ISLAMABAD : Pakistan Railway has started online booking for freight trains and also restored the old schedule of passenger trains.
Talking to newsmen in Lahore, Railway Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said that the technical allowance of thirty-one thousand workers and the mileage allowance of drivers has been increased.
He said Prime Minister has assured to pay the dues of all pension holders very soon.
ISLAMABAD : Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz says the opposition alliance of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) only busy in holding shows which has no direction and no plan.
In his tweet, Shibli Faraz said opposition parties have nothing to do with the issues of general masses as they are busy in crying over their personal interests.
He further suggested PDM president and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman to address the Karachi rally before the participants leave the venue.
The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is all set to hold second rally in Karachi today (Sunday).
The public gathering will be held at Bagh-e-Jinnah ground which is adjacent to Quaid-e-Azam’s Mausoleum.
Along with the recent royal visit of Duchess and Duke of Cambridge from The United Kingdom, witnessing the charm of Kailash valley and mesmerizing mountains, afterwards the religious visit of Buddhist chief monk from Thailand, who launched the “Bell of Peace” at the city of Taxila, which is famous as one of the oldest cities of the subcontinent, housing diverse history from the times of King Ashok and culture of several different civilizations.
Munaza Kazmi
Pakistan, a land naturally enriched, a heaven on earth for an international tourist, a magical bliss for the lover of nature, a colorful and diverse, blend of cultures and major religions, and a house of the most celebrated religious shrines.
From last few years, the country had pinned her hopes on the upcoming arrival of international tourism and is preparing for a healthy and warm welcome of its beloved guests, since in the last year 2019, Pakistan had topped the Conde Nast Traveler’s list of best holiday destinations for 2020. Along with the recent royal visit of Duchess and Duke of Cambridge from The United Kingdom, witnessing the charm of Kailash valley and mesmerizing mountains, afterwards the religious visit of Buddhist chief monk from Thailand, who launched the “Bell of Peace” at the city of Taxila, which is famous as one of the oldest cities of the subcontinent, housing diverse history from the times of King Ashok and culture of several different civilizations.
Pakistan, the country whose tourism wasonce thawed by the tales of Taliban and extremism isonce again in a warm spotlight as once she was in 70’s or far beyond when the region was considered as “The Golden Sparrow”. Seeing the travel dairies and recent publishing “In the Kingdom by the Sea” by Sara Macdonald 2019 a mesmerizing novel, in which the authoress praised of the serene hills of Margalla to the colored Mughal bazars, from the seashoresto the mysterious deserts, and on top of everything the “hospitality” and friendship of Pakistani people. We can imagine ofthe tales of love and hospitality that must befilming in the minds of the people around the globe.
Moreover, the contemporary government of all favorite Prime Minister Imran Khan had done a lot for restructuring the industry, like making the arrival of international tourist comfortable and easy which includes relax visa polices, e-Visa, and visa on arrival facility. Likewise, the opening of Pakistan’s borders for neighbor country; Hindustan, also known as the historic peace corridor “The Kartarpur Corridor” between India and Pakistan; allowing visa free visit to the Indian pilgrims. These particulars are guarantee of the future prosperity.
Eyeing this we can say; the industry of tourism and hospitality is an emergent market in the economy of Pakistan. Rendering to Pakistan Hotel Association, Hotel sector alone contributes 3% to the GDP of the country and combined with tourism it contributes around10.6% to the economy. Moreover, the market shows a lot of potential, seeing the projected report issued by World Travel and Tourism Council, that Pakistan possesses potential growth of $39.8 billion within a decade.Which is a good sign in itself and hope for the upcoming prosperity of the region.
More to add, to my best knowledge, this all is not a mere a forecasting or a play of words, since the fruits of efforts had started to grow, as the upcoming projects of Luxury Hotels and Resorts have been launching in the near future besides some of them had beenunder construction in the metropolis and other major hubs of Pakistan.
In this context, a lot good can be coined by tourism and hospitality industry of Pakistan.
Androulla Kaminara said that you need to come out of the small box that has been assigned to you traditionally to explore and discover the opportunities and the world around you
Shujat Hamza/DNA
ISLAMABAD:; Acclaiming and understanding Pakistan rural women’ struggle for their rights, Ambassador of the European Union Delegation to Pakistan, Androulla Kaminara has said, “you have the power to bring change in your lives.”
The EU Ambassador was of the view that the rural women needed to adapt new viable and innovative techniques for their economic sustainability. She advised the participants to make networks and consortiums for being able to get funding in future. Briefing about a project that is underway, the EU Ambassador informed that the EU has allocated 6.6 million Euros for capacity build of civil society organization in Pakistan for which the participants were should explore online EU platforms for further information.
