Wrestlers demonstrating their skills in Thapar Kabaddi match at Village Fareedabad
Families visiting flower stall during flora festival organized by PHA
Experts, veteran journalists welcome Mahpara Safdar’s objective autobiography ‘Mera Zamana Meri Kahani’
ISLAMABAD, Mar 19 (APP): The experts, veteran journalists, writers, politicians and academicians on Sunday welcomed the first ever autobiography written by renowned newscaster, journalist, author and poet Mahpara Safdar titled Mera Zamana Meri Kahani (My Era, My Story) as an interesting account of history, profession and life events of the writer.
The book launching ceremony of Mahpara Safdar’s autobiography was organised by Shaheed Bhutto Foundation and ICJOP at the Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology (SZABIST) here and hosted by senior journalist Dr Sadia Kamal.
In his opening remarks, writer Arshad Waheed informed that the book comprised of 464 pages and three sections.
Waheed said the book appeared to be reminiscent of the past as PTV and Radio Pakistan were special reference points for the people of the previous decades, he added.
The book, he said had aptly captured the era of 1960s, 70s and 80s and obviously her journey in BBC and also in Balochistan.
Waheed noted that the author had used a very simple yet attractive writing style that appeals to its readers.
He underlined that the author had also discussed gender discrimination and biase in the official media house at that time. He commended that the use of poetry by Mahpara Safdar of different poets was impressive like she quoted the poem of Akhtar Hussain Jaffery while writing on Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, whereas Jaffery had written that poem on the demise of Ezra Pound.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Shaheed Bhutto Foundation, Asif Khan appreciated the author for shedding light on different issues ranging from her early life to professional career in a very impressive way.
He also lauded her depiction of the Wars of 1965 and 1971 in a splendid manner, whereas the author had rightly pointed out gender discrimination at that time.
Senior Journalist and Anchor person Asma Sherazi said the book title took her back to her childhood. “Mahpara Safdar lived in her epoch and the era now lives in herself. This book will unveil the history of the country for the youth and coming generations,” she added.
Former Senator, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Farhatullah Babar in his keynote address congratulated the author for successfully launching her autobiography.
He said her book was a ray hope that in the prevailing pressing times there were people writing quality content to improve the thinking and minds of the people.
He said back in the decade of 60s and beyond Radio, PTV, Pakistan Times, Nawa-i-Waqt and Jang were the only source of information for the masses. “In 70s, and 80s era people like Mahpara Safdar were considered by the people as part of the family.”
He added that the book title suggested that it was not a research paper or history rather it was an account of a writer who had witnessed transition from 70s to 80s decades.
The writer, he said had provided raw material to the historians to explore hidden parts of the country’s history.
Babar said the autobiography of Mahpara Safdar rightly underscored women discrimination during the dictatorial regime in the 80s .
However, the situation has improved mainly due to the struggle of people like her and the distance traversed by the women of the country so far was tremendous, he added.
The writer, Mahpara Safdar on the occasion said the response to her book was overwhelming as she was not expecting such reaction to the book.
She said that it was clearly mentioned in the disclaimer of her book that this book contains personal reviews of a media worker over the decades.
Safdar mentioned that the people made her realise that it was their love, affection, regards and association with people like her had kept them alive.
She said that she guaranteed her readers that all the facts mentioned in her book were genuine and the truth narrated in it was its quality as she tried to write the book with impartiality.
Sister of Mahpara Safdar, Prof Talat Nayyab Zaidi also addressed the gathering and share Mahpara Safdar’s life accounts and childhood memories.
Dr Tahir Naeem Malik said her book had introduced Pakistan beyond Shahabnama of Qudratullah Shahab and it gave a new history through her life accounts of the historic era.
During the question hour, the author responded to multiple queries from the media and participants.
The author also read out loud eScripts of her book and recited a poem written by her. Meanwhile, the CEO Shaheed Bhutto Foundation gave away mementoes to the author and her sister at the end.
U.S., Pakistan need to focus joint working on GCF to solve climate challenges
ISLAMABAD, Mar 19 (APP):U.S. Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, Monica P. Medina has said that the governments of the United States (U.S.) and Pakistan have great room for working together on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to solve climate challenges due to worst impacts of global warming and environmental degradation.
The U.S. Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs in a discussion after the bilateral working group on climate and environment informed media men on the outcomes of the ministerial dialogue on important issues faced by Pakistan due to climate change.
