PM, Asif Ali Zardari discuss overall political situation
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP): Former President Asif Ali Zardari met Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif here at the PM House on Tuesday.
The two leaders exchanged views about the country’s overall political situation.
During the meeting, rehabilitation of the flood affected people and the process of aid in view of the advent of winter was also reviewed. It was agreed to speed up the rehabilitation process of the flood affected people.
Both the leaders also discussed matters relating to economic improvement, relief for masses and the development process.
CM Balochistan to brief PM about financial issues of province
QUETTA, Nov 29 (APP): Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Abdul Qudus Bizenjo will meet Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and give a briefing on the financial issues facing the province.
“The Chief Minister will also draw the attention of the Prime Minister towards the slow progress in the implementation of federal projects,” a handout issued by the Directorate of the Public Relations said on Tuesday.
In the meeting with the Prime Minister, along with the Chief Minister of Balochistan, the provincial political leadership will also be present.
The handout said the delegation of the Chief Minister will include the parliamentary leaders of the provincial parties and the members of the National Assembly of Balochistan
The Chief Minister of Balochistan will take the political leadership and members of the Senate and the National Assembly into confidence before meeting with the Prime Minister.
The chief minister instructed the planning and development department and the finance department to prepare a comprehensive briefing on the progress of federal projects and the financial situation of the province.
“It is hoped that the Prime Minister will listen to our requests with compassion and attention and issue orders”, Chief Minister Balochistan said.
EU hands over mobile food testing lab to Sindh
KARACHI, Nov 29 (APP): European Union Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Riina Kionka has handed over the keys of a mobile food-testing laboratory to the Sindh Food Authority (SFA).
This was done in a ceremony held at Director General Excise and Taxation and Narcotics Control office here, as part of the Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress (GRASP) project, funded by the European Union, and implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC), said a statement on Tuesday.
Sindh Minister for Food Mukesh Kumar Chawla said that the purpose of establishing SFA is to ensure adulteration-free food items to the people of Sindh and mobile food testing lab will definitely help SFA to perform its functions more effectively.
On this occasion, Secretary Food Raja Khurram Shehzad Umer, DG SFA Imran Bhatti and other officers were also present.
Speaking at the ceremony, Dr Riina Kionka said, “The EU is glad to be one of the main donors working to improve the food quality in Sindh. We see food safety not only as important for public health perspective, but also economically: Safe quality products open up access to new and premium markets for the agriculture sector.”
The handing over of food testing lab was a result of following an assessment of the Food Authorities of Sindh and Balochistan in 2020, GRASP identified the need to provide mobile food testing facilities to both provinces to help support the implementation of food safety standards and overall quality assurance of food items being supplied to markets.
As part of its duties, the van will also be used to check for food contamination to ensure, in particularly processed foods, are free from undeclared ingredients, are accurately labelled and are compliant with relevant food safety standards and rules.
Equipped with a suite of testing technology, along with its crew of technicians, the van will provide on the spot scientific expertise to help support both consumer confidence and public health.
Through GRASP, officials of SFA have also been trained on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) compliance issues in relation to the requirement for wider market access, including towards potential international exports, in addition to supporting and reviewing regulatory and operational frameworks of the authority, towards its overall strengthening and operational capacity.
Senate chairman stresses joint strategy for resolving Palestine issue
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP): Chairman Senate Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani on Tuesday urged the Muslim community and human rights organisations, to devise a joint strategy for resolving the issue of occupied Palestine and ending human rights violations there.
In his message on International day of solidarity with Palestinian people, being observed on Nov 29, he asked the international community to play its role in achieving a just solution for Palestine as the dire situation in Palestine posed a serious challenge to international peace and security.
Early resolution of the issue suits especially the entire region as well as the world. Chairmen expressed his unwavering support to the people of Palestine, especially on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
He expressed solidarity with the Palestinians and strongly condemned the Israeli atrocities carried out against innocent and unarmed Palestinians by Israeli occupation forces as the issue of Palestine was route cause of unrest in the entire Middle East.
