ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (APP):Famous film music composer Feroze Nizami was remembered on the occasion of his death anniversary here on Wednesday.
He was born in Lahore in 1910. He belonged to a family well versed in the art of music. He received his early education in this field from Ustad Abdul Waheed Khan turning him into a very competent classical vocalist of the Kiranagharana.
After completing his graduation, he joined all India Radio and served on Lahore, Delhi and Lakhnaw stations. After some years, he moved to Bombay and got the chance to exhibit his talent as a music composer. Feroze Nizami had enormous amount of range in his compositions, from classical to semi classical, thumris to western music; he had used all of them. He started his career in 1943, by composing the music of Vishwas with Chhelalal.
In 1946, he composed music for D.R.D. Wadiya’s Muslim social film Neik Parveen. It was a flop but some of Feroze Nizami’s compositions were good.
In 1947, Noor Jehan and her husband Shaukat Hussain had started Shauqat Art Productions in Bombay, and they had started work on their first film. Feroze Nizami was recruited to score the music. The movie was Jugnu, it was a big hit. After the partition, like numerous other artists, Feroze Nizami also moved to Lahore to support a weak Pakistani film Industry.
His first film Hamri Basti (1949) as a music director flopped in Pakistan.Noor Jehan was back again after a four years break from silver screen, and started her Pakistani film and singing career with a great melodious Punjabi film Chann Vey.
In this film, Feroze Nizami’s music reached new heights and almost all the songs created waves in subcontinent. After Jugnu and Chann Vey, in 1952, Dopatta was hat-trick of success by Feroze Nizami and NoorJehan. “Dopatta” was the only Pakistani film to celebrate an outstanding success in the sub-continent.Feroze Nizami passed on November 15, 1975, in Lahore, at the age of 59.
Famous music composer Feroze Nizami remembered
12 Countries keen to invest in Pakistan’s marble, granite sector: PASDEC
Islamabad, Nov 15, (APP):Trade delegations and business visitors from 12 countries have shown their interest in developing business connection with local entrepreneurs of Marble and Granite Sector.
Chief Executive Office of Pakistan Stone Development Company (PASDEC), Zahid Maqsood Sheikh said PASDEC is striving for the development of marble and granite sector of Pakistan.
In a statement issued here Wednesday, Zahid applauded the role of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) in recognizing true potential of marble and granite sector.
With the recognition of TDAP as well as the government, the marble and granite sector would bring more investment and stability in dimensional stone sector of Pakistan, he added.
PASDEC established a marble and granite pavilion in the trade fair and Waheed Marble, Frontier Works Organization (FWO), Hussain Trading, Popular Marble Industries, Millat Marble , Skyworld Corporations, Mehran Marble and Balochistan Minerals showcased the products of marble and granite.
The trade delegations and business visitors from 12 countries including China, Korea, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan, Czech Republic and Bangladesh showed their keen interest for developing business connections with local entrepreneurs of marble and granite. The delegates from UAE, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Thailand and Italy also showed their interest in developing business connection with local entrepreneurs.
Pakistan Stone Development Company facilitated the representative from IMM Carrara Mr. Marco Antonio Ragone to study in depth about marble industry of the country.
Voters to cast vote in constituency on CNIC in 2018 polls: ECP
PESHAWAR, Nov 15 (APP):Additional Secretary Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) Wednesday said that in next general election
the voters would cast their vote in the constituency of which he/she has given address on CNIC.
Addressing a media workshop here, he said that ECP is
introducing electoral reforms while keeping in view the past experiences,
adding that except the government servants all the voters would cast vote in
their own constituency.
He said that ECP remained fully engaged in meeting of
parliamentary committee on election reforms and floated various suggestions to
ensure transparent election in future.
He said that after thorough deliberations the Election Act
2017 was approved and now the ECP would draft rules under this act.
Zafar Iqbal said that under the act, all the officials to be
deployed on election duty would take oath to ensure transparent casting of
vote, adding provincial election commissioners would take oath from all
district returning officers while district election officers would take oath
from returning officers.
