DNA

Islamabad: 22 July, – Arbab Shahzad Special Assistant to Prime Minster on Establishment said that trade facilitation and ease of doing business is the priority of the PTI government. He said that COVID-19 has damaged the interests of trader and business man especially in and around Chamman area which is directly related with the common people.

He said that exporters and importers facilitation will increase bilateral trade between Afghanistan and Pakistan. He expressed these views while addressing the meeting on the closure of chamman border and the difficulties being faced by common people of Chamman District in the Parliament House Islamabad.

The meeting proposed to coordinate with the provincial authorities regarding the issues faced by the traders and businessmen in and around chamman border as people of the same tribe are settling across the border. The meeting also decided to recommend the provincial and district authorities to facilitate the locals immediately in this regard.

The meeting was attended by Members National Assembly, Madam Shandana Gulzaar, Mohsin Darwar, Ali Wazeer, Mr. Muhammad Sadiq Shaikh, Ms.Nafisa Khattak  and officers from Ministry of Commerce, Interior, Health and officers of Finance Ministry were present in the meeting.

Task force of Pak-Afghan Parliamentary Friendship Group on Tracking & Scanning of Containers destined for Afghanistan deliberated that Scanning and tracking should not be hurdle for traders. The task force decided to make proposals for making scanning and tracking of the containers at border upto international standards keeping in view of international standards of facilitating the exporters and importers at Afghanistan border. Mohammad Sadiq  Khan Pakistan’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan said that both Pakistan and Afghanistan can take benefit from mutual trade. He suggested to make scanning easy and comfortable for the traders especially the scanning of perishable items. The task force meeting was chaired by Honourable Member Mr. Muhammad Yaqoob Sheikh.

Second Task force of Pakistan Afghanistan Parliamentary Friendship Group in Customs related issues recommended giving one time waiver regarding exponential demurrage charges owing to COVID- 19 Pandemic which are stuck at Pakistan Afghanistan Transit trade. The task force recommended that regional trade is imperative for the prosperity of the common man in both counties and suggested that special concession be given to exporters and importers at this time of emergency due to COVID-19 Pandemic. The task force also recommended to take provincial

authorities and all government stake holders on board immediately to resolve the issues of demurrage charges. The participant appreciated the Initiative of The Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser who believes in the parliamentary initiative to resolve the all issues faced by traders and business men especially the trade with Afghanistan.

ISLAMABAD, JUL 22 (DNA) – “We need electricity and the internet to reshape our country. Pakistan must establish a cybercity to generate, use, disseminate and share knowledge of networking, internet, internet of things and the fourth industrial revolution.

This was stated by Dr. Kashif Nisar of University Malaysia Sabah while addressing an online seminar jointly organized by COMSTECH and International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi.

In his lecture, Dr. Nisar talked about the fourth industrial revolution and IoT, smart home technologies, IoT and banking, IR 4.0 in agriculture and tourism, future internet and information-centric networking (ICN).

He informed the participants that the 4th industrial revolution was coming with the application of internet of things to industry combined with other technologies like big data, machine learning and 3D printing, mentioning that the industrial revolution leading the intelligent information society and the digital transformation.

Wearable devices, building, and home automation, smart cities, smart manufacturing, smart health care and smart automation are the topics of research and application of tomorrow, he mentioned by quoting examples of the application of such technologies from advanced countries.

He gave a snapshot of the future world by mentioning that 10 percent of people will be wearing clothes and reading glasses connected to the internet, 1 trillion sensors will be connected to the internet, 1st robotic pharmacist in the US, 1st 3D printed car production, 10 per cent driverless cars on US roads and 90 percent population will be with smart phones by 2025.

Dr. Nisar pointed out that key success factors in the 4th industrial revolution era were technology, industry, and society that must be fully equipped with the modern information technologies.

The Internet has changed the world and made profound changes in human history, he said, adding that if we compare the world of pre and post-internet, this is the internet that has changed our way of living altogether.

The COMSTECH Coordinator-General Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Choudhary, in his introductory remarks,  said that the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences, University of Karachi was the first one which started using the Internet and Email in the 1980s. DNA

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In a letter written to Chairman Senate and speaker of the national assembly of Pakistan, the speaker of Palestine National Council urged the Pakistan leadership to urgently intervene to release the prisoner suffering from cancer and COVID-19 in Israeli prison 

Shujaat Hamza/DNA

ISLAMABAD : The Speaker of the Palestine National Council, Saleem Al Za’anoon has urged Pakistan  to urgently intervene to release the prisoner Kamal Abu Wa’ar and other elderly prisoners who are suffering from life threatening diseases in Israeli occupation prisons.