The Chairman said that Speakers of the Parliament around the world have been informed about the aggression and brutality by Israeli forces against the Palestinians. He reiterated that Pakistan will always continue its support and will always raise its voice against Israeli atrocities on every international forum.
“Today we send a message to our Palestinian brethren that the Pakistani nation as a whole stands by them in every hour of trial. Pakistan will never leave the Palestinians alone in their just struggle for independence and will continue to raise its voice for their rights on every platform. It is the moral responsibility of all Muslim countries to take joint and comprehensive action to resolve the Palestinian issue”.
Senate Deputy Chairman Mirza Muhammad Afridi, also expressed solidarity with Palestinians and strongly condemned the Israeli cruelty and brutality. Afridi urged Muslim countries to support their Palestinian brothers.
Israeli aggression cannot demoralize Palestinians. The series of attacks by Israeli occupation forces on innocent people, illegal settlement of the Israelis, and forced evictions of Palestinians are serious violations of human rights and international law.
Bombing women, children and innocent Palestinians is a very cowardly and shameful act. Pakistan will continue to raise its voice at international forums against Israeli atrocities.
KP CM directs police to launch crackdown against street crimes
PESHAWAR, Nov 29 (APP): Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan has directed the Inspector General of Police (IGP) to launch a crackdown against street crimes in the province along with forming a well devised plan for controlling the traffic congestion in major cities of the province.
He issued these directives while chairing a progress review meeting regarding the good governance strategy of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province here on Tuesday.
Regarding the resolution of complaints received on the Pakistan Citizen Portal, the meeting was informed that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has constantly remained at first position for the fourth consecutive year in terms of citizen satisfaction.
The chief minister also directed the district administration to keep a vigilant eye on the Public Services Delivery with a special focus on Patwar system adding that the Dispute Resolution Councils should comprise of all relevant officers so that the majority of public issues are resolved at the grass root level.
The Chief Minister also directed the concerned departments and District Administrations to furnish performance reports regarding good governance initiatives fortnightly.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister directed the Works department to compile a comprehensive report against corrupt officials along with strengthening the monitoring mechanism for public welfare initiatives.
He maintained that the benefits of reforms and public welfare initiatives should be evident and directed the district administrations to take stern action against illegal hoarding of goods, adulteration and professional beggars throughout the province.
Similarly, Mahmood Khan directed the Deputy Commissioners to monitor the development projects of the provincial government in their respective districts, adding that negligence in this regard will not be tolerated. He maintained that the performance monitoring of all concerned would be held regularly by the chair.
The Chief Minister also directed to speed up the drive against illegal encroachments, especially on the banks of rivers in Hazara and Malakand regions, adding that a proper proposal be prepared for the utilization of recovered lands. It was informed that a total of 9170 kanals of land has been recovered in the anti-encroachment drive from January 2022 till-date.
He also directed regular holding of Khuli Kacheris, Revenue Darbar, undertaking steps for public awareness regarding welfare projects, action against the use of plastic bags, repair and maintenance of shelter homes and provision of winter clothing to people in shelter homes.
Briefing the meeting about progress on the good governance strategy, it was informed that a total of 84,273 complaints were registered on Pakistan Citizen Portal out of which 76,466 complaints have been resolved. 43,456 complainants provided their valuable feedback, out of which 22,611 were completely satisfied.
According to details, the highest numbers of complaints were received in the education sector. Out of the total of 24,983 complaints received, 23,622 have been resolved amicably.
Similarly, 22304 out of the total 24,099 complaints in municipal services, 11,825 out of the total 12,306 complaints in law and justice and 10,488 out of the total 11,310 complaints in the health sector have been resolved. The average complaint resolution ratio from January 2022 till-date has remained 95%.
With regards to the resolution of disputes at grass root level, the meeting was informed that a total of 1072 Khuli Kacheris were held from January 2022 to till date. According to details, 796 male, 26 female and 194 male-female Khuli Kacheris were held during the mentioned period. Similarly, 10 Khuli Kacheris were held specifically for minorities, 11 for special persons, 13 for farmers, five for students, five for transgender and three khuli kacheris were held for business communities during the mentioned period.
