KARACHI: The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has detected the violations of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules in its advertisement contracts to different newspapers.

The irregularities were revealed by CAA director finance Shahid Ali in its letter sent to subordinate departments. It is revealed that violations of PPRA rules had been made in ads for purchases and contracts of the aviation authority.

It read that the rules were not followed while awarding some of the ad contracts to the newspapers which have low circulation bracket. He said that awarding ad contracts to those newspapers went against the interests of the institution and PPRA rules.

He asked concerned departments to publish CAA advertisement of its tenders, notices and offers in two popular newspapers in future, otherwise, the finance department will not make financial approval of the projects besides taking legal action.

A two-month protest over the closure of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border at the busy trading town of Chaman turned ugly Thursday when five men were shot dead.

The medical superintendent of Quetta’s Civil hospital, Dr Malik, confirmed that at least three bodies were brought from the border to Quetta along with 15 injured men.

Traders and locals had been holding a sit-in protest in Chaman but headed to the border on Thursday where the firing incident took place. “There are five reported deaths but the situation is now under control after talks,” Assistant Commissioner Zakaullah Durrani told. Balochistan Home Minister Zia Langove and officials negotiated with the traders to hold off the protest for the duration of Eid, Durrani added.

Durrani said that for its part the government has agreed to re-open the border crossing for people but the decision can only be announced after a meeting between Pakistani and Afghan border officials.

The protesters have claimed that the Frontier Corps troops opened fire on “peaceful” protesters, according to Muhammad Aslam Achakzai, a member of Anjuman-e-Tajiran in Balochistan, the traders body. He said that they had been protesting for two months but not a single violent incident had been reported in the area. He claimed that the situation had already been “tense” when they had reached the border to register their protest on Thursday.

Achakzai added that the home minister has agreed to their demands and assured them that the border crossing will be opened after talks with Afghan officials and a commission will be formed to investigate the incident.

SAMAA Digital repeatedly attempted to contact FC officials for comment. This story will be updated accordingly.

Home Minister Zia Langove has blamed “miscreants” for creating what he said was a law-and-order situation in Chaman. He said they attacked government offices in Chaman. The minister told reporters in Chaman that the border crossing was closed to stop the infiltration of terrorists. He added that it was the government’s responsibility to facilitate people’s livelihoods but it would not compromise on security.

According to freelance journalist Syed Arbaz Shah, this border crossing was a lifeline for people who traded and the local economy. When it closes their livelihoods come to a standstill and they had grown quite desperate.

DNA

MUZAFFARABAD, July 31:Sardar Masood Khan, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) has paid tributes to the valiant people of Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir for their resilience to face India’s barbaric scorched-earth policy and their resolve to resist colonialism and foreign occupation.

“We are with our brothers and sisters in IOJK until together, we repulse the Indian invasion and wrestle down the monster of Hindutva which is feeding on Kashmiri lives and rights,” Masood said in a video message to the people of occupied Kashmir in connection with August 5.

He said that this day has gone down as the blackest day in the history of Kashmir as on this day last year 900,000 Indian occupation forces invaded IOJK and re-occupied it. Ever since they have been brutalising the people and colonising the territory.

AJK President said Occupation army has killed hundreds of young men, incarcerated thousands of boys and children and forcibly disappeared Kashmiris. All freedom leaders are under illegal detention. Concentration camps have been set up in the occupied territory in order to force political activists to discard their quest for liberty.

Khan pointed out that late last year, illicitly, India bifurcated the disputed territory into two parts and declared that they would be ruled by Delhi, without the consent of the people. In another sinister move this year, India has launched massive import and transfer of Hindus from India to settle them in the occupied territory in order to change the demographic composition of the state. This is a flagrant violation of the 4th Geneva Convention and international law.

He observed that the scale at which these atrocities are being committed has been rightly termed as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Kashmiris are being exterminated; they are being made aliens in their own land, homeless in their homeland. “The full-fledged aggression against Kashmiris is driven by the Neo-Fascist Hindutva doctrine and settler colonialism. We see a replication of the Nazi policies in the occupied territory,” he asserted.

AJK President said Indian rulers and armed forces, through their warmongering, ceasefire violations, and threats to attack Azad Kashmir and disintegrate Pakistan, are pushing the region to the brink of war. In fact, they have declared multiple wars against all their neighbouring and even against their own population.

Expressing deep gratitude to the international media, world parliaments, international civil society and human rights organisations for calling out India’s revolting and despicable crimes against humanity and for speaking up for the oppressed and besieged Kashmiris, Khan regretted that with the exception of China, Turkey, Malaysia, Iran and West European countries, the response of the most powerful nations has been disappointing and faltering.

