PAC recommends govt to reduce import duties on vehicles
ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (APP): The Public Accounts Committee on Tuesday recommended that the government to reduce import duties on used vehicles to discourage exploitation by the 14 local car assemblers, bring prices down and offer more choices to the public.
The PAC passed the recommendation after its members observed that the local car assemblers were deliberately delaying deliveries and charging the general public extra, especially after their customers had deposited full payments.
“The fault lies with the ministries concerned for not curbing the malpractice,” PAC Chairman Noor Alam Khan said. The car assemblers should be barred from demanding extra charges after their customers had deposited full amount, he added.
In order to also curtail the menace of on-money and late delivery, Noor Alam Khan also directed the Ministry of Industries and Productions to reduce the delivery period from 60 days to 30 days. He also directed Secretary Industries and Production Imdadullah Bosal that the car manufacturers should be called car assemblers. “They are importing every part and only assembling them locally,” he added.
The PAC met for briefings on delay in delivery of cars, taxes paid by the car assemblers and to inquire about the amounts deposited by the general public in accounts of booking/purchases of vehicles.
It members raised various questions regarding how much money the car assemblers earned from advance money deposited by their customers.
PML-N’s Dr Malik Mukhtar Ahmed observed that the car assemblers were deliberately operating at less than 50 percent capacity. “There is obviously a mafia at work. If the car assemblers do not increase production to meet demand, we will move a resolution in the National Assembly to slash import duties on small, 660 CC to 1, 300 CC cars,” he added.
The PAC was informed that the car assemblers had reimbursed Rs1.95 billion late delivery charges. While Honda Atlas had delayed the delivery of 10, 241 cars, while Hyundai Nishat Motors had 6, 724 late deliveries, Indus Motors 13, 630 late deliveries, and Lucky Motors Pakistan 3, 452 late deliveries between November 2021 and April 2022. However, Pak Suzuki Motors had made the highest number of, 33, 847 late deliveries.
The PAC took an offence to the claims by car assemblers that their delivery period ranged between two to four months.
“The car assemblers take from one year to one and a half years to deliver cars to their customers,” Noor Alam Khan said.
The PAC asked the Federal Board of Revenue, the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Industries to revisit the policies governing the car assemblers and to revise import duties on small cars between 660 CC and 1, 300 CC.
HMMA urges KP govt to withdraw rise in mines’ assignment fees, fines
ABBOTTABAD, Oct 18 (APP): The Hazara Mines and Mineral Association (HMMA) Tuesday urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to withdraw increase in assignment fees and fines.
Talking to the media, HMMA President Qazi Musaddaq said the KP Mines and Minerals Department had raised the assignment fee from Rs 132,000 to Rs 500,000.
He said despite an online registration system in place, the officials of Mines and Mineral Department Hazara region forced the miners to deposit forms D and LPR in the office.
Despite receiving millions of rupees in taxes, the department had failed to provide any relief to the miners and land owners, he added.
The HMMA president asked the KP government to fix the service rent rates of the Mines and Mineral Department, which should be prominently displayed in its offices.
He said the department received annual rent from the lease owners, but it did not give its any share to the land or hill owner, which was injustice.
SC asks NAB to preserve, digitize its record
ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (APP):The Supreme Court on Tuesday continued hearing of Pakistan Tehreek-e-insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan’s petition against amendments in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance.
A three-member SC bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Ijaz Ul Ahsan and Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah heard the case.
During the course of proceedings, the Supreme Court ordered the NAB to preserve and digitize the records including details of references returned after the amendment.
The Chief Justice remarked that the court believed that every responsible should be held accountable, but here everyone was still looking for criteria to test the NAB law. It had been published in newspapers and other circles that there should not be NAB prosecution on certain sections including the business community, he added.
He said that politicians had been declared corrupt since 1947 and the Supreme Court’s action was to balance this process but this debate should be held in the parliament. Even in 1947 there was an accountability law, he added.
Justice Mansoor Ali Shah remarked that how could the court design a law and send it to the Parliament. He asked why and how the court could interfere in the affairs of the parliament.
He asked how could the Supreme Court determine that what should be the NAB law? The council argued that the NAB law was malicious, how could the court design a law for the parliament, he asked.