With regard to regulatory inspections, the meeting was informed that thousands of units are being inspected on a monthly basis. From Jan 2022 till-date, 13,518 FIRs have been lodged, Rs 175 Million fines imposed and 1775 individuals have been sent to prison in lieu of various violations noted during the inspections by District Administrations.
Likewise, briefing on the implementation status of the provincial governments’ good governance strategy, the chair was informed that 13,555 illegal speed breakers and 8277 billboards have been removed. 1953 illegal crushing plants and 1441 illegal mining activities have been sealed.
In lieu of the rehabilitating of various projects, it was informed that 1471 tube wells have been operationalized whereas 1142 new tube wells have been installed throughout the province. For the promotion of sports and recreational activities, 1846 events were arranged in addition to the improvement of 2646 public places/parks and gardens. To ensure the provision of clean drinking water, 2539 water supply schemes have been made functional while 26,550 meters of rusted pipelines were replaced.
Chief Secretary Dr. Shehzad Bangash, Additional Chief Secretary Shahab Ali Shah, Senior Member Board of Revenue Zakir Hussain Afridi, Inspector General Police Moazzam Jah Ansari, administrative Secretaries of concerned departments, Divisional Commissioners, Regional Police Officers, CCPO Peshawar, all Deputy Commissioners, District Police Officers, Director Performance Management & Reforms Unit and other concerned officials attended the meeting.
Pakistan, KSA reiterate desire to further strengthen fraternal ties
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP): Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) on Tuesday expressed the desire to further strengthen long-standing fraternal ties which are based on common religion, shared values and culture.
This was discussed in a meeting between Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani and Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Pakistan Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki here at the Parliament House.
Talking to the envoy, the Chairman said Pakistan accorded utmost importance to its ties with KSA which had always supported Pakistan in difficult times, adding that both countries enjoyed significant convergence on a number of regional and global issues.
He urged the need to further develop a strategic and broad-based partnership with KSA in different areas for the mutual interest of the two brotherly countries.
During the meeting, it was emphasised to further enhance commercial bonds and encourage businessmen and chambers of commerce of both countries to interact regularly to further boost bilateral trade relations.
Sanjrani also highlighted that over 2 million Pakistani diaspora in KSA was playing a significant role in the progress and development of both brotherly countries.
The Senate chairman also asked the ambassador to convey his warm regards to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and shared that the people of Pakistan pray for his good health and long life.
Govt approves reduction of base tariff for tubewells to Rs 13/kwh
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP):The Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet (ECC) Tuesday approved base tariff for electric tube wells at Rs. 13/kWH from Rs. 16.60/kWH, providing relief to farmers of Rs. 3.60/kWH effective from 1st November, 2022 to compensate the damage caused by the floods and heavy rains.
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar presided over the meeting of the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC).
Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Tariq Bashir Cheema, Federal Minister for Power Khurram Dastgir Khan, Federal Minister for Industries and Production Syed Murtaza Mahmud, Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Planning, Development & Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi MNA/Ex-PM, SAPM on Finance Tariq Bajwa, SAPM on Revenue Tariq Mehmood Pasha, Coordinator to PM on Commerce & Industry Rana Ihsan Afzal, Federal Secretaries, Chairman FBR and other senior officers attended the meeting.
Finance Division submitted a summary on launch of Credit Guarantee Scheme under Credit Guarantee Trust Fund through Second Supplemental Trust Deed.
It was presented that Pakistan Mortgage Refinance Company Limited (PMRC) has been setup as a joint initiative of the Govt of Pakistan and Commercial Banks/Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) to provide medium and long term funding to primary mortgage lenders by raising from the capital debt market at cheaper rates.
PMRC being the trustee launched a scheme titled, Credit Guarantee Trust Scheme under the First Supplemental Trust Deed. To expand the provision of risk cover to FIs against financing in housing sector, the World Bank approved an additional credit line to Government of Pakistan for housing finance project which may be passed on to Credit Guarantee Trust Fund.