He said that under the act a formula has been drafted for
printing of ballot papers and the returning officer would seal record of
tempering in election in an evident bag to keep it preserve for future
investigation.
On the occasion Director General Election Muhammad Yousaf
Khattak briefed the media about new election act 2017 and told that if vote
count remains less than 10 percent in any constituency ECP would declare the
election result null and void for that constituency.
He further said that the data of voter lists is now shifted
to ECP from NADRA and as per the data the overall vote bank would be over 100
million. He said that any candidate or his agent can obtain a copy of voters’
list from ECP through a formal application.
He said that after May 1st, 2018 the previous voters’ list
would stand cancelled and sitting assemblies would complete the terms by June
1st, 2018.
Director MIS Haider Ali said that use of technology in NA-4
Peshawar by-poll proved very helpful in finalizing the election results.
Additional Director General Gender Affairs Nighat Saddiqui
told the participants of workshop that ECP is taking steps to ensure
participation of all segments of society, adding that district voters’
education committees have been activated at district level. She hoped an
increase in turn out in next general elections.
She said that as per the ECP data women voting was less in
79 constituencies of the country where the commission has decided now to
arrange mobile vans with the collaboration of NADRA for registration of votes
of the women.
The spokesman of EC Haroon Shinwari said that ECP is fully
ready for general elections at any time. He said that since the population
census has been completed therefore delimitation has become imperative now.
To a question, Additional Secretary told media that the
estimated cost for conduct of election process has also been increased.
He said that ECP is going to celebrate national voters’ day
on December 7 where awareness and sensitization would be created among media,
civil society and general public.
The workshop was attended by media representatives from
Peshawar. A total five sessions were
held and media persons were briefed about electoral reforms. Provincial
Election Commissioner Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pir Maqbool Ahmed also attended the
workshop.
Indian attitude of denying visa to cancer patient regrettable: FO
ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (APP):Spokesperson of Foreign Office Dr Faisal Wednesday said Indian attempt to politicize a humanitarian case by denying medical visa to a cancer patient was regrettable.
Addressing a press conference here in Foreign Office with a cancer survivor, Osama and his parents , who recently returned from Turkey after getting treatment for liver cancer.
He said New Delhi demanded a letter of approval from the foreign minister to issue a medical visa to Osama, which was a clear violation of international laws.
Dr Faisal said the patient had to suffer because of the wait and delaying for the medical visa by Indian embassy.
Speaking on this occasion, Osama said he regretted the Indian attitude because it unnecessarily politicised a humanitarian issue.
He said India politicized the issue as “I hail from Azad Kashmir, it was painful for me and my family because delaying the visa can worsen my condition.”
“In Turkey, I received treatment with utmost respect. The Turkish government and administration took care of me,” he said.
Osama’s father also thanked both the Pakistani and Turkish governments for providing assistance during his stay in Turkey.
PML-N always accepted court’s decisions: Ranjha
ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (APP):Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mohsin Shahnawaz Ranjha Wednesday said that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) always respected judiciary and accepted its decisions.
Former prime minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and his party had struggled for the restoration of judiciary during the previous tenure of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), he said talking to a private news channel.
The minister said the PML-N government had not pursued the policy of confrontation as it had implemented the disqualification decision against Nawaz Sharif despite reservations.
He said no allegation of corruption had been proved against Nawaz Sharif in the Panama Papers case. Nawaz Sharif was still the most popular leader of the country, he added.
Replying to a question, he said the Karachi operation was launched with consensus to eliminate terrorist
activities from the metropolitan city. Peace was restored in Karachi due to the operation, he added.
Date extended for filing of income tax returns till Nov 30
ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (APP):The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) Wednesday extended due date for filing of income tax returns or statements by salaried individuals, other individuals and AOPs, till November 30.
Extension of date had been approved by Finance Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar on the proposal of
FBR, in view of the requests made by tax bars, various trade associations and members of the business community
as they could not find ample time for filing of their tax returns, an FBR press release said.
It may be recalled that in the spirit of facilitating filers, the due date was earlier extended from October 31
to November 15.
The due date for filing of returns or statements of final taxation in case of companies had not been extended,
the press release said.
