Pakistan desirous of boosting ties with US: PM
ISLAMABAD, Jul 6 (APP):Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday here said Pakistan desired to strengthen its bilateral relations with the United States in diverse fields.
Addressing a ceremony for the celebration of the 247th Independence Day of the United States of America, he said Pakistan and the United States had made serious efforts to mend their ties putting aside any misgivings and misunderstandings and now the relations were back to normal.
He assured of his personal efforts as head of the government and as a Pakistani to cultivate better and stronger relations with the United States on the basis of mutual trust and respect.
“Over the last 75 years, our relations have ups and downs but on the whole we have been very good friends.”
He said the United States was the largest trading partner of Pakistan and also a steadfast partner in the war against terrorism.
In the fight against terrorism, Pakistan lost 80,000 people from all walks of life and this unparalleled sacrifice explained Pakistan’s commitment and US had been a great supporter and partner in this fight, he remarked.
He said about five years ago when Pakistan was facing serious power outages, the then government established 5000 megawatts of LNG based power plants and the entire equipment was brought from the United States.
He said both the countries had a huge ground to cover and expand their ties in different fields including agriculture and information technology. Pakistan had great talent and youth bulge was a challenge but it could be turned into an opportunity with the support and cooperation of the United States, he continued.
He praised the United States for its support during the devastating floods last year.
“We value support of the US which had been the biggest donor and very helpful in providing relief to millions of flood affected people.”
He felicitated President Joe Biden and people and government of the United States on their 247th Independence Day.
He said he looked forward to visit of high powered delegations from the United States to further enhance cooperation.
In his remarks, the United States ambassador to Pakistan Donald Blome said the economic partnership of the US with Pakistan was expanding .
The United States had been a leading investor in Pakistan and also Pakistan’s largest export market, he said adding during a ministerial meeting, both the countries made a significant progress in expanding market access for goods and services.
Former President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari along with MPA Faryal Talpur showering flowers at the grave of Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto at Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto
Joint sitting urges Int’l organizations, states to legislate, criminalize desecration of holy books, personalities
ISLAMABAD, Jul 06 (APP): The Joint Sitting of the Parliament on Thursday passed a resolution unanimously, urging relevant international organizations and states to legislate and criminalize desecration of Holy symbols of religions including Holy Books, personalities, places of worship and followers.
The resolution moved by Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Murtaza Javeed Abbasi on behalf of all parties in the House, strongly condemned the act of desecration of the Holy Quran in Sweden.
“This house believes in respecting all religions, beliefs and their Holy Books,” the resolution said.
The House resolved that the International community should take appropriate measures for promoting interfaith harmony to ensure that any act that hurt religious sentiments might never take place in future.
The House urged that appropriate steps be taken by Swedish authorities against the perpetrator(s) including but not limited to legal action, and to ensure that no such act takes place in future.
The House also urged that incidents of Islamophobia be dealt with the same seriousness as hate against other religions.
This House acknowledged and appreciated the convening of the OIC session for providing platform to compile recommendations and devise a collective future strategy to counter Islamophobia.
President-designate COP 28 discusses climate change with PM, minister
ISLAMABAD, Jul 6 (APP): Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, President-designate of COP 28 and UAE’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, Minister for Industries and Technologies, MD and CEO of ADNOC and Chairman MASDAR visited Pakistan on Thursday and discussed matters of mutual concern during his meetings with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman.
During the visit, Dr. Al Jaber called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and discussed bilateral matters as well as regional and international issues of common interest, with particular reference to the climate change agenda. Prime Minister reiterated Pakistan’s support to the UAE for COP 28 and expressed confidence in the President-designate’s stewardship of the important conference. Dr. Al Jaber appreciated Pakistan’s efforts in combating adverse effects of climate change as one of the most impacted countries. He also expressed United Arab Emirates’ keen interest to invest in renewable energy projects in Pakistan. The two sides signed an MOU, in the Prime Minister’s presence, outlining a roadmap of such investment in Pakistan.
Dr. Al Jaber held a meeting with Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rahman. The Minister for Climate Change congratulated the President-designate on UAE’s hosting the next COP 28 and briefed him on Pakistan’s concerns in the wake of global climate change. Both sides discussed prospective solutions to the problems emanating from these changes, including operationalizing the Loss and Damage Fund created at COP 27 in Sharm-Al-Sheikh, last year.
Dr. Al Jaber also addressed diplomats, academics, students and civil society representatives at the Foreign Service Academy. Sharing his vision as the President-designate, Dr. Jaber said that COP 28 would be an inclusive and transformative platform for mitigating global climate woes. He also held a meeting with youth delegates from COP youth programme during the visit.
