Saqlain Mushtaq sees Pindi pitch unhelpful for Pak bowlers

Thu, 1 Dec 2022, 7:35 PM

ISLAMABAD, Dec 01 (APP): Pakistan head coach Saqlain Mushtaq, while terming the pitch at Pindi Cricket Stadium ‘unhelpful for Pakistani bowlers’ on the opening day of first Test, credited English batters for playing well and dominating with the bat on Thursday.

“There is no turn or swing on the pitch. England played very well and we didn’t bowl as per our plans,” he said in a presser after the end of the first day game.

He said people enjoyed a lot, the way England played cricket. “Nothing went well for us and the pitch seemed the same as was in the Test against Australia earlier this year. I think the pitch should have been supportive,” he said.

Saqlain said these were the best available bowlers Pakistan had as Shaheen Shah Afridi was also injured. “Naseem Shah did well in the series against Australia and Sri Lanka while Mohammad Ali was the top performer in the domestic season and Haris Rauf was also knocking with his performance. Test cricket is a different format and it takes time so we picked the best Playing we had.”

To a question, he said we put a lot of brains into the training session of whom to pick between Abrar Ahmed and Zahid Mahmood. “We watched both closely in the camp and they were bowling well in the nets. Zahid is with the team for almost a year now and didn’t get the opportunity while Abrar was coming for the domestic circuit. Therefore Zahid was in an international environment for quite a long time now and we did justice as he was on the waiting list,” he said.

He said it was in our strategy to go with three genuine fast bowlers. “Two were Haris Rauf and Naseem Shah and we needed a bowler who can do longer spells so we found Ali who was doing well in the domestic. We had to prepare Haris and Naseem for the longer format as they were coming after playing the shorter version of the game. Ali also impressed coach Shaum Tait and Skipper Babar Azam in the nets,” he said.

Mushtaq said the match was looking very exciting and he hopes it goes in Pakistan’s favour. “I think after the series against Australia, the Pakistan team has been playing T20s only. I congratulate England as they played well, but we will play with our strength,” he said.

Ashrafi urges private banks to withdraw appeals against FSC’s judgment on usury

Abdul Hanan

Thu, 1 Dec 2022, 7:00 PM

APP20-011222Islamabad — APP20-011222 ISLAMABAD: December 01 - Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Religious Harmony Maulana Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi addressing a Media talks at Maaz bin Jabal (Markazi Jamie Masjid) I-8/3. APP/SMR/ZID

ISLAMABAD, Dec 01 (APP): Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi on Thursday urged the private banks to withdraw their appeals to annul the judgment of the Federal Shariat Court (FSC) against the usury.

Addressing a press conference here at Jamia Masjid Mu’aaz bin Jabal, he said the government had taken practical steps by withdrawing appeals of National Bank of Pakistan and State Bank of Pakistan from the apex court in a bid to get rid of the interest-based economic system from the country.

Ashrafi who is also the chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council assured the government all-out support of Ulema and Mashaykh in the implementation of FSC’s decision in letter and spirit.

He proposed all the financial institutions to devise a combined strategy to make the country’s economic system free of interest which was totally against the divine commands.

He said Pakistan was facing a critical financial crisis and its solution was lying in political stability and improved law and order situation in the country.

He urged all the religious and political parties to get together at one platform and help cope with burgeoning polarization, extremism and the new wave of terrorism.

Ashrafi said there was a big hand of the external forces and anti-state elements behind an organized smear campaign against the national security institutions and armed forces. “We must counter the propagandas of enemies against our national defense institutions and Pakistan Army with a pragmatic approach instead of becoming part of it,” he added.

He also appealed the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief Imran Khan to come on the table talk to evolve consensus on the Charter of Pakistan for the next 25 years.

He said Charter of Pakistan was need of the hour as it would help control increasing violence in the society and improve the ailing economy.

