ISLAMABAD, OCT 16 /DNA/ – Ambassador Nawaf Saeed Al Maliky of Saudi Arabia and Ambassador Ahmed Ameen of Palestine engaged in detailed discussions regarding the evolving situation in Gaza.
The two envoys deliberated on matters of mutual concern, seeking common ground and exploring potential avenues for peaceful resolution. The meeting emphasized commitment of both nations to regional stability and cooperation.
ISLAMABAD, Oct 16 (DNA): The Interior Ministry has constituted a
high-level five-member committee to probe the matter involving issuance
of 12,096 fake passports from Pakistan.
According to a notification released by the Interior Ministry, the
committee will be headed by the Passport and Immigration director
general, and will draw the FIA deputy secretary, a representative each
from the Ministry of Interior, FIA and Nadra as its members.
The probe body will investigate the matter of fake passports, including
the issuance of passports and determining the complicity of the
authorities.
The committee will also submit proposals to prevent such issues in the
future and will submit its report to the Interior Minister within 15
days.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Interior has formed a five-member committee
to investigate issuance of fake Pakistani passports to over 12,000
Afghan nationals.
The director general of immigration and passport will head the
committee, comprising representatives of the Federal Investigation
Agency (FIA) and National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra).
Assistant director admin will work as secretary of the committee.
The high-level committee would not only point out the loopholes in the
system but also submit suggestions to prevent such threats in future.
The ministry has given 15 days to the committee to submit its report.
The development comes after Saudi Arabian authorities revealed that they
have successfully retrieved over 12,096 Pakistani passports from Afghan
nationals.
ISLAMABAD, OCT 16 /DNA/ – The Italian well-known artist Stefano Fake has brought to Pakistan the famous digital art zone to Pakistan. The Italian Embassy in Pakistan, in order to make his work known to Pakistanis, organized an immersive digital art exhibition, bringing an innovative art form to the Pakistani audience.
Speaking on the occasion, Italian Ambassador Andreas Ferrarese expressed his pride in presenting the unique showcase of digital art to the public, highlighting its versatility and wide range of possibilities.
The ambassador acknowledged the artwork of Stefano Fake, one of Italy’s celebrated digital artists. He praised Italy’s capacity to blend historical heritage with new and creative arts, dispelling the notion that the country was solely associated with its past.
Stefano Fake, in his address, delved into the journey of digital art, which he began nearly 30 years ago.
He described his transition from traditional art to digital tools in 1997, culminating in the establishment of his studio in 2001, dedicated to creating immersive art experiences.
Fake underlined that every era had its unique artistic tools, and digital art represented the current period’s creative expression.
He said, “The purpose of art is, after all, to create original and imaginative forms of aesthetic expression shared with a community through experiences and events.”
Stefano Fake’s early work in this field was initially met with skepticism, often being associated with music or youth-centric events. However, over time, digital art gained recognition and acceptance. His exhibitions now span the globe, from Germany to Colombia, and even recent showcases in Berlin and Shanghai. This transformation reflects the growing appreciation for new media art worldwide.
One of Fake’s groundbreaking approaches was to immerse audiences in a digital environment, using video projection to transform spaces and even people.
He dispelled early concerns about safety and emphasized the combination of physical reality with digital art, creating immersive experiences that evolve and transcend traditional static forms of art.
The term “immersive art experiences” emerged, capturing the essence of their work, as it blends physical spaces, bodies, and digital artworks, making it a unique and ephemeral experience. These art experiences offer a fresh perspective, bridging the gap between contemporary culture and art.
DNA
ISLAMABAD, OCT 16: Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has arrived in China to participate in the ‘3rd Belt and Road Forum (BRF) for International Cooperation.’ He was received by Chinese Minister of Science & Technology, Wang Zhigang, Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong and Ambassador of Pakistan to China Moin-ul-Haq.
The Prime Minister is undertaking the visit at the invitation of China’s President Xi Jinping. He is accompanied by a high-level delegation including members of the cabinet and senior government officials.
The Prime Minster will attend the Opening Ceremony of the BRF and address the High-Level Forum titled ‘Connectivity in an Open Global Economy’ to be held on 18 October 2023.
The Prime Minister will hold bilateral meetings with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Qiang and Mr. Li Xi, member of the Standing Committee of Politburo of CPC Central Committee. The leaders will discuss all facets of bilateral relations, with particular focus on strengthening trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. They will exchange views on major regional and global developments. The Prime Minister will also meet with other leaders of countries participating in the BRF.
While in China, the Prime Minister will meet with leading Chinese entrepreneurs and preside over an interactive roundtable on CPEC to explore new avenues for strengthening trade and investment ties between Pakistan and China.
