ISLAMABAD : Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh was sworn in as the federal minister on Friday.

President Dr. Arif Alvi administered the oath to Hafeez Shaikh, who has been serving as the adviser to the prime minister on finance, at a ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.He was sworn in as the federal minister in the wake of the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) December 7 ruling that held that unelected advisers and special assistants could not head government’s committees. The court had set aside a notification regarding the Cabinet Committee on Privatisation (CCoP) headed by Dr Shaikh.

Though mostly elected representatives i.e. members of the National Assembly or Senate can be appointed as federal ministers, a clause in the Constitution provides for a short-term appointment of non-elected ministers.

“A Minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the National Assembly shall, at the expiration of that period, cease to be a Minister and shall not before the dissolution of that Assembly be again appointed a Minister unless he is elected a member of that Assembly,” reads the clause nine of Article 91 of the Constitution.

ISLAMABAD : PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz has approached an Islamabad accountability court against seizure of her father Nawaz Sharif’s property in the Toshakhana reference.

She filed an application in the court on behalf of her father. After an initial hearing, Judge Syed Asghar Ali issued notices to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and others to submit their response to the application by December 16.

Sharif’s seized house in Murree is registered in the name of his late wife Begum Kulsoom Nawaz, the application stated, adding it was purchased before the date mentioned in the reference. The house was divided among the family members after her death and a court had already given a verdict regarding the division, the application said.
Maryam pleaded with the court to set aside the order regarding the seizure of the house.

In October, the court had ordered the authorities concerned to seize the former prime minister’s assets. The accountability watchdog had submitted a detailed record of Nawaz’s moveable and immoveable properties in pursuance of the court’s directives.

The judge then ordered authorities to freeze the national and international bank accounts owned by the PML-N supremo in a private Lahore bank. He also ordered that 1,650 canals of agricultural land in Lahore and 102 canals in Sheikhupura be also be seized as well as his house in Murree.

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan has called upon the international community to hold India accountable for its serious crimes against the Kashmiri people and human rights violations in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK).

in his weekly briefing, on the eve of International Human Rights Day, Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri said this day is an occasion to reaffirm our resolve to respect and uphold human dignity and to promote the human rights agenda without any distinction or discrimination.

He said India must be called upon to accept a UN Commission of Inquiry for an independent and impartial investigation of the situation in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and fully respect the human rights and fundamental freedoms of the Kashmiri people.

Chaudhri said India’s gross and systematic violations of human rights in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir have been comprehensively documented in the two Kashmir reports of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights as well as by the UN Special Procedure Mandate Holders, international civil society, and the media.

He said the world must focus on oppressed people in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, who are being denied their inalienable right to self-determination for over seven decades and facing gruesome repression at the hands of Indian occupation forces acting with full impunity.

He said since 5 August last year these people are enduring the worst form of human rights violations and their suffering has increased manifolds during the global pandemic. In defiance of its obligations under the UN Charter, UNSC resolutions and international law, especially the 4th Geneva Convention, India is seeking to alter the demographic structure of the occupied territory.

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD : Pfizer Foundation has formally handed a PKR20 million ($123,671) donation certificate to Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS).

CEO Pfizer Pakistan S.M Wajeeh handed the certificate to Chairman PRCS Abrar ul Haq in a simple ceremony held at the National Headquarters (NHQ) here on Wednesday.

Acting Secretary General Dr Adeel Nawaz, Advisor on Coordination and Transformation Col (Retd) Shahrukh, Advisor on Resource Mobilization Amjad Pervez and officials of PRCS were present on the occasion.

The PKR20 million grant has been routed through the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The grant will help address the urgent needs of PRCS, which is making relentless effort to minimize the spread of the virus within communities and strengthen the healthcare system against the future public health threats.

The grant will also contribute towards capacity enhancement of PRCS’ Rawalpindi Corona Care Hospital (RCCH) by setting up a special ward and covering its operating expenses for six months.

Abrar ul Haq acknowledged Pfizer’s global contribution for COVID 19, particularly for Rawalpindi Corona Care Hospital.

“PRCS, being an auxiliary to the government, is at the forefront of fighting this pandemic and augmenting the government’s response to the disease,” he said.

S.M Wajeeh said Pfizer had been operating in Pakistan for over 60 years and is fully committed to serving the patients through its innovative solutions.