Ms. Medina said, “One thing that we really need to work on together is with respect to the Green Climate Fund which is one of the largest fund donors of the projects to deal with climate change in the world, and that both Pakistan and US governments are going to co-chair the board of directors at the key moment when the countries are looking to get more funding from the Fund into the communities that are being hit hardest by climate change.”
She underlined that it was a tremendous opportunity for the US and Pakistan in particular to work together to help solve climate challenges now even as the entire conference of the parties (COP) process continued to deal with the loss and damage fund.
The U.S. Assistant Secretary said Pakistan is a very important partner and friend of the U.S., adding, “We have a very meaningful and a deep relationships with lots of people to people ties, strong bilateral exchanges and were working together on a huge range of global climate and environmental topics and challenges as these challenges we know hit close to home.”
The U.S. official said the world countries had faced horrible climate impacts but the devastating floods in Pakistan last year caught everyone’s attention.
“We worked closely with the Pakistani government in the wake of the floodings.
Since these terrible events, the U.S. have announced more than $200 million in flood relief, food security, disaster preparedness and other recovery efforts. We are very pleased to be able to do that as well as lending a lot of expertise too in trying to figure out ways to prevent and adapt to these sorts of climate stressors.
She added that the U.S. administration had realised that both the countries would have to move forward to mitigate climate crisis by working together.
The U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate, John Kerry would have been here but his busy schedule did not permit him, she added.
Commenting on the Working Group proceedings, Ms. Medina said, “We not only had a climate dialogue but an environmental dialogue which allowed us covering a full range of topics including water resources, agriculture, nature and biodiversity, ocean conservation, and several others. It was very pleased to leave this working group together with the Minister for Climate Change Senator, Sherry Rehman here in Pakistan and our two governments had a long discussion about how we are going to strengthen our cooperation on climate and environmental issues.”
The U.S. Assistant Secretary said climate issues were interlinked and fundamentally related to one another, adding, “we can’t address climate crisis without talking about biodiversity and vice versa.”
She commended the efforts of U.S. Ambassador Donald Blome for devising a robust process for engagement of the Working Group. “We had a very wonderful mechanism for working on these issues helped by Ambassador Blome putting in place called Green Alliance Framework for work on climate, agriculture, water management and clean energy.
The U.S. Assistant Secretary had met with the Minister for Water Resources. She had also visited the biodiversity rich Margalla Hills National Park and saw the work of Islamabad Wildlife Management Board (IWMB).
She termed the IWMB as a model for other wildlife services. She appreciated the bear rehabilitation center and the Leopard Preserve Zone managed well by the IWMB.
She also appreciated the National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) young scientists and commended the students for asking good questions.
She also met the young and called her interaction important with women at NUST who were very engaged and active to be part of the learning process.
She also met the programme alumni at the Embassy that had a huge one.
“They are very active in civil society, business and academia,” she acknowledged the U.S. Embassy program alumni.
She also met the representatives of the business community and civil society and was amazed to meet them
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Embassy work on looking the issue of climate change at the local level, she said.
Ms. Medina noted that plastic pollution issue was another important area where the U.S. government was engaged with it’s Pakistani counterpart.
“Pakistan had one marine protected area (MAP) and we are also working in this area to enhance Pakistan’s capacity to further boost it’s MAPs.”
She added that further areas of cooperation included illegal fishing, air quality, mangroves, impacts of floods and recovery issues and Climate Smart Agriculture to address impacts of environmental degradation, and management of 2023 monsoon floods.
The working group delegation, she informed that had a detailed presentation and commended that both the governments had engaged in a really pivotal moment at the global level.
Last year, she said, “I was pleased to represent my country at the Convention on Biodiversity conference in Montreal and the world got a successful landmark agreement. We had 40 hours detailed discussions to cover the uncovered water areas in high seas. We had a text in agreement to protect marine protected areas which did not exist before. This is half the planet that had no cross sectoral governance.
The world came closer on the times of very challenges.”
Discussing the plastic pollution issue, she said there was a great discussion on plastic and plastic pollution at the working group level.
“We are drowning in plastic waste. Some of the municipal and provincial governments of Pakistan are trying to meet this challenge. It’s an important part of the climate challenge. We are already looking forward for COP-28 to address numerous global challenge and how to utilise that global forum to advance our agenda on global level.”
She expressed her gratitude to Ambassador Blome for holding this delegation and making strides to make Green Alliance Framework and made the great friendship with Pakistani governments, interest groups, media and people .
