KARACHI : The Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) has completed most part of its cleaning work of three main sewerage drains of Karachi on the fourth day of its clearance operation.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was tasked to clean the sewerage drains in Karachi by Prime Minister Imran Khan, last week.

The FWO continued to clean sewerage drains in the port city. According to NDMA spokesperson, FWO has completed 95 percent clearance work at three biggest sewerage drains of Karachi, Gujjar Nullah, Korangi and Muwachh Goth Nullahs. “The cleaning work of these sewerage drains will be completed by this evening,” the spokesperson said.

“The FWO has cleared Gujjar nullah, 95 percent, Korangi nullah, 100 percent and 90 percent of Muwachh Goth till now,” according to the spokesperson.

Till now 40 chocked points out of total 42 at three sewerage drains have been cleared.

“Gujjar nullah, 89pc, Korangi nullah, 85pc and 75 pc of Mawach Goth nullah has been cleared”, said the NDMA spokesperson.

Yesterday, around 8,500 tons of garbage removed from the three major sewerage drains of the port city, as total 30,000 tons lifted from the three drains so far.

Chairman NDMA has been in regular contact with the FWO and other concerned departments with regard to the clearance work, spokesperson said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan is being briefed about daily progress of the cleaning drive in Karachi.

It may be noted that, Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast monsoon rainfall in Karachi on Friday and Saturday.

Heavy downpour may generate urban flooding in Karachi and Hyderabad and flash flooding in hill torrents of Khuzdar on Friday and Saturday, the met office said in an advisory.

DNA

Islamabad 07 AUG : Huawei top brass are making a rare appearance in the limelight this week at an online summit for customers and media. The modest conference over several days is a shadow of the expansive company events of the past, like the annual Shanghai confab where 20,000 customers would pack out a convention center.

But even so, the intense interest in the company meant the event caught the attention in advance of international media.The title, “Better World,” gives a sense of the charm offensive nature of the event. The driving theme is the potential for 5G, Huawei and mobile in general to tackle the coronavirus and drive the recovery, not to mention help deal with climate change.

Guo Ping, the current rotating CEO, pointed to the company’s healthy 450 billion-yuan (US$64.3 billion) revenue from a “complicated” first half and promised to continue investing heavily in R&D.

“We’re keeping focus and doing what we do best,” he said, hitting some familiar talking points. “We play a vital role in the global ICT industry… We have a broad set of capabilities spanning 5G, cloud, AI and industry applications.”

For operators rolling out 5G, he advised: “Prioritize customer experience and spend money where it is needed most to maximize value of existing networks.

“5G deployment should prioritize hotspots and key industry applications. This is the only way to unlock the potential of 5G.”

Some of Huawei’s efforts in unlocking 5G’s potential are of genuine interest to the wider industry.

Guo spent some time on the role of Huawei and partners during the pandemic crisis early this year. China Telecom famously built a pop-up 5G network in 24 hours that allowed, among other things, doctors to carry out remote ultra-sounds from 700km away.

Telemedicine was one of nine areas where the telecom industry can help deal with COVID-19 and assist in the recovery, Guo said.

Beyond healthcare, he cited manufacturing, aviation and smart city use cases.

He said a Chinese aircraft maintenance firm was now carrying out remote aircraft inspection with the help of 5G-enabled 4K livestreams, cutting labor cost alone by nearly four-fifths.

In aviation, Hong Kong airport’s 5G private network had created a new ecosystem for the airport and partners, with the ability to analyze passenger and baggage flows and enable baggage tracking and self-driving baggage trucks.

In Xiong’an, the new development hub under construction near Beijing has 7,400 5G base stations that deliver network slices for smart banking, autonomous driving and environmental monitoring.

Guo said the expansion into smart city services was “a clear trend” among carriers in which they could use 5G, edge and cloud to deliver services without adding significantly to their existing cost burden.

The Government of Gilgit-Baltistan has green signalled to resume tourism-related activities in the province, Chief Minister’s(CM) spokesperson on Friday said.

The Caretaker Chief Minister Mir Afzal Khan has issued instructions to open the tourism sector in the province with the implementation of standard operating procedures (SOP)s.

The admission of visitors will be subject to the clearance of medical reports, the spokesperson said, adding that the tourists will be allowed to enter the province from tomorrow.

Pakistan to open dine-in restaurants, salons from August 10

Yesterday, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar had announced to reopen dine-in restaurants and beauty salons across Pakistan on August 10 as the efforts against the coronavirus pandemic seem to bear fruit.

Umar had added that a review on the decision to reopen educational institutes on September 15 would be done on September 7. Businesses would go back to their normal pre-coronavirus timings as well.

Sports and games would be allowed to resume but without spectators, and pillion-riding was permitted as well, he said. Travelling in public transport while standing, however, will not be allowed, he added.

Beauty parlours, exhibition centres, and shrines were being allowed to open, he had said, but warned people to follow the SOPs in large gatherings at the shrines and seek permission from the administration before events that may attract crowds.

“The hospitality sector, restaurants, cafes… a lot of people work in this sector and they were facing a lot of hardship,” he stated. “So outdoor and indoor establishments will reopen on Monday, August 10.”

However, the restrictions on passengers in train and airplanes were to continue until September.

“Passengers will be able to travel on the airplanes in a normal manner from October 1,” Umar had said. “The situation was brought under control with the cooperation of the people.

The move to reopen the country came following a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) and discussion on recommendations in the National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC), he said, referring to the primary body overlooks the efforts against the coronavirus pandemic in Pakistan and that he heads.

LAHORE: Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid on Friday cautioned that increase in population may lead into scarcity of water.

This she stated while her visit to the Water and Sewerage Authority (WASA) head office in Lahore. She was briefed about situation of water in the city.

