Punjab PA undertook best legislation during its first year: Elahi

LAHORE: Punjab Assembly undertook best legislation during its first year. Seventeen laws of public welfare were passed in one year, number of which is more than the National Assembly and other provincial assemblies.This was stated by Punjab Assembly Speaker Ch Pervaiz Elahi while talking to the journalists here on Wednesday.He said: “The Punjab Assembly in its first parliamentary year met for 102 days in 12 sessions, fulfilling the constitutional requirement. Important laws passed included The Punjab Local Government Act 2019, The Punjab Right to Public Service Act 2019, The Punjab Domestic Workers Act 2019 besides legislation for establishing NUML University in Mianwali and Mir Chakar Khan Rind University of Technology in Dera Ghazi Khan and also The Punjab Assembly Secretariat Services Act 2019.”Ch Pervaiz Elahi said during year 470 questions were answered in the Punjab Assembly, answers to 37 Call Attention Notices pertaining to law and order were provided in the assembly while proceedings were held on 719 adjournment motion notices and 35 resolutions of public interest were approved.The assembly’s new building and mosque, pending for the last 10 years, will Insha-Allah be completed by December 2019. Construction will start on new hostel for the MPAs. Efforts of the deputy speaker are also appreciable, Ch Pervaiz Elahi said.

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Jail best place for drug barons: Buzdar

LAHORE: State Minister for Narcotics Control and Safron Shehryar Khan Afridi called on Chief Minister Usman Buzdar at Civil Secretariat here on Wednesday.During the meeting, they agreed to take collective steps for the elimination of narcotics and it was decided that Punjab and federal governments would initiate joint crackdown on the elements involved in the narcotics business.The chief minister said elements engaged in narcotics trade outside educational institutions would be strictly taken to task and every support would be provided to police, excise and line departments. He said elements doing illegal business of narcotics were the killers of humanity. Crackdown would continue against them and jail was the best place for such elements, he added.Collective efforts are required to free society from the narcotics, he added. Shehryar Afridi said elements involved in narcotics trade did not deserve any leniency and they would be brought under the net of law.Collective action would be taken against those doing the business of narcotics outside the educational institutions, he added. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar presided over a meeting at Civil Secretariat on Wednesday to review development schemes relating to southern Punjab.He expressed strong indignation over the use of substandard material and delay in some road construction projects. He reprimanded the officials concerned and directed for ensuring strict monitoring and transparency besides quality of development projects. No compromise would be made on public welfare projects, he said and added that the projects should be completed within their stipulated time period.He directed that immediate attention should be given to people’s problems. The direction of the resources has been turned towards backward areas and no hindrance was tolerable in this regard, he added and directed that timely provision of machinery should be ensured for cleanliness purposes. The meeting reviewed progress on model cattle markets project and different departments gave a briefing about their development projects.

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Solarization of Punjab schools: 15,000 primary schools, 2,800 BHUs in Punjab to go on solar energy, says minister

LAHORE: As many as 15,000 primary schools and 2,800 basic health units (BHUs) across Punjab will be shifted to solar energy by the end of December 2019, said Dr Provincial Minister for Energy Akhtar Malik.In a statement issued on Wednesday, the minister said some 3500 schools in the South Punjab areas on had already been moved to solar energy. The priority has been given to the off-grid schools in the far-flung areas in this regard, he added.The provincial minister said that he was stunned to know that some 1,700 schools had been without electricity since the creation of Pakistan. “It is for the first time in almost 72 years since the inception of the country that these schools will be provided with electricity through our solarisation initiative,” he said.Akhtar Malik was of the opinion that former Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif was a narcissist who believed in his own projection. Education, health and energy sectors were never among Shahbaz Sharif’s priorities, the minister said.During his tenure, Shahbaz Sharif only focused on big projects with big prospects of kick-backs while the development was restricted to press ads only, the provincial minister alleged. He added that the solarization of Punjab would be a game changer and catalyst for better literacy rate.“Me and my whole team is working with a missionary zeal to bring about social change through such projects of public interest” said Dr Akhter Malik. “Our main objective is to launch the energy projects based on indigenous resources such as wind, sunshine, water and solid waste to meet the energy needs of the country” he added.

