237. Overall, PTI managed to grab six National Assembly seats and two Provincial Assembly seats, while PML-N could only win one provincial assembly seat.
PTI Chairman Imran Khan won the NA-31 Peshawar-V seat after beating ANP’s Ghulam Ahmed Bilour as unofficial results of eight National Assembly, and three Punjab Assembly constituencies pour in.
Khan bagged 57,824 to defeat his rival, according to unofficial results, with Bilour securing 32,253 votes — allowing the PTI chairman to win by more than 25,000 votes.
The counting of votes started at 5pm after the polling — which started at 8am — was held without interruptions despite intense political activity. Sporadic clashes were reported in some constituencies. On the eighth seat that Khan wasn’t contesting, PDM candidate Musa Ali Gillani emerged victorious, according to unofficial results.
There are eight National Assembly and three Punjab Assembly sets on
which the by-elections are being held. The National Assembly
constituencies are NA-22 (Mardan-III); NA-24 (Charsadda-II); NA-31
NA-237 (Malir-II); NA-239, (Korangi), Karachi-I; and NA 157 (Multan-IV).
The provincial constituencies are PP-139 (Sheikhupura-V); PP-209
(Khanewal VII); and PP-241 (Bahawalnagar-V).
Unofficial results of National Assembly seats are as follows: NA-22 Mardan-III: PTI Chairman Imran Khan defeated Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) candidate Muhammad Qasim .NA-24 Charsadda-II: Unconfirmed and unofficial results from 226 polling
stations show that PTI candidate Imran Khan will defeat ANP candidate.
NA-31 Peshawar-V: According to results from all polling stations, PTI Chairman Imran Khan easily defeated ANP Ghulma Ahmad Bilour.
NA-108 Faisalabad-VIII: Imran Khan defeated Abid Sher Ali, the nephew of Nawaz Sharif.
NA-118 Nankana Sahib-II: According to unofficial and preliminary results
PTI candidate Imran Khan was in the lead while PML-N’s Shezra Mansab Ali trailed .
NA-237 Malir-II: PPPP candidate Abdul Hakeem Baloch was leading with
17,753 votes while PTI chief Imran Khan was behind. NA-239 Korangi: PTI candidate Imran Khan easily defeated MQM candidate. NA 157 Multan-IV: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) candidate Ali Musa Gillani defeated PTI’s Meher Bano Qureshi who is daughter of Shah Mahmood Qureshi.
Unofficial results of Punjab Assembly seats are as follows:
PP-139 Sheikhupura-V: PML-N’s Chaudhry Iftikhar Ahmed Bhangoo was leading with 18,396 votes while PTI’s Muhammad Abu Bakr behind. PP-209 Khanewal VII: PTI candidate Faisal Khan Niazi defeated PML N candidate. PP-241 Bahawalnagar-V: PTI candidate Malik Muzaffar was well poised to register a win over his PML N opponent.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) said that overall, the polling process remained peaceful, and the commission’s central control room received 15 complaints of code violations.
ISLAMABAD, OCT 16: Jemal Beker, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan visited flood affectees in the Tent City District of Sindh Province where he distributed basic food, medicine, shelter, and non-food items to more than eight thousand affectees in the vicinity. Tent City is a two-hour drive from Karachi. On my way to the city, I was just thinking about what kind of life, pain, and agony these people undergoing.
Ambassador said that it is very sad and painful to comprehend where one-third of the country was inundated with water, more than 1600 precious life lost, 1.7 million houses destroyed, women give birth in the tent, 800 thousand livestock, majority of crops were devastated, schools, health facilities, and infrastructures destroyed that heavily affected the livelihood of people beyond imagination.
Upon my arrival at the Tent City, I was received by a crowd of people composed of elderly men and women, youth and children. Looking into their face and eye, I am old enough to comprehend the agony and suffering they are undergoing for the causes they are not part of it. Coming out of my car, I extend my hand and gave strong hugs to the children around me just to express my empathy and sympathy with them while scanning the camps and visualizing the magnitude of the suffering. Related to this, I have noticed one thing the Pakistani people have strong and solid hearts and growing hope to survive, revive and recover and eagerly wait for their return to their place. But I have just asked myself one question, what would be left over in their locality upon their return nothing but debris and begin life from zero that has further worried me a lot. Certainly, I have learned that the worst is yet to come when looking into the situation there is likely hood of a disease outbreak that would significantly hurt the already victimized society. Truly speaking, Pakistan can not alone address the unfolding scenarios and the international community must redouble its effort and ensure justice.
Indeed, Pakistan became ground zero for climate change calamities for the causes where its share is minimal, however, it suffers the most. Looking into the causes of climate change, developing countries like Pakistan and my Country Ethiopia contribute smallbut the main causes are developed countries’ greed, and resistance to adjust their actions as to the scientific advice and warnings costs the world a lot. Today Climate change became a reality in which all states and non-state actors should oblige to adopt the doctrine of do-no-harm and refrain from their wrongdoing that aggravated the unfolding fiasco on planet earth. It is clear that today’s human sufferings were caused by the self-centered, state of nature of developed State’s behavior that polluted the environment and disrupted the ecosystemthat brought us here.
Therefore, it is imperative for developed countries to avail climate finance, technology, and capacity building for developing countries like Pakistan to mitigate and adapt mechanisms that help to create a resilient economy. To this end, it is mandatory to extend and redouble the effort to mobilize the funds to rescue, recover, rebuild and reconstruct the nation and ensure justice.
At this time of agony, the Government of Ethiopia and its people would stand in solidarity and share the pain and suffering with their brotherly people of Pakistan. Indeed, my visit to the flood affectees area of Tent City is a new experience for me where I observed the real challenge unfolding, and we need to prepare for the worst.
On the other hand, Ambassador Jemal Beker held a productive discussion with the Tent City administration, elders, and religious leaders that helped meto understand the reality on the ground and the alarming situations that need to be addressed by the international community collectively.
Finally, Ambassador Jemal Beker along with other officials distributed basic foods, medicine, shelter, water, biscuits, and toys to the children. During this distribution activity, one thing said by the middle-aged man captured my attention: ‘Ethiopia-Pakistan’ zindabad.
