ISLAMABAD, MAY 5 – The European Union (EU) has expressed deep concern over the lack of freedom of the press and violence against journalists in Pakistan.

The EU said it is concerned about the frequently reported cases of violence, intimidation, abduction, and killing of journalists in Pakistan.

Over the past couple of years, restrictions on media in Pakistan have grown and backtracking by the government in this area is having a detrimental impact on the overall climate of freedom of expression in Pakistan. Such acts are also reflecting negatively on Pakistan’s image abroad.

The EU is also concerned about widespread and systematic harassment online, especially of female journalists, through coordinated campaigns that include abusive language and threats of violence.

The Union said it actively advocates the importance of the freedom of expression and the need for protection of journalists around the world, including those in Pakistan.

In the fifth EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue with Foreign Minister Qureshi on November 3, 2020, HR/VP Josep Borrell reiterated concerns over the state of freedom of expression and the press in Pakistan.

The European Union External Action (EEAS) has a regular dialogue on human rights with the Pakistani government, where the issues of freedom of expression and media are important points on the agenda.

The forum also expressed concern about the recent attack on Absar Alam, a senior journalist in Pakistan.

These kind of attacks threaten Pakistani citizens’ rights to freedom of expression and freedom of media, and underline the importance of adequate protection of journalists and their work, said the EU.

Meanwhile, the Council of Europe Secretary General Marija Pejčinović Burić urged European governments to show stronger political will to protect journalists and independent journalism in order to put a stop to the deterioration of media freedom.

“Media freedom is an essential pillar of our democracies which is too often taken for granted. Respect for freedom of the media is in decline in many countries. In the last [couple of ] years, we have witnessed an increase in the number of cases of violence and intimidation against journalists,” she said.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a strong rise in reports of violence against journalists as well as censorship and reprisals for questioning government policies in many countries of the world. At the same time, media houses have also been facing serious economic challenges and many journalists have lost their jobs due to the adverse economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Council of Europe stands ready to support its member states to create and promote an environment where plural, diverse and independent media can perform their role and contribute to making our democracies more robust, said Burić.

The secretary-general also expressed concern at the findings of the annual report of the Council of Europe’s Platform for the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists.

The annual report of the Platform for the Protection of Journalism and the Safety of Journalists, released today by 14 international media freedom organisations, lists 201 serious cases of threats to media freedom in the 47 Council of Europe member states in 2020, a 40% increase compared to 2019.

A record number of alerts concerned physical attacks (52 cases) and harassment or intimidation (70 cases).

The report analyses serious threats to press freedom including those posed by the impunity of crimes against journalists – with 24 cases of impunity for the killing of journalists still pending, the state capture of independent media, judicial harassment, political pressure on public service media, and surveillance of journalists.

The report underlines specific threats to media freedom in 2020, the extraordinary restrictions imposed on journalists’ activities by emergency laws and regulations in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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RIYADH, MAY 5: General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) called on Lieutenant General Fayyad Al-Ruwaili, Chief of General Staff (CGS), Saudi Armed Forces at Riyadh.

During the meeting, matters of mutual interest, regional security situation including Afghan Peace Process, defence & security and military to military cooperation were discussed.

COAS emphasized the need to further enhance military to military cooperation between the two Armed Forces and said that Pakistan-KSA cooperation will have positive impact on peace and security in the region.

CGS KSA thanked the COAS for his sentiments and assured of full cooperation and support from KSA in all initiatives aimed at improving regional cooperation, peace and stability.

DNA

RIYADH – Saudi Arabia released never-before-seen detailed images of the Maqam Ibrahim, or the Station of Abraham, located in Mecca’s Grand Mosque.

The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques captured the details of the Station of Abraham with a new technique that uses stacked panoramic focus.

A day earlier, authorities released similar high-definition pictures of the Black Stone– known as the Hajar Aswad in Arabic.

Maqam Ibrahim is the stone that bears the imprint of where the Prophet Ibrahim stood while building the Kaaba when the walls became too high.

The stone is enshrined with a gold, silver, and glass frame to preserve the prophet’s footprints.

Muslims believe that the stone in which the footprints are imprinted descended directly from heaven along with the famous Black Stone.

Detailed Pictures of Maqam e Ibrahim (Station of Abraham) taken recently.

General information:

Shape: a square, with the footprints of the Prophet Ibraham – peace be upon him – which are two oval pits in the middle

 • Color: between white, black and yellow.

 • Size: Wwidth, length and height are of 50 cm.

Location: In front of the Ka’bah Gate,

10-11 meters east of the Kaaba, in the part leading to Safa and Marwah.

 • The archaeological stone upon which Ibrahim – upon him be peace – stood was built when building the Holy Ka’bah.

BEIJING, May 5 (): Enhanced China-Pak B2B irrigation cooperation is needed, this was emphasised by the Chinese experts, accoding to China Economic Net (CEN).

The experts noted that the International Monetary Fund, Pakistan has been ranked third among countries facing acute water shortage. The availability of water is only compounded by the conventional and highly wasting way of irrigation.

To resolve this issue, Pakistan has tried to export advanced irrigation products and technologies from overseas to empower the agriculture sector, the mainstay of the Pakistani economy.

After two failed attempts to introduce efficient irrigation solutions from European countries and Israel, Pakistan turned to China for help in terms of efficient irrigation products and technologies.

