Labor separating quality onions before selling in the market at Sabzi Mandi
ECP finalizes arrangements for by-election in 3 NA constituencies
PESHAWAR, Oct 13 (APP): The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday has finalized arrangements for the by-election scheduled on October 13 (Sunday) on three vacant National Assembly seats from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The election campaign will end tomorrow (Friday) at midnight. The candidates violating the ban will face action under Election Act 2017. The constituencies wherein by-election is scheduled included NA-22 Mardan, NA-24 Charsadda and NA-31 Peshawar-V respectively.
The total number of voters in these constituencies is over 1450,000, out of which the number of men voters is over 8,50,000 while 6,42,000 are women voters.
The polling will begin at 8:00 A.M and will continue till 5:00 P.M. without any interval. However, voters present inside the polling stations will be allowed to cast their votes despite the expiry of the time.
A total of 16 candidates are in run from these constituencies. 4 each candidates are in run from NA-22 Mardan and NA-24 Charsadda while 8 candidates are contesting from NA-31, Peshawar-V respectively.
According to a spokesman of the Provincial Election Commission, 979 polling stations have been established in all three NA constituencies including 429 polling stations for men and 351 for women while 199 polling stations are for both men and women.
Out of the 979 polling stations 745 have been declared as highly sensitive and 234 as sensitive. The police have adopted abreast security measures.
The election material including ballot papers would be handed over to presiding officers on October 15 (Saturday) and dispatched to polling stations.
For evolving election strategy, a meeting among all returning officers, district administration and concerned officers was also held to conduct this phase of the by-election in a better manner.
Special training has also been imparted to all presiding officers and polling staff for compilation of election results. Media has been restricted from broadcasting any unofficial result till passage of one month after closure of the polling.
The Provincial Election Commissioner (PEC), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Mohammad Farid Khattak has urged all voters and particularly women to exercise their right to vote by visiting polling stations without any fear or threat to perform their national duty.
PIA to start Islamabad-Beijing-Islamabad direct flights by end of October
BEIJING, Oct 13 (APP):Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) is all set to start its direct weekly passenger flights on Beijing-Islamabad-Beijing route by end of October after an approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
At present, the national flag carrier is operating a weekly flight on Islamabad-Xian-Beijing-Islamabad sector. The PIA plane leaves Islamabad on Saturday and arrives in Xian on the same day. After disembarking all the passenger, the plane lands in Beijing on Sunday and leaves for Islamabad on Sunday evening.
However, considering Pakistan as the only all-weather strategic partner of China and shared interest and cooperation in various areas between the two countries, the CAAC has accorded approval to PIA to start direct weekly operation to and from Beijing, official sources told APP here on Thursday.
The CAAC has also asked the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) to notify PIA to submit schedule filings for grant of timely approval.
The Islamabad-Beijing-Islamabad direct passenger flight will facilitate passengers especially living in the Chinese capital including officials, traders and students. The flight will also facilitate Chinese personnel working on different projects being completed under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan.
A passenger who intends to leave for Islamabad from Beijing Capital Airport said that PIA is expanding its flights network for China and is providing more options to Pakistani and Chinese travelers to directly reach in different cities between China and Pakistan.
It may be mentioned here that PIA has also been operating direct weekly passenger flights between Islamabad and Chengdu, capital city of China’s Sichuan province on every Wednesday since March this year.
Earlier, the national flag carrier had increased discount for students from 10 percent to 15 percent and an additional 7 percent discount on surcharge making a total of around 22 percent on the flights between Pakistan and China.
The students who are returning to China or planning to go back home after completion of their education could take benefit from the discount.
A vendor selling dry fruit on his roadside setup
Customers purchasing new shoes from a vendor at Saddar
A street vendor displaying accessories of vehicles to attract customers at KuriRoad
Women to play vital role in rehabilitation, reconstruction process: Ahsan Iqbal
ISLAMABAD, Oct 13 (APP):Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqabl on Thursday said woman’s role in the rehabilitation process in flood hit areas would be vital as the rehabilitation and reconstruction process would not be possible without their support.
“The incumbent government was bent upon providing equal opportunities to womenfolk to actively engage in development process of the country”, Ahsan Iqbal said while addressing the opening ceremony of Annual Rural Women Leadership in Disaster Risk Reduction Conference here.
He said women played vital role in development of any country and the development process of such countries remained slow where the women are not given equal opportunities.
He said planning and development was not based only on building roads, infrastructures etc, but one of the most important aspect was planning to include women in the country’s development process.
Keeping in view this importance, he said the planning ministry has established a gender unit in which all development projects would be planned according to gender’s perspective so that the projects should not be approved without ensuring the interests of the women.
Ahsan Iqbal said bringing women to the mainstream process was vital to minimize gender inequality in the society.
He said Pakistan was facing huge disaster due to the climate change and the women and children are the most vulnerable in such condition. Even when the rehabilitation starts, women are not included in such process, he added.
The minister said one-third of Pakistan had been affected, and 33 million people were directly affected due the the disaster caused by floods and torrential rains. Similarly, over 2 million houses were damaged and over 1700 people lost their lives,
He said without any doubt, this is the biggest calamity in any country in the recent era.
The minister informed that by October 24, the final figures of damage need assessment would be finalized and on the basis of those figures, the government would hold an International Donor Conference to seek support from the world because what he said no country was able to tackle such a huge disaster on its own.
He aid during his visit to Pakistan, the United Nations Secretary General also stressed the world to focus on such climate injustice in Pakistan because the people were the climate victims and this disaster was mainly due to the irresponsible development process of the development countries.
He said the federal government and the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was fully supporting the provincial governments and the provincial disaster management authorities to tackle with the flood damages.
He said the government had allocated extra Rs 70 billion to support the beneficiaries of Benazir Income Support Programe (BISP) in the flood hit areas.
Furthermore, the federal government was also contributing Rs 9 billion to provide wheat seeds for sowing in the flood hit areas.
The government, he said would also provide maximum support to the provinces to ensure reducing malnutrition among the children and mothers in such areas.
Vendors displaying seasonal fruits to attract customers at Shamsabad
Labors pushing a cart loaded with clean drinking water at Old Ford
A street vendor displaying balloons to attract customers at Ghouri Town
