ISLAMABAD, OCT 3: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday issued a rebuke and expressed visible frustration after finding inadequacies in a dashboard built to monitor flood relief assistance, pointing out that it lacked real-time updates and was not of international standards.

The prime minister refused to inaugurate the event and remained seated as he outlined his primary objection with the dashboard, saying that it was not being updated in real time.

“If real-time information doesn’t arrive in this then it’s of no use. Then we are wasting each other’s time. I’m not going to inaugurate this today,” he said when informed that data from the meteorological department was not yet integrated with the dashboard.

“This should be trashed,” he said before clarifying that it was a light-hearted comment. “I’m not negating your effort but this is not the dashboard we all imagined. This is a stationary thing in which you fill in figures.”

The prime minister mentioned a different dashboard that monitors dengue hotspots and said it provided “active information” and was based on a “proper structure”.

“This (flood dashboard) is not something the nation or I want. It lacks in many ways [and] it is deficient to our requirement,” the prime minister said as he reprimanded the officials concerned.

He also complained that the dashboard was not fast enough, adding that a lagging portal would not reflect the loss suffered due to the floods as well as the government’s efforts to mitigate their fallout.

The prime minister said that with upcoming international conventions and moots on the horizon, he wanted the dashboard to be of a certain standard and in line with modern expectations.

Shehbaz suggested that the project could be “provisionally” launched today but officially launched next Monday after incorporating his suggestions and criticisms.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, Information Technology Minister Aminul Haque and other officials tried to assuage the situation and placate the premier’s concerns about the portal.

The prime minister was assured by the officials that they would resolve the issues he had outlined and convert the dashboard into a real-time platform in a week’s span.

Shehbaz told the two federal ministers to take all the help they needed but develop a “world class” dashboard, adding that it would aid the government for decades to come and any “makeshift” work would be of no benefit.

The prime minister also took updates and briefings on various flood-related topics from officials at the event.

Islamabad, OCT 3 /DNA/ – Twenty-five officers of different batches, from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and its allied entities, here today received certificates upon successfully completing weeklong capacity building courses held over the past one month. Officers nominated by PEMRA, PBC, PTV, Audit Bureau of Circulation, APPC and PID attended the training sessions.

The Capacity Building Courses were held in tandem with the 5th Domain Specific Training course for 34th MCMC. Mr. Irfan Ashraf Qazi was awarded the special shield and certificate on completing the month-long Domain Specific Course.

Secretary Information and Broadcasting, MsShaheraShahid gave away certificates to the successful participants.

In her brief remarks on the occasion, the Secretary said that special courses had been designed and conducted by the Information Service Academy (ISA) for capacity building of the officers of the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting and its allied entities. The courses were part of the Capacity Building Program under the PSDP FY 2022-23. She said officers from all the attached departments and sub-offices of the Ministry will be encouraged to undertake the capacity building courses in greater number in future, to keep themselves abreast of the latest trends in media development, use of IT, and campaign development using different media platforms especially social media.

The Secretary I&B also called upon the trainee officers of the 49th CTP, currently receiving specialized training at the ISA to have focus on digital and social media usage besides developing PR and Communication skills, the most important facets in the sphere of media projection. She also announced that from the 39th STP onwards, the trainee officers will have attachment to different departments of the Ministry of I&B for longer duration compared to the past. This, she said would help them get better understanding of the working of these departments.

Earlier, Director General ISA and Director Training gave an overview of the training courses conducted by the ISA as well as the just concluded Country Study Tour undertaken by the trainee officers.

Islamabad, OCT 3 /DNA/ – Asif Mahmood Jah, Federal Tax Ombudsman said that the business community was the backbone of the economy and his institution was working as an advocate of taxpayers to provide them speedy, fair and cost free redressal of tax grievances. He said that the mission of FTO was to deliver justice to the taxpayers at their doorsteps. He said this while addressing at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) a cheques distribution ceremony of excess sales tax refunds to the taxpayers in Suzuki Car cases in light of FTO’s decision. He also congratulated Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari President, Faad Waheed Senior Vice President and Muhammad Azhar ul Islam Zafar Vice President ICCI on their unopposed election and announced to nominate Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari as Honorary Business Advisor of FTO for one year to act as a bridge between FTO and the business community for the facilitation of taxpayers.