He said the way Message of Pakistan was designed to promote religious harmony in the country, there should be long-term policies on country’s social, economic and foreign affairs issues in the shape of Charter of Pakistan and it should be implemented by all the governments to come and national institutions in larger national interest.

Ashrafi emphasized that Pakistan had to go out of the box in the matter of its foreign policy as there was a paradigm shift in the external affairs of the Islamic and Arab world.

He informed that on Friday, Ulema and Mashaykh would observe Youm-e-Huramt-e-Sood and they, in their Friday sermons, would highlight how to get rid of usury especially at the individual level.

He also urged the government to take stern action against the people who were allegedly involved in interest at the local level.

President, first lady watch Pak-England test match at Rawalpindi Stadium

Ishtiaq Rao

Thu, 1 Dec 2022, 7:00 PM

RAWALPINDI, Dec 1 (APP): President Dr Arif Alvi and First Lady Samina Alvi on Thursday arrived at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium and watched the test match being played between Pakistan and England.

The president said that the Pakistan-England match was in fact the manifestation of the revival of international sports in Pakistan.

President of Pakistan Dr Arif Alvi and PCB Chairman Ramiz Raja watch the first day's play of the opening Test at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.#PAKvENG pic.twitter.com/ZbOKfglr6b
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) December 1, 2022

He said the promotion of sports activities and the revival of cricket would help promote healthy behaviours.

The president, who enjoyed the match, also appreciated the performance of the England team on the first day of the test match.

Provinces should set up separate ministries for population control: Marriyum

Abdul Hanan

Thu, 1 Dec 2022, 6:57 PM

ISLAMABAD, Dec 01 (APP): Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Thursday suggested that provinces should set up separate ministries to control the growing population.

In her speech at the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the Population Council, she said the National Emergency Plan will be given soon to address the growing population issue.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif had called a meeting of the National Task Force next week, she said adding that provinces had representation in the task force.

“This year, the population of the world has reached 8 billion and that of Pakistan has reached 23 million,” said the minister.

Pakistan’s population, she said, had increased from 30 million to 230 million in 75 years, and by 2030, the population of Pakistan was expected to be 263 million and in 2050, it is expected to reach the figure of 338 million.

In terms of population, she said, Pakistan had become the fifth-largest country in the world. The minister said that population growth was as alarming as the destruction caused by climate change. She said Pakistan’s population was growing at a rate of 2 percent per year.

“When the population increases, problems like education, health, and public services also arise,” she maintained.

After the Eighteenth Amendment, issues like education, health, and public services were the responsibility of the provinces, Maryam Aurangzeb said. To deal with these problems, the issue of increasing population had to be dealt with, the information minister remarked.

She said there was a need to create a national narrative on these issues of national importance and all stakeholders should be involved in the formulation of the narrative.

There should be an open discussion on such issues at the government level, and everyone has to play a role in finding a solution to them, she said.

As a result of a natural calamity of a flood, the nation recently faced great destruction and people of all ages including children and women in Pakistan were severely affected by the devastating floods.

The minister said that goals were clearly defined in the declaration adopted by the National Conference held in the Parliament in the past and the declaration was also signed by the provinces.

“These goals and recommended measures need to be revived. We could achieve the desired goals with policy-making, legislation, and narrative formulation,” Marriyum Aurangzeb said.

In the past, the planning department has done a great job and played a key role in creating the public awareness of the issue, she said.

Minister of Information assured all possible support to the Population Council in creating awareness about digital media and creating a narrative regarding the growing population.

Country united to eliminate polio; Govt to keep up its efforts: PM

Ishtiaq Rao

Thu, 1 Dec 2022, 6:49 PM

ISLAMABAD, Dec 1 (APP): Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that keeping the political differences aside, the whole country stood united for a polio-free Pakistan and that the government would continue its anti-polio efforts until the last child was vaccinated and the disease was completely eliminated.

The prime minister, in a meeting with a delegation of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, said polio had been eradicated from most parts of the country except certain pockets which were being targeted through periodic vaccination campaigns.

