ISLAMABAD, Feb 21 (APP):Australia’s Deputy High Commissioner, Brek Batley lauded the cricket talent of girls from Islamabad Special Education School.
To witness a match among special students, the envoy Wednesday visited Islamabad Special Education School H-9 and interacted with the players.
Appreciating the keen interest and talent of the special girls in cricket, the envoy stated that the players were well prepared for the match and with continued hard work they could reach at national level.
The Deputy High Commissioner further acknowledged that despite of many domestic challenges, Pakistani youth was remained enthusiastic in sports and games.
In his interaction with the players, Australian envoy encouraged them to deliver their excellent performance during the tournament to achieve victory.
Latter, Brek Bately also played cricket with special girls students and shared rejoicing moments with the team players.
It is pertinent to mention here that Pakistan Cricket Board and Australian High Commission in Islamabad are jointly organizing “PCB-AHC Girls’ Cup 2018”. The impressive initiative is aimed to empower girls through cricket and promote gender equality through sport.
Talking to APP, the players expressed pleasure for their team selection in the tournament. They expressed that they would win the final by delivering their best performance in the tournament.
It is noteworthy that the PCB-AHC Girls’ Cup 2018 involves teams from four schools including Special Education School for Girls with Hearing Impairment H-9; Islamabad Model School for Girls F-7/2 Islamabad, Islamabad Model School for Girls G-7/2 Islamabad and Islamabad Model School for Girls, G-11/1. The girls are attending a five-day coaching clinic in the lead-up to the competition conducted by PCB coach Farrukh Hayat and first class women cricketers from the Islamabad region. Final match of the tournament will be played on Saturday in Islamabad.
Australian envoy lauds Special Girls’ cricket talent
Ahsan, Chinese Ambassador discuss bilateral ties, CPEC
ISLAMABAD, Feb 21 (APP):China’s ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing Wednesday called on Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and discussed different aspects of bilateral relations.
They discussed Pakistan China Economic Corridor (CPEC) and matters related to cooperation in various fields.
The minister said it was our national responsibility to provide security to Chinese Citizens contributing in the development of the country.
He said that CPEC would ensure economic prosperity in the region.
CPEC was the symbol of fraternal ties between the two countries, he added. The Chinese ambassador expressed his interest for providing solar energy in schools of Balochistan.
Pak Naval Ship “PNS ASLAT holds reception at Jeddah Port
ISLAMABAD, Feb 21 (APP):Pakistan Navy ship “PNS ASLAT” which is on a goodwill-cum-training visit to Saudi Arabia, held a dinner reception at the ship in Jeddah yesterday.
The ship is on maritime deployment for counter terrorism and counter piracy petrol in Arabian Sea, Red sea and Gulf of Aden and is on a goodwill visit to Jeddah port for 4-days, says a press release received from Jeddah here on Wednesday.
Welcoming on board, the Ship’s Commanding Officer, Captain Ghulam Akbar Shah Bukhari highlighted the strategic importance of relations between Pakistan and Royal Saudi navy.
He said that both countries enjoyed cordial ties and the navies of the both the countries had held a number of joint training and exercises including the ‘Naseem-ul-Bahr’ joint naval exercise.
Some 25 crew members were also undergoing training at Royal Saudi Naval Force (RSNF) academy, he told.
The Commanding officer told that the ship recently conducted a successful anti-narcotic operation and confiscated 5000kg hashish on 7th February in a maritime search and seizure operation.
Captain Bukhari shed light on PNS ASLAT that derived its name from an Arabic word denoting a type of sword used by the Arabs during the early days of Islam.
PNS ASLAT was recently commissioned in Pakistan Navy on April 17, 2013 and is equipped with state of the art Combat Management system, torpedoes and missiles.
PNS ASLAT is the fourth ship of Sword Class Frigates that was indigenously laid in Karachi Shipyard & Engineering works.
The function was attended by a number of foreign diplomats based in Jeddah, high ranking Saudi Navy officials and Officials of the Consulate General of Pakistan, and Pakistani expatriate community members.
Earlier Captain Bukhari paid a call on visit to the Saudi Western Region Fleet commander, Rear Admiral Abdullah bin Mutlaq and a number of Saudi Naval high ranking officials in Jeddah.
Pir Sadaruddin Shah calls on Saudi Minister for Labour
ISLAMABAD, Feb 21 (APP): Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development Pir Syed Sadaruddin Shah Rashidi Wednesday called on the Saudi Minister for Labour and Social Development Ali bin Nasser Al Ghafees.