Dr. Asif Mahmood Jah said that Pakistan Suzuki had charged 17% sales tax from purchasers at the time of car booking, but in the last budget, the sales tax on vehicles up to 1000 cc vehicles was reduced to 12.5 percent. He said that on receipt of complaints from car purchasers, FTO dug out the data of Suzuki car purchasers and worked hard to provide refunds of 4.5% excess sales tax to 9500 car purchasers. He said that the FTO would continue to provide more relief to taxpayers. He urged that the business community should take maximum benefit of the services of FTO to get relief in tax grievances.

Speaking at the occasion, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry lauded the efforts of FTO for providing speedy justice to taxpayers by addressing their tax complaints. He said that refunds of excess sales tax to the taxpayers in Suzuki car cases reflected the commitment of FTO to protect the interests of taxpayers. He assured that ICCI would work closely with the FTO to address the grievances of taxpayers.

Faad Waheed, Senior Vice President, Muhammad Azhar ul Islam Zafar, Vice President and Muhammad Shakeel Munir outgoing President ICCI also lauded the efforts of FTO in resolving the tax grievances of business community and hoped that close liaison between ICCI and FTO would provide more relief to taxpayers.

Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh outgoing Senior Vice President, Muhammad Faheem Khan outgoing Vice President ICCI, Tariq Sadiq & Muhammad Ahmed former Presidents ICCI, FTO Advisors including Nisar Ahmed, Almas Ali Jovindah, Majid Qureshi, Dr. Arslan Subuctageen, Mrs. Sarwat Tahira Habib, ICCI Executive Members and others were also present at the occasion.  

ISLAMABAD, OCT 3 /DNA/ – EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič visited flood-affected areas of Sindh today. In Khipro, Danish Emergency Management Agency (DEMA) has installed a water purification plant channeled through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to provide clean water to the communities.

The plant has the capacity to produce 120,000 litre of clean water per day and to  serve 40,000 people per day.

He interacted with the flood hit communities during distribution of shelter and sanitation kits arrived through EU Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid with Cesvi.

ISLAMABAD, OCT 3 /DNA/ – President Dr Arif Alvi on Monday received the diplomatic credentials of the ambassadors-designate of Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Finland, Zimbabwe and Senegal at a Presentation of Credentials Ceremony here at Aiwan-e-Sadr.

Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands Henny Fokel de Vries, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Denmark Jakob Linulf, Ambassador of Switzerland Georg Steiner, Ambassador of Finland Hannu Ripatti, Non-Resident High Commissioner of Zimbabwe Lt Gen (Retd) Martin Chedondo, and Non-Resident Ambassador of Senegal Saliou Niang Dieng presented their credentials and also made separate calls on the president.

Talking to the ambassador of the Netherlands, the president said that Pakistan desired to forge a long-term and multi-dimensional partnership with the Netherlands, especially in the fields of trade, agriculture, investment, energy, culture, education and people-to-people contacts.

He said that the Netherlands had become the second largest export destination for Pakistani products in the European Union (EU) with a bilateral trade volume of USD 2.3 billion.

He expressed the hope that the Netherlands would continue to extend its support for Pakistan’s GSP plus. 

Talking to the Danish ambassador, the president said that Pakistan desired to further strengthen relations with Denmark in all spheres, especially in political, economic, trade, investment and defence fields.

He proposed that Pakistani tech companies could offer their cost-effective and high-quality services and products to Denmark.

The president highlighted the importance of ease of travelling between the two countries for further improving the bilateral economic relations as well as people-to-people contacts.  

Talking to the Swiss ambassador, the president said that Pakistan highly valued its partnership with Switzerland in economy, trade and commerce as well as in the sphere of socio-economic development and humanitarian assistance.

He said that Swiss companies could invest in Pakistan’s tourism sector which had great potential to attract tourism traffic from across the globe.

President Alvi said Pakistan could learn from Switzerland’s highly developed tourism and hospitality industry, besides benefitting from Swiss expertise to train human resources connected with the tourism industry. 

Talking to the ambassador of Finland, the president urged the need to enhance interactions between the business communities as well as the Chambers of Commerce and Industry of the two countries to fully achieve the potential of bilateral trade volume.

He said that Pakistan would welcome Finnish expertise in the transport sector, including environmentally sustainable transport technologies. 

Talking to the high commissioner of Zimbabwe, the president expressed Pakistan’s desire to enhance cooperation in the agricultural, pharmaceutical and defence sectors.