President-designate’s visit provided an opportunity for substantive engagement between Pakistan and the UAE in important areas, including climate change and alternative energy. It would help strengthen the mutual trust and beneficial cooperation between Pakistan and the UAE on salient issues on the global agenda.
Holy Quran: a living miracle, perfect guidance towards the right path
Dr. Saeed Ahmad Ali
LAHORE, Jul 06 (APP): Looking into the ancient history of religions, one comes to know that the prophets and messengers of Allah were blessed with miracles to prove the truth of their respective claims.
Notably, all prophets were not given identical miracles. Like, Prophet ‘Musa’ (A.S) was given the staff (a rod), which could turn into a serpent; Prophet ‘Isa’ (A.S) was given the ability to cure the leper and blind, and bring the dead back to life.
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was bestowed with the holy Qur’an from Almighty as a miracle. The difference between all other miracles and the miracle of the Qur’an is that the other miracles were for those who witnessed them physically or those which ended with the death of the prophets. And, for the people of these ages, those miracles are only tales, which may be believed or suspected by people, according to their mindset. But the Qur’an, the living miracle, is always available with everyone, who wanted to benefit from it. It is a book from Almighty, which is complete in itself; it claims and brings the proof within itself. Its miracles, even in this world of capsules and molecules, are being unfolded every day. As long as the Sun rises in the East, and sets in the West, the Qur’an will stay as the final miracle of God.
Allah Almighty claims the responsibility to safeguard the holy Quran by describing it in the following wording:
“Surely, We (Allah Almighty) have revealed this reminder (The Qur’an); and We will surely preserve it Ourself.”
Holy Quran is the written and revealed philosophy of religion of Islam and its practical model is the life of Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW). It adopts a system based upon truth and justice in every sphere of life and human liberty, a requirement of every society, and Islam, in particular, has placed emphasis on establishment of these values.
It builds human society on the foundations of affirm brotherhood, releases humanity from any kind of tyranny or oppression, and gives equality, freedom, justice and dignity.
This system of justice and equity was put forth and submitted as an ideal model by Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in such a way that no scope was left for injustice and exploitation.
After the Holy Prophet, the true companions and the Ahl-ul-Bayt made great efforts to sustain the prophetic code of justice and to preserve it from deterioration.
Instead of paying respects, on last Wednesday, when Muslim community around the globe was celebrating Eidul Azha, an execrable man in Stockholm desecrated and burned the holy Quran outside a mosque, drawing widespread condemnation, including from the governments of Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
On Sunday, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a group of 57 Muslim states, summoned an urgent meeting and stressed collective measures and enactment of an international law to stop religious hatred. The Muslim states must send constant reminders to the international community for urgent enactment of an international law, which clearly prohibits any advocacy of religious hatred, the OIC said in a statement, displayed at its official website.
Likewise, Pope Francis condemned the desecration of Quran incident in Sweden, saying he felt “angry and disgusted” to see the Muslim holy book desecrated.
In an interview, published on Monday in the United Arab Emirates newspaper Al Ittihad, the pope said: “Any book considered holy should be respected to respect those who believe in it.”
Meanwhile, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) will hold an urgent meeting on the burning of a copy of Quran outside a mosque in Sweden, following a request from Pakistan. The debate on the rise of religious hatred will likely take place later this week, a spokesperson for the Geneva-based UN Council said in a press briefing on last Tuesday.
Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi told APP that the abhorrent act of the holy Quran’s desecration in Sweden badly hurt the religious sentiments of 1.5 billion Muslims across the world. While condemning the incident in the strongest terms, he said that it could be a plot to fuel the anti-Muslim violence under the pretext of advocating freedom of speech in the world. He said that the forces believing in peace and interfaith harmony should play their role at the international level to get rid of such negative trends.
Condemning the incident, Majlis Wahdat-ul-Muslimeen (MWM) leader and scholar Allama Hasan Hamdani urged the Swedish government to adopt strict measures to prevent recurrence of such shameful and disgraceful incidents in future, adding that the government of Sweden should not allow radical and extremist elements to spread hatred against Islamic sanctities and values.
He also urged the United Nations, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and United States Commission on International Religious Freedom to take punitive action against an execrable person in Sweden for desecrating the divine command.
The government of Pakistan would observe Youm-e-Taqaddus-e-Quran (Quran’s Sanctity Day) on July 7 and hold countrywide protest demonstrations against desecration of Holy Quran in Sweden. Besides, the government convened a joint session of the parliament on July 6 to discuss and formulate a national strategy on the issue and represent the nation’s sentiments and feelings through the parliamentary forum.
