Prime Minister Imran Khan says his government is in regular contact with the British government to get PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif deported from the UK, and he will even talk to Prime Minister Boris Johnson if it comes to that.

In a wide-ranging interview on Friday, the premier said since getting Nawaz extradited from Britain would be a “long process”, his government was pushing for him to be deported “which can happen immediately”.

“We are in regular touch contact with their officials. We are making full efforts to get him deported,” he told journalist Sabir Shakir.

Imran said Nawaz had “lied” about his illness and did not undergo any treatment after being allowed to go to the UK.

Earlier this month, the PTI-led government had requested the UK government for a third time to send back Nawaz to serve out his sentence in a Pakistani prison, with the letter this time handed over personally to the British high commissioner in Islamabad.

The letter was handed over to the British diplomat some three weeks after Nawaz made a fiery speech at the opposition’s multiparty conference (MPC) through video link from London in which he criticised the military establishment over its alleged role in politics.

Through the letter, the Pakistan government asked the British authorities to consider cancelling Nawaz visit visa, which has allowed him to live in London on medical grounds since November.

ISLAMABAD, OCT 23 (DNA) – Supreme Court of Pakistan Friday dismissed the presidential reference against Justice Qazi Faez Isa illegal and declared it invalid.

According to detailed verdict in Justice Qazi Faez Isa case, the top court nullified the presidential reference against Justice Isa besides ordering Inland Revenue Commissioner to issue a notice to the judge’s family members including his wife and children within seven days to seek details of his properties.

The judgement stated that the presidential reference filed against Justice Isa was in violation of the law and the Constitution. “…the worthy President grossly failed to exercise his discretion as mandated under the Constitution and, thus, the entire process built thereon leading to the filing of the Reference was in violation of the law and the Constitution,” the detailed verdict read.

An 11-page short order was also released by the top court which nullified the presidential reference against Justice Isa besides ordering Inland Revenue Commissioner to issue a notice to the judge’s family members including his wife and children within seven days to seek details of his properties.

“No authorisation to investigate the affairs of the petitioner was given by the President and PM. Instead the authorisation of the Law Minister was obtained,” said the Supreme Court while explaining the flaws in the reference against Justice Faez. “As there was no valid authorization for the investigation (noted in above), the respondents illegally accessed the tax records of the petitioner and Mrs Isa.”

The judgment stated that President Arif Alvi received admissible advice from the chief architects of the reference, including the attorney-general of Pakistan and the law minister, but he didn’t get “fair” and “objective” advice from a third party on the questions of law noted in the reference.

The President failed to notice the various legal and procedural defects in the reference,” said the court. “These illegal acts of the respondents (the government functionaries) depict their utter disregard of the law,” read the judgment.

According to the judgment, the reference against Justice Isa “is not patently motivated with malice in fact, the scale and degree of the illegalities are such that the Reference is deemed to be tainted with mala fide in law.”

According to the judgment, the court’s decision to direct the Federal Board of Revenue to commence tax proceedings against Sarina Isa and her children was based on two grounds: to establish that Judges of the Superior Court are answerable for allegations casting aspersions not only on their personal integrity but also on the integrity of the institution; and to honour the petitioner’s plea that the allegation of the absence of source of funds and money laundering must be first put to Sarina Isa, who is an independent taxpayer.

The apex court said its decision to refer the case to the FBR was taken keeping in view the petitioner’s (Justice Isa) plea that his wife and children should be asked about their source of funds for the acquisition of their London properties. = DNA

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GILGIT, OCT 23 (DNA) – Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday said that we need to save Gilgit-Baltistan from the devastation caused by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Addressing the people in Ganchhe district of Gilgit-Baltistan on Friday, he said that every promise of Imran Khan turned out to be false, adding that we cannot give chance to PTI-led government, adding that we have to save Gilgit-Baltistan from the prime minister.

The PPP chairman said that the prime minister had promised to build 5 million houses and not a single person was given job. He said, “Employees of every institution and people are protesting, adding that even the Lady Health Workers, are staging protest.

Bilawal said that the incumbent government is making people unemployed, whereas PPP in its tenure increased salaries of the armed forces. “PPP served the farmers, laborers, and the people of Gilgit-Baltistan,” he said adding his party has always taken care of low developed areas.

On Thursday, while addressing workers convention in Ghanche area of GB, the PPP chairman claimed that his party will form government in Gilgit-Baltistan. He is not a politician who will not keep his promises. I am Bhutto’s grandson and do not take U-turn, he added.

“See what Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has done to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. You and I will change the fate of Gilgit-Baltistan by working together. I am not here only for election, I still stand by the promise I made in 2018.

“You will get freedom from the incumbent government just like you got it from Dogra rule. PPP is the only party which can give you rights as it gave to people and protected democracy.

“We are fighting against the selected government and hybrid system through the Pakistan Democratic Movement’s (PDM) platform. I urge people living abroad to visit GB first and then Sindh. We will open universities and campuses across the province.” = DNA

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 23 (DNA): Independent content creators and the
entertainment industry, in general, may be in for some much-needed
reform as Fawad Chaudhry, the Federal Minister for Science and
Technology, announced Pakistan’s first OTT network.