He also underlined the need for enhancing bilateral trade volume to its fullest potential. 

Talking to the ambassador of Senegal, the president said that Pakistan considered Senegal an important country in the West African region, and expressed satisfaction over the excellent state of relations between the two countries 

During the meetings, the president emphasised the need for further strengthening the international partnerships for countering climate change and moving toward the goal of zero emission of greenhouse gases.

He said that the international community should commit itself to help the most vulnerable countries, including Pakistan, to improve their capacity and resilience to mitigate the effects of climate change-induced disasters. 

He briefed the envoys on the recent catastrophic super floods caused by the emission of greenhouse gases where Pakistan’s contribution was less than 1% but it was facing the brunt of climate change in the form of unprecedented floods, forest fires, heat waves and droughts. 

President Alvi thanked the international community for its continued support for Pakistan during the recent floods and expressed the hope that the international community would further step up its contribution to relief and rehabilitation of the flood-hit population and reconstruction of lost infrastructure.

Hashoo Hotels collaborates with NEECA for energy conservation fund

ISLAMABAD, OCT 3 /DNA/ – Of the various challenges that we face today, be they economic, political or social, there is a growing consensus that climate change is the most existential. Although Pakistan is responsible for less than one percent of global greenhouse gas emissions but is eighth on a list compiled by the NGO Germanwatch of countries most vulnerable to extreme weather caused by climate change.

With this in sight, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by Mr. Haseeb Gardezi, COO Hospitality and Education Division, Hashoo Group and Dr. Sardar Mohazzam, Managing Director NEECA on 30th September at the NEECA Building, Islamabad. By signing this MoU, both the organizations, Hashoo Hotels and National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority(NEECA), have entered in a new era of energy efficiency and conservation, which will benefit Hashoo Hotels financially besides making them environment-friendly and will be another feather in the cap of NEECA.

On the occasion, Mr. Haseeb Gardezi said that “Following the vision of Mr. Murtaza Hashwani, at Hashoo Group we are committed to achieving our Net Zero goals by the year 2030. Together with NEECA, we at all our hotels, are looking to introduce energy audits and energy saving initiatives for reducing carbon emissions, starting by making changes towards efficient lighting solutions, switching to less carbon fuel and solar panels for electricity consumption”.

Mr. Munir Ahmad, Director General Planning, Policy, Innovation Program & Research spoke about the upcoming energy conservation national policy.

The shape and impact of climate change over the coming years is in the hands of our nation. The actions that we take together, today will influence the trajectory of climate change for the next three decades and more.

IHC dismisses show-cause notice, wraps up contempt case against Imran after accepting written apology.

Islamabad, OCT 3: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday dismissed the show-cause notice issued to PTI chief Imran Khan for his controversial remarks against Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Zeba Chaudhry at an August 20 public rally.

A larger bench, headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah and comprising Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, Justice Minagul Hassan Aurangzeb, Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri and Justice Babar Sattar, heard the case today.

During the proceedings, Imran’s lawyer told the court that a third reply had been submitted to the court.

“We have read your affidavit. Is there anything else you would like to add?” Justice Minallah asked Imran. He went on to say that prima facie this was a contempt of court case but it was being dismissed due to Imran’s conduct.

“We take a lot of care in contempt of court cases,” Justice Minallah went on to say. He said that the IHC was “dismissing” the notice issued to Imran, effectively ending contempt proceedings against the PTI chief.

“This is the unanimous decision of the larger bench,” he remarked.

However, the attorney general opposed the court’s decision to dismiss the show-cause notice issued to Imran as he pointed to the cases involving Nehal Hashmi, Daniyal Aziz and Talal Chaudhry.

“Are you saying you support the judgements in these cases?” Justice Minallah asked and subsequently told the attorney general to submit a written copy of his reservations in court.

Talking to reporters after the hearing, Imran said: “Justice Athar Minallah has taken great decisions [in the past].” He also said that he would appear before the court if needed as he had done in the past.

Earlier today, Imran reached the court amid tight security.

Other party leaders Asad Umar and Shah Mahmood Qureshi also arrived at the IHC. Speaking to media persons, PTI leader Babar Awan said that it seemed that the case would be decided today.

On Sunday, the IHC had granted Imran pre-arrest bail in connection with the case, following the issuance of a warrant for his arrest.