Collaboration must to protect mountain communities from worsening climate risks: Mushahidullah
ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (APP):Federal Minister for Climate Change, Senator Mushahidullah Khan on Wednesday pledged for working together with all eight Hindu Kush Himalayan countries to protect lives and livelihoods of millions of climate-vulnerable people from exacerbating fall outs of climate change, particularly those living in mountain areas.
“Lives and livelihoods of nearly 210 million people living in the mountain areas of the Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Myanmar, Nepal and Pakistan are at stake from various common climate change-caused disasters, particularly floods, glacial melt, shifting summer and winter weather patterns. However, deepening transboundary collaboration among these countries in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH) region for coping with common climate risks is now inevitable,” said Mushahidullah Khan, according to a press release issued here on Wednesday.
Addressing as a distinguished speaker at a high-level event ‘Cooperation for Building Resilient Mountain Communities’ held in Bonn city of Germany, he remarked the HKH region is characterized by mountainous environments and diverse of regional climatic conditions.
High-altitude regions in the HKH have witnessed recently warming amplifications and the paced warming is causing solid state water (snow, ice, glacier, and permafrost) to shrink at a much higher speed, leading to increase in the glacial melt-water.
The event was jointly organized by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety and hosted by the International Center Integrated for Mountain Development, the event brought together environmental ministers, representatives of expert institutions and relevant.
The Hindu Kush Himalayan (HKH) region extends 3,500 km over all or part of eight countries from Afghanistan in the west to Myanmar in the east. It is the source of ten large Asian river systems -– the Amu Darya, Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra (Yarlungtsanpo), Irrawaddy, Salween (Nu), Mekong (Lancang), Yangtse (Jinsha), Yellow River (Huanghe), and Tarim (Dayan), – and provides water, ecosystem services, and the basis for livelihoods to a population of around 210.53 million people in the region. The basins of these rivers provide water to 1.3 billion people, a fifth of the world’s population.
The Himalayan range alone has the total snow and ice cover of 35,110 sq.km containing 3,735 cu.km of eternal snow and ice (Qin 2002). The total for the region is not yet calculated. Hills and mountains, particularly the Hindu Kush Himalaya mountain system, have always constituted places where adaptation, mitigation, and resilience are hallmarks of the people and the landscape they inhabit. Since time immemorial, the people of the Himalaya have maintained a rich cultural identity, and have maintained food security and biogenetic diversity within the parameters of their own tradition.
The Minister Mushahidullah Khan emphasized, “As a result of the impacts of the global warming-induced climate change in the HKH region, incidences of flash floods, landslides, livestock diseases, and other disasters are being witnessed with more frequency and intensity, which cause millions of people, particularly those in the mountain regions, to suffer in many ways and where poverty has shown increasing trends.”
He urged the regional countries to collaborate with each other for boosting climate resilience of the region against common climate risks through joint adaptation programmes, with major focus on mountain communities, which are highly vulnerable to the devastating impacts of the climate change.
Political leaders and official representatives from environment and forestry departments from the eight HKH regional countries also spoke on the occasion and highlighted fallouts of the climate change on their agriculture, water, food, energy and livestock sectors and how these impacts are badly affecting socio-economic lives and poverty and hunger reduction programmes.
In their addresses, they also highlighted various climate risks to their countries and said that glacial melt due to global warming is the biggest problem in the region, which has increased increased frequency and intensity of the glacial lake outburst events and riverine floods, land erosion and landslides.
They also supported Mushahidullah Khan’s call for jointly working against the common climate risks to various socio-economic sectors, particularly water, food and energy sectors.
Meanwhile, the political and official representatives of the Hindu Kush Himalaya region comprising Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and China pledged to join hands with Pakistan and collaborate at all scales to boost climate resilience of the climate-vulnerable region, and particularly the mountain regions, which are home to nearly 210 million people.
NA body reviews performance of Trade Dispute Regulation Organization
ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (APP):Senate Standing Committee on Commerce and Textile on Wednesday reviewed the performance of Trade Dispute Regulation Organization (TDRO) and directed the concerned authorities to set a time limit for resolution of trade disputes.