Chaudhry took to his Twitter handle on Friday to share the news,
writing, “We at the Ministry of Science and Technology are all set to
launch Pakistan’s first OTT TV (Pak version of #Netflix),” adding that
the technical part of the project had already been covered and complete.

“Have asked PEMRA to prepare a guideline on content and we will be all
set to launch in PPP mode, it’ll be just another humble contribution,”
he further shared.

Chaudhry also expressed that he is hopeful that the platform will be
functional soon, providing a space for local visionaries. The need for a
local OTT platform has been highlighted more in recent months after
several Pakistani originals were picked up by Indian streaming
platforms.

Talking to a local news organization, Abbasi had addressed the need and
importance of OTT platforms. “Streaming platforms give power back to the
content creators. Their mandate of diversification allows for new voices
to come to the forefront,” he explained. DNA

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KARACHI: Leveraging their existing expertise of tele-medicine solutions that comprises E-Health clinics in low income communities and a mobile application for the masses, Sehat Kahani has now introduced Tele-ICU Technology to their platform.

Together with United Nations Development Program (UNDP), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Health Services Academy and Ministry of Health, Sehat Kahani has launched the first of its kind Tele-ICU project which will enable Critical Care specialists to provide virtual advice in Public and Private ICUs across Pakistan.

According to the President of Pakistan Medical Association (PMA), Pakistan currently has only 50 to 70 critical care specialists to cater needs of a population of 200 million people. Most of these intensivists are concentrated in major cities of Pakistan. This project will allow doctors in ICUs to connect with Critical Care Consultants and Registrars virtually 24/7. The initial pilot will induct 60 ICUs across Sindh, Punjab, KP and Balochistan. Virtual and on-site training will be conducted with the ICU staff. Initial cohorts of training were conducted in Islamabad, AJK and Lahore to kick off the pilot.

Aliona Niculita, Resident Representative a.i., UNDP said,‘UNDP has partnered with Sehat Kahani to launch the Tele-ICU project which aims to increase the capacity of healthcare providers  working in public and private ICUs across Pakistan. With limited number of Critical Care Consultants in the country, this intervention will allow improved patient care particularly for those residing in far-flung areas where healthcare systems are inadequate. This project is not only an effort to build a more equitable and resilient society but will also contribute to UNDP’s goal of improving the lives of the people of Pakistan.’

Dr. Bakhtior Kadirov, Deputy Representative UNFPA said that enabling young female doctors to work from home and pairing them with newly trained health care providers will strengthen the capacity of the existing health care system to facilitate the delivery of reproductive health services to women and girls in hard to reach areas. The current CoVID-19 Pandemic has reversed the positive trends in all maternal and child health indicators in recent weeks which calls for targeted interventions to ensure health of mothers and children. Such innovative platforms like Sehat Kahani will support the availability of critical lifesaving maternal health services to women and girls in need. 

Dr. Shahzad Ali Khan, Head of Department Public Health, Health Services Academy said, that HSA in collaboration with ADB, WHO and Ministry of NHSRC developed “Basic Assessment & Support in Intensive Care (BASIC)” course to train 4,500 doctors, nurses and paramedics.  Training Faculty includes CPSP Certified Intensivists; Course is adopted from Chinese University of Hong Kong. Simultaneously, it envisages 24/7 telemedicine follow up support to trainees for supervision. In this context, HSA has partnered with Sehat Kahani as an extremely innovative Public and Private partnership to ensure technology driven Critical care access to ICUs across the country. As the country fights bravely from the covid19 pandemic, this would be an ideal time to prepare our doctors in critical care to fight the current and future pandemics and critical care issues embracing technology of telemedicine as a bridge. This Pilot project shall impact more than a million lives in the 6 months along with training up to 4500 doctors and nurses.

“With the addition of Tele-ICUs in Pakistan’s existing Intensive Care Units, we look forward to improved patient outcomes, heightened quality of care, and decreased length of stay, while reducing the risk of burnout to our bedside critical care teams. We are indebted to the MOH, HSA and UNDP for their support and trust on Sehat Kahani.” said Dr. Sara Saeed Khurram, CEO of Sehat Kahani.

Dr. Iffat Zafar, Co-founder, Sehat Kahani, in her message said “It was a privilege to meet exceptional doctors & frontline health workers at the training, who are diligently working to improve the health outcomes for AJK with scarce resources. Integration of the TeleICU project in such areas can augment the resilient efforts of our healthcare professionals; physically improving overall healthcare outcomes.”

DNA

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has approached Twitter administration to immediately sensitize its moderation teams and ensure that the platform is not used as a propaganda tool for spreading fake information.

According to press release, in the wake of current smear campaign of spreading false and baseless information targeting Pakistan, PTA has stressed upon Twitter to effectively block handles involved in the campaign.

PTA asked Twitter to take immediate action against such accounts as per its guidelines and policies