PM felicitates UAE on national day

Fri, 2 Dec 2022, 5:33 PM

ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 (APP):Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday felicitated the leadership and the people of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on their national day.

“People of Pakistan join me in greeting our brothers and sisters of UAE on their national day today,” the prime minister said in a tweet.

The day, he said, was a reminder of the dynamic vision of its founding fathers, who had laid the foundation of a great nation through unification.

“Congratulations to my brother Mohamed Bin Zayed,” Shehbaz Sharif said in the tweet addressing the UAE president.

People of Pakisan join me in greeting our brothers & sisters of UAE 🇦🇪 on their National Day today. The Day is a reminder of the dynamic vision of its founding fathers who laid the foundation of a great nation through unification. Congratulations to my brother HH @MohamedBinZayed
— Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz) December 2, 2022

Weekly inflation eases 0.16 percent

Muhammad Ashraf Wani

Fri, 2 Dec 2022, 5:32 PM

ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 (APP):The Sensitive Price Indicator (SPI) based weekly inflation for the week ended on December 1st for the combined consumption group witnessed a decrease of 0.16 percent as compared to the previous week.

The SPI for the week under review in the above-mentioned group was recorded at 218.51 points against 218.87 points registered in the previous week, according to the latest data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS) here on Friday.

As compared to the corresponding week of last year, the SPI for the combined consumption group in the week under review witnessed an increase of 30.56 percent.

The weekly SPI with base year 2015-16 =100 is covering 17 urban centres and 51 essential items for all expenditure groups.

The SPI for the lowest consumption group up to Rs 17,732 witnessed 0.34 percent decrease and went down to 227.45 points from last week’s 228.23 points.

Meanwhile, the SPI for the consumption groups from Rs 17,732-22,888; Rs 22,889-29,517; Rs 29,518-44,175 and above Rs 44,175 witnessed decrease of 0.30 percent, 0.24 percent, 0.18 percent and 0.10 percent respectively.

During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 23 (45.10%) items increased, 10 (19.61%) items decreased and 18 (35.29%) items remained stable.

The items which recorded decrease in their average prices on a week-on-week (WoW) basis included tomatoes (12.26%), onions (2.79%), chicken (1.71%), pulse gram (0.68%), pulse masoor (0.64%), vegetable ghee 2.5 kg (0.38%), vegetable ghee 1 kg (0.12%), cooking oil 5 litre (0.11%), gur (0.11%) and LPG (0.42%).

The commodities which recorded increase in their average prices included f bananas (3.36%), tea packet (1.72%), potatoes (1.65%), match box *1.32%), salt powdered (1.32%) and rice irri-6/9 (1.23%).

On a year-on-year (YoY) basis, the commodities that witnessed a decrease in prices included chillies powdered (40.90%), gur (5.35%) and electricity for Q1 (2.67%).

The commodities that witnessed increase in prices on YOY basis included onions (388.52%), tomatoes (73.25%), diesel (64.57%), tea packet (62.61%), salt powdered (55.29%), petrol (53.85%), pulse gram (52.71%), gents sponge chappal (52.21%), bananas (52.02%), eggs (51.87%), pulse moong (47.67%), pulse mash (43.44%) and mustard oil (42.51%)

AJK 2nd phase LG polls on Saturday

NNPS Desk

Fri, 2 Dec 2022, 5:19 PM

Second phase of LG polls in Balochistan on Wednesday

MIRPUR (AJK): Dec 02 (APP) :: All is set for holding of polling in 2nd phase of the local bodies elections in Poonch Division on December 03, Saturday.

At least 5,000 armed troops of civil armed forces including Punjab Constabulary (PC) and Frontier Constabulary (FC) would now be available to assist local civil administration in 2nd and 3rd phases of the polls in Poonch and Mirpur Divisions respectively on December 03 and 08.

This was disclosed by Raja Muhammad Farooq Niaz Khan, Senior Member Azad Jammu Kashmir State Election Commission in an exclusive interview to APP here on Friday.

The LB elections in Azad Jammu Kashmir State are being held on a political party-basis.

