DNA

Muzaffarabad; Aug 07: Sardar Masood Khan, President Azad Jammu and Kashmir, has said that Pakistan and Afghanistan have very strong ties that transcend boundaries and their destinies are intertwined; there is kinship and close association amongst the people of the two countries.

Similarly, Kashmir and Afghanistan have a historic relation and the people all these three (Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir) regions are tied in the bond of mutual love and respect, he said.

The President made these remarks while addressing a webinar hosted by Ambassador of Pakistan to Kabul H.E. Zahid Nasrullah on “Indian Illegal Action and Demographic Apartheid in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir”. The webinar was also attended by former Afghan Prime Minister and political stalwart Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leading diplomats in Kabul, parliamentarians, journalists and academicians.

The President expressed his deepest empathy with the people Afghanistan who over the past four decades have passed through a very difficult period in their history and he said that Afghanis very well understand what conflict is; what suffering is; what carnage is. Pakistanis and Kashmiris, he said, feel the pain of the people of Afghanistan. No nation on the face of the world has suffered as much as the brave people of Afghanistan, he added. Masood Khan said that he believes that in a similar stride, the people of Afghanistan also understand the sufferings and hardships of the oppressed Kashmiris.

Recalling his stint as the Permanent Representative to the UN, the President said that he along with his Afghan counterpart worked closely towards reducing the difference and divergences in policies and played a positive role in cementing ties between the two brotherly nations.

The AJK President while apprising the participants of the genesis of the Kashmir issue said that the people of Kashmir had vowed to accede to Pakistan as there were close cultural, economic, family and religious ties between the two people; similar to what can be observed between the two populations of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The President said that after the independence of Pakistan and India, the people of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan waged a freedom war against the Dogra Raj and liberated these areas from the clutches of the Maharaja. Masood Khan expressed his deepest gratitude to the tribals of both present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan who, at that time, came to Azad Kashmir.

“They were the only people who came and helped us in liberating and subsequently defending this territory we now know as Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan”, he said.

The AJK President said that the UN Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir have identified the Kashmiris as the key party to the dispute and has said that a free and fair plebiscite under the auspices of the UN will be held in the disputed territory. Both Pakistan and India, he said, had agreed to the resolutions passed by the Council but over the years India shamelessly backtracked on its commitments and took several measures to integrate the occupied territory claiming it to be an integral part of the Indian federation. He said that through a new pro-Indian political class, India tried to present legitimacy to their rule and held sham elections, year after year, he said.

“Despite the passage of over seven decades of trying to legitimise their occupation and using brute force to suppress the masses, Kashmiris are still chanting slogans ‘Go India. Go back’ even today”, he said.

President Masood said that since the first genocide that took place in November 1947 in Jammu resulting in the martyrdom of 237,000 Muslim Kashmiris, a total of 500,000 Kashmiris have sacrificed their lives for freedom from Indian occupation. Using rape as an instrument of war, thousands of women have been raped by Indian forces and RSS goons.

The President said that this past year has been the darkest period in the history of Kashmir. Thousands of people have been killed, blinded, maimed, forcibly disappeared, incarcerated and tortured, he said.

Masood Khan said that various steps have been taken after the invasion and pervasive siege of the territory on August 05. On October 31, India went a step further and colonised the territory by first bifurcating it and then bringing those areas under the direct control of New Delhi as Union territories.  Thereby, he added, Kashmiris were made aliens in their homeland. In April 2020, they took another dubious step by introducing the New Domicile Rules whereby Hindus from all over India are being brought in to IOJK. “Already 400,000 non-state Hindus have been given Kashmiri domiciles and by this rate, in a few years, they will be in a position to import 4-5 million Hindus. The demography of the occupied territory will be permanently changed and the Muslim majority will become a minority”, he said.

The President maintained India didn’t stop at that and continues to threaten to annihilate Pakistan by the use of nuclear weapons and occupy Azad Kashmir and GB. Any level of nuclear engagement would result in devastation for not only Pakistan and India but the whole of South Asia, he warned. President AJK said that according to international law, conventions and statues; India is culpable to the heinous crimes being committed by them in IOJK.

