Nazir Siyal

KARACHI: Pakistan Federal Union of Journalist (PFUJ) has condemned the police attitude against media persons and rights of common citizens of Sindh province, they put behind the bars over fake complaints.

On Tuesday, commenting over the police atrocities senior journalist Fawad Mehmood and others demanded IG Sindh for police atrocities with young citizens and media workers without any complaints or fake charges only putting pressure.

He told that a young educated Nizamuddin Abbasi and media associate was held for unknown reason for two hours in lock up, when young man asked SHO Mirpur Mathelo District Ghotki Khalid Memon without any charges and investigation, why put him in Lock up for more than 2 hours and later released over minor issue he said.

Similarly, police had registered same fake case against an educated and first M-phill in media a Journalist of Larkana, who suffered 9 months proceedings, later court withdrew as fake case witnesses by police.

Journalist comunitty has demanded IG Sindh, Chief Minister and higher authorities to protect common citizens and provide justice for this violation of citizen rights.

ISLAMABAD, JAN 19 (DNA) – The Inspector General of Police (IGP), Islamabad Qazi Jamil-ur-Rehman on Tuesday underscored the need for appointing talented teachers at police training school to enhance the capacity building of newly recruits.

“Competent teachers can train the newly recruited personnel on modern lines to integrate them in society and fight against injustice,” he said during his visit at police training school.

Senior officials of police including AIG establishment,SSP headquarters and school principle briefed the IG on training being imparted to recruits.

He asked the teachers to train the fresh recruits on new methods of investigation, collection of evidences from the crime scene.

Rehman directed the school principle to ensure all out efforts for the provision of good food, accommodation and clean environment to the recruits.

The training school plays a pivotal role in the training of recruits, he said adding that it was also part of the training that complainants at police stations should be treated in best way, besides resolving their legitimate problems in effective manner.

He urged the police force to behave gently while interacting with public in the line of duty and prove them a professional cop.

The IGP further stressed the force to abandon traditional policing and adopt new practices at par with other countries to maintain law and order and reduce crime in the capital city.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 19 (DNA) – Capital Development Authority (CDA) in connection with ongoing anti-encroachment drive conducted Anti encroachment operation in the city.

In the joint venture of the department of environment and department of DMA the authority removed dozens of encroachments from Park road during last one week. The said area has been cleared and the captured goods have been submitted to CDA’s store.

Newly constructed building, 10 illegal boundary walls, 01 illegal building, 01 room, 03 roadside setups, and DPC of one building were demolished during the anti encroachment operation of CDA at Bari Imam.

Construction material was also captured. Similarly, anti encroachment operation was also conducted at C-15 where a number of illegal constructions were demolished. Illegal constructions and encroachments at 06 different places of Bani Gala were also demolished during the operation.

Polls were removed from street at F-7/3. Illegal stalls were removed from G-8. Iron pillars were removed from a street of F-8 whereas an illegal security cabin was also demolished at the occasion. Illegal boundary wall and a gate were demolished at F-11.

Operation was also conducted at Khhana Pull where a number of illegal constructions and encroachments were demolished. DPC of a new building was demolished at Lakhhwal. 01 illegal stall and a shade were demolished in I-9 during the CDA’s operation against encroachments.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 19 (DNA) – COMSTECH public lecture on Engagement in Medical Research to Promote National Health and Wellbeing is going to be held on Thursday, January 21, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. PST at COMSTECH Secretariat, Islamabad. People can attend this lecture in person as well as virtually on Zoom.

Zoom link is available on www.comstech.org. A large number of researchers from Iran, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Jordan has got registered to attend this lecture online.

The lecture will be delivered by Prof. Dr. Khalid Saeed Khan, Distinguished Investigator – Beatriz Galindo programme – at University of Granada, Spain. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed research papers with current h-index >70. Dr. Khalid has so far supervised 25 higher-degree theses.

He has contributed to many trials and meta-analyses by conducting 48 primary research trials, recruiting 979,242 participants, and has published 149 systematic reviews, collating data from 6415 studies with 68,798,079 participants. Dr. Khalid is lead author of ‘Systematic Reviews to Support Evidence-Based Medicine’, which won a BMA Medical Book award.

He remained Editor of many journals. His “Core Outcomes in Women’s and Newborn Health” (CROWN) initiative was awarded a BMA Strutt and Harper grant to help reduce research waste.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 19 – In a bid to introduce an inclusive development model in the power sector of Pakistan, the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) has envisioned developing a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) culture with its CSR drive of “Power with Prosperity”. In this regard, a webinar cum seminar was hosted at NEPRA Tower on 18.01.2021 (Monday), attended by a number of senior representatives from power industry, public and private sector entities as well as members of the Authority, Mr. RehmatullahBaloch and Engr. Bahadur Shah.

2. Chairman NEPRA, Mr. Tauseef H. Farooqi in his keynote address told that the Authority is proactively working on an inclusive development model in consultation with the industry stakeholders and to learn from the already executed successful models. Unpacking the vision behind the initiative, Mr. Farooqi further elaborated that with the proactive CSR approach, NEPRAenvisioned to transform the socio-economic landscape of Pakistan by bringing about the most efficient and fair business practices to ensure affordable, reliable, and sustainable power services with the active engagement and development of local communities. He expressed the intend to create buy-in and broad-based acceptance of NEPRA’s CSR strategy by providing a platform to the licensees to execute inclusive and participatory development models so that the power becomes means to bring prosperity. He further said that Engro Energy Limited (EEL) is the CSR champion and a trendsetter in the power sector of Pakistan and now is the right time to learn from its experience and share further with the CSR intenders of the power industry.