However, independent candidates are also in run to contest the polls to get into the civic bodies of all categories across the AJK.

Niaz underlined that the Pakistan army shall also be available as a quick response force to combat any eventuality.

It may be mentioned that in first phase, the local bodies elections had been held in Muzaffarabad division on November 27, in a free, fair, and peaceful manner.

In all three districts of Mirpur division including Mirpur, Kotli and Bhimbher districts, a total of 12 lakh, 32 thousand and 79 registered voters will go to exercise their right of franchise to elect the local bodies representatives in the 3rd phase of the polls on December 08.

These registered voters include 5,63,016 in Kotli district; 36, 6043 in Mirpur district and 30, 3020 registered voters in Bhimbher district, Sr. Member AJK EC said.

Raja Farooq Niaz continued that a total of 1,026 polling stations are being set up in Kotli district; 625 in Mirpur district and 538 in Bhimbher district respectively with 1602, 924, and 850 polling booths in the three above districts respectively to facilitate both male and female registered voters to use their right of vote to elect their civic bodies members, he added.

The Sr. Member AJK EC stated that in the Poonch division, a total of 10 lakh, 16 thousand and 889 registered voters would go to the polls in 2nd phase of the LB elections to be held on Saturday December 03.

“A total of 1,859 polling stations containing 2697 polling booths are being set up in all 06 districts of Poonch Division including Poonch, Bagh, Sudhanoti and Haveili districts – wherein 558 polling stations for male , 542 for female voters and 762 joint polling stations have been set up to facilitate the registered voters to use their right of vote in the polls.

Raja Farooq Niaz said that polling will start at 8.00 a.m in the morning and will continue till 5.00 p.m without any pause.

PWDs for proper legislation to provide disables equal opportunities

NNPS Desk

Fri, 2 Dec 2022, 5:07 PM

PWDs for proper legislation to provide disables equal opportunities

ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 (APP): Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) have called upon the government to devise proper legislation and ensure their implementation to provide equal opportunities and facilities for making them useful citizens of the country.

“It is very unfortunate that Pakistan lacks proper data of disabled persons and still depends on the data compiled during 1998 census. “What kind of planning can be done for the development of disabled persons, if there is no accurate data available,” the PWDs said.

Talking to APP, Dr. Afshan Afridi, a polio affected disabled rights activist said that PWDs should also be taken on board in the policy making process to make more effective and realistic policies for these people.

She said, “Although the work is being done on various levels but we also need to involve federal and provincial governments in the process to further facilitate persons with disabilities while creating acceptance for them”.

Dr. Afshan urged the government and all the institutions to provide equal and quality education and skills facilities to the persons with disabilities to enable them to participate in the process of national development.

She said “First and foremost, important issue for the person with disabilities is the acceptance from the family and society. The people with disabilities are not treated equally and from family to society no one accept these people as a part of the society”.

She said that acceptance is the first step for these people towards a normal life and we need to create awareness among the families and society to treat the people with disabilities as a part of the society and provide them equal health, education and other facilities to enable them to become an active and positive citizen of the country.

She said that although many people with disabilities needed special education facilities but beside this, many physically challenged people could get education in main stream education system.

The only thing we need is to sensitize the society about the persons with disabilities to provide conducive environment to these people, she said.

About the health facilities, she was of the view that the treatment of disabled persons is very expensive while 95 percent of the disable people are from the grass root level who can’t afford the expensive medical treatment.

She urged that federal as well as provincial authorities to provide special health facilities to the people with disabilities.

Dr. Afshan said that due to the lack of awareness and financial opportunities the persons with disabilities were considered as a burden for family and society.

She called for devising skill development programs and equal job opportunities for the persons with disabilities to make them a valuable citizen of the society.

She mentioned that cottage industry has a lot of scope and we should provide small loans and basic training for the promotion of entrepreneurship culture in the persons with disabilities, she added.

She said that in many areas, the disability quota was still two percent while the ratio of disabilities was increasing fast.

