MINSK, MAR 6 /DNA/ – Pakistan Embassy in Minsk holds a Reception Celebrating the 84th Pakistan Resolution Day and 30th Anniversary of Pakistan-Belarus Diplomatic Relations.

The Embassy of Pakistan in Belarus organized a Reception in commemoration of 84th Pakistan Resolution Day and 30th Anniversary of the establishment of Pakistan-Belarus Diplomatic Relations. His Excellency Mr. Viktor Karankevich, Minister of Energy of the Republic of Belarus was the Chief Guest, whereas over 250 other guests, including Ambassadors, Belarusian dignitaries, media personnel and expatriate Pakistanis attended the event.

Reflecting on the historic significance of March 23rd, Ambassador of Pakistan to Belarus Sajjad Haider Khan, paid homage to the visionary founding fathers especially Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah, whose leadership led to the birth of Pakistan as an independent nation on August 14, 1947.

Ambassador Khan underscored Pakistan’s stature as the world’s second-largest Muslim nation, with a population of 240 million and a robust economy boasting a GDP of $1.283 trillion in terms of purchasing power parity. The contributions of Pakistan’s 10 million expatriates, who annually remit around $30 billion, were lauded for their role in the nation’s socio-economic development.

Ambassador Khan reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to the principles of equality, justice, and non-alignment in international affairs, as enshrined in the UN Charter. He underscored Pakistan’s active participation in multilateral and regional organizations, advocating for peace, cooperation, and regional development.

Turning to the bilateral relations between Pakistan and Belarus, Ambassador Khan highlighted the development of the partnership over the past three decades, characterized by mutual respect and cooperation. Significant agreements, including the visa abolition for diplomatic and official passport holders, and over 80 other MoUs and agreements, have laid the foundation for diverse cooperation across various sectors.

The Ambassador also spoke about the Cultural exchanges between Pakistan and Belarus which have flourished, enriched by film, art, music, sports, and educational initiatives. As part of the 30th-anniversary celebrations, a series of events, including book launches, cultural festivals, art exhibitions, and musical concerts, are planned to further strengthen cultural ties between the two nations.

During his speech, the Belarusian Minister of Energy Viktor Karankevich expressed warm congratulations to Pakistan on its National Day and highlighted the significant milestones achieved since the Lahore Declaration in 1940. He commended Pakistan’s journey to becoming a respected global player and emphasized the strengthening of bilateral relations over the past 30 years.

The Minister highlighted successful elections in both countries, cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and key achievements in trade and education. He thanked Ambassador Sajjad Haider Khan and the Embassy team for their contributions and expressed optimism for continued cooperation and partnership between Belarus and Pakistan.

A special feature about the event was the live performance by students of the State University of Culture & Arts on instrumental tunes of Pakistani national songs.

The Ambassador expressed gratitude to the Belarusian government for their steadfast support and concluded by expressing confidence in the continued strengthening of Pakistan-Belarus relations in the years to come.

ISLAMABAD, MAR 6 (APP/DNA): President Arif Alvi on Wednesday said that Pakistan desired to expand its trade and economic relations with the friendly countries. The president expressed these views during separate meetings with Ambassador-designate of Pakistan to Portugal Dr Muhammad Khalid Ejaz and Ambassador-designate of Pakistan to Myanmar Imran Haider, who called on him at the Aiwan e Sadr.

Pakistan desires to expand trade, economic cooperation with friendly countries: President Talking to ambassador-designate to Portugal, the president urged him to work for further strengthening of bilateral trade ties with his host country, adding that Pakistan was ensuring conducive environment for the economic and trade activities. The foreign investors should avail of such business-friendly environment in Pakistan, President Secretariat Press Wing, in a press release, quoted the president as saying. President Alvi also underlined the need of enhancing political, cultural and people to people contacts between Pakistan and Portugal, besides strengthening of exchanges at the political level. Portuguese IT companies could benefit from the skilled human resources of Pakistan in the respective sector, he opined. The president, during his meeting with ambassador designate to Myanmar, stressed upon further cementing of bilateral relations between the two countries. He stressed that both countries were required to enhance their cooperation in business sector to promote trade. Ancient Buddhism heritage in Pakistan could further bring the two countries closer in tourism and cultural sectors. On the occasion, the president also separately expressed his good wishes for the success of both envoys.

RAWALPINDI, MAR 6 /DNA/ – General Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), Chief of Army Staff (COAS), visited Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) today as chief guest at the rollout ceremony of HAIDER tank (Pilot Project).

The ceremony was attended by Ambassador of the Peoples Republic of China, key officials of Chinese state company NORINCO, high officials of Government of Pakistan & Pakistan Army, and various military and civilian officials of HIT. During the ceremony, HIT unveiled its new Tank HAIDER, which has been indigenously manufactured through collaboration with NORINCO China and various industries of Pakistan.

HAIDER embodies cutting-edge technology and impressive capability in the domain of tank warfare having remarkable firepower, protection and manoeuvre characteristics. Crafted with state-of-the-art advanced technologies, HAIDER stands as a testament to Pakistani defence industry’s relentless pursuit of excellence in defence innovation.

COAS was briefed in detail about the technical capabilities of the HAIDER tank and the progress being made in achieving indigenization in arms and armament.

COAS also visited other manufacturing facilities within the Heavy Industrial Complex and appreciated the commitment of the officers and workforce in successful achievement of another technological milestone.

