Saturday, July 19, 2025
Home Blog Page 13879

Azerbaijan to provide US $2 mn as flood relief aid to Pakistan

By
Irfan Khan
-
0
Azerbaijan to provide US $2 mn as flood relief aid to Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (APP): Azerbaijan Permanent Representative to Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) and Ambassador to Iran Ali Alizada on Sunday said that under the instruction of President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, his country would provide US$ 2 million in relief assistance to Pakistan to cope with the situation in the aftermath of recent massive floods.

Ali Alizada, who also served as Azerbaijan’s ambassador to Pakistan, posted on his Twitter handle.

“By the instructions of the President, Azerbaijan will provide to Pakistan 2 million USD aid to assist in elimination of the consequences of large scale floods,” he posted.

UN chief disappointed over end of nuclear treaty conference without outcome document

By
Zaka Ullah Ch
-
0

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 28 (APP): UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has highlighted the need for dialogue to reduce the nuclear threat after countries failed to reach consensus at a conference to review the landmark Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), according to his Spokesperson.

Following four weeks of intense discussions at UN Headquarters in New York, the Tenth Review Conference of the Parties to the NPT ended late on Friday night without an outcome document because Russia objected to text about its control over Ukrainian nuclear facilities.

The Secretary-General expressed disappointment that countries were unable to reach consensus on a “substantive outcome”, and to capitalize on the opportunity to strengthen the 52-year-old treaty and advance its goals, UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said in?? a statement.

While the UN chief welcomed the sincere and meaningful engagement by the parties, and the fact that the Conference recognized the NPT as the “cornerstone” of the global disarmament and non-proliferation regime, he regretted that it was unable to address the pressing challenges threatening global collective security.

“The fraught international environment and the heightened risk of nuclear weapons being used, by accident or through miscalculation, demand urgent and resolute action. The Secretary-General appeals to all States to use every avenue of dialogue, diplomacy, and negotiation to ease tensions, reduce nuclear risk and eliminate the nuclear threat once and for all,” Dujarric said.

“A world free of nuclear weapons remains the United Nations’ highest disarmament priority and a goal to which the Secretary-General remains firmly committed.”
The NPT, which entered into force in March 1970, is the only binding commitment to the goal of disarmament by States which officially stockpile nuclear weapons.

It is organized around three pillars – disarmament, non-proliferation, and the peaceful uses of nuclear energy – and 191 countries have joined the Treaty.
Review conferences are held every five years. The 2015 session also ended without an outcome document while the 2020 Conference was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ambassador Gustavo Zlauvinen of Argentina, President of the Review Conference, told journalists he was “frustrated” that parties did not adopt an outcome document by consensus.
Zlauvinen said he knew prospects were “very slim” even before proceedings started, given the divergent views over issues such as past commitments on security assurances.

“But the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February has exacerbated those tensions, and we knew that the war in Ukraine was going to cast a shadow on the Review Conference,” he said at a press conference on Friday evening.

The final plenary meeting was delayed and later suspended for several hours, he said, due to last-minute negotiations, particularly with the Russian delegation, which was unable to agree to the text “unless very important changes were to be introduced in the language with regard to the situation of the Ukrainian nuclear facilities under Russian control.”

Zlauvinen tried to see if other delegations would accept this language, “and it was not the case”.
He believed that overall, the Review Conference had been “meaningful”. Delegations engaged in discussions on very complex issues, and the lack of an outcome document did not diminish their work.

“It is like we had a movie for four weeks, but we couldn’t take a picture at the end of the movie,” he said. “So not having the picture of that doesn’t reflect that the movie didn’t exist.”

The UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, Ms Izumi Nakamitsu, also addressed reporters. Like the Secretary-General, she was disappointed at the outcome.

“The final draft was, of course, not a perfect document. We all knew that. But the vast majority of States parties felt that it will still be in the interest of the international community,” she said.

“So, our challenge now is to make sure that we will start from here and, if you will, redouble our efforts to make sure that the efforts towards nuclear disarmament will, in fact, be reinvigorated.”

Ms. Nakamitsu stressed that while this marked the second consecutive time the Conference ended without a consensus outcome, the NPT will not collapse or suffer immediate damage.

“However, I think we have to make sure that we will reverse this trend of confidence and trust in this NPT regime continuing to go down. We need to reverse the frustration,” she said.

“And for that to happen, we have to make sure that there will be serious and substantive engagements between nuclear weapon States and non-nuclear weapon States, and of course, very importantly, amongst nuclear weapons States themselves as well.”

PM arrives Sukkur en route to flood-affected areas of Jaffarabad

By
Irfan Khan
-
0
PM arrives Sukkur en route to flood-affected areas of Jaffarabad

SUKKUR, Aug 28 (APP): Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday arrived here to visit the flood-affected Naseerabad Division.

