A large number of people are waiting for their turn to receive the Ramadan package free flour distribution token by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Chief Minister of Punjab at Anwaar Club
Meezan Bank, PaySa partner to expand POS services
ISLAMABAD, Mar 29 (APP):Meezan Bank, Pakistan’s leading Islamic bank and PaySa, a fintech startup specializing in digital payments, have partnered to enable point-of-sale (POS) payment services to tap into the country’s booming digital payment ecosystem.
According to the agreement, PaySa would deploy POS terminals and grow Meezan’s merchant and retailer network as an independent sales organization, said a news release.
In combination with PaySa’s next-generation business solutions, the bank will empower the country’s commerce by not only simplifying payments for merchants but also enabling real-time transactions.
Shariq Mubeen, Chief Digital Officer of Meezan Bank said, “Fintechs have immense potential in growing digital acceptance, especially with small merchants in Pakistan, and Meezan Bank is delighted to collaborate with PaySa in this space. We are confident that this alliance will help us in accelerating the deployment of the POS network while also delivering excellent services to all our customers Insha’Allah.”
Whereas, Ali Adnan, CFA/CEO & Co-Founder, PaySa said, “The strategic partnership between Meezan Bank and PaySa is expected to create synergies that will benefit the whole financial ecosystem of Pakistan. By combining their respective strengths, Meezan Bank and PaySa can offer innovative and seamless digital payment solutions that are fully compliant with Islamic banking principles, expand the digital payment ecosystem in Pakistan, reduce the reliance on cash transactions, and promote financial inclusion in the country.”
Canadian political party urges Trudeau to boycott G20 events in Kashmir, Chandigarh
ISLAMABAD, Mar 29 (APP): The New Democratic Party (NDP) of Canada has called on the Canadian government to boycott the G20 events in Kashmir and Chandigarh, Punjab, and ban Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and officials from traveling to Canada for abusing minorities and hurling threats against Canadian lawmakers.
The demand was supported by the World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO), according to media reports.
The NDP leader Jagmeet Singh posted a message on his Instagram profile calling for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal government to boycott G20 summit in Kashmir and Chandigarh.
He also called for safety of Canadian nationals in and outside Canada in view of the BJP threats.
The NDP’s demand for boycott of the G20 summit has been supported by the World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO).
In light of ongoing human rights abuses against minorities in India and threats to elected representatives in Canada, WSO’s letter written by its President Tejinder Singh Sidhu, said, “…since 2014, under the BJP government, India has seen a shocking rise in the number of attacks on minority communities, including Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Dalits and others.”
The letter adds: “Journalists in India have faced increasing pressure to self-censor due to the threat of legal action, smear campaigns and threats on social media, and even threats of physical attacks. Human rights groups have repeatedly drawn attention to the continually deteriorating human rights situation in India including groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, which has been forced to halt its operations in India.”
PM hails removal of Pakistan from EU’s High Risk Countries list
ISLAMABAD, Mar 29 (APP): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday hailed the removal of Pakistan from the European Union’s list of “High-Risk Third Countries”, saying it would facilitate the country’s businesses, individuals and entities.
“De-listing of Pakistan from EU’s updated list of high-risk third-countries is a major development which would facilitate our businesses, individuals and entities,” he said in a tweet.
The prime minister said it was a reflection of the government’s unwavering resolve to further strengthen anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing regime.
The European Union (EU) authorities removed Pakistan from the list of ‘High-Risk Third Countries’ that had strategic deficiencies in the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) regime and posed a serious threat to their financial system.
According to the Delegated Regulation, following the measures implemented to address the action plans agreed with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Nicaragua, Pakistan and Zimbabwe remedied the strategic deficiencies in their respective AML/CFT regimes and no longer pose a significant AML/CFT threat to the international financial system.
A hawker is selling fresh white cheese during the Holy month of Ramdan in the Hashtnagri area.
