DNA

ISLAMABAD, OCT 11 – Afghanistan’s support to COMSATS’ mandate and willingness to benefit from the programmes and operations of the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) has been renewed.

During his visit to COMSATS Secretariat today, the Deputy Head of Mission/Chargé d’affaires, Embassy of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan in Islamabad, Ahmad Shakir Qarar, has welcomed the offer of scientific cooperation and explored the country’s interests in becoming the organization’s member.

On the occasion, Executive Director COMSATS, Dr. S.M. Junaid Zaidi, expressed his strong resolve to create scientific and academic linkages between Afghanistan and COMSATS’ member countries, including the host country, Pakistan.

Apart from a case built in favor of Afghanistan’s membership to COMSATS, matters discussed during the meeting between the Afghan diplomat and senior officials of COMSATS included: COMSATS as an effective partner for regional and international cooperation in S&T and development; possible cooperation in science and technology-led development; connections and synergies with institutions around the globe especially from countries having similar development challenges; academic and scientific exchanges among Afghanistan and COMSATS’ Member States.

Academic linkages through University of Nangarhar, Kabul University, and University of Herat of Afghanistan were encouraged and COMSATS Telehealth (CTH) was deemed a useful means to addressing the country’s medical and healthcare needs.

Mr. Qarar indicated that he would explore collaborations in context of the latter with Afghan health department back home in order to build synergies and to establish a viable health solution for the country.

The meeting concluded on the note of establishing closer relations between Afghanistan and COMSATS Member States.

DNA

BEIJING, Oct. 12 – Pak-China 18th International Plastics and Packaging Industry Virtual Exhibition will be held in Pakistan from October 26th to 29th, Gwadar Pro reported on Monday.

It is being organized exclusively for Pakistan by the Department of Commerce of China’s Zhejiang Province in collaboration with Zhejiang Times International Exhibition Service Co., Ltd. and CMEC International Exhibition Co., Ltd.

Supported by Obortunity Consulting in Pakistan, the expo will see top manufacturers from Zhejiang province showcasing their latest range of products to buyers from Pakistan.

There will be more than 50 exhibitors from multiple segments of plastics and packaging industry.

The Expo targets the plastics and packaging industry of Pakistan. The broad segments are: food industry, building and construction materials industry, and auto Parts and components industry.

According to the organizers, the range of products has been selected keeping in mind the requirements of the Pakistani market.

The pandemic has created an environment where business needs to be innovative to meet the challenges of the new normal. Online exhibitions and buyer-seller meeting platforms have emerged as the go-to destinations for those who want to expand and diversify in the changed scenario of current times.

This is an excellent platform to step up trade between Pakistan and China. At a time when business has hit a new low due to the restrictions on travel and transportation, this expo will give a boost to business opportunities and will help stakeholders in exploring new avenues to diversify and expand in the current business environment.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has said despite the coronavirus pandemic, there is another good news for our economy.

In a tweet, he said remittances from overseas Pakistanis rose to $2.3billion in the month of September this year, which is thirty-one percent higher than last September and nine percent higher than August this year.

PM Imran Khan said this marks the fourth consecutive month that remittances have remained above two billion dollars.

Remittances from overseas Pakistanis rose to  $2,768 million in July this year, the highest ever level of remittances in a single month in Pakistan.

According to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) report, the remittances showed an increase of $740mn (or 36.5pc) over last July and an increase of $302mn (or 12.2pc) over June 2020.

KARACHI, Oct 11 (DNA): The British Airways is all set to operate its
first direct flight to Lahore from London tomorrow (Monday).

As per details, a flight carrying 300 passengers on board will fly for
Lahore from London’s Heathrow airport. The flight will land at Lahore
airport Tuesday morning.

Arrangements at the Lahore airport have been finalised, whereas UK
diplomatic staff and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials will
welcome passengers of the flight.

Flight will fly for Lahore from London’s Heathrow airport and reach
provincial capital of Punjab Tuesday morning. UK diplomatic staff and
the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) officials will welcome passengers of
the flight.

According to a schedule, the airline will operate direct flights from
Lahore, Pakistan to London four days a week.

All flights will be operated by a Boeing 787-8 departing from Heathrow
Terminal 5, landing into Lahore’s International Airport, according to
British Airways airline.

It is pertinent to mention here that British Airways resumed flight
operations to Pakistan in June 2019. Flight operations that were
suspended again due to the coronavirus pandemic resumed in August. The
airline already flies from Islamabad. DNA

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 11 (DNA): Chairman Council of Islamic Ideology Dr. Qibla
Ayaz has said that federal ministries of law and religious affairs have
initiated work to make the code of conduct for inter-sect harmony into a
law.

The code of conduct was issued at the recently held Paigham-i-Pakistan
conference, which was organised by the Council of Islamic Ideology
(CII).

