ISLAMABAD : A flag hoisting ceremony was held at President House this morning as a part of the celebrations of the country’s 74th Independence Day.

Addressing the ceremony after hoisting national flag, President Dr Arif Alvi said the country faced multiple challenges after it came into existence in 1947 as it rendered thousands of sacrifices in war on terror and eventually overcame the menaces of terrorism and extremism.

He said Pakistan generously hosted as many as 3.5 million Afghan refugees, out whom 2.7 million are still residing in the country, in stark contrast to western countries that didn’t even take in one hundred immigrants.President Alvi maintained Pakistan responded to Indian belligerence with peace overtures, slamming the neighbouring country for making the lives of its minorities miserable.

He expressed solidarity with Kashmiris, who, he said, have been facing the worst human rights violations at the hands of Indian occupation forces, particularly after August 5 move of the occupied region’s annexation.

He reaffirmed Pakistan’s support to Kashmiris in their cause, adding Pakistan will not leave Kashmiris alone. He said Kashmir issue has been taken up at the UN Security Council four times during the last one year, which is a huge success of Pakistan’s foreign policy.

The president said Pakistan has also released its political map, reflecting the true aspirations of its people as well as Kashmiris, adding d the new map shows Pakistan’s principled stance on Kashmir issue.

Highlighting the ruling PTI’s performance during two years of its tenure, President Alvi said the government launched an effective campaign against corruption in line with the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

He said the government devised an effective strategy against coronavirus pandemic, including smart lockdown policy, due to which coronavirus has largely been brought under control. Unlike some countries, he added, Prime Minister Khan did not resort to a complete lockdown, realising that it will badly impact daily wagers. He said several countries wanted to replicate Pakistan’s policies on coronavirus pandemic.

He expressed gratitude to healthcare professionals for helping turn the tide against the pandemic.

The president said Pakistan band together nations to fight the menace of extremism. He said the PTI government brought in Ehsaas Cash Emergency Programme under which cash handouts were given to 16.9 million deserving people.

He said the country’s economy is on the mend despite downturn in world economies brought on by the contagion.

Alvi emphasised that nations can get rid of poverty by bringing improvement in the education and health sector.  A uniform curriculum will play a key role in fostering patriotism and progress in the country, he added.

ISLAMABAD : Federal Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood shared on Thursday that the government will approach the British Council, Cambridge, and the British High Commission over the unfair grading in the O and A level meted out to Pakistani students.

The minister said the Pakistani students appearing in the Cambridge exams have largely been graded unfairly which has spoiled their hard work.

“We are approaching the British High Commission and British Council to address this serious miscarriage of justice and hopefully, a redressal mechanism would be found out,” said Mahmood.

Regarding the new unified curriculum, Mahmood said all the schools from classes I to V will follow the curriculum from April which abides by the tenets of the Holy Quran and Sunnah.

The federal minister also expressed confidence that once the class XII curriculum is ready and available, students would opt for the domestic system over O and A level courses.

Mahmood said the NCOC has decided to keep all educational institutions across the country closed till September 15 because of health risks to children.

“The private schools and madrassahs must not violate the government’s directions in this regard forcing the latter to take action,” the minister said. The minister said the government will shut down any schools which open without permission on August 15.

Students claim unfair treatment meted out to them

The Cambridge International had cancelled its May/June 2020 series worldwide with the announcement to award certificates without exams. The CAIE followed a four-step assessment mechanism which included teachers’ predicted grades, ranking order, school review/approval and standardisation. However, after the results were announced on 10 August, students started raising concerns as they got grades against their expectations and previous performance.

KARACHI : An impressive change of guard ceremony was held at the mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, founder of the nation, to mark the country’s 74th Independence Day.

A smartly turned out cadets of the Pakistan Naval Academy assumed the ceremonial guard duties at the mausoleum. Commandant Pakistan Naval Academy Commodore Mushtaq Ahmed graced the occasion as the chief guest.

He inspected the cadets during a parade paying tribute to the founder of the nation and later laid a floral wreath at the Quaid’s Mazar, offered Fateha and recorded his impression on visitor’s book.

A similar ceremony was held at the mausoleum of poet of the East and philosopher,  Dr. Allama Muhammad Iqbal. A smartly turned out contingent of Pakistan Army took charge of the guard duties.

The nation is celebrating Independence Day today with a renewed pledge to work with the spirit of Pakistan Movement to make the country a true Islamic welfare state. National flag is hoisting at all important public and private buildings.

The main feature of the celebrations was a national flag hoisting ceremonies at President House. Public and private buildings as well as streets, bazaars and markets have been profusely illuminated and decorated with national flags, portraits of founding fathers, posters.

