ISLAMABAD, NOV 2 /DNA/ – UNODC Country Office in Pakistan continues to strengthen the rule of law in Balochistan through supporting the Police Department of Balochistan towards enhancing its operational capacity and efficiency in handling and investigation of serious crimes.

Under the gracious support of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), UNODC is implementing a 5-year (2017-2022) ‘Improving the Rule of Law in Balochistan-Pakistan’ program in collaboration with the  Government of Balochistan. The Program aims to strengthen trust between citizens and government in the security and justice sector. In addition to policy and legislation reforms, majority of the efforts are geared towards providing the Police Department of Balochistan both with forensic know-how as well as equipment through handing over state-of-the-art Mobile Crime Scene Units (MCSUs). Up until now eight MCSUs have been handed over to the Balochistan Police to enable scientific and systematic processing of crime scene including proper identification and collection of evidence.

In continuation of the INL-led support, a gracefully hosted handing-over ceremony of two additional Mobile Crime Scene Units to the Balochistan Police was carried out by UNODC in collaboration with the Government of Balochistan in Quetta on 2nd  November 2022. The event was attended by key stakeholders and dignitaries from the Rule of Law and Criminal Justice sectors, including the Police Department of Balochistan and UNODC. The participants welcomed the induction of two additional Mobile Crime Scene Units as a significant milestone that will further enhance the capacity and outreach in crime scene investigation of the police in Balochistan increasing the total number of Mobile Crime Scene Units to eight.

These Mobile Crime Scene Units will serve as mobile crime investigation labs, enabling increase in the timely outreach and conduct of extensive evidence collection and processing at crime scene sites to document, such as homicide crime scenes and investigations that involve causalities. The objective is to strengthen the capacity of the local police through deploying a Mobile Crime Scene Unit that acts as a mobile crime investigation and forensic lab staffed with trained technicians who are equipped with skills to document and investigate crime scenes as well as recover and preserve any physical evidence.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Jouhaida Hanano, Criminal Justice Advisor from UNODC reiterated UNODC’s commitment towards improving the quality of investigation by strengthening the Balochistan Police Crime Branch through establishing four Forensic Collection Units in selected districts of Sibi, Khuzdar, Loralai and Gawadar. This will further enhance the outreach and capacity of the front-line police in the district to systematically collect evidence and process crime scene documentation in a timely manner.

The Inspector General of Police from Balochistan, Mr. Abdul Khaliq Sheikh appreciated the ongoing support from the INL and UNODC that has gone a long way in not just providing materials and equipment but enhancing the knowledge and capacity of the Police in crime scene investigation in Balochistan. He further added that as crime-control agents, police must fulfil its duty to deliver a more vigilant and peaceful rule of law, and crime scene investigation and forensics are important means to this end.

Lahore, NOV 2 /DNA/ – The Walima ceremony of Mujahid ur Rehman Saigol, the son of Pakistan Industrial and Traders Associations Front (PIAF) Chairman and former Vice President of Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry Fahim ur Rehman Saigol, was held here the other day.

Punjab Governor Balighur Rehman was the special guest of the ceremony while a large number of businessmen, industrialists, officers, socio-political figures and relatives participated the event. The presence of the Governor made the event really more joyful and memorable for whole family as well as the business community of Lahore.

FPCCI Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, The National Assembly standing committee on Finance Chairman and MNA Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, BMP Chairman Mian Anjum Nisar, besides officials of trade organizations across the country, current and former presidents of chambers, market leaders, political & social figures and people belonging to different sections of the community also attended the event and wished the newly-wedded couple.

The PIAF Chairman, on this occasion, paid tribute to the Punjab Governor and appreciated other guests to accept the invitation and spared the time to attend the Walima Ceremony of his son.

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.