Referring to population increase, the minister urged people of Punjab to avoid wasting water, as they may face shortage of it. Yasmin Rashid lauded the authorities of WASA for developing under ground rainwater storage projects.It may be noted that the Punjab government had decided to expand its underground rainwater storage project to other cities of the province after Lahore.

The approval was given by Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar in a high-level meeting chaired by his in the provincial capital.

CM Buzdar had said that rainwater storage projects will be started in big cities of Punjab and the reserves will be used in horticulture.

“The rainwater could also be made drinkable after purification”, he added.

ISLAMABAD : The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has constituted a larger bench to hear case pertaining to the appointment of legal representative for spy and agent of intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Kulbhushan Jadhav.

According to details, the bench includes IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mian Gull Hassan Auranzgeb.

The hearing will begin from September 3. The details regarding formation of the larger bench have been uploaded at the website of the IHC.Yesterday, Pakistan had recontacted Indian government to appoint a legal representative for spy and agent of intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Kulbhushan Jadhav, said Foreign Office Spokesperson Aisha Farooqui.

Jadhav has been in Pakistan’s custody following his arrest from Balochistan in a counter-intelligence operation on March 3, 2016. During investigation, he confessed to his involvement in terrorist activities inside Pakistan that resulted in the loss of many precious human lives.

He also made important revelations about RAW’s role in sponsoring state terrorism in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD : The accountability court rejected former president Asif Ali Zardari’s petitions on Friday and directed that the PPP leader be indicted on August 10.

Accountability Court’s Judge Azam Khan rejected the former president’s petition to dismiss the reference against him,  adding that the court will issue its written orders with directives today.

The indictment of the PPP leader was postponed due to various petitions filed by his lawyer against the reference.

Last month, former president Asif Ali Zardari’s lawyer had moved a petition challenging the accountability court’s (AC) jurisdiction to hear the Park Lane reference.

Farouk H Naek requested the court to decide the petition before the trial began.

NAB’s Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi had opposed the petition and requested the court to dismiss it as being baseless.

Background of the Park Lane reference

A Karachi-based private company, Park Lane Estate Pvt Ltd, had purchased almost 2,500 kanals of land near Sangjani from Faisal Sakhi Butt, who himself purchased the land from a Pakistani American living in Houston, Texas in the USA, named Muhammad Nasir Khan, for merely Rs62 million.

Nasir Khan was the original purchaser of this land in 1994 and was alleged by NAB in 1997 to be the frontman of Zardari in the Ehtesab Bureau reference filed against him in 1997.

However, all the legal requirements were met and followed in the purchase and transfer of this land from one man to another and then to Park Lane Estate Pvt Ltd, which was a Karachi based company. According to the Form-A Annual Return of the company, its share capital, as reflected in the SECP record then, showed it had 120,000 shares of which Asif Ali Zardari and Bilawal Bhutto Zardari own 30,000 shares each.

Zardari was shown as a director and his son was a member with four others who appear as members and debenture holders.

In 1997 the Ehtesab Bureau of Mian Saifur Rehman, initiated a case against Mr Zardari while the FIA had arrested some persons in the case. Media reports in 1997 had then stated that Zardari had forcibly acquired this 2,500 kanals of land uprooting 300 families to set up a polo ground and a riding pavilion in Sangjani, 25 minutes from Islamabad.

Former Ehtisab Bureau chairman Saifur Rehman had told a news conference on June 10, 1997, that the then chairman of the CDA, now late Shafi Sehwani, a PPP-appointee, was also involved in the land scam. Some local residents including Sardar Ishaque, Raja Mehboob Elahi and Haji Bashir had appeared before reporters and had claimed that they had been forced to sell their land at a throwaway price in 1994 and Zardari wanted to build a polo ground in Sangjani.

It was then alleged that a US resident Nasir Khan had been used as frontman by Zardari. According to a 1997 news report, Nasir Khan was instrumental in making deals with the owners, whose lands were forcibly acquired by the revenue administration of Islamabad not for any official projects but for private ownership of Nasir Khan, who was acting at Zardari’s behest.

ISLAMABAD: A soldier of Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) was martyred during an operation against drug-peddlers in Islamabad on Friday.

The ANF team on a tip-off raided at a house in Barakahu, an area of Islamabad over presence of drug-peddlers. Seeing he team the smugglers opened fire, which resulted in martyrdom of a personnel.

After the shootout, more contingent of police were called on. The smugglers are hiding in a house, said sources.Last month, two personnel of Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF) were martyred and six injured in an attack lodged by terrorists in Mashkel tehsil of Balochistan.

The ANF spokesperson had said that two officials were martyred and six injured in a rocket attack and firing resorted to by a group of terrorists and smugglers. In the incident, two vehicles were completely destroyed.

It emerged that the raiding team of ANF were returning to headquarters after seizing a huge quantity of narcotics. Later, a group of 50-60 assailants attacked the ANF team.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan will visit Lahore for a day on Friday (today).

During the visit, PM Imran will meet Chief Minister Usman Buzdar and MNAs. He will also chair the meeting of NCOC meeting on Housing and Construction.

Moreover, the premier will also address civil servants specially secretaries, commissioners and police officers via video link.

He will also inaugurate Ravi Development Authority and will address the ceremony.

Earlier on February 15, Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar met with Prime Minister Imran Khan in Lahore at Governor House.

During the meeting, matters related to the overall political, security situation of the province were discussed.

CM Buzdar had briefed the prime minister on the ongoing development projects in Punjab. Usman Buzdar briefed the premier about the steps taken by Punjab government to curb inflation.

He had also informed PM Khan about the distribution of Sehat Insaf cards in the province. The meeting was attended by Punjab Chief Secretary and other officials.