Religious leaders belonging to all mainstream schools of religious
thought had endorsed a 20-point ‘code of conduct’ in the conference to
promote inter-sect harmony and end sectarian discord in the country.

Chairman CII said that the 20-point code of conduct forbids armed
struggle against the state, prohibits suicide attacks and declaring
someone infidel. Any person or group could not issue a verdict of
infidelity against any group or individual.

According to the code all forms of coercion, armed action against the
state, violence and anarchy in the name of enforcing Islam should be
considered rebellion.

“The proposed law will enhance sentences and some of the offences will
become non-bailable”, Dr. Qibla Ayaz said. A criteria has been proposed
for enforcement of this law, which will help to avoid its misuse, he
said.

“I had said earlier that this Muharram will not be a usual month of
Muharram, a conspiracy has been hatched to trigger sectarian violence,”
Qibla Ayaz said. A plot has been made to sabotage the CPEC and a
peaceful environment in the country, he added.

CII chairman said that recommendations have been sent to curb the
incidents of sexual violence and crimes. “The CII has proposed reforms
in curriculum and recommended launching a public awareness campaign”.

CII has also recommended formation of special courts to deal the cases
of sexual violence, he said. DNA

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ISLAMABAD, Oct 11 (DNA): Pakistan on Sunday has reported 12 more
coronavirus-related deaths during the past 24 hours, pushing the overall
death toll from the disease to 6,570.

As per the latest data released by the National Command and Operation
Centre (NCOC), as many as 28,893 samples were tested during this period,
out of which 666 detected positive.

The overall number of Covid-19 cases across the country has reached
318,932 with the addition of 666 new cases. There are 8,904 active
Covid-19 cases as 303,458 coronavirus patients have recovered in the
country whereas 483 patients are in critical condition.

More than 3.8 million tests have been conducted in the country so far.
Sindh remains the worst-hit province by the pandemic in terms of cases
followed by Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Islamabad.

Till now 140,131 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Sindh, 100,687
in Punjab, 38,329 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 17,296 in Islamabad, 15,520 in
Balochistan, 3,045 in Azad Kashmir and 3,924 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Furthermore, 2,549 individuals have lost their lives to the epidemic in
Sindh, 2,257 in Punjab, 1,263 in KP, 146 in Balochistan, 188 in
Islamabad, 89 in GB and 78 in Azad Kashmir. DNA

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DNA

ISLAMABAD, OCT 11: Air Patrol Unit has started functioning in Islamabad and policemen along with drone cameras have started patrolling in various sectors.

Initially, this unit started working in sectors F-6,  F-10 and F-11which would help police to overcome Street crime.  Drone cameras would be used during rescue operation, ensure protection to the tourists at walking trails and guide those forgetting their ways.

Citizens have lauded this initiative of Islamabad police and hoped effective policing through it.

DNA

ISLAMABAD, – FPCCI’s Businessmen Panel, Secretary General-Federal, Ahmad Jawad said cotton is a major cash crop of the country and can contribute significantly in the economic progress as well as agriculture sector development and prosperity of farming community.The cotton under cultivation area and production declined significantly, as growers shifted from cotton to sugarcane and maize so its output slashed from 15 million bales to 8 million bales. In totality, this has caused losses to the tune of $36 billion over the last one decade.

While production of cotton in India, Brazil, USA and other countries have increased manifold but it was on decline in Pakistan. Because of importing cotton from abroad, the cost of the textile sector increased by 6 percent so this sector became uncompetitive compared to other countries.

“Substandard seeds and pesticides may hit the agriculture sector this year as well; cotton crop is one of the novel example in this regard,”

It noted this was the second consecutive year that cotton growers seemed worried, as substandard seeds had again flooded local markets, especially in Sindh

The government to offer special tariff concessions and give policy on the import of quality and viable seeds which may suitable to our soil conditions especially for cotton crop until the PARC and the NARC becomes self-sufficient in the production of seeds.

Jawad also said that there was a need to take concrete action against fake seeds and pesticides because without improved quality of input the per acre yield could not be increased.

He lambasted the policies of different governments and stated that the growers were forced to think why they should grow cotton. He said that Parliament passed a resolution to fix the support price of cotton but there was no attention from the government side.

Pakistan imported lint worth $9 billion, lost lint production worth $8.3 billion, faced losses of above 35 percent of cotton production value chain and losses accumulated due to loss in seed, feed meal. About oil and others in totality, Pakistan faced losses of $36 billion because of reduced production in the last one decade.

Though the area of cotton under cultivation was standing at 3.4 million hectares, which was now reduced to 2.3 million hectares so over one million area of cultivation decreased in the country.

He said we would have to focus on manufacturing because we had turned ourselves into trading nation at the moment. He said that the self-reliance based on truth and accountability should be our objectives for all spheres of lives.

Jawad also urged the government to facilitate and incentivise cotton growers and bring back to the market those growers who had opted for other profitable alternatives.