To further strengthen regional connectivity, trade, investment and people-to-people contacts between the neighbouring regions of Pakistan and China, Prime Minister Kakar will pay a two-day visit to Urumqi, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China. In Urumqi, he will meet with local leadership and business persons and deliver a speech at the Xinjiang University.
The visit of the Prime Minister comes in the backdrop of ongoing celebrations marking the ten years of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Teachers’ family protection bill approved by Parliament is being held by bureaucracy in PM Office
Wedlock teachers hold protest demonstration against delay in sending their bill to President
Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD, OCT 16: /DNA/ – Islamabad’s teachers working on deputation under wedlock in different schools of the Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) on Monday took to roads to register their protest against what they called ‘mysterious’ delay by the government in sending their bill to the President House for signature.
The bill “Protection of Family Life & Wedlock Bill 2023” was passed by both Houses of the Parliament—The National Assembly and the Senate—two months ago in August and was destined to land in the President House for President Dr Arif Alvi’s assent in the same month. The bill aims at permanent absorption of around 300 lady teachers working under wedlock in various schools of FDE for last many years.
However, since August 7 when the bill was passed by the Senate, it has not been sent to the President and is taking rounds from one section of the Prime Minister’s Office to the other.
While condemning this inadvertent delay on part of the PMO, these teachers, mostly women teachers, held protest outside the National Press Club and chanted slogans and regretted that bureaucracy proved more powerful than the Parliament as a legislation passed by the Parliament is lying at its mercy.
They had arrived with their families braving the cold wind and showers. They were holding placards and banners on which were inscribed slogans such as “Paliamant ko Izzat Do” “Ustaad ko Izzat Do” and “Don’t Distrub Family Life of Teachers.”
The protesting teachers were even determined to march towards the Prime Minister’s Office, however, the local administration with the help of the police and the FC stopped them requested them to postpone their march as they would arrange negotiations between them and the quarters concerned in the PM Office.
One of the lady teachers while speaking on the occasion, said they were surprised why an ordinary bill related with the welfare and family life protection of the teachers was being withheld by the government’s officials. “Kindly send our bill to the President and let him decide its fate,” said she. Another teacher said it was unfortunate that bureaucrats sitting in the PM Office were undermining the wisdom of the Parliament. Our protest will continue unless reason prevails and our bill is forwarded to President House, said she.
More than two months have passed since the Senate had passed the Islamabad wedlock teachers’ bill for their permanent absorption in FDE schools, but the bill is yet to see the light of the day as it has reportedly gone missing in the corridors of the Prime Minister’s Office and is yet to be traced and sent to the Aiwan-e-Sadr for President’s signature, she said.
“This is mysterious, shocking and quite irritating that at a time when a number of bills passed by the National Assembly and the Senate have been signed by the President and incorporated as Act of Parliament, a simple bill related to the ‘welfare and protection of family life’ of 300 teachers on deputation passed by the both the Houses is not yet signed by President Arif Alvi,’ said another protesting teacher.
Despite the Law Ministry’s clear observation, the bill was again kept and not routed to the President House. Meanwhile, the Caretaker Prime Minister left for the UNO. Now even more than a week after Prime Minister’s return, the bill has not yet been sent to the President House and the teachers, mostly lady teachers working for years in Islamabad’s schools on wedlock are keenly awaiting when it would finally be sent to the President House as it is directly linked with their family life and future of their kids. We shall continue our protest unless our bill is sent to the President House, they warned.
DNA
ISLAMABAD, OCT 16: The house unanimously supported the demand to raise the minimum age of marriage of girls to 18 years of age throughout Pakistan. Sindh is the only province in Pakistan where the minimum age of marriage for girls is 18 years.
PODA organized a 3-day 16th Annual RURAL Women Leadership Conference in Islamabad which will culminate tomorrow (Tuesday, 17th October) on award ceremony to honor the rural women leaders who have been excelled in their regions while promoting human rights. PODA has started organizing the conference since 2008. It is one of the biggest platforms in the country through which specifically rural women representing all regions of the country voice their concerns on issues which affect them most. This year the theme of the conference i.e. “Stop Child Marriages for Sustainable Development, Climate and Democracy” was set with the input of the women leaders who are the primary custodians of the platform of the rural women conference. This year, PODA brought representatives from over 150 districts of the country, including ICT, Islamabad and regions of AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan. Rural women in hundreds were present during the 2nd day of the conference to call upon the policymakers, legislatures and all segments of the society to work for the protection of the rights of a girl-child who is not able to voice for her own rights, who wants to play, wants to live a healthy life, wants to get education and lead a dignified life as a full-fledged citizen of the country and who wants to exercise all the entitlements written in the Constitution of Pakistan.
