Day: November 30, 2021

Islamabad, November 30, 2021 (PPI-OT):Hon’ble Chief Justice, Islamabad High Court, Mr. Justice Athar Minallah awarded certificates to the trainee Assistant Superintendents of Police in the closing ceremony at the Federal Judicial Academy, Islamabad, on November 27, 2021. While addressing the trainees, Mr. Justice Athar Minallah said, “The civil servants are not rulers, but servants.

They are expected to use powers and resources for public good, not for personal gains. The state of affairs we see and experience in the country nowadays, we all are responsible for it. We must realize and reform. We must play the desired role to improve the things. We all must bear in mind that this life is not forever, everyone is ultimately accountable to God for his doings and misdoings.” Advising the young Police Officers, Hon’ble Chief Justice, IHC, said, “All of you are the brightest brains of the country.

You have consciously chosen one of the noblest professions to protect the life and limb of the citizens and maintain peace and order in the society. You must become “role models” like Malik Saad Shaheed who was one of the outstanding police officers, the police force has ever produced in this country and around the globe.”

For the enlightenment and intellectualization of young police officers, Honourable Chief Justice also shared several anecdotes and incidents of courageous and exemplary police officers who left indelible imprints wherever they were posted so that they can make their lives sublime. Earlier, Director General of the Academy Mr. Hayat Ali Shah welcomed the Honourable Chief Justice shed light on the importance and scope of “Professional Exchange Program” for the newly recruited Police Officers for effective administration of criminal justice system.

For more information, contact:
Federal Judicial Academy (FJA)
Service Road South, Sector H-8/4, Islamabad, Pakistan
PABX Exchange: +92-51-926969-70
Fax: +92-51-9269686
Email: contact@fja.gov.pk
Website: http://www.fja.gov.pk

Islamabad, November 30, 2021 (PPI-OT):Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Operations Afzaal Ahmed Kausar on Monday said that police are striving hard to facilitate the citizens by all means and the conversation between policemen and the visitors in police stations are being monitored via digital control room.

He said that Thana Culture is being changed swiftly adding that police are advancing towards new policing under wise leadership of Inspector General of Police (IGP) Qazi Jamil Ur Rehman. He expressed these views while interacting with the citizens/complainants visiting different police stations here. He said all the officers have been directed to behave politely with the crime victims and other visitors in police stations.

“Body cameras have been installed on uniforms of SHOs, Moharrars, fronts desks and police guides to monitor their activities as well as interaction with crime victims,” he mentioned. He said the body cam system to be broadened to offices of Zonal SPs and SDPOs to bring betterment in policing. Afzaal Ahmed Kausar said that purpose of introducing the latest technology is to facilitate the complainants and citizens. “With the latest technology, the complainants are not needed to visit offices of senior police officers,” he said.

For more information, contact:
Islamabad Police
Data centre H-11, Admin Block,
Police Head Quarter, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-9258371 Ext (160)
Fax: +92-51-4443180
Email: webmaster@islamabadpolice.gov.pk
Website: https://islamabadpolice.gov.pk

Islamabad, November 30, 2021 (PPI-OT):Honourable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal Chairman NAB said that the Business Community is playing a vital role in the economic development of the country. He said income tax, sales tax and under invoicing cases of the business community had already been referred to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) as per law.

The Chairman NAB said that NAB is making all out efforts to eradicate corruption from the country. The Chairman NAB said that investigation of white collar crimes is very challenging as the crime was committed in one city and property exists somewhere else but NAB officers are working with the realization that eradication of corruption from the country is their national duty.

Criticizing fake housing societies, he said that the illegal housing societies have plundered the poor persons by posting alluring advertisements despite having no or little land. Honourable Mr. Justice Javed Iqbal, Chairman NAB said that NAB has introduced a new concept of Combine Investigation Team (CIT) in order to benefit from the experienced and collective wisdom of its senior supervisory officers.

NAB has itself prescribed a timeframe of 10 months in which complaint verifications in two months, inquiries in four months and investigations in four months on alleged allegations of corruption and corrupt practices. Moreover, NAB has established a state of the Art Forensic Science Laboratory with the aim to facilitate / assist in investigation and prosecution.