Ambassador said that you need to come out of the small box that has been assigned to you traditionally to explore and discover the opportunities and the world around you.
Terming CNIC registration the foundation to get rights cherished by the citizens, the EU Ambassador said we have made it mandatory for the local organizations to help women to get their CNICs. “If you don’t have your identity documents, it means neither you were born nor dead as no documentation means you were not meant to be counted in policies and decisions concerning to you.” The EU Ambassador paid rich tribute to the rural women participants for their persistent, resilience and untiring efforts for their basic rights.
“We are also changing the design of our projects to ensure visible and major participation of women to take decision concerning to them,” the EU Ambassador Androulla Kaminara said.
The Ambassador also highlighted the role of the EU for the plight of the poor segments of the society and said that they have already allocated 150 million in COVID response efforts here in Pakistan.
Three-day Annual Conference, by PODA-Pakistan, has concluded here on a consensus demand to pullout the rural women from the growing poverty caused by COVID-19 by ensuring opportunities to enhance their technical skills to connect with the markets and with their inclusion at all decision-making levels by enhancing their political participation.
Through conference resolution, the participants demanded equal representation of women in upcoming local government elections.
The theme set for the conference was “Rural Women’s Leadership in Climate Change Adaptation, COVID-19 Response, Governance and Disaster Preparedness.”
President PODA-Pakistan, Sameena Nazir said we need to alleviate women from poverty and for this economic independence is must for them to achieve as it would ensure their responsibility and rights in the society.
The ambassador of the European Union Delegation to Pakistan, Androulla Kaminara distributed awards among the rural women and other persons who contributed to the achievements of PODA-Pakistan.
The rural women’s gathering approved a comprehensive list of resolutions for the next year by raising their hands. They demanded that the rural women should be provided trainings in disaster preparedness to mitigate the socio-economic impact of the disasters and equip them with skills to work on community development during Rescue, Emergency Relief, Rehabilitation and reconstruction.
They identified that the COVID-19 severely affected the livelihoods of the rural women and consequently the government must increase the coverage of COVID-19 relief package for the rural women to mitigate the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19.
They demanded to the government that effective measures needed to enroll the children who dropped-out during local downs and provide online educational opportunities at all levels. The rural women leaders demanded from donor agencies to support these groups with organizational sustainability grants.
The rural women leaders who contributed in resolution preparations were: Umme Kalsoom Sial from Muzaffargarh, Noor Jehan, North Waziristan, Naheed Afridi from Khyber, Pushpa Kumari from Hyderabad, Bushra Tabassum from Azad Kashmir, Huma Sajid from Gujranwala, Shahana from Muzaffargarh, Shazia from GB.
Los Angeles, Oct 18 : Randy Arozarena clubbed a two-run homer in the first inning and Charlie Morton worked 5 2/3 solid innings as the Tampa Bay Rays advanced to their second World Series in club history on Saturday with a 4-2 win over the Houston Astros.
Mike Zunino also slugged an early home run as the Rays recovered from the shock of being in a winner-take-all showdown after cruising to victories in the first three games of the American League Championship Series at Petco Park in San Diego.
Saturday’s game seven win allowed the Rays to salvage their season and prevent the Astros from becoming just the second team in Major League Baseball history to storm back from a 3-0 deficit.
ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 : Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday extended greetings to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and the Azeri people as the country celebrated 29th Independence anniversary on the day.
Azerbaijan first declared independence from the Russian Tsar under the chairmanship of Mehmet Emin Resulzade on May 28, 1918, but was occupied by the Soviet Union after a short period of two years. In 1991, Azerbaijan re-established its status as an independent state on Oct. 18 – the day when Independence Day is celebrated annually.
“I extend warmest felicitations to (President) Ilham Aliyev & fraternal people of Azerbaijan on their Independence Day.”
We pay tribute to Azeri forces valiantly defending their territorial integrity,” the prime minister said on Twitter.
He reiterated that Pakistan stood with Azerbaijan in its quest to resolve Nagorno-Karabakh issue as per the United Nations Security Council’s resolutions.
Yerevan, Oct 18 : Armenia and Azerbaijan said on Saturday they had agreed to declare a “humanitarian truce” from midnight Sunday, the foreign ministries of the two countries said in joint statements.
“The Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan have agreed to a humanitarian truce as of October 18, 00h00 local time,” Armenia’s foreign ministry said. The foreign ministry in Azerbaijan confirmed the move in an identical statement.