Federal Minister said that Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoyed traditionally very warm and fraternal relations, says a press release received from Jeddah here.
The Minister conveyed best wishes of the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan to the King, and Crown Prince.
Minister also congratulated the Saudi Minister on assuming chairmanship of the OIC Ministerial labour Conference and successfully organising the Conference.
Ali bin Nasser Al Ghafees thanked the Federal Minister and expressed his resolve for further strengthening the brotherly relations between the two countries.
Sadaruddin Shah praised the massive economic growth projects like NEOM and King Abdullah city initiated by Saudi Arabia and appreciated the far-sightedness of the Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman who presented Vision 2030, a strategic economic growth programme of Saudi Arabia.
He told that Pakistan had also initiated a development plan, CPEC which had created a lot of investment opportunities in Pakistan and it had the capability to transform the economy of Pakistan.
The minister said that around 2.34 million Pakistani expatriates were living in the Kingdom, and expressed hope that the relations between the two countries would increase by the constructive role of them in development of the kingdom.
He told that the 4000 Vocational Training institutions in Pakistan were producing 400,000 skilled workers in different fields and they could fill in the growing skilled labour demand due to the economic activity in Kingdom.
He expressed hope that the agreement of domestic workers between the two countries would be finalized soon.
Turkish Ambassador calls on Defence Minister
RAWALPINDI, Feb 21 (APP):Ambassador of Turkey to Pakistan, Mustafa Yurdakul called on Minister for Defence, Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan here on Wednesday.
According the spokesperson of Ministry of Defence, the minister congratulated Yurdakul on his appointment as ambassador to Pakistan.
During the meeting, bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest between Pakistan and Turkey also came under the discussion.
The minister said that relations between Pakistan and Turkey were based on common values, civilizations, cultural ties and history.
He lauded the progress achieved by Turkey under the visionary leadership of Tayyip Erdogan.
He also thanked Turkey for strongly supporting Pakistan on Kashmir issue.
The Turkish Ambassador said that his country wanted to further promote defence ties with Pakistan. He said partnership between the two countries would be further strengthened in all fields.
Second Phase of Pak-China FTA to be signed by mid of coming March
ISLAMABAD, Feb 21 (APP):Second Phase of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and China would be signed by mid of coming March to increase the trade between two countries.
During next month, the Chinese vice minister will visit Islamabad along with his delegation for signing the amended FTA between Pakistan and China, senior official of Ministry of Commerce and textile told APP here on Wednesday.
He said that after intense negotiations with Pakistani delegation led by Federal Secretary for Commerce, Muhmmad Younas Dhaga, the Chinese side was agreed to accommodate Pakistan’s demands in the Pak- China FTA.
Replying to a question, he said that these negotiations were started in 2012 to finalize the revised version of China Pakistan FTA.
He said that Chinese side also agreed on Electronic Data Exchange which would help rescuing the chances of under invoicing, another major concern of Pakistani industry.
Replying to another question, he said that in the upcoming Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2018-23 , Ministry of Commerce was devising the long, medium and short term trade policy for the period of five years so that trade could benefit from the incentives announced in STPF 2018-23.
The major focus of STPF would boost exports in the technology and Services Sector, competitiveness and investment linkages, particularly attraction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the export related Industry and integration of local industry into global value chain.
He suggested all the stakeholders for their concrete proposals based upon proper research of markets and data, for their consideration by Ministry of Commerce and incorporation of the same in the upcoming STPF.
Replying to another question, he said country’s exports increased in last three months and were expected to reach at $ 23 billion in coming months.
PML-N Govt pulled country out of darkness of power outages: Abid Sher Ali
HYDERABAD, Feb 21 (APP):The State Minister for Power Abid Sher Ali has said the government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has lifted the country from the darkness of power outages by adding thousands of megawatts of new electricity in the national grid.
Speaking at the inauguration of 132KV grid station along Hyderabad Bypass here on Wednesday, the minister said that during less than 5 years, the power production had been more than doubled by 15,000 MW.”During the 5 years of PML-N’s government 15,000 MW have been added to the national grid while in the previous 65 years the country’s generation stood at only 13,000 MW,” he claimed.