Acting Governor Balochistan Mir Jan Muhammad Jamali, Chief Minister Abdul Quddus Bizenjo and Chief Secretary Abdul Aziz Aqeeli received the prime minister.

PM arrives Sukkur en route to flood-affected areas of Jaffarabad

The prime minister also took an aerial view of the flood-affected areas of Sindh and Balochistan provinces.

PM arrives Sukkur en route to flood-affected areas of Jaffarabad

Later, the prime minister left to visit flood-affected areas of district Jaffarabad.

Relief package delivered to villages, dilapidated roads restored: DC

By
Irfan Khan
-
0
Relief package delivered to villages, dilapidated roads restored: DC

TANK, Aug 28 (APP): Deputy Commissioner Hameedullah Khattak on Sunday said that relief packages for the flood victims of three villages were delivered with the assistance of the Pakistan Army while various flood-damaged roads in the district had been restored.

According to a press statement, the DC said that the relief items were delivered in three different villages including Garra Shada, Garra Mumraiz and Garra Jamal through aerial support provided by the Pakistan army. The land routes of these villages were cut off from the rest of the district due to the recent deluge.

The sector commander and the deputy commissioner personally supervised the relief operation.

Hameedullah Khattak further said that land routes of more than ten villages had been restored with the use of heavy machinery.

The flood-affected road including Kaur Bazaar to Kot Azam road, Battyari, Kot Azam, Landori, Gomal, New Abadi, Garra Shahda had been restored, he said, adding filling of the damaged portions of these roads had been completed.

The deputy commissioner, on the occasion, stressed upon the relevant authorities to meet their responsibility of extending support to the flood victims in this hour of trial besides, performing their official duties.

The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has declared District Tank as a calamity-hit district after the recent flash floods inundated most parts of the district, causing damages to various villages, buildings, homes, crops and road infrastructure.

15 more planeloads of relief goods from UAE to reach Pakistan in coming days: Marriyum

By
NNPS Desk
-
0

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (APP): Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Sunday said fifteen more planeloads of relief goods from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would arrive in Pakistan in the coming days.

She, in a series of tweets, said the first consignment of relief goods from the UAE would arrive at Nur Khan Airbase today (Sunday) at around 4:30 p.m.

Marriyum said the first consignment from UAE for flood affectees is being sent on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s appeal to the UAE authorities in the wake of severe floods in the country.

The relief goods included tents, food, medicine and other items, she added.

First consignment of relief goods from UAE to arrive at Nur Khan Airbase

By
NNPS Desk
-
0

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (APP): The first consignment of relief goods from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will arrive at Nur Khan Airbase on Sunday at around 4:30 p.m.

The first consignment from UAE for flood affectees is being sent to Pakistan on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s appeal to the UAE authorities in the wake of sever flood in the country, said a news statement.

The relief goods included tents, food, medicine and other items.

More 15 aircrafts with relief goods are likely to arrive in Pakistan from UAE in the coming days.

France ready to support flood victims of Pakistan: Macron

By
Irfan Khan
-
0
France ready to support flood victims of Pakistan: Macron

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (APP): French President Emmanuel Macron while expressing solidarity with the flood victims of Pakistan has said that his country was ready to provide help.

On his Twitter handle, the French president said that their thought went to the people in Pakistan who had been facing terrible floods with countless people missing.

“Our thoughts go out to the Pakistani people facing terrible floods, to the families of the countless people missing and to the populations affected. France stands ready to provide help,” he posted.

Unbridled social media ruining moral values

By
Zaka Ullah Ch
-
0

By Dr. Saeed Ahmad Ali

LAHORE, Aug 28 (APP): Over the centuries human being discovered numerous equipments, machines and technologies to ease out hardships in dispensation of tasks in different arena of life.

Besides many other inventions, if the revolutionary invention of wheel paved way for effective and accelerated functioning of machines, the discovery of ‘Chip’ is described as another milestone in the area of digital communications.

Small communication gadgets and social media have virtually made the world a global village and communications today are ever faster facilitating the people in education, business, healthcare and discussing social, political and economic issues through social media.

But, the same time these tools become lethal for our social and family norms if used for maligning and targeting others and promoting false and malicious religious, ethical and political propaganda.

“No doubt social media is a useful facility ensuring access to volley of information in all areas of life. We need to use it for constructive purposes as if misused, it becomes lethal for our youth and society,” cited Sultan Ahmed, an Information Technology (IT) expert.

“Some communication forums had drowned their users in an ocean of irrelevant information instead of providing them relevant information on valuable education and research stories,” he said.