PTI lawyer Khawaja Haris, while continuing the arguments, said that major cases including the rental power case were dropped, the financial benefit of the third party was taken out of NAB’s reach through the recent amendments. The Supreme Court in the past had been designing laws for the parliament, he added.
Makhdoom Ali Khan said that NAB was not submitting all the records as it was only submitting the decisions of the accountability courts to the Supreme Court.
Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan inquired that if the Chairman NAB did not send the returned reference anywhere, then would the matter be over. There may be a need to amend the NAB law, he added.
The PTI counsel said that references were not being filed anywhere else. The prosecutor NAB said committees had been formed in every region.
The Supreme Court ordered that references, records, evidence, information, documents should be preserved, a list of everything should be compiled and preserved.
Subsequently, hearing of the case was adjourned till Wednesday.
Pakistan adopts measures to completely eradicate polio: Patel
ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (APP): Federal Minister for National Health Services Abdul Qadir Patel has said that Pakistan is adopting effective measures under a coordinated strategy to completely eradicate polio from its soil.
Addressing the World Health Summit in Berlin, he said the Government of Pakistan was determined to eliminate the polio virus from the country.
He said over 27 polio workers had lost their lives during polio immunization drives in Pakistan. He appreciated the role of Pakistan Army and other security forces for ensuring security to the polio workers.
The minister said despite the recent floods that badly affected the country’s health system, the government was determined to complete the task of polio eradication from the country and protecting children from the crippling disease.
He apprised that the Al-Azhar University had decreed that vaccination against the deadly polio disease was a religious and humanitarian duty.
“Pakistan has made incredible progress against polio, but recent challenges have allowed the virus to persist,” said Dr Zulfi Bhutta, Chair of Child Global Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Canada, and Professor Aga Khan University, Pakistan.
“Polio, like any virus, knows no borders; its continued transmission threatens children everywhere. Stopping this disease is not just urgently needed now, it’s within our grasp.”
He said, “With strong financial and political commitments, our long-awaited vision of a polio-free world can become a reality.”
More than 3,000 scientists and health experts from 115 countries urged the world to fully fund eradication strategy following resurgence of the disease.
Global leaders confirmed $2.6 billion in funding toward the Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s (GPEI) 2022-2026 Strategy to end polio at a pledging moment co-hosted by Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) at the World Health Summit in Berlin.
The funding would support global efforts to overcome the final hurdles to polio eradication, vaccinate 370 million children annually over the next five years and continue disease surveillance across 50 countries.
“No place is safe until polio has been eradicated everywhere. As long as the virus still exists somewhere in the world, it can spread – including in our own country. We now have a realistic chance to eradicate polio completely, and we want to jointly seize that chance,” said Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany.
“Germany will remain a strong and committed partner in the global fight against polio. This year, it is providing EUR 35 million for this cause.”
“Next year we plan to further strengthen our efforts and support GPEI with EUR 37 million – pending parliamentary approval. By supporting the GPEI, we are also strengthening national health systems. That leads to healthier societies, far beyond the polio response.”
“The new detections of polio this year in previously polio-free countries are a stark reminder that if we do not deliver our goal of ending polio everywhere, it may resurge globally,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.
“We are grateful for donors’ new and continued support for eradication, but there is further work to do to fully fund the 2022-2026 Strategy. We must remember the significant challenges we have overcome to get this far against polio, stay the course and finish the job once and for all.”
At a challenging time for countries around the world, governments and partners have stepped forward to demonstrate their collective resolve to eradicate the second human disease ever.
In addition to existing pledges, new commitments to the 2022-2026 Strategy this fall included Australia pledged AU$ 43.55 million, France pledged EUR 50 million, Germany pledged EUR 72 million, Japan pledged US$ 11 million,
Republic of Korea pledged KRW 4.5 billion, Luxembourg pledged EUR 1.7 million, Malta pledged EUR 30 000, Monaco pledged EUR 450 000, Spain pledged EUR 100 000, Turkey pledged US$ 20 000, United States pledged US$ 114 million, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation pledged US$S 1.2 billion, Bloomberg Philanthropies pledged US$ 50 million, Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America pledged US$ 1.8 million, Latter-day Saint Charities pledged US$ 400 000, Rotary International pledged US$ 150 million and UNICEF pledged US$ 5 million.