Responding to a couple of queries from APP, U.S. Assistance Secretary Monica Medina said to discuss plastic pollution she was very pleased to be able to have with her at the Working Group meeting two representatives from the U.S. Development and Finance Cooperation.
There job is to find business solutions to solve the plastic pollution problems and find good business solutions, she said, adding, “They are very interested in solving plastic solution. They are very good options for building those kinds of business solutions as we needed those for addressing plastic pollution.”
Ms. Monica Medina said plastics are used for many things we are so dependent on as it was very important for keeping food safe and delivering water to areas of the world that have no access to water at their disposal.
“We know we need plastics for medical devices and for parts making cars more fuel efficient. Plastics cannot be completely eliminated from the system,” she said.
The U S. Assistant Secretary was pleased to see non-plastic (cotton or fabric made) carry bags in Islamabad and appreciated it was a solution to single use polythene bags.
“Your government is working hard to come up with solutions that are both workable at federal and provincial levels. In U.S., we don’t have a one single national law on plastic pollution that regulates plastics. We hope that this agreement will allow us to have both the prescriptive and more innovative bottom up solutions and there would be an agreement to allow national actions plans like the climate agreement so that the governments can have right solutions to match their challenges like islands have different problems and developing countries have different.”
She was excited to know that there are 6,000 plastic bags manufactures in Pakistan that the government had told to the U.S. delegation.
“It’s a very interesting place to try and take on this challenge. The solid waste management is an issue for your government and talked about it. It’s one of the six priority focus of the climate and environmental dialogue. We do know that Pakistan is very much impacted by climate change as our many other countries that haven’t been the part of making the problem.”
Replying to another query, she said, “We appreciate the very much need to assistance we are providing right now. It’s a just a hard thing to get enough funding as the floods devastation was tremendous. We know your agriculture is dependent on climate smart solutions.
So we talked a lot about it. We are prepared to bring a lot of expertise so that when you are working to solve this issue you do it in the right way.”
The U.S. government, she said had a big programme for adaptation and resilience that it was working with lots of developing countries.
She added that climate, energy transition, water resources and nature and biodiversity were all connected. “Our energy Assistant Secretary my counterpart was here for an energy dialogue and spent a lot of time on discussion on increasing renewables, make sure reliables, grid issues.”
One way to mitigate some of the climate change impacts witnessed was through nature based solutions, she added.
Climate Smart Agriculture, she said was a nature based solution to the climate problem to the extent that we are making your water use more efficient, bring better seeds and fertilizers.
“We announced big $4.5 million project on fertilizer cooperation this week. The ambassador announced that the other day and we had great discussions on it. Some of the other problems like solid food waste and a lot of burning agriculture waste interpreting into the climate problems are also part of discussions.
It’s a lost opportunity in terms of fertilizer and better agriculture practices. There is so much more that we can do and we are excited about all the good dialogue we had in specific ways. We can help with specific challenge in energy, water and agriculture,” she added.
One of the areas of expertise, she said the U.S. Working Group brought along with it was its water engineers. “The Army Corps of Engineers in the US government. We had a group of engineers who are part of our military.
They actually run our water systems and had very sophisticated models of hydrology, and how ice melt, ground water, rain can interact and create kinds of problems, what to do when the water is running short, particularly because they can look at the seasonality and they can check the boom and burst of water cycle here, very much helped to target agriculture sector water is used at the right time, so seeds are right to be able to adapt to the water needs at its seasons when they were needed.”
She added that they were very excited to able to share that knowledge with the Pakistani government.
“The agriculture and water ministries were very interested to help them implement the knowledge. Some of water systems are similarly inundated or dry in U.S. We had a lot of experience in dealing with these kind of problems. Our goal is not just to help funds but also to bring you the right expertise that the money you spent is spent in a way that makes sure agriculture is more productive,” Assistant Secretary Medina said.
“We will be looking ways to assist the living Indus initiative that we saw in the COP-27 Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. It is a way to think about many of your climate problems at the same time.
We had a very detailed presentation on the specific projects under that initiative where we can assist,” she said.
Ms. Medina mentioned that she was interested in mangroves and tree restoration work where the U.S. government had specific funds.
“We have been requested for assistance in managing forest fires and our agriculture department officers were here and were excited to assist in this regard. USAID programmes also looking at how to improve agriculture outcomes and we would like build on the similar.”
She added that on plastic pollution both the sides shared similar philosophy about how to solve the problems. “I think our governments working together can be very effective in the global negotiations to solve the plastic pollution,” she hoped.