Basically, the internet facility is employed for acquiring knowledge, entertainment and communication, or to be used as a modern-day propaganda weapon. But many vested interests also employ this facility for polluting young minds and swaying them away through rhetoric and targeted exploitation as seen in case of ‘Arab Spring.’

“Apart from affecting physical and mental health, the excessive use of uncontrolled social media badly damages moral values by breaking social and domestic-bonds,” Sultan said.

Mentors of political parties and international establishment use this tool for uprising against the governments not toeing their policies and safeguarding their interests.

Emotional attachments with opposite sex and love affairs prospering on social media that most often results in elopement. And if there is a break up, it leaves the users in acute depression.

“Deep indulgence of youth in specific social media trends badly affects young minds and often result in widespread anxiety,” Sultan said. “Therefore, parents are usually seen blaming popular social media websites for promoting unethical tendencies among their children.”

Besides having negative health and mental impacts, these websites also propagate wrong religious teachings confusing the youth especially about their creed. Liking and sharing such content is another dilemma where the uncertified information flows rampantly from one gadget to other.

“Misinformation has been put in abundance on the technological steroids through hash-tags, and social media misuse was destroying the moral values of society,” commented another IT expert Javed Virk,.

“In a society like ours, with an enormous deal of emphasis on artificial appearances and its impact, social media is promoting a culture of virtual moods norms and a world, not projecting the real one,” he argued. “The social media platforms are manipulating both male and females with dangerously negative attitudes.”

For not being a highly educated society, we are governed by the cyber world where destroying our social norms and family system is on a few clicks distance.

“The most horrible picture of the exceeding social media controversies is the political ‘combat area,” Virk said. “Fake news, lies, allegations, maligning, mud-slinging has not only trampled down all norms but also result in political enmities creating a clear divide in society and even in a family fabric.”

“Many those posting immoral assertions on these sites must remember, their mothers, sisters and daughters might also be seeing that content,” he added.

Sometimes, it is really hard to stop an individual or a friend to misuse the social media for taking revenge, blackmailing or harassment. An innocent photograph, through doctoring, can be reshaped and used for character assassination, targeted harassment, abusive trolling and spread of disinformation.

According to ‘USA-Today’ recent report, the trendy cyber footprints are used more frequently for investigation and detecting the trends and the popular social media forums have become story features, like ‘Snap chat’ allowing anyone to look at (view) or comment one’s most up-to-date location. This has emerged as a widespread problem as one can access and ascertain the location of the people whom they even do not know.

“Detection of a cyber problem was still not as swift as was the spread of an evil or the propaganda in the cyber world,” said noted sociologist, Professor Manzoor Ahmed Alvi. “Internet and social media are expanding at a breakneck pace and fake news and misinformation seem to be travelling at the sunlight speed.

Therefore, we need measures on the same pace to counter negative effects of social media on our social, moral and religious values.”

Seeing the positive side, many parents have opined that these tools had helped their children in getting valued information in their studies and healthy discussions with colleagues.

In medical and education side, these tools have eased out numerous hurdles in speedy flow of knowledge. Today, a student takes online classes and surgeons directs online to a fellow in a remote region during operating a patient.

Connectivity has no doubt played a marvelous role in rapid communications, economic growth, health and education, construction, travelling, information sharing, bank transactions and businesses etc.

But, it also has negative impacts that call upon authorities to take protective measures for securing peoples’ privacy as well as our family, social and religious norms.

A planeload of relief goods from UAE arrives today

By
Irfan Khan
-
0

A planeload of relief goods from UAE arrives today

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (APP): A plane carrying first batch of relief assistance from the United Arab Emirates, for the flood affectees of Pakistan, will arrive here on Sunday.

The relief goods are being sent by the UAE leadership upon an appeal of Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif. The relief package included tents, food, medicines and other necessary items. The plane will land at Nur Khan airbase at 1630Hrs.

Similarly, 15 other planes would also deliver relief assistance consignments in the next few days.

Millions marooned as flood relief activities accelerate

By
Zaka Ullah Ch
-
0

By Ali Jabir

ISLAMABAD, Aug 28 (APP): Millions of countrymen are left homeless with flood wreaking havoc in most parts of country inflicting miseries and loss of billions of rupees on a nation already struggling against economic recession.

Tales of agony and pain are all around in most parts of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces and Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan with people losing their dear ones, household, residences, cattle and valuables as well as crops .

The situation continues worsening amidst eighth spell of mighty monsoon that submerged roads infrastructure and the railways tracks hindering the relief activities in areas totally cut off from rest of the country.

Most miserable is a situation where in some areas people do not find dry land to bury their kith and kin who could not escape the furious flood tides that submerged their bricks and mud homes.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Armed Forces, civil society, philanthropists and welfare organization are toiling hard to reach out to stranded people with direly needed accessories. But the volume of calamity is too colossal that affected around 300 million, claiming lives of approximately 930 people, killing thousands cattle heads and ruining crops on hundreds of thousands acre land.