The President apprised the participants of the menace of rising Hindutva in India that is being sponsored by the BJP-RSS regime. He said that according to this extremist fascist policy, they desire to purge the whole of South Asia including Afghanistan of non-Hindus and materialise the dream of the so-called Akhand Bahrat. 

The President said that economic cooperation is essential for progress in the region, for which we must leverage our strengths towards achieving these goals. He said that Pakistan would welcome the extension of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor up to Afghanistan to benefit the masses in both Pakistan and Afghanistan

Former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar expressed the sincere support of the Afghani people for the inalienable right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people. He said that India should learn a lesson from the Afghan Jihad and understand that by the use of force no population can be suppressed and the only solution to the Kashmir dispute is to give Kashmiris their right to self-determination. He said the Kashmir issue is a grave wound in the body of the Muslim Ummah.

DNA

Islamabad 7 Aug: At the “5G for Good, Innovate for New Value” summit, Huawei and 5G industrial partners jointly launched the first batch of 5G industrial applications. This initiative accelerates the development of 5G, marking the maturity of the 5G industry ecosystem.

Around 50 partners joined the ecosystem so far, including those specialized in both industry and general equipment domains. The scope spans multiple verticals, including 5G industrial communication modules and terminals, 5G antennas, smart manufacturing, smart logistics, smart coal mining, smart healthcare, new media live broadcast, smart city, and smart power grid.

“Year 2020 will see a scaled global commercial rollout of 5G and nation-wide deployment in China. The era of rapid 5G development has come. An essential part of the digital foundation, 5G will drive the upgrade in five industries: connectivity, AI, cloud, computing, and industrial applications.

 5G is set to realize digital transformation across industries to trigger a new round of high-speed development. With the growing maturity of the 5G industry ecosystem, 5G module shipment has started on a massive scale. After half a year of R&D conducted by industry equipment and module vendors, a large number of 5G terminals for industrial applications have advanced to the project testing phase.

Over 100 types of 5G industry terminals are expected to be launched this year. To better support the incubation of the industry ecosystem, Huawei will open up its 5GtoB lab, which will be predominantly used for testing the capabilities of 5G vertical industry terminals. Huawei aims to build a robust platform for developing industrial applications in collaboration with industry organizations, and to promote industry chain development and application promotion together with partners. Our vision is to enable the ecosystem to thrive, explore new fields, and create new value,” said Mr. Xu Weizhong, Wireless Network Chief Strategy Officer of Huawei.

5G drives the digital transformation of industries, facilitating the adoption of 5G network capabilities (from eMBB to URLLC to mMTC) to achieve scaled commercialization of industrial applications. We look forward to working with industry partners to advance 5G across industries toward bigger success.

DNA

ISLAMABAD, AUG 7 – COMSTECH in collaboration with the University of Lahore announces 10 research fellowships, 15 trainings and Indus-Nile forum for academic management training workshops for OIC least developed member states in Asia and Africa.

This was decided in a meeting held at COMSTECH between Coordinator General COMSTECH, Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary and Mr. Awais Raoof, Chairman, BoG, The University of Lahore and Honorary Consul of the Republic of Uganda. Mr. Murtaza Noor, National Coordinator Inter University Consortium for Promotion of Social Sciences Pakistan, also attended the meeting.

These scholarships are offered in health and education sectors. The avenues of collaborative efforts between the two institutions have been discussed to benefit from mutual collaboration.

It was also agreed to undertake collaborative efforts aimed at enhancing cooperation among OIC countries in the areas of science, technology, health and higher education. Mr. Awais Raoof also assured his utmost cooperation in creating effective networking and linkages among higher education institutions across the Muslim Ummah.

DNA

FAISALABAD, AUG 7 – Due to hunger and domestic strife, parents left their four children under the age of five on the road. Child Protection took the children into its custody.

