Day: August 22, 2020

Karachi:The 1st international virtual conference on Pakistan’s hydropower sector will be held on August 25th to discuss more opportunities to produce cheap and clean energy from the hydro as the country is producing 9,000MW from the hydro sector.

The Energy Update in collaboration with Private Power Board Infrastructure (PPIB), Pakhtunkhwa Electric Development Organization (PEDO) and Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) is organizing the conference with national and international energy experts through a digital platform.

Chief of the organizing committee of the summit Naeem Qureshi said in a statement that the conference would be organized to discuss in detail the progress Pakistan and adjoining region had achieved in the hydro sector.

He said that the conference was expected to thoroughly discuss to take advantage of Government ease-doing business for finding investment and business opportunities within or allied industries. He said that conference participants would learn from International and national best practices of the Hydropower Industry and will share conference recommendations to relevant Ministry for Action.

He said that MD PPIB Shah Jahan Mirza will be the key-note speaker of the event and other speakers include Adviser to CM KPK on Energy Himayatullah Khan, Minister Power Development Gilgit Baltistan M. Ali Khan, CEO PEDO Engr. Naeem Khan, MD Nespak Dr. Tahir Masood, Lead Energy Expert SDPI Dr. Hina Aslam, Senior Manager International Business-Korea Water Resources Corporation, South Korea Hae Dong Choi, COO China Three Gorges South Asia Investment Limited NA Zuberi, Energy Specialist World Bank Saadia Qayyum, COO Mira Power Limited Sultan Ahmed, Director Development Riali Hydro Power S. M Hussain Gardezi and others.

Pakistan Engineering Services Pvt. Ltd, OMS Pvt. Ltd and Sapphire Group are the sponsors of the event.

Karachi:As many as 586 new coronavirus cases were reported in Pakistan on Saturday while 10 more patients died of the virus disease. The country-wide death toll from the virus has surged to 6,231 so far since the outbreak of the disease in February.

According to the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulation, and Coordination data, a total of 291,841 people have been tested positive for the coronavirus disease in the country since its outbreak in February 2020, out of which 127,691 cases were in Sindh, 96,057 in Punjab, 12,473 in Balochistan, 35,602 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 15,472 in Islamabad, 2,638 in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 2,241 in Azad Kashmir.

However, 275,317 patients have recovered from the disease so far. There is continuous decline in the coronavirus cases and deaths across the country.

Karachi:Sindh High Court (SHC) here Friday adjourned a constitutional petition filed by Pasban Democratic Party (PDP) Chairman Altaf Shakoor through a constitutional petition challenged the rural-urban quota system.

As per details, a bench of SHC comprising Justice Mehmood A Khan and Justice Agha Faisal Friday heard the constitutional petition (1906/2020) filed by Altaf Shakoor and directed his lawyer Irfan Aziz Advocate to file it again after necessary corrections as they had made Sindh chief minister also a respondent.

Petitioner Altaf Shakoor in his constitutional petition making the Federal government through Principal Secretary, Sindh government through chief secretary and Sindh chief minister though CM Secretariat respondents, submitted the quota system in Pakistan has already died its constitutional death in 2013 and its rotten dead body, instead of a respectful burial, is still being dragged by the respondents.

Resultantly, the sufferer is the general public of Pakistan, which is being denied of efficient governance, as recruitments are still made on outdated quota system, which has already lived its useful age, as prescribed by the Constitution of Pakistan, instead of pure ability and merit.

He submitted that the quota system in Pakistan was originally established to give every region of the country representation in institutions according to their population. It was first introduced in Pakistan by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan in September 1948. It was further refined in 1949 when 20 percent of seats were allocated for Central Superior Services (CSS) on merit.

He submitted that the Constitution of Pakistan of 1956 extended the quota system of 1949 by 15 years. Moreover, he said in 1970 General Yahya Khan’s martial law government extended the quota system according to which the rural and urban (Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur) population in Sindh was given 60% and 40% representation in services on the recommendations of the then martial law administrator Rukhman Gul of Sindh.

He said the original, 1973 Constitution had fixed a period of 10 years for the job quota for provinces, but the governments in the 1980s and 1990s enhanced it to 40 years.

When the initial 10-year period expired in 1983, military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq amended the Constitution after a cabinet decision and extended the period to 20 years. This act was later provided a constitutional cover through the controversial Eighth Amendment. The 20-year extended period expired in 1993 during the first government of Mr. Sharif but the federal cabinet decided to continue with the job quota for provinces in federal government departments. Despite the cabinet’s decision, the Constitution was not amended till 1999. Through the 16th Constitution Amendment Act 1999, the period was extended from 20 to 40 years during the second government of Mr Nawaz Sharif.