KARACHI : The Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) is all set to hold second rally in Karachi today (Sunday).
The public gathering will be held at Bagh-e-Jinnah ground which is adjacent to Quaid-e-Azam’s Mausoleum.
160 feet long and 60 feet wide stage has been set up in Karachi’s Jinnah Bagh while over 50,000 chairs have also been arranged to facilitate the participants.Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) president and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman is already present in Karachi while Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) vice president Maryam Nawaz has left for Karachi to attend the gathering.
Last night, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has visited the rally venue and inspected the arrangements.
Meanwhile, Karachi Traffic Police have issued a traffic plan in connection with the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) second public gathering in the metropolitan today.
Traffic coming from Jail Chowrangi to Jamshed Road would be diverted to Soldier Bazar. Traffic coming from Sharae Quaideen won’t be allowed to travel further than the Noorani signal.
ISLAMABAD : Sixteen more people died of coronavirus in the country over the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll from the disease to 6,654.
According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 567 fresh infections surfaced when 32,062 samples were tested during this period, lifting the national tally of cases to 323,019.
Around 307,069 people have recovered from the disease so far across Pakistan with addition of 429 recoveries recorded over the previous 24 hours. The number of active coronavirus cases in the country stands at 9,296 from which 534 patients are said to be in critical condition.A total of 4,074,024 tests have been conducted so far.
So far, Sindh has reported 141,713 cases, Punjab 101,559, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 38,598, Balochistan 15,669, Islamabad 17,996, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 3,437, and Gilgit Baltistan 4,047.
The number of coronavirus cases across the world has surpassed thirty-nine point five million while pandemic has claimed more than one-point one million lives so far.
The United States is worst hit country with over eight point two million infection cases and nearly 223,600 deaths followed by India with over seven point four million cases and over 113,000 deaths.
More than twenty-nine point six million patients stand recovered.
ISLAMABAD, Oct.18 : In terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) 2020-2021, China has consolidated its first position as topmost FDI country in Pakistan, according to a report published by Gwadar Pro on Sunday.
It poured $103.6m during the first quarter of FY21 in comparison to $55.4m last fiscal year. Meanwhile, Hong Kong also increased FDI to $38.4m during the first quarter compared to just $6.9m in the same period last fiscal year.
The data mentioned above has been released by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). China’s FDI is proving as a breather for Pakistan as except China the rest of FDI’s outlook has presented a bleak outlook.
As per SBP’s recent data, Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the Pakistan dropped 50.7 per cent year-on-year in September to $189 million against $383.5m last year. The flight of FDI from United States fell to $18.9m compared to $26.5m in the previous fiscal.
Chinese inflow as FDI in Pakistan has become a sign of booster for Pakistan economy. Over the last 9 years consecutively, China has been securing as biggest source country pumping up investment in Pakistan.
Cumulatively in the first half (Jul-Dec) of the fiscal year 2019-2020, China invested a net $422.5 million compared to $217.1 million in the same period of 2018-2019.
During 2013 to 2018, Pakistan received US $11.96 billion worth of net Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Year wise data manifested that during 2012-13, net inflow of FDI was posted at US $1.456 billion, while during 2013-14, the net FDI was registered at $1.699 billion, and in 2014-15, the total FDI stood at $987 million. Similarly $2.3 billion worth of FDI flowed to Pakistan during 2015-16, $2.746 billion in 2016-17 and $2.767 billion in 2017-18.
According to data issued by State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), China emerged as highest investor with $4.966 billion during the period followed by UK, which made FDI of $1.6 billion.
Similarly, investment from United States during last five years was recorded at $813 million, from United Arab Emirates $425 million, Japan $281 million, Hong Kong $858.6 million, whereas Switzerland made investment worth of $600.2 million.
The biggest attraction for the FDI during the FY21 was power sector which received $113.3m against $32.3m in the same period last fiscal year.
Another attraction was financial business (banks) which received $102.5m in the first quarter compared to $30.7m in the same period of last fiscal.
Fahad Zubair, an economist said that FDI was separate from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor investments. As much as 22 CPEC projects worth nearly $28 billion have been actualized.
He said that some Western investors appeared reluctant be cause of the misperception that Chinese companies would be beneficiary of “exclusive advantages” and concessions that would not allow for an even playing field.
“A perception has been cultivated that the Chinese are taking over. The fact of the matter is that this is not true,” he added.
He clarified “Pakistan’s government has no ambiguity about it: It welcomes investors of all hues to come in and participate in building this economy – whether American, English or Japanese.”