AJK President terms India’s intransigence stumbling block in way of peaceful solution of Kashmir dispute
MIRPUR (AJK) Mar 19 (APP): Azad Jammu and Kashmir President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry said there was a dire need that the influential world governments, especially the US should play their role in the early peaceful resolution of the lingering issue of occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
He expressed these views while addressing the participants of the training course of the National Defense University at the presidency at the State metropolis on Sunday.
Military officers from more than 25 countries, including the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Germany, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Egypt, Palestine, Nepal, Myanmar, Indonesia, Kenya, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Oman, Malaysia, Jordan and Iran were in the delegation.
Terming India’s policy of intransigence as the biggest hurdle in the way of peace in South Asia, the AJK president said that an inclusive dialogue, involving all the parties, including the Kashmiri representatives was imperative to find a lasting solution to the long-drawn conflict.
Referring to third-party mediation, the AJK president said that countries like US should play the role of mediation to solve this problem once and for all.
While referring to the fast deteriorating situation in the Indian Occupied territory of Jammu and Kashmir, the AJK president said that the international community has a moral responsibility to get the dispute resolved in line with the UNSC resolutions, besides guaranteeing the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir, also provided a comprehensive roadmap for an amicable settlement of the dispute.
” All that Kashmiris want is that the United Nations must fulfil its obligations on Kashmir and make sure that the resolutions are implemented,” the AJK president said, adding that India, which took the Kashmir issue to the United Nations, was now refusing to implement the UNSC resolutions that granted the right to self-determination to the people of Kashmir.
He said that Kashmiris had rendered matchless sacrifices to achieve their promised right.
He said that after revoking the special status of Occupied Kashmir on August 5, 2019, India was hell-bent on changing the demography of the occupied Kashmir to convert the Muslim majority into a minority. So far, he said that the occupation authorities have issued more than 42 lakh fake domiciles to outsiders.
Barrister Chaudhry further said that serious violations of human rights in Occupied Kashmir and mistreatment of minorities had exposed India’s ugly face.
Stressing the need for early resolution of the Kashmir dispute, he said that the prolonged military occupation of Kashmir by India was a threat to peace and stability in the region.
About growing intolerance and rising tides of xenophobia within Indian society, he said that persecution of minorities at the hands of the RSS-influenced regime had left India’s so called democracy exposed at the international level.
Replying to a query, the AJK president, while ruling out any out-of-the-box solution to the Kashmir problem, made it clear that the Kashmiri people want a referendum according to the resolutions of the United Nations.
He said that holding a referendum in Kashmir was the only solution acceptable to the Kashmiris.
On this occasion, Air Vice Marshal Imran Saif briefed the President of the objectives of the delegation’s visit.
Imran Saif, presented the shield to the President, while on this occasion President Barrister Sultan Mahmood Chaudhry also gave the shield to the head of the delegation.
PPP to contest elections on own electoral symbol: Bukhari
PESHAWAR, Mar 19 (APP): Secretary General PPP Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari on Sunday said the party would contest the forthcoming general elections on its electoral symbol and field its own candidates in all constituencies.
Addressing a public meeting held in connection with the joining of a potential electable candidate, Mian Rashid Ali Shah, his family and associates in PPP at district Nowshera on Sunday, he said that no doubt they were part of the present coalition government, but not part of any political alliance.
Others who addressed on the occasion included acting provincial president PPP KP Minister of State, Mohammad Ali Shah Bacha, president PPP Peshawar Division, Liaquat Shabab, Gohar Inqilabi, Shah Zulqarnain and Mian Rashid Ali Shah Kakakhel.
The PPP secretary general said that the party had its own manifesto, which was given by Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the general elections of 1970 standing on three slogans of Roti, Kapra aur Makan that were representing the feelings of workers and deprived classes of the society.
Nayyar Hussain Bukhari accused the PTI chief of “exploiting Pakhtuns” and neither fulfilled the promise of the provision of 10 million employment nor the construction of 5 million houses.
He held the previous government of Imran Khan responsible for the prevailing price hike in the country. Mr Bukhari, who is also former Chairman Senate recalled the performance of the PPP government during the period of 2008-2013 when the country was self-sufficient in wheat production.
He said that by passing the 18th constitutional amendment, the PPP government not only increased the resources of the small provinces in the federal divisible pool rather also gave the identity to the province by renaming it as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Furthermore, he said that the then Asif Ali Zardari led PPP government had given the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award after a long time and changed the criteria for distribution of the federal divisible pool of the national resources to increase the shares of the small provinces.