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Traders announce four-day countrywide strike

MULTAN: Markazi Anjuman Tajran Pakistan Wednesday announced a four-day countrywide strike on August 15-16 and August 26-27 after consultation with trader bodies of Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad.According to strike organisers, traders have made their utmost efforts to draw a solution but the government was not willing to settle the issues with traders. Addressing a joint press conference at Multan Press Club on Wednesday, MATP chairman Khawaja Suleman Siddiqui said the shutter down call may be extended depending upon the attitude of the government.He said the government was dealing traders in a funny way. He said traders are ready to pay taxes but the stance of the government is hard and the government is imposing unfair conditions that are unacceptable to them at any level.He said earlier the government officials met traders’ bodies separately allegedly in a bid to create differences among traders and convinced some traders of Karachi and Islamabad to drop protest call but all traders have finally decided to join the countrywide protest on August 15-16.Siddiqui said if the government did not show willingness to review taxes, traders would observe shutter down on August 26-27 that might be extended for an indefinite period of time.He said the MATP would take out rally from Hussein Agahi chowk on August 5 in this connection. He said traders were paying taxes and small traders are facing serious difficulties in arranging an accountant at Rs 15,000 to Rs 20, 000 while dealing business in coins.He said the government demanded keeping record of CNIC at the sale of Rs 50, 000, submission of sales tax documents along with each bill. He said the traders would face serious problems in case missing of one bill.He said major problem is related to manufacturers charge sales tax before the delivery of goods without issuing any receipt. He said the second problem is related with cottage industry, involved in the business with keeping record of bills. The small traders are hardly to keep record of the whole sale. The government should collect sales tax from manufacturers instead shopkeepers and small business holders.He said there is confusion on size of shops because big shopkeepers are forced to sell their commodities on higher rates due to burden of taxes but the small shopkeepers were selling same commodities on lower rates than big shops.Siddiqui demanded the government to hold dialogues with real representatives of traders to solve the problem. Representatives of trade bodies Sheikh Akram Hakim, Sheikh Javed Akhtar, Muhammad Idrees Butt, Malik Amir Awan, Syed Jafar Ali Shah, Khalid Mehmood Qureshi, Zeshan Siddiqui, Mirza Naeem Baig, Nadeem Qureshi, Arshad Kashmiri, Shahid Mehmood Ansari and others were present on the occasion.

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Judicial remand of ex-minister, others extended

LAHORE: An accountability court on Wednesday extended judicial remand of former Provincial Minister Sibtain Khan and three others till August 9 in Chiniot mining contract case.Former Minister Sibtain Khan, Mines and Minerals Department former Secretary Imtiaz Ahmed, former Manager Operations and Planning Muhammad Aslam and former Punjab Chief Inspector Mines Abdul Sattar were produced by Accountability Court Judge Ameer Muhammad Khan on expiry of their remand term.To a court query, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor said the investigation report was being finalised and it would soon be submitted. He further stated that the reference had not yet been approved.At this, the court ordered submission of the complete investigation report and adjourned the matter till August 9, while extending judicial remand of the accused.It is pertinent to mention here that Sibtain Khan resigned from his office as provincial minister for Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife after being arrested by the bureau on June 15. He was arrested on charges of illegally awarding a multi-billion dollar contract to an alleged fake company in 2007. As a provincial minister for mines and minerals at that time, he had awarded a contract for extracting minerals in Chiniot district.

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KPRA asks hotels in Hazara to furnish details of visitors

ABBOTTABAD: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Revenue Authority (KPRA) has directed all the hotels and guest houses to provide complete details of visitors from May 1 to July 25, 2019, including their complete particulars, full addresses and contact numbers, days spent and total payments made by them.The notice issued to the hotels warned that failure to comply with may entail penal consequences under the relevant laws. One of the recipients of the notice, while talking to media, said that this is the last nail in the coffin of the dying tourism industry.“Due to adverse economic condition, the numbers of inland tourists have dropped as compared to the previous year and the hotel industry of Hazara, already in crisis, will further sink and billions of rupees investment of the business community will go waste,” he said. He added that the people would stop staying at hotels for nights because many would not like to share the details of their families and other such matters. “Prime Minister Imran should stop propaganda about the flourishing of the tourism sector in the country and avoid giving examples of Turkey or Hong Kong,” he added.A hotel owner, requesting anonymity due to fear of action from KPRA, said that during the last two months, they did not earn for their families but earned revenue enough to pay taxes. He demanded provincial minister for tourism and chief minister to stop KPRA from implementing such strict rules in Hazara division.

