ISLAMABAD, Mar 28 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday expressed his deep grief over death of Umrah pilgrims who were killed in a bus accident in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The prime minister expressed his sympathies with the bereaved families and prayed for the early recovery of the injured, PM Office Media Wing said in a press release.
The prime minister also prayed for the departed souls.
According to media reports, at least 20 Umrah pilgrims died and 29 others were injured after a bus carrying them overturned, collided with a bridge and caught fire in Aqaba Shaar in Asir region.
PM expresses deep grief over death of Umrah pilgrims
Huawei makes breakthrough in EDA design tools for 14nm chips
BEIJING, Mar 28 (APP): Huawei has developed electronic design automation (EDA) tools for chips produced at and above 14-nanometer technology with domestic partners, marking a major breakthrough for China’s semiconductor industry.
Nicknamed the “cradle” of integrated circuits, EDA is a widely used software in the sector and significant to the entire chip-designing process.
The Chinese tech giant has achieved localization of EDA tools above 14nm in the chip field and will complete comprehensive verification this year, Huawei confirmed on March 24, citing the remarks made by its rotating chairman Xu Zhijun on February 28, CGTN reported.
Xu also said the company had developed 78 tools related to chip hardware and software.
China has long relied on U.S. companies such as Cadence and Synopsys for high-end electronic design automation tools.
Chips produced at the 14nm level were first introduced in smartphones in the mid-2010s and are two to three generations behind leading-edge technology, but it still marks a breakthrough.
The progress is part of a broader push by Huawei to develop domestic development tools for hardware, software and chips amid U.S. governmental restrictions.
Xu further mentioned that although the company had achieved many breakthroughs in product development tools over the past three years, it still faces formidable challenges, thus Huawei would redouble its efforts to attract more global talents to achieve a strategic advancement in the area.
AIIB increased multinational assistance to Pakistan, Sri Lanka: Jin Liqun
BEIJING, Mar 28 (APP):President of Asian Infrastructure Development Bank (AIIB) Jin Liqun has said that the bank has increased its multilateral assistance to countries including Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
“While liquidity continues to tighten, we need to help those countries that are insolvent.
The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank stands ready to support the world’s most vulnerable countries, and we have increased our multilateral assistance to countries including Pakistan and Sri Lanka. In addition, we are considering post-earthquake support for Turkey,” he said during the China Development Forum 2023.
Jin said that the international community is confronted with multiple risks and challenges.
Prolonged high inflation, tight labour markets, and spillover effects from high commodity prices are likely to keep central banks tightening monetary policy all over the world, China Economic Net (CEN) reported on Tuesday.
“At the same time, supportive policies during the pandemic have led to higher government debt, with bond yields rising and bond prices falling globally,” said Jin.
Risks to financial stability have increased. At a time of higher debt levels, the situation may be even more troubling for some developing countries and low-income countries with high levels of debt, said Jin, adding that risks also exist in the banking sector in some advanced economies.
For those developing countries, higher uncertainty means a change in investors’ risk tolerance. Jin believes that amid such pessimism, more investment is needed, especially in infrastructure.
The development bank will continue to firmly support developing economies in building the conditions for long-term economic growth, Jin said.
At present, we need to reform the governance system so that developing countries can get more involved and reach more consensus under the multilateral framework, Jin added.
Touching on the Chinese economy, Jin and some other participants expressed their optimism, saying that its 5% GDP growth target will be achieved in a quality manner and China will a role of stabilizer for the world economy in the face of downward pressures and uncertainties.
Moreover, the huge potential and sound development of the Chinese economy will provide broad cooperation space and development opportunities for domestic and foreign investors, Jin said.
Pakistani peacekeepers in South Sudan fortifying dykes to keep communities safe from floods: UN
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 27 (APP): Pakistani peacekeepers in South Sudan are now reinforcing the hundreds of kilometers of dykes they built some two years ago to save communities in the Unity state from the cascading waters and leaching mud, according to a UN press release.
When the water levels first began rising alarmingly in 2021, it said, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) engineers from Pakistan swiftly led the charge by building hundreds of kilometers of dykes, temporary defense structures against the raging flood waters.
“We were the first responders and constructed some 88 kilometers of dykes during the first phase,” Major Waqas Saeed Khan, Commanding Officer of the Pakistani engineers, said.
“When we arrived to Bentiu (Capital of the Unity state) in 2021,” Major Khan said, the water level was deep enough, but then it began to rise steadily even more to dangerous levels in some locations.
“Our work in past months has mainly been to reinforce dykes. We are transforming them into three-and-a-half meter high walls, which are wide enough for vehicles and people to use as roads,” he added.
According to Hiroko Hirahara, the UNMISS head, the Mission’s goal has been to forge partnerships with all counterparts—humanitarians, local communities, state authorities—to come up with a consolidated plan to alleviate widespread suffering of the flood-hit people.
