Germany has completed its troop pull-out from Afghanistan as the US aims to complete its withdrawal by September 11.
German Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, in a statement in Berlin, said after nearly 20 years of deployment, the last German soldier has left Afghanistan.
According to the German Army, 59 German soldiers have been killed since 2001 in the course of their service in Afghanistan.
Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa says Pakistan values its relations with European Union and is earnestly looking forward to enhance mutually beneficial multi-domain relations based on common interests.
He expressed these views during a Video Call with Chairman European Union Military Committee, General Claudio Graziano.
During the call, matters of mutual interests, regional security situation, including recent developments in Afghan Peace Process and enhanced bilateral cooperation with European Union came under discussion.
General Claudio appreciated Pakistan’s role in regional peace and stability, especially the Afghan Peace Process.
Both dignitaries pledged to play their role for further improvement in cooperation at all levels.
Islamabad : President Dr Arif Alvi says India has always been playing a spoiler’s role in Afghanistan, as it wants to create misunderstanding about Pakistan in that country.
Speaking in a private TV channel programme, he said peace and stability in Afghanistan is vital for regional stability and Pakistan would especially immensely benefit from it.
The President expressed hope that all Afghan parties would peacefully resolve their issues with consensus and through peaceful means.
Expressing his dismay over the recent allegations levelled by certain Afghan leaders against Pakistan, he said Islamabad has already reiterated its clear position over Afghan peace and reconciliation process.
Dr Arif Alvi said Pakistan has hosted about 3.5 million Afghan refugees on its soil.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported 27 more deaths over the last 24 hours by COVID-19 as the total number of the fatalities has reached 22,281.
According to the latest figures issued by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), the number of positive cases has surged to 957,371 after the inclusion of 979 fresh infections during the said period.
The country conducted 42,062 tests in the past 24 hours out of which 979 Pakistanis were tested positive for the disease. The COVID positivity ratio was recorded at 2.3%
The number of active cases in Pakistan currently stands at 31,606.
Overall 903,484 Pakistanis have recovered their health back from the COVID-19 pandemic, while 1,871 are still said to be critical.
As of June 30, as many as 12,641,654 people have been partially vaccinated against the deadly infection while 2,939,748 fully vaccinated, the NCOC said.
A total of 15,581,402 doses of COVID-19 vaccine have been administered across Pakistan thus far.
Pakistan has primarily used Chinese vaccines – Sinopharm, CanSinoBio and Sinovac– in its inoculation drive and, earlier this month began allowing those under 40 to receive AstraZeneca, of which it has a limited supply meant for people traveling to countries that require it.
Pakistan has so far granted emergency use authorization to six different vaccines, including China’s Cansino, Sinopharm, Sinovac, Russian Sputnik V, European AstraZeneca and US Pfizer vaccines.
Zamir Awan
Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded on 01 July 1921, in Shanghai. It is one of the oldest political party, also one of the largest political party with its current membership of 82 million approximately. It was established under very tough environment in reaction to the atrocities and brutalities of imperialism, feudalism, capitalism, colonialism, Western world’s coercion, and the helplessness of the ruling party of that in China – (Guo-Min-Dang) Nationalist Party.
Since early days of founding of CPC, it was facing many challenges and opposition from Ruling party – Guo-Min-Dang and resistance from Western world, but it was high spirit and strong determination of CPC, which made its survival and ensured success after success consecutively.
Initially, CPC was working with Guo Ming Dang to fight against Japanese aggression, but soon found different objectives and kept of fighting against Japanese aggression alone. After victory against Japan, the CPC launched a civil war to push Guo Ming Dang out of power and finally liberated China in 1949.
CPC is ruling political party in China since its establishment as People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949. CPC is very well organized, disciplined, and open-minded political party. It was lucky enough to be blessed with visionary and sincere leadership throughout.
During the period of 1949-1978, CPC under the great leader Chairman Mao, united the whole nation under one umbrella and on one ideology. This was a mega achievement, as China was a huge country, diverse society, and mixture of manyethnic groups or minorities. The major achievement of that era was uniting the nation, and transformation of political systems.
Since 2013, CPC is struggling under the great leadership of President Xi Jin Ping, who is also the Secretary-General of CPC and Chairman of Military Commission. Based on Marxism, Leninism, Mao Ze Dong Thought, and Deng Xiao Ping’s theory, President Xi Jin Ping, evolved “Socialism with Chinese Characteristics,” which is the biggest climax of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and anextraordinary contribution to the Party’s development.
This criticalThought represents the newest achievement in adapting Marxism to the Chinese context and is a vital component of the system of theories of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
The advancement of the Thought into the Party’s guiding principle is of great political, theoretical and practical significance. All-Party members are called for studying hard Xi’s “new era” approach in terms of its traditional background, scientific system, and functional requirement.
As China enters into a new stage of development, the CPC must write a new chapter of the 21st-century. That is Marxism with a broader vision to achieve its goals of basically realizing socialist modernization in the first stage from 2020 to 2035, before developing China into a “great modern socialist country” that is “prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful” after another 15 years. CPC has a history of making impossible into possible. It is expected that CPC will resolve all-new challenges and succeed in achieving the next goals, and overcome any difficulty in their way to move forward.
Recently, the two biggest achievements of CPC are: “Poverty eradication” and “Defeating COVID-19.” These two achievements has up-lifted China to new heights and got recognition as global power.