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JI leader calls for free democratic process

LAHORE: Jamaat-e-Islami Naib Ameer Liaqat Baloch has stressed that the stability of the parliamentary system in the country was possible only through a free democratic process and free, fair and impartial elections.Addressing a meeting of the task force of JI’s sister organisations at Mansoora on Wednesday, he said restrictions on politics and media could lead the country to a serious problem. Liaqat Baloch said as Pakistan came into being in the name of Islam, its politics, economy and social norms should be in line with Islamic teachings.However, he lamented, the secular lobby which gained control of the coutnry’s affairs through colonist masters had been hampering implementation of Islamic Sharia because it was afraid of the supremacy of Islamic system.

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KP traders warn of strike if demands not accepted

PESHAWAR: The Markazi Tanzeem-i-Tajiran has warned the government to observe shutter down strike on August 15 and 16 if their demands were not accepted.Speaking at a news conference at the Peshawar Press Club on Wednesday, the union central leaders Sharafat Ali Mubarak and Mehar Elahi said various types of taxes were imposed on people belonging to every walk of life. They said the traders were the worst suffers. They said the provincial government also presented anti-people budget.They deplored that some bureaucrats had been terming traders as thieves and warned them to withdraw their words against their community, otherwise, they would draw their own line of action. They said the traders observed record strike against the IMF-prepared budget on July 13 and now the entire trade organisations including Markazi Tanzim-i- Tajiran, All Pakistan Anjuman-i-Tajiran, All Pakistan Traders Alliance, and Qaumi Tajir Ittehad had unanimously decided to observe August 3 as black day. They warned to block bank transactions and observe wheel-jam strike if their demands were not met.

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Three-day Uchal festival to begin in Kalash Valley from Aug 20

PESHAWAR: The foreign and domestic tourists and the local people are waiting for the three-day Uchal festival to be held in Kalash valley in Chitral district from August 20 to 22.The Uchal festival is one of the cultural festivals celebrated by Kalasha tribe like many other festivals around the year. Before Uchal, the Kalash community also performs Ranat dance in July after harvesting the maize crop.The Uchal festival continues for many more days moving on to different locations within the valley. However, the mega event of Uchal festival is organised in Bamburet besides Anish, Broon Karakul and other small villages in Kalash valley.The festival celebrated in annual harvesting with singing, dancing and paying homage to the nature for blessing them with good food and fruits. It is marked in the barley and wheat harvest season every year in August.The people of Kalasha community prepare cornbread, buttermilk and cheese to celebrate the festival. In the festival, Kalash women and girls decorate their houses and the ceremony is accompanied by dancing and rhythmical chant to the drumbeat.They wear their traditional black robes, ornate cowries shelled headdresses and adorned with coloured necklaces and dance in a circle. During the festival, prayers and processions are held at a high plateau outside the village in Balangkuru where the long night of dancing begins.

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Old price of roti restored, action against violators on, PHC told

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) was told on Wednesday that the district administration has restored the old price of Rs10 per roti and action was being taken against the violators.Deputy Advocate General Rabnawaz Khan told a division bench comprising Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Muhammad Ibrahim Khan that the decision to increase the price of roti from Rs10 to Rs15 by the district administration has been withdrawn.The law officer, representing the government, submitted that now the nanbais were bound to sell a roti of 130 grams for Rs10. He also informed the bench that the district administration had charged and sent hundreds of nanbais to prison, who were not selling roti on Rs10 and the action continues.When the bench wanted to dispose of the petition after recording the statement of the law officer, the petitioners’ counsel Muhammad Khurshid Khan submitted that the court should order the district administration to produce notifications regarding increase and withdrawal of the decisions.On the request of counsel of the petitioners, the court directed the deputy commissioner, Peshawar, to ensure submission of records and notifications regarding increase and decrease of the roti price before the court on next hearing. In the previous hearing, the court had summoned the Peshawar deputy commissioner along with records, but he did not appear in the court on Wednesday. The decision was challenged by one Afaq Hussain and other citizens through their lawyer Muhammad Khurshid Khan in the court.During the hearing, the lawyer submitted before the court that after a daylong shutdown by nanbais, the district administration agreed to increase the roti price from Rs10 to Rs15. The lawyer stated that an agreement to raise the roti price was made during the meeting between the officials of the Peshawar district administration and representatives of the Nanbais Association.Mohammad Iqbal, president of nanbais association, said the strike had been called off after the agreement with the district administration.