The minister informed that the wind corridor in Jhampir would soon start contributing 800 MW electricity and added that more power plants would be established in that area. “By the year 2020 the government will close the oil powered electricity plants,” he told. The minister said the government had spent Rs. 2.5 billion to improve 18 grid stations. “We built 5 new grid stations in Hyderabad and upgraded 50 other grid stations as well,” he told, adding that a sum of Rs.4 billion were spent. The HESCO also laid 7 new transmission lines at a cost of Rs.350 million, he added.
The minister later also attended a public hearing to personally listen and address complaints of HESCO’s consumers.He informed that he would again hold a public hearing for the residents of Qasimabad and other towns on March 6.The HESCO’s Chief Executive Reham Ali Otho and other officials accompanied the minister during the visit.
Mother language source of promoting quality education in province: Governor Balochistan
QUETTA, Feb 21 (APP):Governor Balochistan Muhammad Khan Achakzai said mother language is a source of promoting quality education and language is also an identification of any nation.
He said this while speaking in a ceremony of International Mother Language Day which was organized by the Balochi Labzanki Deewan, a literary body, at Press Club Quetta.
Governor said all mother languages are important and he urged different intellectuals
to play their vital role for the promotion of mother language in the province.
Provincial parliamentarians including Dr, Shama Ishaq,
Yasmeen Lehri, ex-senator Mir Tahir Bizenjo, ex provincial minister Akram
Baloch, ex Secretary Munir Ahmed Badeni and other were present on the occasion.
He said provincial government had introduced books in mother languages including
Balochi, Brohi, Pashtu Hazargi and other languages from 2013 and special
measures have been taken for promotion of quality education in four years.
Governor said about 30,000 students were getting education in different universities and
those are future of country.
He said a resolution had been passed by All Balochistan Conference which was presided by Khan
Shaheed Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai at Jacobabad area in 1932 to provide education in mother language.
He mentioned that over two dozen daily newspapers were being published in Sindh in their mother languages but two or three daily newspapers including Balochi,Brohi and Pashtu were being published in Balochistan.
Governor Balochistan appreciated the role of mother language academies and thanked Balochi
Adabi Deewan president Yaar Jan Badeni in this regard.
Musharraf offered me to become prime minister: Shehbaz
LAHORE, Feb 21 (APP):Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif Wednesday said that
Pervez Musharraf had offered him to become the prime minister.
Replying to queries by media persons after agreement signing
ceremony between Land Record Authority and NADRA here at Model Town,
he said, he had told Musharraf, though he had shown trust in him but things did
not happen like that in the democratic system.
If Musharraf had any grievance then, he said, he could arrange his meeting with
Nawaz Sharif. “If there is another issue, then I am ready to play
my role for it, because I am of the view that there should be
complete harmony between Islamabad and Rawalpindi.”
Upon it, he said, Musharraf asked him to arrange his meeting adding he was
going to Sri Lanka and he would also prepare notes for the meeting.
Shehbaz said he made it clear to Musharraf that if he was not loyal to his leadership
then how could he be loyal to him. However, martial law was
imposed afterwards, the chief minister said.
Shehbaz Sharif compared the Patwar culture with Land
Record Management Information System and said that corrupt Patwar
culture had been eliminated to a large extent, but an attempt was
made to include this obsolete method in the new system. “I took
immediate notice of it and action was taken against the responsible persons”, he added.
He quoted the phrase that ‘one rotten fish could contaminate
the entire pond’, and said that these people tried to ruin the new
system, but he did not let it happen.
He said, the World Bank had termed
the computerization of land record model in Punjab as number one
in the whole world, as well as a role model. It was an honor for
the Punjab government and the whole country, and the
credit went to all the team members.
Responding to another question, the chief minister said,
“We are not afraid of NAB; I have issued clear-cut instructions
to handover record to NAB according to the law, because we have
served the masses in a transparent manner.”
PML-N faced number of challenges in past: Khawaja Asif
ISLAMABAD, Feb 21 (APP):Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif Wednesday said that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N),
had been facing a number of challenges in the past.
Talking to a private news channel, he said that Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), had full support of the people.
What was happening with Nawaz Sharif, the entire nation knew, he said.
The PML-N would come out of the crisis soon, he said.
“I am the political worker of PML-N for the last 28 years, ” he said.
To a question about today’s verdict regarding Nawaz Sharif, he said “I am in Russia and the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) meeting was still continuing in Paris.”
Some forces wanted to bring Pakistan into the watch list, Khawaja M Asif he said.
“We are hopeful that Pakistan would come out of this situation successfully, ” he said.
Russian’s support for Pakistan was very crucial, he added.