Nadeem Chaudhry, a resident of Chiniot, said that when he saw four orphaned children sitting on the side of the road, he Called the Rajaua Sadat police, who took the children into their custody.

The children were taken into custody by the Faisalabad Child Protection Bureau on the request of SHO Rajaua Sadat Police Station.

When we spoke to the children at the Child Protection Bureau office, the children told us that we are 4 siblings.  Chaand 6years, Sulaman 5 Years, Mehak 4 Years and Maria 3years

According to six-year-old Chand, his father’s name is Jamshid and his mother’s name is Ayesha. And my mother and father were married. There was a fight between my parents and my father beat my mother a lot and my mother left us at home and got angry and went to my grandmother’s house.

According to six-year-old Chand, his father’s name is Jamshid and his mother’s name is Ayesha. And my mother and father were married. There was a fight between my parents and my father beat my mother a lot and my mother left us at home and got angry and went to my grandmother’s house. Our father hit us a lot and he left us at our uncle’s house. When our uncle found out that there was a fight between the parents, our uncle left us on the road and we all sat there crying.

4 year Mehka told us, there were frequent quarrels at home over money. Abu doesn’t go to work, if he goes out, he comes back and says I haven’t got a job. We have nothing to eat at home. We haven’t eaten for two days. My brother said to father, “If you can’t feed us, bring poison from somewhere. We all eat this poison and go to sleep.” My mother started crying and a fight started between my parents.

Miss Rubina Iqbal Cheema, an officer of the Child Protection Bureau, said that separation in families is very harmful for children. In such cases, parents often refuse to keep their children because of conflicts. As soon as the orphaned children are reported, our team takes the children into their custody and finds the heirs of the children and presents them before the judge in the family court. After that, action is taken as per the court order. If the court orders the children to be handed over to the parents, we hand over the children to the parents, otherwise we take the children into our custody.

According to  Miss Rubina, Child Protection bureau is a very active department of Punjab Govt.  and   currently  we have about 40 orphans in our custody, 13 of whom have no heirs. Some parents do not want to keep their children because of domestic circumstances poverty on the other hand some parents are serving sentences in prisons. The Child Protection Bureau has dealt with 74 emergency cases during the Covid 19 lockdown in Faisalabad only. The Faisalabad Child Protection Bureau Office keeps orphaned children from one day infant to fifteen years of age and takes special care of their IQ & EQ training. Along with regular education, these children are also given technical training so that they can survive in their future life and be a part of a healthy societyin.

Most children who come to Child Protection run away from home because they are frustrated with their home situation. Adults in the home should strengthen the family system and increase tolerance. Parents should have a good attitude towards each other and with children. If that happened then there would be a drop of children running away from home.

Dr. Rana Simam said that children of separated families have severe negative effects on their psych. ۔ Moreover various types of trauma also harm the mental development of children. And we cannot be acquitted by simply holding the state responsible. We all have a responsibility to protect children. Children must be made aware of the dangers and must be protected. The danger to the child is not only in the street, market or playground; the child can also be in danger at home too. We can divide children into two categories, those who live at home and those who are homeless due to poverty, employment or orphans. There are dangers everywhere for these two types of children. Criminals look for opportunities and try to satisfy their sexual desires by capturing these children and also involve these children in various crimes. Such people are not mentally sick; they have a very clever, cruel and criminal mind and are looking for opportunities. And homeless children are the easiest opportunity.

ISLAMABAD, AUG 7  –  The Platform by CGSS in Islamabad organized a webinar titled “The Power of Penmanship” on Friday. The session was organized to highlight the scope and opportunities in the writing community of Pakistan and to inspire the young generation of Pakistan to pursue their passion for writing and use it in diverse fields.

The session was organized to highlight the scope and opportunities in the writing community of Pakistan to pursue their passion for writing and use it in diverse fields.

The CEO & Editor in Chief of National Herald Tribune and Daily Al Akhbar Ghulam Akbar explained the important role that reading plays in developing impressive writing skills.