“We are working specifically in 41 districts of Punjab, involving and engaging all concerned including communities and government officials to work together to increase the minimum age of marriage of girls to 18 years through a legal amendment. However, it is high time to introduce same age defining who is child in all laws to have a unanimity not discrepancies at national level,” said Sameena Nazir, PODA Executive Director.
“The enforcement mechanisms of child marriage prevention are weak and insufficient and the role of the police needs clarity and direction legally and institutionally. Political parties need to commit to increase the minimum age of marriage to 18 years. Rural women will present on the ground situation about child marriages and share what are the key obstacles for prevention of child marriages and what strategic action is needed to protect the human rights of girls under age 18,” another speaker added.
Fauzia Yazdani, Policy Advisor and Journalist moderated the session. The speaker of this session included, Sumera Shaheen, Director Thal Development Organization, Bhakkar, Amina Mulazim, Vice President Chaman Welfare Society, Chiniot, Kausar Shaheen, President of Lady Health Workers’ Union, Lodhran and Dr. Anoosh Masood, Senior Superintendent of Police, Lahore.
Surriya Asghar, former Member National Assembly and Riffat Inam Butt, Secretary, Law and Justice Commission Pakistan spoke on the occasion.
Ayesha Raza Farooq, Chairperson National Commission on Child Rights said____.
HE Mr. Per Albert Ilsaas, Ambassador of Norway in Pakistan said, “protecting and promoting women’s rights has high priority in Norwegian foreign and development policy, Child early and forced marriage is form of gender-based violence and a human rights’ violation that deprives those involved of choice and autonomy over their lives and their own bodies”.
Pakistan is 5th most populous country in the world with 230 million people and 6th highest country with alarming number of girls married before the age of 18 in the world including girls with disabilities and from minority religious communities.
Through the session on “Asserting Rural Women’s Leadership for Food, Nutrition, Population and Climate Change Adaptation Decision-Making” the rural women explored ways to provide nutritional food awareness messages to rural women to improve knowledge about food diversity and the importance of understanding different and new ways of getting nutrition for women.
Dr. Shabina Raza, Country Director, Nutritional International said, “malnourished mothers more likely to give-birth-weight infants, who are at higher risk of malnutrition and related health issues. Young mothers usually lack the knowledge or support needed to practice optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding which are essential for infant nutrition potentially resulting in undernourished infants and children.”
“Keeping in view that climate change has impacted women’s food and livelihoods options negatively yet women are not included in the knowledge sharing and decision making processes about climate change adaptation mitigation processes, we believe to bring women upfront to tackle the adverse effects of climate change on their lives to find their own solutions here through the platform of the conference,” said Dr. Fozia Kanwal, agronomist.
Bushra Tabassum, Muzafarabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir, Pushpa Kumari, Vice President of Sindh Climate Action Network (SCAN), Dheli Bai, President of Women Self Help Group Sindh, Shirin Akhter, Ghanche, Gilgit-Baltistan, Dr. Shahid Fazal, Technical Advisor for Maternal Nutrition Campaign, Nutrition International, Mr. Marco Mmarchetti, Representative, Olive Culture Pakistan, Dr. Shabina Riaz, Country Director Nutrition International (NI) and Rina Saeed, Chairperson Islamabad Wildlife Management Board, Islamabad. A larger number of rural women gave deep insight on the issues related to the nutritious food. They were of the view that young mother who lack nutritious food are unable to feed their infants and help lead their families for a dignified life.
RAWALPINDI, OCT 16 /DNA/ – Major General Matar bin Salim bin Rashid Al-Balushi, Commander Royal Army of Oman called on General Syed Asim Munir, NI (M), COAS at General Headquarters, today.
During the meeting matters of mutual interest were discussed. The visiting dignitary lauded Pakistan Army’s achievements in fight against terrorism and continued efforts for regional peace and stability.
Earlier on arrival at GHQ, Commander Royal Army of Oman laid floral wreath at Yadgar-e-Shuhada. A smartly turned out contingent of Pakistan Army presented the guard of honour to the visiting dignitary.
ISLAMABAD, OCT 16 /DNA/ – Faisal Naeem Baig, Director General Building & Housing Control of CDA along with his team visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI ) to give a presentation to the business community on auction of plots by CDA scheduled to be held on Oct 17-20, 2023 at Jinnah Convention Center Islamabad. The auction will include commercial, industrial, hotel, hospital, school, petrol pump, class three shopping center, farm houses and residential plots. Zafar Iqbal Director General Planning, Arshad Chohan Deputy Director General Planning, Asad Abbas Director EM-II, Javed Feroz Director BC City and Ejaz Sheikh Director Urban Planning were in the CDA delegation.