An awe-inspiring sunset view with shadow of mosque dome in the city
Lifting 100 million out of poverty by 2025 still possible, despite recession threat: UN
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 18 (APP): A new UN poverty study released on Monday, the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, finds that significant poverty reduction is possible, and new ways of calculating the problem can help humanitarians and governments better target aid.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI), a joint analysis from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI) at the University of Oxford, goes beyond measuring poverty as a measurement of poverty, and looks at other indicators, from access to education and health, to living standards such as housing, drinking water, sanitation and electricity.
Using this way of calculating the issue, the study shows that even before the COVID-19 pandemic and the current cost-of-living crisis are accounted for, some 1.2 billion people in 111 developing countries are living in acute multidimensional poverty – nearly double the number who are seen as poor when poverty is defined as living on less than $1.90 per day.
Because there are different aspects of poverty in different regions, the study calls for the development of strategies that tackle the issue to be tailored to specific countries and regions.
It also identifies recurring patterns of poverty (“deprivation bundles”), that commonly affect those at risk. For example, more than half of those living in poverty lack both electricity and clean cooking fuel, whilst a third are deprived of nutrition, cooking fuel, sanitation and housing at the same time.
The report showcases success stories from countries that have used integrated poverty reduction strategies: Nepal’s investment in sanitation, for example, has improved access to drinking water, child nutrition, and, through a reduction in diarrhoea and child mortality.
Reacting to the findings, Achim Steiner, the head of UNDP, said at a time when government budgets were being squeezed, cutting-edge data and analytics could pinpoint the areas where spending would have the most impact.
For example, the report showed, he said, “that decarbonization and expanding access to clean energies will advance climate action, and is also critical for nearly 600 million multidimensionally poor people who still lack access to electricity and clean cooking fuel.”
The study, he continued, would be “vital to inform UNDP’s efforts across the globe as we work with our partners from the United Nations and beyond to reach our bold objective of helping lift 100 million people out of multidimensional poverty by the year 2025”.
In his message marking the Day, the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres warned that the goal of eradicating poverty was being undermined, and “the world is moving backwards”.
The UN chief declared that the COVID-19 pandemic set back more than four years of progress, and also cited widening inequality, the “gathering shadow” of a global recession, and the climate crisis as reasons for the faltering efforts.
Guterres said the theme for the current year’s Day – “Dignity for all in practice” – must be a rallying cry for urgent global action, to finally “consign poverty to the pages of history”.
Khursheed Shah condoles with Director admin FUUAST over death of his brother
KARACHI, Oct 18 (APP): Federal Minister for Water Resources Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah on Tuesday visited the residence of Director Administration of Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology (FUUAST), Abdul Haq Campus Bashir Ahmed Bhugio and condoled with him over the death of his younger brother Saghir Ahmed Bhugio.
The minister condoled with the family of the deceased and prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant courage to bereaved family to bear the loss with fortitude.
Director Administration Bashir Baghio thanked senior leader of Pakistan People’s Party Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah for visiting his residence in this hour of sorrow.
Ashrafi for underdeveloped countries support to meet climate change challenges
CAIRO, Oct 18 (APP):Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi on Tuesday said the developed and financially influential countries should support the underdeveloped countries with less resources in order to cope with the challenges arising from the climate change.
Talking to the media following the ‘World Fatwa Conference’ in Cairo, Egypt, Ashrafi said it was high time to recognize the reality of climate change, as flash floods in Pakistan have inundated 70 percent area of the country, which has caused more than $30 billion loss to the national economy.
Ashrafi who is also the chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council, said Islam stressed to take advantage from conventional knowledge and use of modern sciences for water conservation and tree planting were the commandments of Islam.
He said the debates and discussions between Islamic scholars on the conventional issues was a very important step for resolving the problems of the present age.
Ashrafi said the Islamic scholars had invited the leaders of all the religions to move forward to resolve the conventional problems of the world.
