ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (APP):Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Chaudhry Fawad Hussain Friday congratulated Pakistan Tahreek-e-Insaf candidate Malik Asad Ali Khokhar on his victory in bye-elections of Punjab Assembly constituency PP-168, Lahore.

The minister thanked the voters of the constituency and paid tributes to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf workers for their hard work and contribution.
He said that people have once again rejected unholy alliance of the gang of looters of national exchequer.
“The defeat of the coalition of big opposition parties is a clear indication of the confidence of the people of Pakistan in PTI leadership,” he added.
Th minister said that the PTI would continue its struggle under the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan against the powers of status quo and corruption.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (APP):More and more French and European tourists are choosing Pakistan as a preferred destination
for tourism.
This was stated by the representatives of the top tour operators of France who met the
Ambassador of Pakistan to France Moin ul Haque in Paris on Friday.
According to a message received here from Paris, the tour operators who visited Pakistan in September this year in their separate presentations briefed the Ambassador about their visit which
gave them first-hand experience of tourism potential of Pakistan.Consequently, they have introduced
new tour packages for Pakistan and have also created separate web pages on their websites
dedicated to Pakistan.
In response to this promotional drive, tour packages offered by famous French Clio Travels for
2019 were already sold out. Roots Travel will offer a special package for trip to Gilgit Baltistan, while Nomad Adventure was promoting mountaineering expeditions from Pakistan.
Similarly, Guide Petit Fute has decided to issue a new edition of its tourist guide book on Pakistan
in March, 2019 and will also organize a special exhibition of photographs of their visit to Pakistan.
The Ambassador thanked the French tour operators for being a valuable partner in promoting Pakistan as a tourist destination.
He briefed them about Embassy’s cultural and tourism diplomacy initiatives which included setting
a Tourism Desk at the Embassy, launching of a tourism website in French language, holding of International Conference on Mountain of Pakistan in Paris, publication of special dossiers on
Pakistan in local tourism magazines, and airing of documentaries on Pakistan on local TV channels.
The Ambassador informed the tour operators that a dedicated Tourism Office will be opened in the Embassy to further promote cooperation in the tourism sector between Pakistan and France.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (APP):The newly elected members of the Senate Waleed Iqbal and Seemi Ezdi of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Friday took oath as Senators.

Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla administered
the oath to the newly elected Senators.