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Enforcement of laws for women’s protection stressed

Islamabad: There is a need for greater legislative protection in particular areas of concerns for women, said Human Rights Minister Dr Shireen M Mazari on Wednesday."The implementation of the existing laws protecting the women is more important," she told a seminar on ‘Challenges and Impediments Against Women in Politics’ hosted by Women’s Parliamentary Caucus during the 5th CPA Asia Regional Conference here. The minister said every issue that related to the women, children and marginalized group was a national issue.She said problems begin at home regarding women and their mainstreaming in to the society. Dr Mazari said the UN should take strong note of the discrimination against women in the western world especially in EU countries where Muslim women have not the freedom to express their social and religious identity. "There is a lack of recognition even in the west that they are discriminating against Muslim women. In order to address the gender based issues, we have to include the women in all discussions, consultations and in decision making in all areas specifically in policy discussions concerning conflict and natural disasters," she said. The minister said women were the silent sufferers in conflict zones including presently in India-occupied Kashmir."We can only mainstream women in to the national political arena if we look at our future through humanitarian lens not a gender lens," she said. Dr Mazari said besides awareness, legislation is necessary to strengthen and safeguard the women.She said women have to face the discrimination by the family and society with respect to access at public places and even in health particularly with regard to the lack of discussion on prioritizing health issues relating to women. The minister said the ministry had started program on creating awareness against child abuse."Women have to deal with many threats every day including emotional and physical wellbeing, sexual harassment, assault, rape, so called honour killings and others. The women empowerment begins with women empowering themselves. We have to discourage the discrimination at the level of society and state," she said.She said there was a need to encourage and support children without discrimination on the basis of gender. "This is first step in prioritising women’s issues as national issues," he said. Dr Mazari said Pakistan was overlegislated country."We have laws to protect women and children but these laws are not implemented. There is a need to implement the existing laws and create awareness about these laws," she said. Dr Mazari said if we look at many of our cultural and social issues through a Constitutional lens then there is automatic incorporation of women specific issues into the national mainstream agenda.She said there are certain laws which failed to comply with the requirements of equality and non discrimination on the basis of gender. The minister said Section 10 of the Citizenship Act of 1951, dealing with the transfer of the citizenship to foreign spouses was a clear violation of the Constitution of Pakistan.She asked the law ministry to take note of it saying we cannot have a law that violates the Constitution. The seminar was also attended by the Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaiser and Minister for IPC, Dr Fehmida Mirza, key representatives from Commonwealth countries and legislative assemblies of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

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Laying of 1,800-km new railway track to start soon, says Sh Rasheed

SUKKUR: Federal Minister for Railways Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed has said the new double railway track of 1,800 kilometers from Karachi to Peshawar will be constructed by the government, adding that the existing track was constructed during the British rule in 1861 and now for the first time a new railway track is being constructed.Addressing a press conference at the Circuit House here on late Tuesday night, he said that development of Pakistan Railways was important for overall progress and development of the country.Talking about new jobs in Railways, he said that railway authorities have announced more than 10,000 jobs whereas hiring from Grade 1-4 would be started soon. To a question, he said any person who has cheated or looted the country will be brought to justice. This is regardless of whether he is in Pakistan or abroad.He said the opposition is just criticising the government over non issues adding, they are not appreciating government's positive steps for the betterment of the country. The present leadership had ended the tradition of spending public wealth for fulfilling personal needs, he added.

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Lok Virsa to organise literary session on Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed

Islamabad: National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) would organize a literary session ‘Muzakra’ series focuses on ‘Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed’ on August 1, at its media centre.In this ‘Muzakra’ session, speakers would explore Sindh Sufi traditions in general with a special focus on the personality and teachings of Sufi Shah Inayat Shaheed. Sufi Shah Inayat is not only a distinguished Sufi personality of Sindh but also makes a very illustrious Sufi thought and personality of the history of Sub-continent.His thoughts specially revolved around the subjects of unity of existence, unity of religions, unity of humanity, self recognition, divine love, patriotism, abolition of injustice and socialism. Assistant Professor Dr. Manzoor Vesserio, National Institute of Pakistan Studies (NIPS), Quaid e Azam University (QAU), Islamabad will be our expert speaker.Professor Vesserio is a researcher, a teacher, a linguist and a folklorist with seven published books and ten research articles to his credit. He has participated in various national and international conferences.His areas of interest include; Sindhi language, Pakistani languages, history, Sufism and folklore. Inayat was born in 1655 AD in Miranpur village now renamed Jhoke Sharif.After being labelled as a rebel and infidel for his socialist struggles, he was killed in 1718 AD by the local rulers of Sindh. His philosophy was to serve the humanity and to consider all humans as equals said Dr. Muhammad Qasim Bughio.His message was one of love, tolerance and equality. Peasants left their respective lands to work for Shah Inayat as he had organised collective farming on his lands.

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