He said Pfizer Foundation is playing its role globally to strengthen healthcare capacity, especially in low and middle income geographies. He expressed hope that the partnership between Pfizer Foundation and PRCS will help enhance the latter’s capacity to combat COVID-19.

Karachi : Mirza Nadeem Baig, Chairman Pakistan Chemicals & Dyes Merchants’ Association (PCDMA), Mubasher Umer, Vice Chairman, expressed sorrow over the demise of Siraj Kassam Teli, Chairman, Businessmen Group(BMG) and former President, KCCI. The business community has lost a great leader.

In a statement, Mirza Nadeem Baig prayed for the forgiveness of the deceased and said that Allah swt may his soul rest in eternal peace and grant patience to the family of the deceased.  The business community shares their grief.

He said that Siraj Kassam Teli was an was an inspirational and unforgettable leader and business community always remember his outstanding services for trade & Industry.

Islamabad Dec 10 :The Ehsaas programme – Prime Minister Imran Khan’s flagship poverty alleviation initiative –is already delivering positive change for the people of Pakistan and has laid the foundations to become a global model for reducing poverty. This is a key message of a new and independent report published today by Delivery Associates, a globally respected firm that works with governments across the world to achieve measurable developmental impact. The Ehsaas report is penned by Sir Michael Barber who is the Chairman and Founder of Delivery Associates. He is one of the world’s leading education reformers, and from 2001 to 2005 was Chief Advisor on Delivery to Prime Minister Tony Blair.

In a press conference jointly hosted by Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MOIB) Pakistan today, Sir Michael Barber connected virtually from UK to unveil the Ehsaas report together with SAPM Dr. Sania Nishtar and Federal Minister for MOIB, Shibli Faraz.

The report, entitled, ‘The Ehsaas Programme: Shift from politics of patronage to politics of performance’, analyses the first year of the Government’s flagship programme, Ehsaas. Outlining the initial steps taken to establish the programme to be transparent, multisectoral andresults-driven, it goes on to highlight some of the major achievements to date.

Among those commended are the Ehsaas Kafaalat, which provides unconditional cash transfers to millions of the poorest women, Ehsaas Undergraduate Scholarships, which awards over 50,000 scholarships a year to students fromdisadvantaged background and Ehsaas Nashonuma, a conditional cash transfers to increase uptake of health and nutrition. Also, an extensive process of governance reforms commenced in Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division and its implementing agencies to deliver Ehsaas. The Ehsaas Governance and Integrity Policy was approved by the Cabinet on Nov 12, 2019 to ensure those organizations involved in delivery of welfare are effective and responsive to the needs of those who they are mandated to serve. Also, Governance observatory and multi-stakeholder monitoring were introduced.

“Our analysis shows that Ehsaas, by focussing on accountability and impact, has laid the foundations for becoming a globally leading exemplar on how to tackle poverty”, said Sir Michael Barber, CEO of Delivery Associates. “I have had the honour of working with successive Pakistani governments throughout my career, and it is fantastic to see Ehsaas embedded at the heart of the current administration. The Ehsaas team, under the strong leadership and unwavering integrity of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Dr. Sania Nishtar have made huge progress in just one year. The reforms and structural changes pioneered by the team resulted in the rapid delivery of Ehsaas Emergency Cash to 12 million households against the challenging and unprecedented backdrop of COVID-19. Their work is going to be vital in the coming months and years.”

The report also praises the programme’s use of technology and data, which underpin monitoring routines designed to ensure robust governance discipline throughout its operations. This includes a new data dashboard, openly displayed on the Ehsaas website, which uses a traffic light system to track progress on different strands of the programme, highlighting progress and improving transparency.

“This is a comprehensive and timely report from Delivery Associates, which helps us to reflect on the achievements of the Ehsaas programme in its first year, while paving the way for continued success,” said Dr Sania Nishtar. “This analysis will help us to stay focussed on our goal of ending poverty in Pakistan and improved delivery for all of our beneficiaries, with the hope that Ehsaas can eventually be a model for the world”, she further added.

Delivery Associates is based in the UK and works with government leaders from over 40 countries. It works in partnership with governments, public bodies and other organisations to build measurable value for as many people as possible. There are teams on the ground in twenty different countries around the world, with twenty-four different nationalities represented and twenty different languages spoken.