3. Detailing upon the philosophy behind Engro’s inclusive development model, Engro Energy Limited (EEL) Chief Executive Officer, Ahsan Zafar Syed said that the recipe for a successful CSR model is a combination of partnering with stakeholders and bringing on board the social sector experts and not mere arrangements of funds.“As a responsible corporate citizen we strive to deploy inclusive business in all communities that we operate. I believe it is important that the public and private sector form alliances to ensure that together we are able to achieve common goals of uplifting communities and benefitting the underprivileged. However, the most challenging part of executing a successful model is to ensure the sustainability of the development efforts through innovation and adoption of an institutional approach to CSR,” he added.

4. NEPRA CSR Consultant, Huma Zafar shared CSR strategy that provides a roadmap for all licensees on how to ensure that electric power brings prosperity in Pakistan at the community level. She further added that their CSR stands on pillars of Compliance and Proactive Approach so that the licensees are facilitated to opt minimum standards of inclusive development model. She quoted the Power Policy, 2015’s section 12(xi) and 12 (xiv) which binds the power sector stakeholders including generation companies and provinces to undertake CSR activities within their project areas. She further elaborated that undertaking CSR activities manifest the social responsiveness of the companies however, the phenomenon spans over a time period of 100 years starting as a way of doing charity to making companies rethink business ethics and aligning their strategy to the triple bottom line (People, Planet, and Profit). While sharing CSR trends, she elaborated that currently all CSR activities are being undertaken at self-discretion and without any dedicated facilitating arm of the federal and provincial agencies, and the approach towards CSR is normally seen to be reactive and primitive. However, being a socially responsive power sector regulator, NEPRA is ready to play the role ofenabler for theexecution of meaningfulCSR

throughits licensees to achieve the objective of inclusive development aligning CSR goals with United Nations-Sustainable Development Goals (UN-SDGs) 2030. Last but not the least, she shared the proactive response received fromthe key players in the power sector as well as local and global development organizations to join hands with NEPRA for impactful CSR programs creating difference at the national level to improve Pakistan’s rank at human development index.

5. Chief Executive Officer of the Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC), Syed Abul Fazal Rizvi who is also heading the TharFoundation said, CSR has now evolved to engender stakeholder capitalism and not shareholder capitalism. “The real stakeholders of the development of our project are people of Thar who must achieve the economic gains of the development taking place in the area,” he said.“Thar Foundation has set up a target to make IslamkotTaulka, our primary beneficiary area, Pakistan’s first UN-SDG compliant area by 2024,” Rizvi added.

6. Representative of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Dr. Sara also highlighted their contributions towards the socio-economic uplift of the local community in Mianwali and Karachi districts. She added that their CSR commitments include employment for the local communities, mitigating social and environmental impacts, and contributions in the health and education sector making a huge difference in the lives of local communities.

KARACHI, JAN 19 (DNA) – Sarmad Ali, Secretary General of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society has expressed profound grief on behalf of APNS Office Bearers and members of the Executive Committee over the sad demise of mother of Mr. Naseer Ahmed Awan, Chief Editor, Daily Sarwan Karachi.

The APNS Office Bearers have offered condolence to the bereaved family and have prayed that Almighty Allah rest the departed soul in eternal peace and give them courage and patience to bear the loss.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 19 (DNA) – Showing concerns over the 30 percent fall in foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan during the first half of fiscal year (July-Dec), the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has called upon the government to make more conducive policies for attracting local and foreign investment in the country, which was very important to steer the economy out of current challenges.

Fatma Azim, Acting President and Abdul Rehman Khan, Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry that as per latest data issued by the State Bank of Pakistan, the country received $952 million foreign investment during July-December 2020 compared to $1.357 billion in the same period of last fiscal year, showing a 30 percent decline, which should be a cause of concern for the policymakers.

They said that the economy of Pakistan was facing many challenges due to Covid-19 pandemic and in these circumstances, promoting FDI was a good option to improve the health of the economy. They said that many overseas Pakistanis as well as foreign investors were interested in investing in Pakistan, but they needed a more conducive environment and consistent economic policies to invest in our country.

Fatma Azim said that many countries including China, Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea have achieved fast economic growth by focusing on FDI and stressed that Pakistan should also pay preferential attention to promoting FDI. She said that boosting FDI was important for Pakistan to supplement domestic investment, accelerate industrialization & business activities, improve revenue growth, create jobs and reduce poverty.

ICCI Acting President said FDI was also crucial for upgradation and modernization of the industrial base of the country to increase exports and urged that the government should use all possible options to promote foreign investment as the potential of many sectors of Pakistan’s economy could not be realized without fetching more FDI.

She was of the view that facilitating the local investors was very important to encourage FDI as when local investors would enhance investment in Pakistan, it would give more confidence to the foreign investors to invest in our country.

She said that the government should bring reforms in the tax regime for investors and formulate new investment policies to attract maximum local and foreign investment in the country. She further urged that the government should address key issues of the business community on priority basis to facilitate the growth of business activities that would also attract more foreign investment to Pakistan.=DNA

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