In a letter written to Chairman Senate Sadiq Sanjrani and Speaker of National Assembly Asad Qaiser, The Palestinian speaker stated that Kamal Abu Wa’ar has been detained for 18 years and his life is in severe danger and requires immediate intervention to save his life. Kamal Abu Wa’ar has been suffering from a malignant tumor in the throat and is recently infected with coronavirus. He is now suffering from a drastic deterioration of health and requires urgent treatment.

It further added that lives of approximately 700 sick prisoners are in danger too, of which 300 prisoners suffer from chronic diseases at great risk, and are exposed to infection with COVID-19. They require your quick intervention to save their lives.

The Palestinian Speaker stated that he would like to inform that despite the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, the situation in Israeli prisons did not show any positive change, and that the Israeli prisons did not take any necessary health measures to protect the Palestinian prisoners from the fatal virus. Which raised the level of fear and anxiety among prisoners and their families.

He added that the level of Israeli disregard for the lives of these prisoners has reached the point that (12) prisoners have lost their lives in the Israeli occupation prisons during the past two years, due to the policy of deliberate medical negligence, bringing the number of victims of this policy to (69 prisoners), out of (224) prisoners who have been martyrs in these prisons since the Israeli Occupation in 1967.

Saleem Al Za’anoon emphasized at implementing the relevant Geneva Conventions on Palestinian prisoners and detainees in occupation prisons, and the time for human rights, regional and international human rights institutions and parliaments of the world to assume their legal, humanitarian and moral responsibilities towards these prisoners, and act urgently to release them, to put an end to this disregard of the lives of (4,700) Palestinian prisoners, among them are (41) female captives, (160) detained children and hundreds of patients and the elderly.

Abdul Aleem Khan, a 103-year-old resident of Chitral, was released on Tuesday from a hospital after recovering from the novel coronavirus.

Khan tested positive for COVID-19 three weeks ago. He was then moved to a hospital.

Doctors that treated him say there were a few complications during these three weeks but Khan successfully survived them.

A formal investigation has begun into corruption allegations against former Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government spokesperson Ajmal Wazir.

The provincial information secretary was informed of the development by the inquiry commission in a letter on Wednesday.

The commission has summoned details of advertisements given during Wazir’s tenure. Wazir also served as Policy documents and other information have also been summoned from the ministry.

Sahibzada Saeed Ahmed is heading the three-member commission conducting the investigation.

Read more: Ajmal Wazir removed as KP spokesperson on corruption charges

MPA Kamran Bangash replaced Wazir as the government spokesperson on July 11. It was announced that Wazir was stepping down after evidence of corruption surfaced against him. Prime Minister Imran Khan had ordered a high-level inquiry commission to be constituted against him.

“The chief minister has written a letter to the chief secretary for the inquiry and until then Wazir has been removed from the post,” he had said.

Bangash said that an audio recording of Wazir and the owner of an advertising agency regarding commission for a deal had surfaced and was presented to PM Khan after which the orders were issued.

A forensic report of the audio recording will also be prepared by the inquiry.

The Orange Line Train in Lahore is finally set to hit the tracks in October after multiple delays. The project was started in 2015. The metro was inaugurated but the trains were never opened for the public.

The trains’ mechanical and technical trials have been conducted. The Mass Transit Authority has now handed over the project to the joint venture of NORINCO, the Guangzhou Metro Group and the Pakistani Daewoo company.

In the upcoming three months, drivers will be provided specialised training and licenses.

The ticket fee for the metro is still under consideration. Punjab Transport Minister Jahanzaib Khan toldthat they are considering a ticket between Rs50 and Rs60 for now.

He said that the delay in the project’s inauguration was due to the coronavirus pandemic. “I can assure you that all the work on the train has been completed and we are just waiting for final permission and advisories from the health department,” Khan added.

On the other hand, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal has blamed the PTI government for the delay in the project’s completion.

“The additional costs incurred in the project should be paid by the federal government,” he added.

The Orange Line is the largest metro project under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Its track is laid out across 27 kilometres and it has a total of 26 stations. The project has 27 trains brought from China. Each train has five bogies.

Every bogie will have 60 seats. For female travelers and people with special needs, special seats have been assigned. The train will start its journey from Dera Gujran and end at Ali Town.