She urged the government to increase the disability quota to minimum 05 percent all over the country to facilitate these people.

She said that in educational institutions, offices and bus stands, the basic facilities like washrooms, stairs, and ramp walk throughs should be established to facilitate the people with disabilities.

She urged the media, social media and educational institutes to raise their voice and play their due role to create awareness about the rights of persons with disabilities.

The success stories of these people should also be highlighted to encourage others and create acceptance for the people with disabilities.

She appreciated the brands which are providing opportunities to the persons with disabilities and making them a role model for the society.
Meanwhile Syed Sardar Ahmed Pirzada, a visually impaired person said “PWDs are the most vulnerable segments of society and they need share in all the welfare steps being introduced at the government level”.

“We always consider those in the category of vulnerable who are poor but the disabled persons are the most vulnerable as they lack capacity to move equally in the society”, he lamented.

Sardar Pirzada said that in the under-developed countries, special policies were devised for the special persons but unfortunately PWDs who comprised over a significant chunk of the total population of the country (around 30 million according to the World Health Organization) are neglected.

The annual observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) on December 03 was proclaimed in 1992 by the United Nations General Assembly.
The International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) will be observed around the globe including Pakistan with the objective to sensitize the world on disability issues and mobilize support for the dignity, rights, and well-being of persons with disabilities.

This year the Day will be marked under the theme “Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fueling an accessible and equitable world”.

Qurat-ul-Ain appointed ECP spokesperson

NNPS Desk

Fri, 2 Dec 2022, 5:04 PM

Online Scrutiny System helps ensuring transparency in Punjab elections

ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 (APP): Ms Qurat-ul-Ain Fatima, currently serving as Director Media Coordination and Outreach in the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) appointed as spokesperson of the commission on Friday.

According to a notification issued here, Qurat-ul-Ain Fitma has replaced Additional Director General (Monitoring and Evaluation) Haroon Khan Shinwari.

President for comprehensive approach to mainstream persons with disabilities

Shumaila Andleeb

Fri, 2 Dec 2022, 4:33 PM

ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 (APP): President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday underlined the need to adopt a well-thought-out, data-driven and time-bound comprehensive approach for the complete integration and mainstreaming of persons with disabilities (PWDs).

The step, he said, would ensure the empowerment of persons with disabilities enabling them to contribute to the progress and development of the country.

He said that PWDs should be proactively integrated into society as equal members by improving their mobility and accessibility to public facilities and providing them with education, skills, and jobs.

The president expressed these views during a briefing on the mobility and accessibility issues of Persons with Disabilities in Islamabad, at Aiwan-e-Sadr. Chief Commissioner Islamabad, representatives of Capital Development Authority (CDA), Federal Directorate of Education, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, WHO, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, National Information Technology Board, Ministry of Housing and Works, Secretary Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Authority ICT (PEIRA), and senior official of the government attended the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, the president called for providing PWDs with Assistive Technologies (ATs) and creating jobs which correspond to and were suitable for persons with specific disabilities such as hearing, visual, physical or cognitive for their financial and economic empowerment.

The president highlighted that as per varying estimates, 10 to 15 percent of Pakistan’s population or almost 22 million people comprised of PWDs, and said that such a huge population could be transformed into a valuable asset, provided they were integrated and assimilated into the society.

He emphasized ensuring the proper upbringing of persons with disabilities from birth, meeting their specific needs of food, education, sports and learning, providing them with assistive technology, and assimilating them as equal members in daily tasks.

The president also called upon the relevant institutions in the public and private sectors as well as international organizations to join hands to review the existing laws while keeping in view the special needs of PWDs, and benchmark international best practices to propose amendments to the existing legal framework, besides proposing the enactment of new laws to establish a comprehensive PWD-friendly legal framework for ensuring their inclusion and integration in society as equal and capable members.

During the meeting, the President also stressed the importance of developing close linkages with institutes of higher learning, Capital Development Authority and Municipal Corporations of other cities, Chambers of Commerce and Industries across the country, and architecture firms to evolve a mutually agreed upon mechanism to transform public spaces into PWD friendly spaces.