Starting from June 14, there has been no let up in the massive downpour inundating the plains and the hilly areas in most parts of the country with Balochistan, Sindh and South Punjab worst hit by this catastrophe.

Cognizant of the severity of this ethereal calamity – one of the biggest in our country’s history, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, the federal government, Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and Armed Forces along with provincial governments, civil society and Non-governmental Organizations are all out for gearing up relief activities in affected areas.

The federal government has announced Rs 37.2 billion relief package for flood affected with each family getting immediate cash relief of Rs 25,000 through BISP as the Prime Minister announced Rs 15 billion for Sindh’s affected areas. Separate compensation shall also be paid for losses of family members and other losses including houses damage.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Army Chief Qamar Bajwa rushed back home after concluding their Qatar visit and embarked on visits to affected areas for supervising the relief activities. Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah are already in the affected areas to console the grieved families.

Losses are being assessed as the Prime Minister briefed foreign diplomats in Pakistan that the calamity is colossal and losses may be much more than the 2010 floods.

According to the PM Office, the international organizations and financial institutions had announced an immediate assistance of more than $500 million for the flood victims on the prime minister’s appeal.

The Prime Minister also met representatives of the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank, international financial institutions, United Nations and World Health Organization, development partners and donors for assistance in relief activities.

“Torrential rains had not been taking any respite with up to 1,100 millimeters rains in many flood-hit areas submerging 23 districts of Sindh,” said Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman.

“Pakistan Meteorological Department data shows 241% above average monsoon rainfall during the month of August,” she said and quoting that Sindh received 784% more rains than average.

The current deluge in the Indus River is even more than the super flood of 2010 as the federal government has declared national emergency besides creating the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for donations.

“Almost 30 million people are without shelter, thousands displaced and without food. A needs assessment is underway that will help approach donor agencies for relief and rescue,” the Climate Change Minister said.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in coordination with the provincial disaster authorities (PDMAs) is continuously executing relief activities besides issuing daily situation.

Like always the officers and jawans of Armed Forces are once again on front foot daring all odds and working in extreme situation to ease out miseries of their brethren.

As per updates on Saturday evening, the death toll had reached 1033 including 348 children, 207 women and 456 men whereas 1,527 people got injured including 355 children, 369 women and 803 men.

The massive torrential rains in the past 24 hours have damages 48 shops, 40 in Punjab and eight in Gilgit Baltistan (GB), impacted 290 kilometers (km) roads whereas 83,025 livestock animal died whereas 267,719 houses got damaged during heavy downpour incidents including 60,693 fully damaged and 207,026 got partially damaged during rains.

However, the cumulative damages so far stated that almost 3451.5 km road, 149 bridges and 170 shops, 949,858 houses and 719,558 livestock animals got damaged due to the heavy rains in various district of all the provinces including that of Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK).

The NDMA so far provided 34,384 tents, 56,850 tarpaulins, 178,804 mosquito nets, 17,650 blankets, 6,800 hygiene kits, 9,944 kitchen sets, 29,400 food packs, 18,860 first aid kits, 106 generators, 160 chemical spray machine, 12,000 jerry cans, 1,000 sleeping bags, 207 dewatering pumps and 350 life saving jackets.

The PDMAs also provided 152,291 tents, 53,310 tarpaulins, 184,534 mosquito nets, 18,695 blankets, 27,509 plastic mats, 21,405 jerry cans, 34,888 water bottles, 142 water filters, 10,410 water coolers, 134,489 food packs, 2,731 cooked food, 9,135 gas cylinders, 3,895 hygiene kits, 17,599 kitchen sets, 1,016 first aid kits, 216 dewatering pumps, 5,607 beds and accessories, 40 boats and 357 life saving jackets.

The Sindh, Balochistan and South Punjab are so far the worst flood hit areas where millions of people still await assistance and it is high time for the governments, state institutions, civil society and donors to stand united in this hour of challenge.

It is also obligatory on international community including the UN, WB, ADB, IDB, EU, other IFIs and Pakistan’s brotherly nations and the trade partners to lend a hand with Pakistan as calamity is far beyond the available resources within the country.

1...13,87813,87913,880...28,080Page 13,879 of 28,080

ABOUT US

Serving the nation since 1947 by providing an accurate, objective, uninterrupted flow of news to the people, the national news service is pursuing a comprehensive strategy to transform the existing news operations into a forward-looking service – APP Digital for its diverse subscriber-base and the public.

Contact us: news@app.com.pk

FOLLOW US

Copyright © Associated Press of Pakistan