The Pakistan International Airline sacked on Tuesday 60 pilots, of which 28 had fake flying licences. Twenty-seven other employees were fired over uninformed absences while five pilots were sent home after their licenses were suspected to be fake.

“Recently, two employees involved in corruption within the company were also fired,” he said, adding that another employee was sacked over the inefficiency and carelessness.

The airline has been very particular about its employees following the coronavirus SOPs. They have, therefore, announced cash rewards and increments for all those whop implement the protocols.

The spokesperson added that 13 pilots have been appreciated for their services while a promotion had been granted to two others.

PIA came under strict scrutiny after a flight carrying 99 passengers crashed in Karachi on May 22. Ninety-seven people were killed and later, an initial investigation report held the pilots responsible for the accident.

Earlier in June, Federal Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan had announced in a National Assembly session that 262 out of 860 PIA pilots are suspected to have fake licenses and 150 pilots have been sacked over it. He also said that hiring in the company took place on the basis of political affiliations.

The minister’s announcement had steered global concern after which countries such as Europe and America banned the airline’s flight operations there. PIA was also relegated to a one-star airline, the lowest rating out of a total of seven stars, by AirlineRatings.com.

DNA

KARACHI: Chairman Businessmen Group (BMG) & Former President Karachi Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KCCI) Siraj Kassam Teli, while warmly welcoming federal government’s resolve to cleanup Karachi, stated that the business & industrial community highly appreciates Prime Minister Imran Khan’s move to engage National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and Frontier Work Organization (FWO) in the cleanup operation in Karachi which would certainly yield positive results and provide some relief to the perturbed citizens of this city who face immense hardships whenever the city undergoes torrential rainfalls.

“It has just been two days since commencement of cleanup drive and the difference is visible thanks to the hard work being performed by NDMA and FWO who have been working aggressively and we hope maximum possible cleanup is done before the next rainfall”, he added.

“We are really delighted to see that after a lapse of 20 to 25 years, the current federal government has decisively stepped in to do something good for Karachi as all other political parties, who have remained in power during the last twenty years in all the tiers of the government, have ignored this city which is the basic reason for the disaster being suffered by Karachiites”, Siraj Teli said, adding that all the political parties, who remained in power since 90s and till date, deserve no sympathies at all as they have done a lot of injustices to Karachi by completely ignoring all the infrastructure related issues. 

Chairman BMG urged that in order to maintain cleanliness in Karachi, this city should immediately be handed over to Pakistan Army for a period of next five years so that all the infrastructure issues could be resolved in a transparent manner under army’s supervision.   

He was of the opinion that the cleanup drive should not be remained confine to just clearing the chocked nullahs only but every single nook and corner of Karachi has to be completely cleansed from garbage on war footing basis and it must be an ongoing process till the entire city is completely cleaned. “Effective Strategies and mechanism have to be defined which must ensure that the city’s cleanliness is maintained at any cost in future which can only be done under army’s supervision”, he added.

Siraj Teli further pointed out that after cleaning up the city from garbage, the NDMA and FWO should be given the task to rebuild the infrastructure, particularly the dilapidated road network of Karachi. “The roads and sewerage lines in all seven industrial zones of Karachi are in a pathetic condition, creating a lot of hardships for businessmen and industrialists who have to suffer severe losses because of the damages to their goods in transit and sometimes due to delays caused by traffic jams due to broken roads”, he added.

He stressed that as Karachiites and the business & industrial community have totally lost their trust over the capabilities of local administration which has failed miserably to minimize the hardships being faced by Karachiites hence, it has become inevitable to hand over Karachi to the army on top priority otherwise, the devastating situation in Karachi would have a disastrous impact on the country’s economy keeping in view the mammoth contribution of more than 70 percent revenue being generated from Karachi. “This city generates the highest revenue hence it deserve preferential treatment.”

Chairman BMG said, “Keeping in view the dedication and sincerity being exhibited by Prime Minister Imran Khan, we hope that he would pay attention to the plights of Karachiites and give go ahead to handing over this city to the army for next five years which is the only way to practically pull this city out of infrastructure crises and other issues.”

DNA

ISLAMABAD: JUL 4 – Chairman Kashmir Commttee Shehryar Khan Afridi said that Pakistan has to adopt a solution-oriented approach to solve the decades old dispute of Kashmir as freedom was around the corner and the Kashmiris need to be ready to embrace freedom.

Afridi expressed these views while addressing mass gathering at Eidgah Muzaffarabad AJK.Flanked by President and Prime Minister AJK and members of Kashmir Committee during their visit to Muzaffarabad Azad Kashmir on the occasion of Eid to express solidarity with Kashmiris and celebrate Eid with them.