Peacekeepers from Ghana and Mongolia also patrol the dykes continuously to report on and sandbag any breakage or leaks, the press release said, while the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the World Food Programme (WFP), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF, and the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, have provided thousands of affected civilians with substantial food, water, sanitation and hygiene assistance.
Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi is visiting Govt. free flour distribution center at Anwar Club
Volunteer distributing food among fasting people at an Iftar organized by Saylani Welfare at Numaish area
Volunteers distributing sweet drink among people at Iftar organized by Saylani Welfare at Numaish area
Two SC judges issue dissenting note in KP & Punjab election suo-moto case
ISLAMABAD, Mar 27 (APP): Two members of the five-judge Supreme Court’s bench, which heard a suo-motu case regarding the elections in provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Monday issued their 27-page dissenting note.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail, in their dissenting note, stated, “We agree with the orders dated February 23, 2023 passed by Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Athar Minallah and dismiss the present constitution petitions and drop the suo motu proceedings.”
They terminated the pleas and suo-motu case related to the elections of Punjab and KP provinces. “However, the high courts shall take decisions in the pending identical cases within three days,” they added.
The two judges said, “We find it essential to underline that in order to strengthen our institution and to ensure public trust and public confidence in our court, it is high time that we revisit the power of suo-motu.”
They said:”So far as the matter of constituting a bench for hearing a case under Article 184(3) of the Constitution is concerned, there must also be uniformity and transparency.”
They said, “The collegial model ensures good governance as it rests on collaboration, shared decision making and balance of power to ensure the best outcome. Unfortunately the top court could not make structure of its own powers”.
The two judges stated that the reasons for not issuance of the judgment in current case should also be made part of the record. “The decision of the four judges is an order of the court. It is a decision with ratio of four and one members. Our decision is the continuity of the decisions of Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Athar Minallah.”
They said the top court had already declared that a bench could not be changed after issuance of the cause list. They said that the two judges had already given their decision on the suo-motu case and it did not become ineffective if they did not join the bench.
They noted that Justice Ijaz ul Ahsan and Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi had willingly expressed excuse from hearing the case instead of being removed from the bench. The judges could not be removed from the bench against their will, they added.
They wrote, “We are also fortified in our opinion by the precedent of the well-known Panama case. In the said case, the first order of the court was passed by a 3-2 majority, and in the subsequent hearings conducted in pursuance of the majority judgment the two judges, who had made and announced their final decision, did not sit on the bench but they were not considered to have been excluded from the bench and were made a party to the final judgment passed by the remaining three judges, and they also sat on the bench that heard the review petitions.
The two judges observed that the basic principle of the Federation was provincial autonomy in the country. The high courts were top constitutional institutions at provincial levels and the top court should not interfere into it.
Asad Mehmood slams Imran for pursuing ‘dual standards’
ISLAMABAD, Mar 27 (APP): Minister for Communication and Postal Services Maulana Asad Mehmood on Monday said that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan had hired the services of international organizations to bridge the gap with the United States (US).
The statement comes in the wake of the PTI hiring a US lobbying firm Praia Consultants LLC, on Feb 21 this year for six months in a bid to garner support from Washington.
Addressing the joint session of parliament, he said the PTI chairman Imran Khan tried to build a narrative against the US establishment[ by brandishing an alleged cipher]. The minister said that the former prime minister tried to do so to give the impression that his government was being removed unconstitutionally.
Maulana Asad said that the sham anti-US narrative had been exposed as Zalmay Khalilzad, Christina Lamb, and Brad Sherman were tweeting in the favour of Imran Khan, alleging the former prime minister had been working on “foreign agenda for a long time in the country”.
He categorically stated that they would not allow anyone to implement foreign agenda in Pakistan as long as they were in power. The minister also took a jibe against certain organizations of the “few so-called civil society” publicly supporting Imran Khan, which he said, in contrary that they had never raised their voices in favor of the oppressed people of Balochistan, and people residing in other parts of the country.
Criticizing certain decisions including Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s Judicial murder, sending an elected [former] Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif to home, and a strange definition of the constitution (in reference to a ruling which discarded votes when the parliamentarian crossed the floor against the parliamentary’s head directions on the presidential reference), he said the parliament should hold those “elements accountable” as it was the supreme constitutional body of the country.
He complained that there were certain individuals who were frequently “obliged by the courts” while the government’s pleas were not given due consideration. The minister said that despite apprehensions on the courts’ decisions, they had implemented them in letter and spirit and never interfered in the matters of the judiciary and election commission, also expressing hope that they should be treated in the same manner.
He said the elements including the then NA speaker, former prime minister, and the president “who played with the Constitution”, during the ‘no trust motion’ in the National Assembly last year, should be tried under the provision of Article 6 of the Constitution.
He further accused the PTI government of “damaging Pakistan’s economy and diplomatic relations with friend countries including China and Saudi Arabia during its tenure”.