In 2004, Xinjiang Tianye Group, a leading Chinese enterprise specialising in efficient irrigation and water saving drip irrigation technologies, initiated the first-of-its-kind irrigation cooperation between China and Pakistan by setting up drip irrigation demonstration zones in Pakistan and holding training sessions in drip irrigation for the Pakistani people at the invitation of the Pakistani government.

Due to successful pilots of the project, bilateral cooperation was expanded to research institutes. The China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR), for example, was responsible for the design for efficient irrigation for onions in 2011 in Punjab and held training sessions on the theoretical and operational know-how of efficient and water-saving irrigation for the Pakistan Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) in 2012.

The 14 years of cooperation has corroborated the efficiency and efficacy of Chinese high efficient irrigation technologies in Pakistan. However, high irrigation solutions have merely been used in parts of Pakistan on an experimental basis, which takes a heavy toll on Pakistan’s embattled “more crop per drop” efficient irrigation campaign.

What are the hurdles between China-Pak cooperation in efficient irrigation? What can be done to expedite the popularisation of efficient irrigation in Pakistan? To debunk these myths, China Economic Net (CEN) interviewed two experts to shed a few insights.

“Chinese irrigation solutions promoted by Tianye have proved a success in demonstration zones in Pakistan. But a lack of investments has made it hard to popularise the efficient irrigation solutions.” commented Li Huijuan, senior engineer at National Water-saving Irrigation Engineering and Technology Research Center (Xinjiang).

This view is echoed by Dr Gong Shihong, Deputy-Director of Department of Irrigation and Drainage, China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR).

A single company is too fragile to transform the entire sector. The Pakistani government should incentivise more companies to invest in the popularisation of efficient irrigation solutions, said Dr Gong, who led a delegation to hold training sessions on high efficient irrigation in Pakistan in 2012.

A second factor lies in the limited range of efficient irrigation solutions available in Pakistan, Ms Li told CEN. Although the government of Punjab has worked with World Bank to subsidise small-scale farmers to install sprinklers and drip irrigation systems, enormous farmers still refrain from adopting such efficient irrigation systems because of the high maintenance costs ensued.

Ms Li explained, Pakistani farmers tend to use irrigation accessories such as drip tapes and drippers from Israeli and European countries, which is six times the cost of Chinese solutions and is beyond the price range of the farmers.

To motivate more farmers to use efficient irrigation solutions and further popularise the “more crop per drop” efficient irrigation campaign in Pakistan, more affordable and desirable high efficient irrigation solutions should be introduced to the Pakistani market.

The key lies in boosting the communication between Chinese and Pakistani irrigation companies, said Dr Gong. “Chinese high efficient irrigation solutions hold great potential to help popularise the drip irrigation in Pakistan.

Cooperation between Chinese and Pakistani irrigation companies in this regard will familiarise more farmers with affordable, desirable Chinese irrigation solutions and motivate more farmers to adopt efficient irrigation.

Realising the importance of B2B communication, Xinjiang Tianye signed a strategic memorandum of understanding with the Fatima Group in October, 2019, Ms Li revealed.

With the support of the Fatima Group, Tianye’s irrigation technologies have been introduced to Bela, Balochistan and are likely to find their way in more farmlands in the future, said Ms Li.

Dr Gong told CEN, an International Cooperation Office has been recently established by a Chinese water-saving association to facilitate and promote more such cooperation.

The office will serve as a bridge between Chinese and Pakistani irrigation enterprises by exploring the needs of Pakistani people and companies and communicating them to Chinese companies so that they can provide customised irrigation solutions for Pakistan, commented Dr Gong.

Government-level promotion will also be part of the answer to an efficient irrigation-oriented future.

“In China’s case, the government promotes the efficient irrigation technology and encourages the investments from companies which in return introduce irrigation technologies to farmers.

UNITED NATIONS, May 05  : The UN General Assembly President, Volkan Bozkir, will be visiting Pakistan and Bangladesh during a trip to South Asia “later this month” at the invitation of the two governments.

Addressing a press conference at UN Headquarters the other day confirming his visit, Volkan Bozkir said that he was also scheduled to visit India during the upcoming trip but had to postpone the trip because of the serious situation created by the coronavirus pandemic.

It will be the second visit to Pakistan of  President Bozkir, a veteran Turkish diplomat.  He paid a visit to Pakistan in August 2020, ahead of the opening of the 75th session of the 193-member Assembly.

Replying to questions, he said he was visiting Pakistan to honour the country for its “great contribution” to the UN peace-keeping operations around the world aimed at promoting international peace and security. Pakistan is one of the largest troop contributors to the peacekeeping missions.

Asked whether the situation in Jammu and Kashmir would be discussed with the Pakistani leaders, Bozkir said his position was that the dispute should be resolved through dialogue governed by the United Nations Charter and applicable Security Council resolutions.

He also cited the 1972 Simla agreement between India and Pakistan that calls for the final status of Jammu and Kashmir is to be settled by peaceful means, in accordance with the Charter, and that all parties refrain from taking steps that could affect the status of the disputed territory.

The president said that he will convey the same message to the Pakistani leadership this time also.

In Bangladesh, the president, besides holding talks with the country’s leaders, will visit refugee camps sheltering Rohingya Muslims who have escaped from attacks in Myanmar.