In view of above, the ECC allowed to launch a new scheme titled, Credit Guarantee Trust Scheme for low income housing through Second Supplemental Trust Deed with an amount of US$85 million to be obtained from the World Bank (WB) to provide risk cover to financing institutions against their financing in housing sector.
Ministry of National Food Security & Research submitted a summary on fixation and notification of Minimum Indicative Prices of Tobacco Crop 2023. After detailed deliberation, the ECC approved minimum indicative prices for various types of tobacco for different areas for 2023 tobacco crop.
Power Division submitted a summary on Uniform tariff for K-electric. It was submitted that KE applicable uniform variable charge is required to be modified to maintain the uniform tariff across the country with category wise increases including
general supply tariff – residential, general supply tariff – commercial, industrial supply tariff, bulk supply tariff, agriculture tariff, and public lighting with recovery period of four months.
It was also shared such adjustment shall be applicable on the consumption from Oct-22 to Jan-23 to be recovered from consumers in Dec-22 to Mar-23, respectively. The ECC after deliberation approved this proposal.
Power Division submitted another summary on settlement of payables to Government Owned Power Plants at par with IPPS. The ECC approved Technical Supplementary Grant of Rs. 93.438 billion in three tranches of Rs. 31.146 billion each.
Ministry of Commerce submitted a summary on Individual Tariff Rationalization proposal from different sectors for review of Regulatory Duties (RDs). The ECC after discussion approved the proposal to reduce RD on Disodium Carbonate (PCT
– 2836.2000) from current rate of 20% to 10% and imposed RD at rate of 5% on filament Yarns (PCT 5402.3300, 5402.4600, 5402.4700, 5402.5200 and 5402.6200).
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting submitted a summary for allocation of budget to launch comprehensive media awareness campaign on government initiatives, programmes and projects. The ECC after detailed discussion approved
Supplementary Grant of Rs. 2 billion for flood related media campaigns.
ECC approved Rs. 15 billion in favour of Election Commission of Pakistan for Current Financial Year 2022-23. Out of Rs. 15 billion, Rs. 5 billion will be released immediately while the balance will be released in tranches on utilization of the first
tranche.
The ECC also approved Technical Supplementary Grant amounting to Rs. 162.521 million in favour of Ministry of Housing and Works in addition to approving Rs. 250 million for execution of development scheme titled “ Construction of Railway
underpass, Gojra, District Toba Tek Singh” and Rs. 144.210 million for execution of development schemes in District D.I. Khan.
UN Women, Embassy of Sweden celebrates actions to end violence against women in award ceremony
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP):UN Women and the Embassy of Sweden organized an award ceremony titled, “2021 in Retrospective Celebrating Actions to End Violence Against Women” during 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign.
The award ceremony aimed to acknowledge the actions taken on pledges made during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence Campaign of 2021, said a news release.
Last year UN Women Pakistan encouraged stakeholders to make commitments to ending violence against women, and several pledges were received to bridge funding gaps, show political will for calling for an end to violence and ensure essential services for survivors of violence.
On the occasion, Chief Minister of Gilgit Baltistan Khalid Khurshid said, “GB government has set in motion progressive policies to mainstream women and girls in socio-economic and political life so they do not remain silent when they face any type of violence.”
At the event, UN Women’s Country Representative Sharmeela Rassool stressed the need for concrete action to strengthen data collection on femicides as it will assist in informing policies and programmes aimed to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.
Ambassador of Sweden to Pakistan Henrik Persson said, “We will never be able to prevent violence against women and girls without engaging men. We need to engage more men who are willing to publicly speak and act to oppose violence against women and girls and create a ripple effect. Let’s push forward together”
Every year in Pakistan, civil society and women’s rights organizations, the UN system, government partners, development partners, universities, the private sector, and individuals show solidarity, commitments, and actions during the 16 Days to call for preventing and ending violence against women. Through the joint efforts of all stakeholders, aspires to bring about a safer, more just and violence-free world for all women and girls.
The global 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign started on November 25 until December 10, 2022, under the theme, “UNiTE! ACTIVISM TO END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN and GIRLS!”