Later, the Senators signed roll of members as required by the rules.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (APP):The Supreme Court on Friday set up a two-member commission on water pollution in Balochistan, which will provide an initial report in 2 weeks.A three judge bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar also directed authorities to install the water purification plant within a month in Bhagnari Bolan.
The Chief Justice remarked that the Balochistan government should saw the video of a runway on which donkeys and people are watering from same place.
He said people are drinking poison instead of water, the matter is serious, if I have to call the chief minister Balochistan or whole cabinet then I will, he added.
The video of a dirty water pool in Bolan Bhagariwas played in Supreme Court’s Room Court No. 1.
Chief Justice Saqib Nisar asked the Additional Advocate General Balochistan that the government should see Balochistan that what kind of water available to people, who are your masters? Why did not the Chief Secretary come? Chief Minister Balochistan if visited there then could see the actual condition of the province.
Meanwhile, member National Assembly Shah Zain Bhugti thanked the Chief Justice for taking notice of the matter.
Chief Justice addressing Deputy Commissioner, Bolan said that you are watering poisonous water to people. You put 1200 million rupees in non-developmental activities, at least you people should have installed one water purification plants in the area, Justice Nisar added.
He said that drinking water is not just the problem of people living there but whole Balochistan, will not let anyone to escape, I will call CM Balochistan, if I had to call all the cabinets, I would call.
Subsequently, the court constituted a commission comprising, Amanullah Kanrani, President of Supreme Court Bar Association and Engineer Osman Babai and ordered them to make suggestions to resolve the water problem in Balochistan, moreover Irrigation and other departments will provide full support to the commission, court ruled.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (APP):State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Muhammad Khan on Friday said that National Disaster Management
Authority (NDMA) was working in to deal with the drought situation in the specific areas of Sindh and Baluchistan.Speaking in the Senate during question hour session, the minister said that currently NDMA was also busy in
looking after the situation after rains created in the effected areas of Azad Jammu and
Kashmir (AJK) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).
He said that in past NDMA has worked efficiently during the earthquake 2005 and the situation created after
the flood 2010.
He said although after 18th constitutional amendment, NDMA was a devolved subject and fundamental responsibility
to manage the disasters rests with respective Provinces, while NDMA acts as national
backup support at federal level.
NDMA functions in close coordination with all relevant Govt departments including Armed Forces, NGOs/
INGOs, UN and Donor Agencies, he added.
He further said that Disaster Management Cycle comprises of Before Disaster Prevention & mitigation, Preparedness, Early Warning, and after disaster Rescue & Relief, Recovery &
Rehabilitation, Reconstruction.
In view of magnitude of disasters vis-a-vis handling capacity various Disaster Management Bodies including
DDMA, PDMAs or NDMA, he added.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (APP):Federal Minister for Law and Justice Dr Muhammad Farogh Naseem Friday said that as many as 350,447 cases are pending in the Supreme Court and all provincial high courts across the country.Speaking in the Senate during question hour session, he said that the number of pending cases in the Supreme Court is 39,742, while in Lahore High Court 165,800, Sindh High Court 91,548, Peshawar High Court 29,449, Balochistan High Court 6,852 and in the Islamabad High Court 17,056.
Replying to another question, he said, that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the complaints from general public, has authorized inquiry against Management of Eden Housing and Developers and others.
During the proceedings, he said, accused Dr Muhammad Amjad, Anjum Amjad, Murtaza Amjad and Mustafa Amjad did not join the investigation and declared as Proclaimed Offenders by the Accountability Court.
He told the Upper House that NAB Lahore has freezed all immoveable properties of the accused persons including Eden Housing Ltd to secure the interest of general public and appointed Receiver of said immoveable properties.
NAB Lahore, the minister said, published advertisements in daily newspapers and uploaded application form on website of NAB to facilitate the general public for submission of their claims without visiting NAB Office.
In this regard, 7611 complaints/claims of general public amounting to Rs 11 Billion approximately have been received for non delivery of possession of plots/houses or non refund of paid amount to the affectees, he added.
“The process of the exact amount of each affectee is under process. The accused persons have absconded and their extradition is under process. There is no recovery in the case so far. In case of recovery, the claimants will be compensated as per the criteria/SOP without any discrimination, he informed the Senate.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (APP):Ministry of Railway is planning to upgrade and renovate as many as 31 railway station across the country at an estimated cost of Rs. 2972.95 million for provision better facilities to the passengers.

“In this regard, Pakistan Railways has submitted PC-I for approval to rehabilitation and up-gradation of the railways stations,” an official in the Ministry of Railways told APP.

Giving details of the railway stations, he said that Pakistan Railways will be upgraded nine railway stations in Punjab province, 12 in Sindh, five in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, three in Balochistan and one in Federal Capital.

The official said that Pakistan Railways will be spent Rs 977.32 million for up-gradation of railway in Punjab, Rs 1242.93 million in Sindh, Rs 442.71 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Rs 243.49 million in Balochistan and Rs 66.5 million in Federal Capital.

He said that Pakistan Railways has incurred Rs 144.605 million on the repair, renovation and re-construction of railway stations across the country during the period 1-1-2012 to 31-12-2014.

“Out of total amount Pakistan Railways has spent Rs 86.556million on repair and renovation of railway stations in Punjab, Rs 57.278 million in Sindh, Rs 0.371 million in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Rs 0.400 million in Balochistan,” he added.

To a question, the official said that renovation of work of track, bridges and stations on Sibi-Khost Section is in progress and will be completed as soon as possible.