He said the whole Pakistani nation was thankful to the partners and donors, including Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rotary International, UNICEF and WHO for helping in polio eradication from Pakistan.

Reiterating the government’s commitment, the prime minister reassured unwavering support and commitment to eradicate polio from Pakistan.

He thanked the delegation for its untiring efforts regarding polio eradication in Pakistan.

He also highlighted the government’s efforts which had resulted in containing the spread of the virus to the extent that major parts of the country were now polio-free whereby only a few pockets were left which were being targeted in the periodic polio campaigns.

Prime Minister Shehbaz also assured the delegation that the teams in the field were given high-level security and that Pakistan would never allow anyone to sabotage that national effort.

The prime minister directed the Federal Minister for National Health Services, Abdul Qadir Patel to immediately visit Peshawar and synergize efforts with the provincial authorities for gearing up efforts to vaccinate children against polio virus, particularly targeting those pockets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where poliovirus was still present.

Chair of Polio Oversight Board and President Global Development Program of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Dr. Christopher Elias conveyed special regards from Bill Gates to the prime minister and informed that he (Gates) was thankful to the prime minister for his personal interest in the cause of polio eradication from Pakistan.

The country director, UNICEF briefed the prime minister about the relief efforts in flood-hit areas of the country and polio campaigns in those areas.

The delegation also lauded the prime minister for keeping politics aside and working with the provincial governments for polio eradication from the country.

The delegation was led by Dr. Christopher Elias and included Regional Director, WHO Dr. Ahmed Al-Mandhari, Regional Director, UNICEF, George Laryea-Adjei, Aziz Memon, National Chair NPPC, Rotary International and officials of the donors and partners of polio eradication program.

Federal Minister for National Health Services & Regulations Abdul Qadir Patel was also present at the meeting.

Group photo of Divisional Commissioner Muhammad Shahid Niaz, Deputy Commissioner Imran Hamid Shaikh and other officers for participating in the 118th anniversary celebration of the district.

Zia Ur Rehman

Thu, 1 Dec 2022, 6:45 PM

PTA conducts QoS survey in Punjab, Sindh, GB

Abdul Hanan

Thu, 1 Dec 2022, 6:45 PM

ISLAMABAD, Dec 1 (APP): Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has carried out independent Quality of Service (QoS) surveys in nine cities of Punjab and Sindh and 13 motorways and highways.

A survey was also conducted, jointly with Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs), in eight cities of Gilgit Baltistan.

These surveys were undertaken to measure the performance and quality of CMOs services being provided to their customers, said a news release on Thursday.

The results revealed that CMOs are compliant with respect to data speeds to a great extent, while network latency and webpage loading time was found below the threshold.

Similarly, some of the Voice KPIs have also been found below the licensed threshold in few areas.

Necessary instructions have been issued to the operators for taking corrective measures to ensure improvement in service quality up to the KPIs.

In accordance with Next Generation Mobile Service (NGMS) licenses and Cellular Mobile Network Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations 2021, mobile network coverage, QoS KPIs of Voice, SMS and Mobile Broadband were checked using state-of-the-art automated QoS Monitoring & Benchmarking Tool.

The drive test teams selected survey routes to cover main roads, service roads and the majority of sectors/colonies in surveyed areas. Based upon setting KPIs against the threshold defined in the respective licenses and QoS regulations, CMOs have been ranked between 1st to 5th position in Mobile Network Coverage and Voice Services in surveyed cities and roads/motorways.

Similarly, in Mobile Broadband Speed segment, the ranking is with respect to highest data download and upload speed, network latency and webpage loading time.

The survey results are available at PTA’s website: (https://pta.gov.pk/en/consumer-support/qos-survey/qos-survey).

The service quality monitoring activity is carried out by PTA field teams with the ultimate aim to pursue the operators for the provision of better mobile services and promote a healthy competition among the operators.