ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has performed the groundbreaking of Farash Town apartments in Islamabad under the Naya Pakistan Housing Program.

PM Imran Khan, while addressing the event in connection with the Farash Town apartments, said the federal government is making progress in Naya Pakistan Housing Program (NPHP) and Frontier Works Organization (FWO) told him to complete the housing project within two years.

The premier said that their efforts for providing easy loans to the nationals have borne fruit as the banks are ready to provide housing finance and many schemes are also being launched.

There was no mortgage financing system existing in the country and it was a difficult phase to formulate mortage financing here, said PM Khan, adding that they have completed many phases to construct the units for the low-salaried segment who wants to own a house.

He praised Capital Development Authority (CDA) for providing 600 housing units to katchi abadis. He said that the residents of Farash Town apartments will get facilities.

He was of the view that slums are usually created when the people have no resources to own a house. PM Khan said that there is approximately a 40 per cent area of Karachi covered by katchi abadis. He added that the federal government is making efforts to provide houses to the people living in slums.

The premier said that the government was also struggling to increase the revenue in order to get rid of the loans besides trying to strengthen the small and medium industry. During the last year, cement sales have risen up to their record level.

He added that the Centre is also holding dialogues with the Sindh government regarding Bundal Island that will attract foreign investors.

PM Imran Khan said that two dams are being constructed in Pakistan after almost 50 years that will generate low-cost electricity. Moreover, the ML-1 railway project will shrink the journey between Karachi and Lahore to only eight hours.

Islamabad : Minister for Law and Justice, Barrister Farogh Naseem has said more new accountability courts are being established to take the pending corruption and money laundering cases to their logical end.

Talking to a private news channel, he said new ordinance will be introduced to appoint the judges while the officials have already been appointed in these courts.

The minister said the government had done a remarkable job while introducing institutional reforms particularly in Law Ministry as no previous government had made reforms in the national institutions.

Lahore : Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has said that Pakistan will become strong with provision of swift and cheap justice to people.

He was talking during meeting with Provincial Ombudsman Punjab, Azam Suleman in Lahore, during which Provincial Ombudsman presented his Department’s annual report to the Governor.

Governor said that decrease in ratio of complaints filing in province is a welcome development. He said that injustice against anybody will not be tolerated. He said that our constitution guarantees protection of every citizen’s basic rights and provision of indiscriminate justice to all and no negligence will be tolerated from the concerned departments in this regard.

Speaking on the occasion, Provincial Ombudsman briefed the Governor about his department’s performance.

DNA

RAWALPINDI, APR 7: Participants of National Security Workshop – 22 visited GHQ today . The Participants were briefed about global and regional security dynamics and national security environment. Later the participants had interactive session with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

National Security Workshop is an annual event at the National Defence University participated by representatives from all segments of society.

National Security Workshop – 22 is being attended by 54 participants including parliamentarians, Civil Servants, Senior Armed Forces Officers and Representatives of the Civil Society.

ISLAMABAD, APR 7: The Ambassador of Pakistan to Belgium, Luxembourg and the European Union, Zaheer A. Janjua held a virtual meeting with CEO of Pakistan Textile Council, Saleha Asif, today.  The meeting focused on enhancing Pak-EU trading ties.

Underscoring the importance of increasing Pakistan’s economic outreach with Europe, Ambassador Janjua stated that Economic Diplomacy was the Key to consolidate and expand Pakistan’s economic outreach in Europe. He noted that the GSP Plus Scheme had played a vital role in enhancing bilateral trade between Pakistan and the EU.

Ambassador Janjua highlighted that GSP Plus has been mutually beneficial for Pakistan and the EU. Pakistan’s exports to the EU have witnessed a growth of 65 percent and the EU’s exports to Pakistan have increased by 44 percent, since inception of the GSP Plus in 2014. Commenting on the potential opportunities created by the preferential market access, Ambassador Janjua emphasized on diversification and value addition of Pakistani exports to the EU.

Highlighting the government’s continued efforts to support the export sector of Pakistan, Ambassador Janjua assured close cooperation and support for Pakistani exporters. He also highlighted government’s steps to attract foreign direct investment and observed that in the last two years Pakistan had climbed 39 positions in the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking.

Ms. Saleha Asif appreciated the efforts of the Embassy in promoting trading relations between Pakistan and Europe. She also apprised the Ambassador about the plans of PTC for enhancing textile exports through R&D and its efforts to secure greater market access in the European block.

ISLAMABAD, APR 7 (DNA) – A meeting was held under the chairmanship of the Chairman CDA / Chief Commissioner Islamabad, and it was attended by Deputy Commissioner ICT, DIG operations Islamabad Police, Member Estate CDA, and DDG Enforcement CDA.

The agenda of the meeting included removal of encroachments from state land and action against unapproved and illegal housing societies in Islamabad, causing loss to the public and state. It was also decided that action be taken against illegally constructed buildings.

Following decisions were made in the meeting;

 I) Strict action will be taken against illegal & unapproved housing societies. No illegal or unapproved housing society shall be allowed to advertise or publish materials to sell and purchase plots/ houses.

2) FIRs would be lodged against owners, and bank accounts of the societies shall be frozen.

3) Chief commissioner further issued directions that action against encroachment must initiate immediately and even if one brick is laid by encroachers criminal action will be initiated against the concerned officials of CDA, District Administration, and ICT police.