Chairing the meeting, Siraj Muhammad Khan said branch offices of TDRO should also be opened in Peshawar and
Quetta to facilitate the business communities of these areas.
He said awareness campaign should be launched to teach the trades that how they could resolve their trade
disputes.
He also called for changing the behavior of government officers in this regard.
Earlier the Standing committee formulated a committee comprising of members of parliament and officials of
commerce ministry to remove challenges being faced by women chambers.
Speaking on the occasion, the committee member Sajida Begum expressed her dissatisfaction over the
performance of TDRO saying that it was ignoring the issues of women entrepreneurs.
Secretary Commerce, Muhammad Yunus Dhaga assured that the committee would find out solution of women
chambers’ problems.
Ambassador Aizaz Chaudhry meets Senator Jack Reed
ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (APP):Pakistan’s Ambassador to US Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry Wednesday met Senator Jack Reed from Democrat-Rhode Island, at Capitol Hill in Washington DC to discuss Pakistan’s perspective regrading US’s new strategy in the region.
Ambassador Chaudhry briefed Senator Reed about Pakistan’s perspective on the new US strategy for South Asia and the current situation in Afghanistan, said a message received here.
He also informed the Senator that Pakistan had successfully reversed the tide of terrorism by clearing its tribal and border areas of all militant group.
Ambassador said that marked improvement in the country’s security environment and growing global recognition of Pakistan’s status as an emerging economy are attracting foreign investors’ interest, including from corporate sector of America.
Ambassador said that Pakistan wanted to work with the United States to bring peace to Afghanistan because Pakistan’s economic and security gains would be at risk if instability in Afghanistan continues.
He also expressed concern over the growth in ungoverned spaces inside Afghanistan, which were being used by terrorists to launch attacks against Pakistan.
Appreciating Ambassador Chaudhry’s briefing, Senator Reed said that sustained engagement between Pakistan and the United States remained critical to achieving peace in Afghanistan.
Senator Reed is the Ranking Member of Senate Armed Services Committee. He is also a member of Senate Appropriations and the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committees.
UK CCI to organize Made in Pakistan Expo in UK
ISLAMABAD, Nov 15 (APP):UK Pakistan-Chamber of Commerce and Industry (UKPCCI) will organize “Made in Pakistan Expo” in UK in October 2018 in order to promote Pakistani products in the Britain market.
This was stated by a President UK-Pakistan CCi Chaudhry Muhammad Sadeeq, who along with a 10 members delegation visited Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Wednesday.
The delegation was representing various sectors including chain of hospitality and restaurants, real estate, furniture, health, education, importers of rice and food products, livestock and halal meat.
Speaking at the occasion President UKPCCI said that Pakistani community in UK wanted to see a progressive and prosperous Pakistan as they had utmost love for it.
He said a 25-member delegation of UKPCCI was visiting Pakistan to attend Karachi Expo and study its market as Overseas Pakistani investors in UK were keen to explore opportunities of joint ventures and investment in various sectors of Pakistan’s economy.
He said the delegation has already held fruitful meetings at Karachi and Lahore many delegation members have also finalized business deals in Pakistan.
Kamran Khan, General Secretary, UKPCCI said that the purpose of their Chamber was to promote bilateral trade between Pakistan and UK and UKPCCI would also strive to bring more UK investors to Pakistan.
He urged for highlight positives of Pakistan as more projection of negatives was creating misperception in the youth of overseas Pakistanis.
He said ICCI and UKPCCI should set up helpdesks to facilitate members of both chambers for doing business in Pakistan and UK.
Speaking on the occasion, Sheikh Amir Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan and UK have great potential to enhance bilateral trade from current £2.5 billion to £3 billion.
The both countries should facilitate frequent exchange of trade delegations to explore untapped areas of mutual cooperation, he added.
He said Pakistan was emerging as a potential market for business and investment due to CPEC and other rising sectors and stressed that UKPCCI should convince maximum Pakistani investors in UK to bring technology and investment to Pakistan in areas of interest.