Islamabad – First phase of the first ever public fruit garden completed on Thursday with plantation of two hundred saplings of a variety of fruit plants in connection with the Independence Day tree plantation. The first ever public fruit garden is being developed on Major Road-4 in the greenbelt of D-12/2, Islamabad.

Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) has launched this initiative in partnership with Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI), National Centre of Cleaner Production (NCPC), Islamabad Devcom Centennial Leo Club (IDCLC) and FM 100.

Senator Sitara Ayaz, Chairperson Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change, protection of trees is equally important as the plantation of trees itself. Citizens and communities shall play their role in both. She said all efforts are focused on plantation but we hardly see efforts in protection of green cover especially in our cities. She appreciated Devcom-Pakistan for launching the initiative of public fruit gardens. It has many benefits in one go, the public-private partnership, citizens’ monitoring and crops for communities.

Speaking on the occasion, Mayor Islamabad Anser Aziz Sheikh said the public-private partnership is a key to success for social change. Starved for financial resources, he said MCI needs the cooperation of civil society organizations and philanthropists to come up with green initiatives to make the federal capital more clean and green.

He appreciated Devcom-Pakistan for always coming up with new ideas to improve citizens’ engagement in making Islamabad a greener and cleaner city. He said MCI has very limited resources and we look forward to the federal government for increased funding to do the needful to improve the water and sanitation services, improve the green cover and healthy facilities.

The Public Fruit Garden is the brainchild of Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed. He said we need to promote this initiative by replicating it across Pakistan wherever the open spaces are available. The model is that it should be developed in public-private partnership, followed by community-based monitoring and ownership of the locals to ensure sustainability of the initiative.

He said “Every citizen needs to play a responsible role in making the cities sustainable. Authorities shall provide a suitable environment and working relationship to engage non-state actors to make the social sector development more inclusive.

Deputy Mayor Zeeshan Naqvi said the public fruit gardens’ idea was different one. With the support and leadership of Devcom-Pakistan, MCI would be developing more gardens in Islamabad, and we welcome other civil society organizations to be part of the initiative.

Irshad Ramay, the NCPC chief executive, said: plantation is easy but growing the plants in a sustainable way is the responsibility of the concerned departments. We can do one time investment and a bit of monitoring too, however, the actual responsibility of the authorities to make the social investments secure and safe for the sake of the enhanced environment.

IDCLC president Haares Munir noted that youth could play a crucial role in taking lead in the community-based green initiatives if supported and guided in the right direction. Its seven years now, IDCLC has been providing the young people with leadership opportunism to get engaged in the community services and local environmental improvement. Many projects have successfully completed besides ongoing campaigns including green neighborhood, grow a plant – own a tree, zero food waste and community empowerment.

ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday vowed that the government will not leave the people of Karachi alone in this time of crisis.

These remarks from the premier came during his meeting with Law Minister Farogh Naseem and Sindh Governor Imran Ismail held to review the situation in Sindh, especially Karachi, after the torrential rains.

“We are fully aware of the hardships being faced by the people of Karachi and we will not abandon them during the crisis,” the prime minister asserted.

Last month, the PTI-led federal government had said it would not abandon the people of Karachi at a time when the city is grappling with the dual challenges of coronavirus and the aftermath of the recent heavy rains.

PM Imran had also directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to present a detailed report about the situation of nullahs in Karachi.

ISLAMABAD, August 13, 2020: Islamabad Police would further promote ties with community members to inculcate friendly police ecology in the city and ensure protection to their lives and property.It was stated by Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar khan  on Thursday during his meeting with senior members of Islamabad Residents and Police Interaction Forum (IRPIF) which included the senior citizens and retried officers of various departments.The citizens-police relationship came under discussion and IRPIF members appreciated the efforts of Islamabad police chief Muhammad Aamir Zulfiqar Khan in curbing crime especially its action against drug pushers, land mafia and anti-social elements.Islamabad Police Chief briefed the delegation about the efforts of Islamabad police to curb coronavirus, crime, drug peddling and activities of illegal occupation on others’ land. He said that Islamabad Police stood on front line in efforts to check spread of COVID-19 virus and 175 cops contracted coronavirus in their bid for citizens’ safety.Along with philanthropists, the IGP said that police distributed ration and other necessary items among the needy persons.Regarding steps to further promote ties with people, he said that Public Committees would be upgrade and senior citizens would be included in it. The interaction with citizens’ bodies would be ensured on frequent basis and their suggestions would be seriously reviewed to bring improvement in policing affairs.He said that it is prime responsibility of police to ensure protection to the lives and property of the citizens. Every possible steps would be taken to ensure justice to people at their door steps and secure their lives through high vigilance, the IGP maintained.The delegation also expressed their satisfaction over policing measures for safety of the people.PROIslamabad Police