Amnesty Int’l exposes India for using anti-terror, money laundering laws to silence dissent
ISLAMABAD, Mar 29 (APP): The erosion of the rights of human rights defenders and religious minorities, use of repressive laws including counter-terrorism and money laundering to silence dissent, prolonged detentions, and killings feature today’s India as exposed by Amnesty International in its latest report.
The report “The State of the World’s Human Rights 2022/23” said the Indian government “selectively and viciously cracked down on religious minorities, and explicit advocacy of hatred by political leaders and public officials towards them was commonplace and went unpunished.”
It said that during the said period, the punitive demolitions of Muslim family homes and businesses were carried out with impunity.
“Peaceful protesters defending minority rights were presented and treated as a threat to public order. Repressive laws including counter-terrorism legislation were used rampantly to silence dissent. Authorities intimidated human rights defenders using digital technologies, including unlawful surveillance,” the report said.
Amnesty highlighted that Adivasis and marginalized communities including Dalits continued to face violence and entrenched discrimination.
It said that in a continuing pattern of harassment and intimidation, unlawful and politically motivated restrictions were placed on civil society organizations and human rights defenders including activists, journalists, students and academics.
On 14 July, the lower house of parliament banned a number of ordinary words from being spoken during parliamentary debates including, among others, “corrupt”, “sexual harassment”, “criminal”, “eyewash”, “incompetent” and “hypocrisy” to police the speeches of opposition members of parliament.”
In September last, mass raids were carried out against the NGO Popular Front of India (PFI) and its affiliates across India which was later declared an “unlawful association” under counterterrorism law, for its alleged involvement in the “funding of terrorism and terrorist activities”, despite no such charges and trials and against those arrested.
The Indian Supreme Court had upheld provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (2002) relating to the powers
of arrest, confiscation of property. These powers have been repeatedly abused to repress civil society and limit dissent.
Throughout the year, the authorities routinely used international travel bans to stifle independent voices including the human
rights activist and former head of Amnesty International India, Aakar Patel, journalist Rana Ayyub and at least two Kashmiri
journalists who were scheduled to speak abroad on India’s human rights situation.
The government cracked down on critics by resorting to arbitrary arrests, including without following due process, under
draconian and repressive laws.
On June 28, Mohammed Zubair, co-founder of the independent fact-checking website ALT News, was arrested by police in New Delhi, for denouncing discrimination against minorities and criticizing increased censorship.
Eleven human rights activists continued to be detained without trial in Maharashtra state under the UAPA. They were academics Shoma Sen and Hany Babu; tribal rights activist Mahesh Raut; poet Sudhir Dhawale; lawyer Surendra Gadling; civil rights activists Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira and Vernon Gonsalves; and three members of the cultural group Kabir Kala Manch – Ramesh Gaichor, Jyoti Jagtap and Sagar Gorkhe.
Journalist Siddique Kappan and three others remained detained under laws on sedition and the UAPA.
The authorities imposed new restrictions on freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. The High Court of Karnataka upheld a state order restricting all protests to a designated area in the state capital, Bengaluru. The Gujarat state police detained human rights activist Sandeep Pandey along with seven others who were due to participate in a march demanding a public apology to gang-rape survivor Bilkis Bano as the convicts been released from prison by the Gujarat government.
The Indian government used criminal laws disproportionately against religious minorities, particularly Muslims as the police routinely arrested Muslims for acts including offering prayers, conducting legitimate business transactions, and eating beef.
In the states of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala and Gujarat, public calls were made by some Hindu groups for the economic boycott of Muslim businesses.
Hate crimes including violence against Dalits and Adivasis were committed with impunity. More than 50,000 suspected crimes against members of Scheduled Castes and more than 9,000 crimes against Adivasi people were reported in 2021.
Several Kashmiri journalists were arrested, including Fahad Shah, Aasif Sultan and Sajad Gul. After being granted bail by local courts, they were re-arrested almost immediately under the UAPA. Journalists Aakash Hassan and Sanna Irshad Mattoo were prevented from travelling abroad by the immigration authorities without a court order, warrant or even a written explanation.