On the occasion, Chairman Kashmir Committee Shehryar Afridi addressed a function hosted by Azad Kashmir President Masood Khan and also met a delegation of All Parties Hurriyat Conference along with President Masood Khan and Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider in Muzaffarabad.He said that Eid-ul-Adha teaches sacrifice and the brave Kashmiri people in Illegal Indian Occupied Kashmir are keeping the sacrifice of Prophet Ibrahim alive by sacrificing their lives every day.

By fighting nine lakh Indian army without weapons, they are setting a new tradition in the history of freedom struggle, he added.He said that he and his colleagues of the Kashmir Committee have come to Muzaffarabad on the occasion of Eid to express solidarity with the Kashmiris and our arrival is an expression of the strong support of the Government of Pakistan and the Pakistani Parliament for Kashmir.

  Shehryar Afridi said that India was imposing restrictions on Kashmiri media through Draconian laws under a plan to gag voices of the Kashmiris. He said that India was killing Kashmiris with impunity under its plan of genocide – that is a blatant violation of the freedom of expression of the United Nations.  Shahriar Afridi said that India’s relentless failures at the international level and Prime Minister Imran Khan’s struggle for the Kashmir issue are a reflection of the fact that the goal of Kashmir’s independence is near.

On this occasion, Afridi called on Azad Kashmir President Masood Khan and Prime Minister Raja.  Accompanied by Farooq Haider, he met the delegation of All Parties Hurriyat Conference in Muzaffarabad.Talking on the occasion, Shehryar Afridi said that instead of telling stories of the past, we have to formulate a strategy for the future so that Kashmiris can get freedom.“We have made a decision that enough is enough. Its time at act now. Now we have to act now and turn claims into practice”.

He said that the enemy is clever and is confusing our youth through rumors and suspicions through hybrid war.   He said the ban on Eid prayers in Indian Illegal occupied Kashmir was a violation of the UN Charter and the International Convention on Religious Freedom. 

Shehryar Afridi said that he would hold the fascist government of India accountable for the criminal act of sealing the Jama Masjid Srinagar on the occasion of Eid and encircling people with barbed wire.Azad Kashmir Prime Minister Raja Farooq Haider said that India was stockpiling weapons in Ladakh after facing a humiliating defeat at hands of China.“India cannot fight China but it has its evil eye on Pakistan,” he said.Raja Farooq Haider said that Kashmiris now want Pakistan to take practical steps instead of making statements.“

If delayed, India will change Kashmir. India has engineered 19 massacres in its bid to change the demographics of Kashmir,” he added.All Party Hurriyat Conference leader Faiz Naqshbandi said that Indian forces imposed curfew, lockdown and  Search operation stops delivery of fruit to market.  He said that it was time to accelerate the Kashmir independence movement.Senator Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif said that Kashmir committee will be the voice of Kashmiris and it was fighting the case of Kashmiris at every forum. He said that the daughters and mothers of Kashmir who are known to the world as half widows are still awaiting for the return of their missing sons and husbands even today.

DNA

ISLAMABAD, August 4  – The 19th “Chinese Bridge” Chinese Proficiency Competition for college students just completed. Haider Abbas and Saira Banu won 1st and 2nd places respectively.

According to Gwadar Pro, the champion represents the country’s mandarin learners to attend the finals and compete with outstanding Chinese language talents all over the world.

As a large-scale international annual event, the Chinese Bridge competition has been successfully held for 18 years since 2002.

Nearly 1.5 million college and middle school students from 154 countries have participated in the preliminaries, among which over 6,500 have been invited to China for the finals. Moreover, more than 100 million TV viewers worldwide watch the competition each year.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year the competition in many countries was held via Internet. In Pakistan, every participant submitted a video to showcase his or her Chinese proficiency.

Haider Abbas and Saira Banu from the Confucius Institute in Islamabad gained high marks because of their excellent linguistic competence.

Compared with other foreign languages, they highly recommend Pakistanis to learn Chinese, and shared their experience on how to grasp the language well.

“Pakistan and China are working collectively on China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) that brings thousands of jobs for bilinguals who are fluent in both languages. China is a leading country in the world of economy.

The two nations are on good terms in trade, commerce, arts, culture, science and technology. These facts provide excellent opportunities to the Pakistani students to learn Chinese language to explore one of the largest growing economies and job markets in the world, ” Haider Abbas explained why he suggests people learn Chinese.

Moreover, both of them have got satisfactory jobs related to Chinese language. “I got my first job as a Chinese language instructor and now I have many students in different cities of Pakistan, some of whom are even double of my age.

Currently I am working at a Chinese enterprise with a handsome salary. I am gaining great experience in translation and how to set up a new company, etc.,” Saira Banu said with a sense of accomplishment. “CPEC is opening many doors of employment locally and helping to boost up the economy of our country,” she said.

When talking about the key to mastery of Chinese, Haider Abbas suggested that learning Chinese as a pictographic language and maximizing the interaction and communication with native Chinese speakers. Saira Banu thinks focusing on tones and phonemes is very important.