Earlier on arrival, COAS was received by Chairman HIT.

ISLAMABAD, MAR 6 /DNA/ – Chief of the Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif here at the Prime Minister’s House.

In the meeting, they discussed the Pakistan Army’s professional as well as the security-related matters, a PM Office press release said.

The army chief also congratulated Prime Minister Shehbaz on assuming the office and expressed good wishes for him.

Election regulator uploads forms almost two weeks after expiry of stipulated time

Faisal Sheikh

ISLAMABAD: After a prolonged delay, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has finally uploaded Forms 45, 46, 48, and 49, related to the February 8 general elections, amid allegations of massive rigging and tempering results.

The election regulator uploaded the election-related forms of all the constituencies of provincial and national assemblies, almost two weeks after the expiry of the stipulated time. The deadline for publishing the forms expired on February 22.

Last month, a senior ECP official conceded it was unlikely for the electoral body to meet the legal deadline despite the best efforts, something it could not do in the past as well, owing to various reasons.

He explained that some 300 petitions, regarding the difference between forms 45 and 47 had landed at the ECP on the orders of high courts.

The official pointed out that many petitioners were carrying Forms 45 which were different from the ones the respondents had in possession.

Earlier this week, lambasting the eight-party ruling coalition in the National Assembly, PTI leader and Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC) lawmaker Omar Ayub Khan dubbed newly elected Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif a “product” of Form 47 — a document which provides insight into unconfirmed results of a constituency, including the number of votes cast and cancelled.

The PTI claimed its mandate was stolen in the February 8 general elections and results were changed in Form 47s.

The Imran Khan-founded party also claimed they won 180 NA seats as per the statistics of Form 45s.

It is pertinent to mention here that Form 45, also known as the Presiding Officer’s Results of the Count, is the form that the presiding officer (PO) is required to sign and provide with his thumb impression and signature to the polling agents.

This form records the number of votes cast in a polling station. It also separately mentions how many votes a candidate received from that polling station.

The purpose of this form is to prevent any alteration during the process, ensuring transparency in the results. This is admissible in court too.

Form 46 is the form that has the count for the ballot papers. It has the number of ballot papers received at a polling station, the number of ballot papers taken out of the ballot box, tendered ballot papers, challenged, spoiled, stray, and cancelled ballot papers at a polling station.

Form 47 is another important form related to polling stations. In this form, the count of votes from all the polling stations of a constituency is recorded by the Returning Officer.

This makes a provisional consolidated result of the constituency sans postal ballots. A postal ballot is a ballot of a registered voter and it is filled and sent to the voting centre through postal mail by the person eligible for postal ballot.

ISLAMABAD, MAR 5 /DNA/ – Health experts and anti-tobacco activists urge the government to harmonize cigarette taxes with WHO guidelines to protect the country’s youth from falling victim to smoking, a consequence of the current affordability of cigarettes*.

Imposition of low taxes on cigarettes in Pakistan make them cheaper that not only increases the number of smokers every year but also smoking related diseases and health bill for the government.

Dr Maleek Haider has an unending number of patients of smoking-induced ailments.

“Most of my patients are poor and bread-winners in their families. I have observed that they start smoking at an early age and fall sick by the time they cross 30,” he said.

His observation strikes a chord with the findings of one of the latest studies on smoking in Pakistan conducted by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics.

It says that 86 percent of the cost of smoking-induced diseases is borne by individuals in 35–64 age group.

Alarmingly, it also states that total cost of mortality and morbidity by smoking accounts for 1.6 percent of GDP of a country that spends less than 1 percent of its GDP on healthcare.

Shedding light on why cigarettes are cheap, the study says that it is due to overlooking at the guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO guidelines state that “threshold of 70 percent of the retail price or the level required to cover the costs tobacco makes the country incur. In the latter case, the increase would be four to five times what the tax rate is now. In the short-run, the rates on the two tax tiers should be increased with a higher increase for the second tier so that the gap between them is minimized. In the long run, however, the two-tier system should be abolished to have a single-tier system. This would help in bringing the poor out of the vicious cycle of poverty in addition to reducing the smoking-related disease burden.”

The total revenue collected from cigarettes taxation in the fiscal year 2021-22 was Rs 150 billion. Hence, the economic and health cost imposed by smoking on society is 3.65 times higher than the overall tax collected from the tobacco industry.

Similarly, the smoking-attributable direct cost is 8.3 percent of the total health expenditures, which is significantly high. Likewise, the total economic cost of smoking is almost equal (1.03 times) to the public sector health spending (both federal and provincial), says the PIDE report. 

Anti-tobacco activists have called for increasing taxes on cigarettes instead of utilities such as electricity and gas.

Malik Imran Ahmad, Country Head of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), also pointed out high prevalence of tobacco use in the country, with 31.9 million adults (15 years and above) consuming tobacco products, accounting for about 19.7% of the adult population.

It is estimated that smoking-induced illnesses, such as cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases, contribute to over 160,000 deaths annually in Pakistan.

Dr. Aman Khan director Waseela Foundation says that multi-national cigarette manufacturers know how to manipulate media to mislead the masses into smoking.

He said research has shown that hardly 16 percent of the cigarettes are illicit but the companies propagate that they account for 40 percent. These multinational companies are influential enough to stifle voices of sanity on media, he added.

He said the government needs to build a narrative on modern lines keeping in view the changing nature of media to counter smoking.