He also thanked the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation for its strong solidarity with the Kashmiris; and the periodic statements issued by the UN leadership. But this is not enough. We demand action.  President Masood appealed to the international community, especially the United Nations, to step forward and help us liberate the people of IOJK. Otherwise, it would be too late. An entire people will be disenfranchised, dispossessed, displaced and destroyed altogether.In another video message, the AJK president paid great homage to Ghazi-e-Millat Sardar Mohammad Ibrahim Khan on his seventeenth death anniversary and said that undoubtedly he was a hero of the liberation movement and a popular Kashmiri leader who had got historic resolution of Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan passed at his residence in Srinagar on 19 July 1947.“Ghazi-e- Millat Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan was also instrumental in declaring war against Maharaja Hari Singh’s forces and liberation of one-third part of Kashmir now called Azad Jammu and Kashmir,” Khan said and went on to say that if India had not landed its troops in Srinagar on 27 October 1947, the whole Jammu and Kashmir would have become Pakistan today. 

Terming late Ghazi-e- Millat as an honest, upright and most clean politician of his time, Sardar Masood said that best tribute to our founder leader is to dedicate all our abilities for strengthening and reinforcing Kashmir liberation struggle while adhering to his principles and thoughts. He urged the youth of AJK to follow the footsteps of late Ghazi-e- Millat to achieve desired goals in life.

  In a special message on the eve of Idul Adha, the AJK President expressed the confidence that the day is not far off when the Kashmiri people would celebrate Idul Adha and observe the Sunnah-e-Ibrahimi in an environment of liberty by virtue of the unprecedented sacrifices they have offered for their supreme cause of freedom from the usurper.

He said that on this Idul Adha, on the one hand, the people of occupied Kashmiri who are faced with the worst siege of their homeland by India, are fighting the novel coronavirus while on the other, the Indian rulers and the occupation army has tied them like animals, and dozens of youth are being martyred on a daily basis.

While extending Eid greetings to the people of occupied Kashmir, the AJK president assured that the people of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir would continue to support their freedom struggle till the occupied territory is liberated from usurper India. Sardar Masood Khan assured the people of occupied Kashmir that their brethren in Pakistan and Azad Kashmir stood shoulder to shoulder with them, and they would cross all limit for the freedom of their Kashmiri brethren from the Indian yoke.  

DNA

Lahore, July 31: Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Usman Buzdar has stated that those engaged in negative politics in the backdrop of corona pandemic have faced defeat. The opposition should shun their politics of deceit and stop point-scoring over the corona.

In a statement, the CM maintained that anti-corona policy has proved successful and the smart lockdown helped in overcoming the pandemic. It is sanguine that the anti-corona policy of Prime Minister Imran Khan has also been acknowledged at the global level. It is regretted that opposition has no strategy and they have also lost their credibility in the public, he added. The CM lamented that opposition leaders engaged in making tall claims have done nothing practically. They are isolated and have left the people alone, he said. On the other side, the government has undertaken timely and sane decisions while the opposition tried to weaken national unity, the CM added.

DNA

Islamabad: Pakistan Tehreek -e-Insaf, Vice President Fehmida Kausar Jamali said Kashmiris are writing the history of courage, bravery and determination with their continued grapple for freedom in the face of immense pain, disappointment and inaction. Pakistan would forcefully raise their voice globally until the people of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) got their right to self-determination.

Jamali hailed government decision to rename the Kashmir Highway, which connected the Federal Capital with Kashmir and other provinces, after Srinagar.
“We are looking at Srinagar. That is our destination,” she remarked.

While the world fights against the novel Coronavirus, trying to contain the human and economic cost of the pandemic, India has shown no signs of any let-up in its campaign against the indigenous population of Jammu and Kashmir. IOK (Indian Occupied Kashmir) has been under a state of strict lockdown for the past eleven months, not in some severely paranoid early anticipation of a highly contagious pathogen, but to quell the justified outrage of the people of the region after revocation in August of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave them the status of a semi-autonomous state, which was successfully operationalized in October last year.“India is providing a breeding ground for more freedom fighters who will take that right through force”. She added.

ISLAMABAD –  In order to facilitate businesses and the public for the registration of Virtual Private Networks (VPNs), the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has decided to further extend the VPN registration deadline for a period of two months till September 30, 2020.

The extension has been granted under the recommendations of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT), the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), and the Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT and ITeS (P@SHA).

The legitimate VPN users are requested to approach their internet service provider for initiating the VPN registration process.

For the resolution of any related queries and facilitation, users can email the PTA at [email protected].