Furthermore, watching Chinese dramas is also a way to speed up learning the language as well as the culture.

It’s learned that the finals will start from September to December. The participants will get scholarships to come to China for further study.

ISLAMABAD : The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday took up the dual nationality case against Federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda seeking his disqualification from the public office.

A five-member bench of the commission headed by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, heard the case.

The lawyers of the petitioners and Faisal Vawda appeared before the ECP panel. The petitioners submitted their replies on the maintainability of petitions against the federal minister.

The panel had in an earlier hearing sought comments on the maintainability of petitions against Vawda.
The petitioners also handed over a copy of their reply to the counsel of Faisal Vawda.

CEC Sikandar Sultan Raja directed the counsel of Vawda to present his arguments after perusal of replies of the petitioners.

The minister’s counsel again objected over the jurisdiction with regard to the petitions and sought the ECP to dismiss them.

The counsel argued that a reference for disqualification of a National Assembly member could not be submitted in the election commission directly.

“It should be submitted to the Speaker National Assembly and the ECP could act only when a reference against a MNA sent by the Speaker,” Vawda’s counsel argued.

In an early hearing, the commission on absence of the lawyer of the minister had issued a notice to him to submit his response to the petitions within 15 days. If the minister doesn’t respond to the notice, the ECP will decide the case unilaterally, it warned.

The petitions seek Vawda’s removal from the public office under clause 62-1 (F) of the constitution.

It was stated in the pleas that Faisal Vawda was a dual national when he had submitted his nomination papers to contest election for a National Assembly seat and he concealed his dual nationality.

The minister is no longer Sadiq and Ameen (truthful and trustworthy) as he had filed a false affidavit with regard to his nationality, the petitioners argued, requesting the ECP to disqualify Faisal Vawda as member of the National Assembly.

DNA

Islamabad, Aug 04,: Missing Persons Commission has disposed of 4616 cases upto July 30, 2020 as per monthly progress report released by Farid Ahmed Khan, Secretary (ColoED) on cases of alleged enforced disappearances for the month of July 30, 2020.

A total number of 6686 cases were received by the Missing Persons Commission upto June 2020. During July 2020, 43 more cases were received by the commission and total numbers of cases reached to 6729. The Missing Persons Commission disposed of 23 cases in July 2020 and thus total disposal of Missing Persons upto July 30, 2020 is 4616 and balance as on July 30, 2020 is 2113.
The Missing Persons Commission will resume its hearings soon after review of Lock down policies announced by Federal Government and Provincial Governments in order to prevent from COVID-19 as per law.

Honorable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman, Missing Persons Commission and other Honorable members have disposed of 4616 cases upto July 30, 2020. The relatives of missing persons have lauded the efforts of Honorable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal Chairman Missing Persons Commission and other Honorable members of Missing Persons Commission for taking personal interest in locating their near and dear ones. Honorable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman, Missing Persons Commission is serving Missing Persons Commission in an honorary capacity and is drawing no salary and availing other faculties which are admissible as per law.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the government to submit its response on the report into the Army Public School (APS) massacre that killed 144 children six years ago.

The directives were issued by a two-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed, hearing the case related to the APS massacre. The bench directed that the APS report should be submitted to the attorney general and asked him to take instructions from the government and inform the court.

During the hearing, parents of the martyred schoolchildren appeared before the apex court and asked the bench to provide them with justice.

“What happened to you was very wrong. This should have not happened at any cost,” remarked the chief justice after hearing the parents. Justice Gulzar added that he ’empathised’ with the parents.

The dejected parents, after listening to the top judge, told the court that they cannot live in Pakistan as their kids are not ‘safe’ in the country.

“Do not say such things. The court will give its decision on the facts that included in this report,” Justice Gulzar assured the parents. He also asked them what they wanted in ‘justice’.

“We should be provided a copy of the report,” the parents responded to the CJP.

The CJP informed the parents that it was a secret report and the attorney general was being given a copy of that. He added that the apex court will speak according to the Constitution and law.

“We formed the commission and we will take it to its logical end,” said the CJP. He also vowed that the court will not ‘let go’ those who were responsible for the shortcomings.

Last month, the commission set up to probe the APS attack submitted an over 3000-page report to the Supreme Court.

The commission was set up on the directives of the then chief justice Saqib Nisar on the request of the parents and families of the martyrs in 2018.

Justice Mohammad Ibrahim Khan of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) headed the commission.

According to the focal person of the APS Commission, Imranullah, the statements of 132 people were recorded by the commission that was formed four years after the attack. They also included over 30 officials of police, army, home department and others concerned.

Over 140 people, including 132 children were martyred in a terrorist attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar on December 16, 2014.

The incident is considered as one of the worst terrorist attacks in the country and in the region that shook the entire world.

The government had launched a National Action Plan across the country after the incident to go after the terrorist groups and improve the law and order.