According to official data, Jammu and Kashmir accounted for the highest proportion of deaths involving the police in India between April 2020 and March 2022.
As per the report, the perpetrators continued to commit sexual and domestic violence with impunity. The government of the state of Karnataka imposed a ban on women and girls wearing headscarves (hijab) in public schools which also led to harassment of Muslim women and girls.
UAE company keen to promote financial inclusion of SMEs in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Mar 29 (APP): A delegation of UAE-based company InvoiceMate Wednesday visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry to introduce their invoice management system on blockchain for promoting financial inclusion of SMEs in Pakistan.
Muhammad Salman Anjum Founder & CEO, Saeed Alhebsi Co-Founder of InvoiceMate and Advisor on Artificial Intelligence to the Ministry of Human Resource and Emiratization of UAE, Muhammad Zeeshan Abid Co-Founder & Product Design Lead at InvoiceMate were in the delegation.
Ms. Rashida Bajwa, Assistant Director (ME-I), Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan accompanied the delegation.
Speaking at the occasion, Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) welcomed the UAE delegation and assured them of full support in rolling out the blockchain powered financial inclusion enabler InvoiceMate for SMEs in Pakistan.
He lauded the efforts of InvoiceMate for revolutionizing invoice financing by enabling financial inclusion of SMEs and informal businesses.
He said that the financial inclusion of SME was very important to accelerate the economic growth in Pakistan.
He said that SMEs get only around 6% credit of the total private sector credit in Pakistan, which is less than 1% of GDP and is a major hurdle in their growth and urged that the government to increase credit to SMEs to at least 20 percent that would boost business activities and put Pakistan on the path of sustainable growth.
Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad Salman Anjum CEO, Saeed Alhebsi Co-Founder of InvoiceMate said that they were keen to create sustainable financial inclusion opportunities in the Pakistan market.
They gave a detailed briefing to the business community about all the aspects of the world’s first blockchain-powered invoice management and financing solution that enables invoice automation.
It comes with function specific features that provide efficient results, while saving money and resources.
They said that InvoiceMate used emerging technologies like blockchain & AI that provides multiple benefits to the businesses including 70-80% reduction in payable workload, 60-70% reduction in payment errors, 40-50% reduction in cost per invoice, 95-100% achievement in data accuracy and 70-75% reduction in reconciliation efforts.
Faad Waheed, Senior Vice President ICCI said that SMEs were the backbone of the economy and said that ICCI would cooperate with Team InvoiceMate in introducing its latest invoice management system in its member companies to increase their efficiency and productivity.
A skilled Worker Manufactures Baseball Bats in a Factory
Japan funded solar panels project inaugurated at school in Swabi
ISLAMABAD, Mar 29 (APP): A grassroots grant assistance project for installation of solar panels at school in Village Shewa, District Swabi, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, funded by the Government of Japan was inaugurated on Wednesday.
The Government of Japan had provided a USD 58,928 grant, equivalent to around Rs. 16.7 million, to Shewa Educated Social Workers Association (SESWA), a local NGO working in the field of education, infrastructure, and environment, for implementing this project, said a news release.
This is the third time for SESWA to receive financial assistance from the Government of Japan.
This time, SESWA utilized the grant to install solar panels at the school that was constructed and expanded by the past two financial supports from the Government of Japan in order to overcome the problem of frequent power outages across the whole of Pakistan in a sustainable and environmentally-friendly way.
At the inauguration ceremony, Mr. ITO Takeshi, Chargé d’Affaires of Japan to Pakistan congratulated the representatives of the NGO and the community members for the successful completion of this project.
He also showed the expectation that children would get the chance to carve out their bright future and also this project would strengthen the existing friendly relationships between the people of Japan and Pakistan.
The Government of Japan will continue to provide flexible and timely support to improve the social well-being of the people of Pakistan at the grassroots level in cooperation with local organizations.
Prize winners of English & Urdu speech contest pose for group photo with MNA Syed Sami Ul Hassan and Deputy DG FDE Ali Ahmad Kharal at FG Home Economics College F11/1