Speaking on the occasion, Faad Waheed, Acting President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that CDA should ensure complete development of basic infrastructure and provision of all required services before auctioning of plots to facilitate the investors as many cases, investors have spent huge amount of capital on the purchase of commercial plots from CDA, but have to suffer for long due to lack of availability of basic infrastructure and needed services. He said that CDA should provide a one window facility to the investors to facilitate them in the post-auction process. He said that CDA should use the revenue of auctioned plots on the development of markets and industrial areas to facilitate the growth of business activities. He said that investors have to face problems in getting NOC from the Environment Protection Agency of auctioned plots for construction purposes and stressed that CDA should arrange such NOC from EPA to save the investors from unnecessary problems. He further stressed that CDA should finalize building byelaws in consultation with the stakeholders as unilateral finalization of such laws creates a lot of problems for the investors.
Faisal Naeem Baig, Director General, Building & Housing Control of CDA gave a comprehensive briefing to the business community about the auction of plots from October 17-20, 2023 and assured that the concerns raised by the business community about the auction process would be taken up for redress. He said that auction of plots is a main source of revenue for CDA and assured that a proportionate amount of auction amount would be spent on the development of concerned areas. He said that CDA is focusing on the better development of infrastructure to facilitate the business community. He said that CDA would arrange a one window facility for successful bidders of the auction to facilitate them in the post-auction activities.
Engr. Azhar ul Islam Zafar, Vice President ICCI said that the completion certificate of commercial buildings should be issued on time as the delay in their issuance causes losses to the investors. He said that the investors have to wait for a long for their cases in the Estate Department and stressed that the CDA should streamline this process.
Khalid Iqbal Malik Group Leader, Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi, Zafar Bakhtawari, Mian Shaukat Masud, Sardar Tahir, Sardar Rashid Ilyas Khan, Mussarat Ejaz, Rizwan Cheenah, Khalid Chaudhry and others also spoke on the occasion and gave useful proposals to improve the pre-auction and post-auction activities of CDA to facilitate the investors.
ISLAMABAD, OCT 16: PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s lawyer Latif Khosa told the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that it was his client’s responsibility being the prime minister that if he sensed a conspiracy against the country he should inform the public.
Khosa said this during the hearing of a petition seeking dismissal of the cipher case against Imran Khan. He argued that the Official Secrets Act did not apply in this case nor did Section 5.
The hearing was being presided over by IHC Chief Justice Aamir Farooq.
The FIA prosecutor requested to adjourn the proceedings till tomorrow, while the court told him to submit written arguments.
Imran Khan’s counsel Latif Khosa remarked that the cipher in question was sent to the Foreign Office by former ambassador to the US Asad Majeed. Imran Khan was the chief executive of the country at the time, and his oath empowered him in such a situation.
“It is recognized that this was an interference in the internal affairs of Pakistan. The former prime minister fulfilled his national duty. A PM’s oath allows him to inform the nation about the threat to the country,” the lawyer argued.
It is ridiculous to say that the PTI chairman took away the cipher, he said, adding that the president insists he did not sign on the amendments to the Official Secrets Act.
Even if the law is enforced, it does not apply to the past, Khosa said. He added that Section 5 did not apply in the cipher case. He maintained that this case was filed on the basis of malice.
Meanwhile, the special court of the Official Secrets Act set up in Adiala Jail is scheduled to indict Imran Khan and PTI Vice Chairman Shah Mahmood Qureshi in the cipher case tomorrow.
Qureshi has also petitioned the IHC against his jail trial in the case.
He has argued that without any notification, his trial was being conducted in the jail. He sought a court order for an open trial of the case.
Qureshi has also asked for declaring the October 9 verdict of the trial court null and void and stop the court from indicting him.
ISLAMABAD, OCT 15 /DNA/ – The government has announced a massive cut in petroleum prices. Petrol price has been reduced by Rs 40 per liter while diesel price is reduced by Rs 15. New Prices: Petrol Rs 283. 80 Diesel: Rs 303.18.
Likewise kerosene oil is reduced by Rs 22.43 while price of the light diesel is reduced by Rs 19 per liter. Levy of diesel has been increased by Rs 5 while levy on petrol will remain the same i.e. Rs 60 per liter.
The profit margins of oil marketing companies (OMCs) and petroleum dealers has been increased as the federal government has announced the new fuel prices. Sources told that 88 paisas per litre increase has been recommended by Petroleum Division in the profit margins of oil marketing companies and dealers from October 16.
The federal government has been recommended to hike OMCs profit margins by 47 paisas while dealers’ margins by 41 paisas, they added. Currently, OMCs profit margins is Rs6.94 per litre of petrol and dealers’ margin is Rs7.82 per litre of petrol, according to Petroleum Division sources.