Ghulam Akbar mentioned that only good readers can become good writers as reading helps in producing good content for writing.

Furthermore, he mentioned that the commercial interest involved in the writing industry has led to the disappearance of many famous newspapers and magazines.

The senior journalist and Editor in The News Amir Ghauri mentioned that not everyone can be a good writer and a good storyteller. To be a good storyteller and an impressive writer, one needs to do extensive reading.

Amir Ghauri further mentioned that along with reading, the ability to think independently and to analyze the text is also important.

Additionally, he advised the students who want to pursue writing as a career, to start reading and analyzing the content.

The renowned script writer Naila Ansari briefly explained the Pakistani Media Industry and how the students can succeed in this field.

According to Naila Ansari, knowledge is required to write well. Students need to gather content by traveling, reading, and by keeping good company.

Furthermore, she added that it is very unfortunate that students today do not read anymore.

Naila Ansari also highlighted the role that is to be played by the parents in promoting the reading habit in children.

The world record holder mountaineer and the writer Saad Munawar mentioned that the Power and the Value of Pen are much greater than just earning.

Saad Munawar advised the students to ponder over how they want to contribute to the Country once they start writing.

Lastly, he stated that if one has the skill of writing and you have the ability to make people relate with your writing, then do not let anyone discourage you.

The webinar was attended by 35 participants and was moderated by the Digital Media Executive at CGSS Laraib Fatima Hassan.

DNA

LAHORE: AUG 7 – The Pakistan Poultry Association the has hailed the ederal government decision to lift Covid-19 related restrictions on tourism industry including hotels and restaurants, urging the authorities to also allow reopening of marriage halls at the earliest, as they consume more than 50% of poultry.

In a statement issued here on Friday, PPA (NZ) Chairman Ch Fargham said that coronavirus lockdowns, which led to the closure of marriage halls and restaurants across the country, have further dented the already struggling poultry industry. 

“The PPA welcomes the announcement of Federal Minister for Planning, Development, Reforms and Special Initiatives Asad Umar regarding the reopening of restaurants and hotels from 10th August. We also request the government to grant permission to marriage halls to open on the same date of 10th August under the same Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs),” he demanded. 

He said that Punjab government has already advised to the federal government to reopen restaurants, marriage halls and other sectors. 

He said that the number of virus-positive cases had dropped to two percent of total tests being conducted in Punjab, which is a good news.  

Ch Fargham observed that countrywide lock down in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic was officially lifted for a long times, as markets and almost every business were allowed to reopen except restaurants, which is not fair. 

The PPA leader said that every business took the hit during the lock down period while Poultry sector also incurred heavy losses, as the industry employs hundreds of thousands of workers across the province. 

He stated the marriage halls and restaurant industry has been very badly hit by COVID-19 and non-operational since March 20th, 2020. This pandemic has caused many restaurants to close down permanently while others are near to bankruptcy. 

He said that the Punjab cabinet committee had several times sent its recommendations to the federal government for its final approval from the National Coordination Committee (NCC) but the decision was delayed. 

The poultry industry and restaurants owners were constantly taking up the issue of reopening of restaurants and marriage halls with the authorities, as they also wrote to the chief minister as well as the prime minister, asking them to kindly look after this industry, which is in a bad condition.  

He demanded that marriage halls and marquees should also be allowed to reopen and operate, duly following the SOPs as approved by government.  

He said that during the closure period poultry industry has incurred operational expenditure without any revenue from their own resources including payroll, salaries, utility bills, rentals etc. 

We want the government to give a relief package to broiler poultry farmers, and also announce interest-free and concessional loans schemes with easy terms to help the poultry industry survive this tough period,” he added.

DNA

ISLAMABAD, AUG 7  – Reportedly there is a malicious campaign of financial irregularities being launched on social media regarding two senior army officers i.e., Lt Gen Naweed Zaman and Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani.

NAB has categorically denied and clarified that there is no case against the above officers in NAB, now or ever before. Therefore, any allegation of plea bargain doesn’t arise.