He said that before the NFC Award, the criteria of the distribution of national resources was only on the basis of population, but the PPP government distributed the national resources on the basis of population, poverty and area, which increased the share of the provinces, which benefited small provinces to a larger extent.
He said that PPP as the representative of the working and middle class had increased the salaries of government employees by 150% and the pension of the retired employees by 100%.
Therefore, he urged government employees and representatives of the government to vote and expressed trust in PPP to give them an opportunity to serve the nation.
Parliamentary elections start in Kazakhstan
ISLAMABAD, Mar 19 (APP): The process of parliamentary elections has started in Kazakhstan which is a milestone in the country’s history after the constitutional reforms on Sunday.
Today’s parliamentary elections in the country are held in 20 regions of the country, including the capital Astana, which will mark the beginning of a new democratic era, said a press release received here.
Polling started this morning in the whole country at 8 o’clock, along with which the process of parliamentary started, after which voters are exercising their right to vote in all 20 regions of the country, including the federal capital Astana.
When the polling started this morning, the enthusiasm of the people was visible, after which queues of people were seen at all the polling stations.
On this occasion, 250 international journalists covered various polling stations and asked questions and answers from the public.
On this occasion, 800 international observers who came to Kazakhstan visited different regions of the country and expressed their confidence in the polling arrangements and described the arrangements of the Election Commission of Kazakhstan as the best.
On this occasion, international observers and representatives of the media, including the European Union, visited the polling stations of the federal capital and the city of Akmola, Kazakhstan, where the arrangements for the elections were seen to be good and smooth polling was seen in the all polling stations and the enthusiasm of the voters remained intact and the election was held.
The election polling staff also seemed diligent. On this occasion, the international observers while talking to the media representatives said that the best polling arrangements have been made by the Election Commission and the people are expressing their full confidence in the elections.
During the polling, young and old people thronged the polling stations and women also exercised their right to vote in large numbers. It was snowing in and around the capital Astana from this morning, but during the day the weather became pleasant and the sun came out.
Seeing the public enthusiasm on this occasion, experts believe that the voting turnout will increase.
Meanwhile, on the occasion, Secretary of the Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Yerman while talking to media here in Astana said that today’s March 19th 2023 parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan will give the people a choice to choose the leadership of their choice.
He said that the parliamentary elections held today, March 19, 2023, will provide an opportunity to the people of Kazakhstan to exercise their right to vote while deciding the leadership of their country.
The Secretary said that Kazakhstan has started a series of constitutional reforms in the last ten months which have been diligently worked on and which means strengthening democratic values ??and making the country a strong and developed federation.
He said that making constitutional reforms and conducting elections within ten months is a milestone in the history of Kazakhstan.
For which our institutions and all partners deserve praise, with whose efforts we are entering a new democratic era today.
He said that the new legislation and constitutional reforms will transform the existing system and make the country’s government system based on equality and efficiency, which will lead the country on the path of development.
Mukhtar Yerman said that the country is moving towards a new constitutional transition in which all the stakeholders are united and the people are united without whose trust all this is not possible.
He said that the Election Commission is fully preparing for the upcoming elections and tomorrow all the seven political parties will present themselves to the people to participate in this democratic process.
He said that the Election Commission has the trust of all the country’s political parties and we are in touch with them and the relevant forum has been arranged to identify any issue. Secretary Election Commission said that all the political parties have been given a level playing field and a good decision is expected through the vote.
He said that 359 candidates of seven major parties of Kazakhstan are participating in these general elections and these parties have different manifestos regarding the development of Kazakhstan.
He said that the role of youth and women will be very important in these general elections of Kazakhstan, which became possible due to the constitutional reforms.
He said that 800 international observers and 250 journalists has regularly review and cover the elections in this election.
He said that the constitutional reforms created a multi-party system in the country.
He said that all the regions of Kazakhstan have been given equal representation in the election, on which full confidence has been expressed from all sides.
He said that awareness workshops were conducted before the election and training was given to the staff so that the election process could be improved.
He said that technology and modern digital technology will be fully implemented in the election process so that the election process is efficient and transparent.
He said that the media gave full coverage to the election campaign and various national and international newspapers and TV channels gave full coverage to the election campaign.
A juggler showing gimmicks of his pet monkey on the road
Farmer family busy in harvesting wheat crop in their field at Tandojam area
Ms. Mahpara Safdar addressing during her Book launching ceremony Titled” Mera Zamana Meri Kahani” organized by Shaheed Bhutto Foundation & IJCOP at SZABIST