The president said that relevant regulatory authorities should be fully geared to undertake a comprehensive and authentic audit of all public and private buildings, infrastructure, schools, and health facilities to create an authentic database to provide a baseline.

This, he said, would help in chalking out a comprehensive implementation strategy and action plans on a timeline basis to ensure the compliance of existing laws, rules and regulations by the stakeholders through consultation, negotiation and advocacy, and wherever required through administrative action to ensure compliance.

The president underscored the need to make all educational facilities in the country completely compliant with the needs of PWDs.

“They should have trained teachers capable of communicating with PWDs according to their disabilities and should be fully equipped with assistive tools and technologies to ensure their hassle-free movement to help them gain knowledge, and take part in sports and other social and cultural activities,” he added.

Dr Alvi said that all educational and training institutes should be encouraged to enroll PWDs, especially those with physical, visual or hearing disabilities without discrimination, and ensure availability of the trained teachers, a friendly environment, and remove physical and attitudinal barriers for their complete assimilation in the education system.

He said that steps should be taken to further expand the reach of our education and skill-development institutes to equip PWDs with suitable skills and develop a close and result-oriented liaison with public and private sector institutions for providing them with jobs.

He said that the entire month of December should be commemorated as the month of PWDs and all public and private sector institutions should organise events and launch awareness campaigns for their employees and the general public to sensitize them regarding the rights of PWDs and the responsibilities and obligations of society towards them.

Policymakers urged to revamp curricula, build capacity of teachers and research faculty

NNPS Desk

Fri, 2 Dec 2022, 4:29 PM

Policymakers urged to revamp curricula, build capacity of teachers and research faculty

ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 (APP):Minister of Federal Education and Professional Training, Rana Tanveer Hussain Friday urged the policymakers and practitioners to review and revamp the curricula, invest in building capacities of teaching and research faculty and bring about a paradigm shift from subject-focused rote learning to an interdisciplinary approach to research and education.

He was addressing the closing session of “the International Summit on Higher Education and Workforce Development in 21st Century” organized by USAID and HEC.

United States Senator of Utah State, Keith Grover also attended the event held at a local hotel.

The federal minister said that the USAID’s Higher Education System Strengthening Activity (HESSA) between the Governments of the USA and Pakistan which is worth $19 Million, is yet another initiative that will support our 16 universities in improving their institutional and technical capacities in delivering market-relevant education and research.

Rana Tanveer emphasized to pay focus on improving institutional governance, curriculum, access and quality, teaching and research practices, industry-academia linkages, and climate change adaptation.

He said that it is a reality-whether we like it or not-most stakeholders complain that our education system does not equip the students with the knowledge, experience, skills, or values needed to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

“It is clear to everyone that business as usual is not an option to reverse this trend. We need to be bold, innovative and committed to achieving the three-fold objective of improving access, quality, and relevance of our higher education.”

He also called for prioritizing advancing social justice by mainstreaming marginalized communities into the higher education system.

The federal minister said that the key challenges that are faced by our higher education sector that need to be addressed are low and inequitable access; traditional teaching and research techniques; weak industry and academia linkages; weak management and governance amongst a myriad of others.

The minister continued, “If we invest in our higher education system in terms of strengthening leadership and policies; enhancing faculty’s teaching and research capacities; strengthening industry-academia linkages; improving student support services-this will result in a system that churns out well-rounded graduates with potential to have secured livelihoods.
The innovations, experiences and lessons learned from HESSA will be instrumental in scaling up the best practices throughout the sector, he said.

Rana Tanveer extended his gratitude to the HESSA project team for bringing together a highly accomplished group of thought leaders, policymakers, academicians, and students to deliberate on issues that are urgent and critical for improving our graduates’ employability and workforce development in Pakistan.

In his concluding remarks, Rana Tanveer Hussain thanked the US Government and USAID for their continuous support to Pakistan’s higher education system in the form of both infrastructure development and institutional capacity building.

