Islamabad : Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Sardar Masood Khan has welcomed the concern expressed by the United Nations over the change of demography of occupied Jammu and Kashmir by Indian government.

He expressed these views while commenting on the recent statement of the two experts of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights about situation in Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir.

Masood Khan unequivocally stated that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are not striving for autonomy but for UN-sponsored plebiscite to decide their future.

He said Jammu and Kashmir is a Muslim majority state and not a part of India.

Masood Khan said the people of Jammu and Kashmir have been offering unprecedented sacrifices for the realization of their democratic right to self-determination and not for any sort of autonomy within Indian constitution.

KARACHI : An Election Tribunal of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Tuesday dismissed an appeal challenging the acceptance of the nomination papers of PTI leader Faisal Vawda for the forth coming Senate elections.

The tribunal allowed the water resources minister to contest the Senate polls.Qadir Khan Mandokhel had filed the appeal, stationg that the returning officer accepted Vawda’s nomination papers in utter disregard for facts and law.

He alleged that the PTI MNA misdeclared his properties, assets and dual nationality in his nomination papers he submitted at the time of the 2018 elections. He argued that Vawda is not eligible to contest the Senate elections and requested the election tribunal to set aside the returning officer’s decision of accepting his nomination papers.

More than eight appeals have been filed against the decisions of the returning officer (RO) over acceptance and rejection of the Senate nomination papers from Sindh province. The appeals were filed before the appellate bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC).

ISLAMABAD, FEB 22 (DNA) – Ambassador Sajjad Haider Khan held a meeting with Andrey Dobrovolsky, Director General of Unitary Enterprises of Belkoopvneshtorg Belkoopsoyuza. The Head of Wholesale Trade Mr. Zhdanov Andrey, Deputy Director General Mr. Raguev Illarion and Deputy Head of Mission Abdullah Amin, also attended the meeting.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the possibilities of importing Pakistan Rice, Oranges and Fish products.

Briefing on the operations of company, the Director General offered to start importing Pakistani Rice to the tune of 2100 tons during the next one-year subject to negotiation on the price and quality. A list of Pakistan’s top exporters of rice was also shared with the official on this occasion.

Belkoopvneshtorg Belkoopsoyuza is the major wholesale enterprises of the Belarusian Republican Union of Consumer societies, primarily involved in import/export of goods, wholesale and retail trade. Currently it serves more than 9000 retail outlets, across Belarus.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD, FEB 22 (DNA) – The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) and the Intellectual Property Organisation of Pakistan (IPO) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding on sharing of information and capacity building of enforcement staffs to effectively deal with the competition law and intellectual property violations.

The MoU was signed by the CCP Chairperson Ms. Rahat Kaunain Hassan and IPO Chairman Mr. Mujeeb Ahmed Khan in a ceremony held at the CCP office in Islamabad, which was also attended by Ms. Bushra Naz Malik, Member CCP, and other senior officers from CCP and IPO.

The major thrust of the MoU is to promote mutually beneficial cooperation between the CCP and IPO in the areas of advocacy, research, capacity development, awareness-raising, and outreach. The MoU will also allow the two regulators to not only exchange information on pertinent issues but also do consultations on matters relating to their statutory mandates.

The MoU further covers training of staff of both regulators with regard to their respective mandates, and to develop and bolster partnerships with other organizations that may assist in capacity building of both parties to the MoU.

Addressing on the occasion, the CCP Chairperson Ms. Rahat Kaunain Hassan said: “IP law creates and confers exclusivity on proprietor whereas competition laws seek to promote competition by keeping markets open through fair play. In this regard, however, innovation and creativity contribute in promoting competition and allowing consumers a fair share of the resulting benefit.”

She welcomed the signing of the MoU saying that it will help build the capacity of both organisations in the enforcement of the respective laws. She thanked the IPO Chairman for extending cooperation in accessing information and data, which would be helpful in the enforcement of Section 10 of the Competition Act, 2010.

The IPO Chairman Mr. Mujeeb Ahmed Khan said that the MoU reaffirms the long-standing association between the two agencies and leverage each agency’s comparative advantage to promote fair business practices in the economy.

The CCP is a statutory body mandated to protect and promote competition in Pakistan’s economy by, inter alia, curbing anti-competitive practices including deceptive marketing practices, while the IPO is a statutory body tasked with the responsibility of integrated and efficient intellectual property management through copyright, trademarks, patents and other general types of intellectual property regulation.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD, FEB 22 (DNA) – The Capital Development Authority (CDA) administration has conducted operation against the land mafia on Lehtrar Road right of way demolished several encroachments. The chartered goods were confiscated and deposited in the CDA store.

According to the details, the influential land  Mafia has taken over the right of way from Lehtrar Road, Taramri Chowk to Khanna Bridge on a large scale and set up huts, dhabas, fences, stalls, tucked away stalls, puncture shops, toys, vegetable and fruit stalls, moving wheelbarrows.

The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has issued notices to the land Mafia several times to end its encroachments. Although operations were carried out against them, however, the influential land  Mafia would have re-occupied the aforesaid right of way and resumed commercial activities.

With the help of dozer, 65 sheds, 11 concrete walls, a wooden hut, 8 hut cabins, 5 iron fences, 10 goat markets, 6 cooking pots, locomotives including 13 billboards and dynamic encroachments have been demolished. Four truckloads of goods have also been seized on the spot.=DNA

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