Availing this opportunity, I would invite the whole Pakistani nation to join the happy and joyful celebrations of the 100th anniversary of founding the CPEC. Many activities are being organized, and everywhere there is an environment of festival in China. On behalf of people of Pakistan, we share the excitement and joys of the celebrations with Chinese brothers and sisters equally and sincerely wish them all the best and good luck in their future endeavors. Wish the traditional and unique friendship between China and Pakistan to grow further.
Author: Prof. Engr. Zamir Ahmed Awan, Sinologist (ex-Diplomat), Editor, Analyst, Non-Resident Fellow of CCG (Center for China and Globalization), National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST), Islamabad, Pakistan. (E-mail: [email protected]).
MINSK: At a dinner hosted by Ambassador Sajjad Haider Khan at his residence, the Federal Minister for Defense Production interacted with a group of nine PAF officers currently in Minsk for training session. A special guest on this occasion was the Pakistani student Saba Javed who secured 1st position in the Medical University becoming the only “Red Diploma’ holder amongst the 220 foreign students. The honorable Minister lauded her commitments and presented a special gift as a mark of appreciation for her hard work.
Amongst the other participants were the delegation members and embassy staff.
DNA
MINSK: On 28 June, Federal Minister for Defence Production of Pakistan, Zobaida Jalal held a detailed meeting with members of Pak-Belarus Parliamentary Friendship (Pak-Belarus PFG) at Belarus Parliament.
Chairman of the standing committee on International Affairs Andrei Savinykh extended a warm welcome to the Minister and delegation, shared his perspectives on the regional situation and shared the desire for closer collaboration between the two countries.
Ms Zobaida Jalal highlighted on the current state of bilateral relationship and prospects for future development of cooperation in different domains.
Expressing her complete satisfaction over the proceedings of her visit to Minsk in connection with MILEX exhibition, she expressed her hope that the visit will further provide fresh impetus to strengthening cooperation between the two countries and will lead to concrete results in the future.
Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognise Belarus after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Pakistan and Belarus have held relations since then. On June 14, 2019 on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Heads of State Council in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic the President of the Republic of Belarus H.E. Alexander Lukashenko met with the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan H.E. Imran Khan. The mutual will to develop the dialogue in the political sphere is fixed in the Islamabad Declaration of Belarus-Pakistan Partnership signed on May 29, 2015, the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between the Republic of Belarus and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan signed on August 10, 2015 and the Joint Statement of the President of the Republic of Belarus and the Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan signed on October 5, 2016. Belarus and Pakistan are closely cooperating on the international arena in addressing pressing issues of the global and regional agenda. Effective interaction in this direction is ensured by the functioning of a permanent mechanism of political consultations between the foreign ministries of the two countries. The first and second round of political consultations were held in Islamabad on November 13-14, 2014 and October 8-9, 2015 respectively, the third round was held on May 11, 2017 in Minsk.
According to details, more than 1,000 Schengen visas were stolen from the Italian embassy in connivance with an Italian lady from the visa section. The lady was afterwards transferred to another country
Staff Report/DNA
ISLAMABAD: More than 1,000 Schengen visa stickers have been stolen from the Italian embassy. Sources have revealed the robbery took place during the shifting of the embassy.
According to details, more than 1,000 Schengen visas were stolen from the Italian embassy in connivance with an Italian lady from the visa section. The lady was afterwards transferred to another country. The incident took place many months ago when the Italian embassy premises was shifted to new place near the French Embassy.
The new Italian embassy is to be built and tenders have also been floated. But before start of the construction this scandal came to the fore. Sources says while sifting wherewithal from the old place to the new make-shift embassy, visas stickers were stolen. Sources say the number of visas stolen may be much higher than reported.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has shared information with the relevant departments for an “appropriate action” on the theft of Schengen visa stickers from Italian embassy.
In response to questions by journalists, Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said the theft of visa stickers was reported to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the foreign diplomatic mission, after which the information was immediately shared with the concerned departments.
“The information was immediately shared with the concerned authorities for taking appropriate action in this regard,” he said.
According to reports, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informed the Interior Ministry and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on report of around 1,000 visa stickers stolen from the locker-room of Italian embassy in Islamabad this month.
The concerned departments have been requested to keep track of the visa stickers at all entry and exit points and report any seizure to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
As per available information, 750 stolen visa stickers have serial numbers from ITA041913251 to ITA041914000 and the 250 visa stickers have the numbers from ITA041915751 to ITA041916000.
Further investigations are underway and soon it will be determined if any Pakistani (s) was also involved in this scam. Sources have hinted at involvement of some locals also.
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry said that the budget passed “with great ease”, adding that “such a huge development budget has never been passed in Pakistan’s history”.
He noted that nearly all government representatives were in attendance, while also observing that the PML-N’s numbers had been low.
“The parliament once more expressed its faith in the prime minister by a heavy majority,” he said.
Meanwhile, Chaudhry questioned the absence of the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif.
“It appears that the power crisis within PML-N has worsened,” he said, adding: “The tussle between Maryam Nawaz and Shahbaz Sharif is resulting in the loosening of the leadership’s grip over the party.”
The minister said that the budget “does not include any new taxes” and has an increase in salaries, besides loans for the youth.
He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan will deliver a speech in the parliament when the NA session resumes tomorrow at 11:30am.
