ISLAMABAD, JAN 19 (DNA) – Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Tuesday said the opposition alliance of Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) was strengthening the agenda of anti-Pakistan elements and also promoting their narrative.

The PDM had in fact adopted an anti-state narrative and the government would not succumb to their pressure, he said in a statement

Qureshi said the PDM parties were trying to cover the rift within their ranks and for the purpose they were pursuing the agenda, which was detrimental to national interests. However, they would not succeed in their tactics, he added.

He mentioned that the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) was playing on “both sides of the wicket” and using the platform of PDM to achieve its own objectives. The party had categorically announced that its parliamentarians would not tender resignations.

The PPP was confused about its participation in the long march, the foreign minister added. He said some elements in Karachi were trying to misuse the seminary (Madaris) students for agitation and expressed confidence that people of the city would not heed to their such political gimmicks.

On India, he said Pakistan was showing the world the real face of its neighbour, which was involved in conspiracies and fake propaganda and recalled that Pakistan presented a dossier to the international community on November 14 revealing India’s assistance to terrorists. He mentioned that the report of EU DisInfo Lab was a strong endorsement of Pakistan’s stance about India’s nefarious designs.

The foreign minister said India launched a false campaign against Pakistan at international level, however with the leaked conversation of television anchor Arnab Goswami, the Pulwama attack was proved as totally staged. India’s Bharatia Janta Party claimed lives of its own 40 security personnel to gain victory in the election, he added.

The Goswami revelations, he said, showed that the irresponsible sitting government of New Delhi could exploit the situation to any extent for its own interests. Qureshi called upon the international community to take notice of India’s attempts to spoil peace and security of the region. He said the world had realized that India, once known as a secular country, was now run by a fascist Hindutva government.

Regarding Afghanistan, he said Pakistan wanted successful conclusion of intra-Afghan negotiations for the benefit of region. He warned that some elements within and outside Afghanistan were playing the role of “spoilers” to disrupt peace of that country.

Regarding government’s firm stance on Israel, Qureshi said recognizing it as a state was “out of question”. Prime Minister Imran Khan and he himself had stated at several occasions that Pakistan would not recognize Israel, therefore placement of banners by someone was merely for the purpose of politicking. =DNA

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 19 (DNA) –United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) would enroll 61,500 refugee children during the year 2021, providing them an access to primary education.

The children would impart education in 137 schools of 54 refugee villages set up across the country, said UNHCR Pakistan report. UNHCR had been providing access to primary education to Afghan refugees from the past four decades.

At the outset of their arrival, some 96 percent of the refugee population was living in camps and villages and emergency education was provided on-site, said the report.

Only 32 percent of the registered refugee population resides in 54 villages throughout the country, while the majority (68 percent) was living in urban and semi-urban areas alongside their host communities.

At the end of 2019 there were still 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan, out of which 500,000 children are in school going age. Many of these children had been accessing Pakistan’s national education system.

Available data suggests that more than 20 percent of refugee children that are enrolled in schools attend Pakistani public schools, followed by Afghan and Pakistani private schools, it added.

The UNHCR education strategy will demonstrate the importance of burden-sharing with government and support the absorption capacity of schools to mitigate the impact of refugee children’s inclusion within the national education system.

For the past 40 years UNHCR has and will continue to, fully fund the refugee education programmes over 146 schools in the refugee villages (103 schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 35 in Balochistan, 8 in Punjab) catering for the education needs of some 56,000 children.

UNHCR continued to assist students in obtaining a quality education through the provision of textbooks, learning material and uniforms alongside scholarship support to those seeking higher education.

UNHCR also provided financial assistance for the salaries of 1,319 teachers, education advisers and supportive staff. =DNA

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ISLAMABAD, JAN 19 (DNA) – The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has filed a corruption reference against Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah over alleged misuse of power in province’s energy-related projects.

While making major progress in fake bank accounts case, the anti-corruption watchdog filed a corruption reference against Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah in an accountability court of Islamabad.

CM Murad Ali Shah is facing charges of misusing the power in the disbursement of funds for energy-related projects in Sindh, according to the reference filed by NAB.

It stated that public funds worth billions have been embezzled for Nooriabad Power Company and Sindh Transmission and Dispatch Company. Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah and Abdul Ghani Majeed are among 17 persons who are nominated in the corruption reference by the anti-graft watchdog.

In October last year, it emerged that Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah and over 12 provincial cabinet members are on the radar of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) under corruption charges in separate cases.

Some of the cabinet members had been issued call-up notices in embezzlement cases by the bureau besides summoning the record of income and assets of others from concerned institutions and departments.

An inquiry had been launched against Sindh CM Syed Murad Ali Shah over embezzlement in Roshan Sindh Programme and benami accounts cases, whereas, former Sindh CM Syed Qaim Ali Shah and Nisar Khuhro were also wanted by NAB in cases. Moreover, the bureau had also initiated an investigation against provincial minister Taimur Talpur and Jam Khan Shoro.

Provincial Minister for Transport Syed Awais Shah and Sharjeel Inam Memon are currently on bail in NAB cases. The NAB had also summoned details of funds utilised by the province to deal with coronavirus recently in order to determine the misuse of funds by the concerned authorities.

Three major arrests including a secretary of the local government department had also been made over corruption in the department. The NAB is also probing around 20 matters relating to irregularities in information, commerce, labour and board of revenue departments. =DNA

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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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