He submitted that in July 1991, the National Assembly passed the much awaited Constitutional (Sixteenth Amendment) Bill, 1999 by 162 against four votes, more than two-thirds majority, reviving the quota system in services till 2013.

He said after the expiry in 2013, quota system is practically dead and buried, because the constitutional cover is no more available to this practice. In the absence of extension of the period, given in the Constitution, implementation of the quota regime has already become unlawful. However, despite its death and demise, this system is still illegally and unlawfully applicable to specific areas including determining the share of various areas in appointments in bureaucracy through the competitive examination.

The petitioner submitted that for giving a new lease of life to the deceased quota system, Pakistani parliament is required to extend the timeframe by amending the Constitution.

He further submitted that the quota system has been declared un-Islamic and illegal by the Federal Shariat Court and the Hon’ble Supreme Court of Pakistan, adding that the quota kills the competition and deteriorate the quality of service and caused hatred amongst the deprived persons as this quota is unethical, un-Islamic and un-constitutional, void ab initio.

He said that the urban and rural quota is maintained only in Sindh, while in the other three provinces, no distinction on the basis of rural and urban is made. Thus urban-rural quota in Sindh province seems discriminatory in basic essence. He prayed to declare the quota system as null and void, illegal and unconstitutional after its expiry date as per the constitution of Pakistan.

The petitioner also prayed to direct the respondents to cancel all the appointments made on the basis of quota system after the date of its constitutional expiry in 2013 and refill all these vacant slots on the basis of pure merit through open competition.

He prayed to restrain the Respondents from using the abolished, expired Quota System for the allocation of jobs/services in the Federal/Provincials civil services. He also prayed to direct the Respondents to make appointments on merit basis irrespective of the quota-system, which has since expired in 2013.

Karachi:Chief Justice of Sindh High Court (SHCP) Mr Justice Ahmed Ali M Shaikh has hoped that the Digital Law Academy would prove to be a great law school, and he would personally support the initiative.

As per details, a delegation of Justice Helpline comprising former attorney general of Pakistan Anwar Mansoor, Justice (retd) Majida Rizvi, Shuhab Sarki, Nadeem A Sheikh Advocate, and S Michael Advocate called on the Sindh High Court Chief Justice.

Congratulating the Justice Helpline on setting up of their legal education project, the SHC CJ said he would patronize the project. He nominated Justice Faisal Kamal Alam for the project and hoped that the Pakistan Digital Law Academy would prove to be a big milestone for training of new lawyers.

Chairperson Human Rights Commission, government of Sindh, Justice (retd) Majida Rizvi appreciated the Justice Helpline for its efforts regarding uphold of law and supremacy of the Constitution.

Former Attorney General of Pakistan Anwar Mansoor Khan briefed the SHC CJ about the project and said the Justice Helpline and Mansoor Ahmed Khan Foundation want to set up a digital library. President of Justice Helpline Nadeem Shaikh briefed the SHC CJ on different projects of the Helpline and its future plans.

Karachi:The Provincial Assembly of Sindh passed five government bills and adopted a supplementary resolution on Friday, observes Free and Fair Election Network (FAFEN) in its Daily Factsheet.

The House met for two hours and seven minutes. The sitting started at 1535 hours against the scheduled time of 1400 hours. The Deputy Speaker presided over the entire proceedings in the absence of the Speaker. The Leader of the House was absent. The Opposition Leader attend the entire sitting.

As many as 39 MPAs (23%) were present at the outset and 52 (31%) at the adjournment of the sitting. The Parliamentary leaders of PPPP, PTI and MMA attended the sitting. As many as eight out of nine minority lawmakers were also present.

The House passed five government bills including the Sindh Seized and Freezed Facilities (Hospitals and Dispensaries) Bill, 2020; the Sindh Seized and Freezed Institutions (Madaris and Schools) Bill, 2020; the Sindh Trusts Bill, 2020; the Sindh Co-Operative Societies Bill, 2020 and the Sindh Waqf Properties Bill, 2020.

The House unanimously adopted a supplementary resolution to pay tribute to Islam’s second caliph Hazart Umar Farooq (Radi Allahu ta’ala Anhu) on his Yaum-e-Shahadat (the day of martyrdom).

The House took up all five starred questions. In addition, lawmakers also asked two supplementary questions. An Adjournment Motion about reduction in GDP growth was not taken up by the House.

The opposition lawmakers from MQM, PTI and MMA walked out from the House at 1622 after ten minutes protest against the decision of Sindh cabinet who decided to carve out Keamari district as a new administrative unit from West district – the largest district of Karachi in terms of population. This will be the city’s seventh district.

The House was adjourned to meet again on August 24, 2020 (Monday) at 1400 hours.