The Makkah Declaration was result of the continued efforts on part of the Muslim World League and similarly, the ‘Charter of Akhuwat-e-Insania’ by Sheikh Al-Azhar, and ‘Paigham-e-Pakistan’ by Ulema and Mashaykh of Pakistan for promoting unity and consensus in view of interfaith dialogue, he maintained.
He said Islam was guarantor of survival and security of the humanity, and it taught us the promotion of peace, affection, and tolerance. In this scenario, it was necessary that the leadership of all religions and religious sects should raise awareness about challenges of the climate change, he added.
He also informed that Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif would participate in the conference in Sharm-Al-Sheikh and shed the light on the losses incurred by the recent monsoon rains and flash floods in Pakistan.
“Pakistan alone cannot deal with the catastrophic situation caused by floods in the country,” he said urging international organizations and Islamic world to cooperate with Pakistan in this trying time.
“We are grateful for the cooperation of the international bodies and Islamic world, but it is not sufficient enough to cope with the calamity,” he said adding the problems were increasing many folds with every passing day as mercury was dropping and people were forced to live under the open sky in the winter season.
Seeking world community’s help to meet this national disaster, Ashrafi informed that the flood-affected people of Pakistan were also facing water related diseases.
The World Fatwa Conference, titled ‘Fatwa and Sustainable Development Goals’ was held under the aegis of Egypt’s Dar-Al-Ifta in Cairo, and attended by the delegates of more than 100 countries from all over the world including Mufti-e-Azam Egypt and Mufti-e-Azam Palestine.
Investment on human capital inevitable for a successful, prosperous Pakistan: President
ISLAMABAD, Oct 18 (APP): President Dr Arif Alvi on Tuesday said that the investment on human resource was inevitable to accomplish the forefathers’ vision for a successful and prosperous Pakistan, by exploiting the immense potential in the fields engineering and technology.
The president, addressing the distribution ceremony of Pakistan Engineering Council’s Engineers’ Excellence Awards 2020 and 2021, said some impregnable powers were emerging in the world by combinedly using engineering and the artificial intelligence.
He said it was the responsibility of the institutions like Pakistan Engineering Council to create an atmosphere of excellence. At a time when huge quantum of information and teaching material was available in the cloud technology, the countries like Pakistan had no excuse to miss the bandwagon.
He questioned as how long Pakistan would continue to bank on others’ consultancy for development projects and emphasized the need for producing quality human resources in all required fields.
The president said through brain drain, Pakistan had suffered a lot and called for the an atmosphere to persuade the skilled workforce to serve in the country out of no compulsion.
He said to their credit, Pakistani engineers had the development of Middle East and upkeeping of Harmain Sharifain, therefore it was essential to look into the factors which led to missing the targets.
He said it were the Pakistani engineers and scientists who made the country achieve the nuclear capability within the span of few years.
The president, who earlier distributed excellence awards among prominent engineers, urged the Pakistan Engineering Council to make efforts for making the country achieve self-sufficiency in modern technology like chip manufacturing to protect the country against cyber attacks.
He said being a precious asset, the engineers should play their role to build a generation which should have the global recognition for their success and credibility.
He said Pakistan should also tap the potential of youth bulge which otherwise could become a burden.
The president also appreciated PEC for its several initiatives, which included entrepreneurship, training of engineers, development of matchmaking portal, development of green energy building code, upgradation of PEC’s bidding documents and re-activation of Pakistan Institute of Cost and Contracts for enhancing the role of engineers in the socio-economic development of the country.
Earlier, Chairman of Pakistan Engineering Council Najeeb Haroon said the being a powerhouse of professionals and a think tank, the Council was determined to promote real professionalism and discourage pseudo-intellectualism.
He said the PEC had got the distinction of getting membership from different reputed international bodies like Washington Accord.
He said Pakistani engineers had been contributing to the country’s socio-economic development by rendering their services in the fields of nuclear, construction, irrigation and others. Following the destruction of dams by the floods, the Pakistani engineers launched their study on the subject to recommend the measures to avert the recurrence.
Haroon said the PEC had launched paid internship for the engineering graduates and also announced to fund the start-up projects by the students.
Convener of the Awards Committee Engineer Niaz Ahmed Akhtar said the nominees for the award were selected from seven different fields in order to recognise their services for the country.