He said that the renovation work on the section included rehabilitation of eight railway stations on at an estimated cost of Rs. 238 million, out of which an amount of Rs. 155 million has been incurred so far.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 14 (APP):Minister of State for Revenue Hammad Azhar Friday informed the Senate that price of dollar against rupee had been maintained artificially by spending $ 8 billion from foreign reserves in the past.Responding to a Calling Attention notice raised by Sherry Rehman regarding record devaluation of Pak rupees against US dollar, the minister said the government inherited worst economic situation and making all out efforts to put it on right track.
Giving details, he said in December 2017, rupee rate against dollar was Rs 104, in May 2018, it was Rs 124 and in June 2018, it further jumped to Rs.129.
Clarifying the statement attributed to the Governor State Bank of Pakistan, he said rupee would not be further depreciated.
However, the minister could not complete his answer due to pointing out of quorum by PML-N Senator Ashok Kumar.
Later, the House was adjourned to meet again on Monday at 2:00 pm.
Meanwhile, as many as two reports of standing committee on National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination regarding getting of WHO certification of Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan and the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (Amendment) Bill, 2018 were presented in the House.
Chairman Standing Committee Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh presented both the reports.

LAHORE, Dec 14 (APP):Punjab Governor Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has said that good governance with strong institutions and accountability process carried its impact down to the masses, particularly to the poor.

He was addressing the certificate awarding ceremony among the participants of 109th National Management Course and 24th Senior Management Course held at National School of Public Policy here on Friday.
It was important to improve governance and build institutions for poverty reduction and development of the country, he said.
The governor said that state was responsible for creating a conducive political, legal and economic environment for building individual capabilities, creating socio-economic opportunities and encouraging private initiatives, adding that these could only be delivered through the civil services.
“We should always keep in mind that people are at the heart of public policy and their welfare should be our goal and for which we all will be judged,” he added.
The country needed dedication and commitment by the Civil Servants at the federal and provincial levels, he said.
“It is imperative that we improve service delivery to the people and achieve the expected level of performance,” he said.
He said civil services must now rise to meet the challenges. “The government has provided the direction and policy framework and the civil services should execute and deliver better services to the satisfaction of the people of Pakistan,” he added.
The governor said that they had rich and diverse experience of managing state affairs in the federal and provincial governments and dealing with the public at various levels.
He said that the officers had unique perspectives on problems and issues and more specifically, on formulation and implementation of national policies in various sectors.
He said that Pakistan is a country with immense opportunities ranging from natural resources to its demography. However, he added that currently the country was facing multiple challenges on both social and economic fronts while
terrorism and extremism were the central concerns of the nation.
“The National Action Plan has yielded positive results, however, defeating terrorism completely still remains our top priority,” he said.
He said that an alliance of super powers jointly could not succeed to curb terrorists from Afghanistan whereas
Pakistan had successfully eliminated terrorist from the country with the help of public support, Pak-Army, intelligence institutions, police and other security departments.
“Pakistan has sacrificed more than 50,000 lives in the war against terrorism in which soldiers of Pak-Army, Police and other security institutions besides the citizens had rendered their lives,” he added.
“We also faced loss of more than Rs 100 billion in this war,” he said.
“Unfortunately international community does not appreciate our sacrifices for peace and asked us to do more,”
the governor added.
He said that sacrifices of Pakistan should be acknowledged globally.
The governor said that Pakistan has the capacity to become a great and prosperous country.
“We are a nation of over 200 million people whose capabilities are second to none,” he added. The governor shared the information that about 22 million children were not going to school and they were working in workshops or other work places.
“We will bring them to schools so that they could get education and become useful citizens,” he vowed.
He said that political influence in the institutions had been terminated and now posting and transfers would be made on the basis of merit instead of political pressure.
“Our standard should be Right Person for The Right Job,” he added. The governor said that Civil Services of Pakistan were the mainframe that holds together the various state organizations and institutions.
He said the strength of the mainframe lies in professionalism, competence, integrity, compassion, commitment
and perseverance of the officers. It is pertinent to mention here that 58 officers of Grade 20 participated in the 109th National Management Course while 46 officers of Grade 19 attended the 24th Senior Management Course.
Rector of National School of Public Policy Azmat Ali Ranjha was also present on the occasion.