Balochistan assured of Centre’s help in speedy development

Zaka Ullah Ch

Fri, 2 Dec 2022, 4:25 PM

Balochistan assured of Centre’s help in speedy development

ISLAMABAD, Dec 2 (APP):Federal Minister Planning and Development and Special Initiatives, Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Friday assured the provincial ministers of Balochistan that the federal government is committed to uplift the province as the recent identification of 20 poorest districts of the country out of which 11 districts are from Balochistan is one of the example.

The minister made this assurance while chairing a meeting with the 5-member delegation from Balochistan, headed by Health Minister, Balochistan Ehsan Shah. The meeting was attended by the Food Minister, Balochistan Engineer Zamrak Khan, and Chief Secretary, Balochistan Abdul Aziz Uqaili.

“The top priority of the federal government is to uplift the Balochistan province which remained neglected in the past,” said the Minister, while highlighting the recent initiatives taken by the federal government for the development of the province.

It is noted that since the incumbent government came into power in April this year, the development of Balochistan remained a top priority, particularly, after the recent devastating floods which badly affected the province. The federal government has approved several projects funded by the federal government for the development of Balochistan.

The Minister further added that for the first time in 2016, the PML-N government launched a district level Multidimensional Poverty Index to uplift the districts. Similarly, the minister said that special initiatives have been also taken for the youth of Balochistan under the PM youth initiatives launched recently.

The provincial Ministers appreciated the efforts of the Planning Minister Prof Ahsan Iqbal for taking special interest in the development of Balochistan.

China-Arab summit, China-Gulf State summit to bring new regional development opportunities

NNPS Desk

Fri, 2 Dec 2022, 4:22 PM

China-Arab summit, China-Gulf State summit to bring new regional development opportunities

BEIJING, Dec 2 (APP):The first China-Arab Summit and China-Gulf States Summit scheduled to be held in Saudi Arabia this month will bring new opportunities for the regional development particularly to the Arab countries.

This series of Summits at the end of 2022 are set to catch the eyes of the whole world, Li Chen, Centre for China Studies and Co-Director of the Greater Bay Area Research Project said in an article issued here.

He said, above all, Arab countries and China are fully capable of synergizing their development strategies.

The “Belt and Road” Initiative and the development proposals of Arab countries are strongly associated with each other to a great extent, and concept by President Xi ” Jointly Share the Benefits of the Development ” is remarkably recognized and welcomed by Arab countries and its people.

Therefore, the synergestic cooperation combined with “Belt and Road” construction and development planning of all Arab countries will effectively highlight the advantages of the Arab countries as the intersection of land and maritime Silk Roads.

Secondly, he said, the resources markets of Arab countries and China can be fully integrated.

The two sides have deepened practical cooperation in crude oil and petrochemicals.

At the same time, China’s development in new energy and renewable resources can offer more necessary solutions to Arab countries to explore new development paths and provide strong support and assistance for Arab countries to gradually realize economic structural transformation.

China and Arab countries will further develop contracting cooperation in major infrastructure projects to enhance trade facilitation while improving people’s overall wellbeing.

Third, in terms of epidemic prevention and control, the output of COVID-19 vaccines cooperated with China in several Arab countries have not only fully met the vaccination needs of their own people, but also being exported to African countries as well, which opens up a new landscape for global epidemic control and medical industry.

He said, as the first summit being held between China and Arab states, it is also the first face-to-face communication between Chinese and Arab leaders since the outbreak of COVID-19 and it is particularly the first major multilateral diplomatic event with China as one of the co-hosts after the successful hosting of the 20th CPC National Congress.

China and Arab countries have always enjoyed long standing close relations, in addition to frequent high-level visits, there have been strong partnership in strengthening regional security, stability, economic prosperity and development.

The consensus reached by the heads of states during their meetings has also been enhanced and implemented in the previous successful China-Arab cooperation forums.

In 2020 alone, trade between China and Arab countries reached US $240 billion, making China the largest trading partner of Arab countries.

This summit is about to unveil a magnificent prospect for the development of China and the Arab countries and bright future of China-Arab states relations, he concluded.