Furthermore, NAB has established its own Pakistan Anti-Corruption Training Academy at NAB Headquarters with the purpose to train and equip NAB investigation officers/Prosecutors with modern techniques in order to investigate white collar crimes and vigorously NAB cases in the learned Courts. He said that NAB strongly believes in “Accountability for all” policy to eradicate corruption by adopting three pronged strategy of Awareness, Prevention and Enforcement.

For more information, contact:
National Accountability Bureau (NAB)
Attaturk Avenue G-5/2, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-111-NAB-NAB (111-622-622)
Fax: +92-51-9214503
Email: chairman@nab.gov.pk, infonab@nab.gov.pk
Website: www.nab.gov.pk

Islamabad, November 30, 2021 (PPI-OT):The Senate Standing Committee on Information and Broadcasting on Monday was informed that the PML-N government had given advertisements worth Appx Rs.9 billion to electronic media from 2013 to 2017 while the sitting government had released funds of Appx Rs.143 crore from 2018-to-date for advertisements to electronic media. The Chairman Committee sought details of spending on government advertisements from 2008-2013 in the next meeting.

The Chairman Committee disposed of deliberation on the bill titled, “The Right of Access to Information (Amendment) Bill 2020”, moved by Senator Walid Iqbal and Senator Manzoor Ahmad Kakar. The Chairman committee said that due to the absence of the movers for the third consecutive time the consideration on the amendment bill is hereby disposed of.

The standing committee on Information and Broadcasting, which met here at the Parliament House on Monday received a comprehensive briefing on the amount spent on ad campaigns by the Federal Government for the periods of 2008-2013, 2013-2018 and 2018 to date, both in print and electronic media.

During the period 2013-2017, the highest amount of Rs. 62 crores had been released to Geo TV. Dunya TV ran Government advertisements worth Rs. 56 Crore from Government advertisement from 2013-2017 according to the details submitted to the Standing Committee. Express TV was Third on the list and earned Rs. 50 Crore from Government Advertisements.

It was followed by Abbtak with Rs. 45 Crore. It was further submitted that the Federal Government during the period 2013-2017 released Rs. 40 Crore to Capital TV, Rs. 21 Crore to PTV, Rs. 26 Crore to Dawn TV, Rs. 19 Crore to Aaj TV, Rs. 18 Crore to Samaa TV, Rs. 8 Crore to ARY News.

The Committee was apprised that from 2018- to-date Appx Rs. 143 Crores had been pumped in for advertisements to different TV channels. It was submitted that Rs. 13 Crore had been released to Geo TV, Rs. 14 Crore to Dunya TV, Rs. 13 Crore to Express TV, Rs. 5 Crore to Abbtak TV, Rs. 4 Crore to
Capital TV, Rs. 9 Crore and 62 lacs to Dawn TV, Rs. 11 Crore and 25 lacs to PTV, Rs. 11 Crore and 20 Lacs to Aaj TV, Rs. 12 Crore to Samaa TV, Rs. 11 Crore to News1, Rs. 11 Crore to 92 News, Rs. 5 Crore to ATV, Rs. 3 Crore to Neo TV, and Rs. 15 Crore were released to Ary News during the said period.

The Chairman Committee lamented as to why no Government advertisements had been given to the entertainment Channels. He was of the view that entertainment channels had more viewership than news channels.

The Chairman committee observed that advertisements had been given to the channels for the purpose to control the narrative of the government. To a question asked by the chairman committee, the official of the ministry informed that ads to media outlets had been released on the assessment of distribution and viewership mechanism.

The Chairman committee said that justice should be met while shelling out the money to media outlets. The Chairman Committee also sought details of advertisement rates fixed for Radio in the next meeting. The Chairman Committee aspired detail regarding mechanism followed for the distribution of ads.

He also asked for a briefing in the next meeting of the committee as to why entertainment channels had not been given government advertisements. The Channels that had large viewership and still not getting advertisements is a big question mark itself and a matter of great concern, Faisal Javed underlined.

Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Farrukh Habib underscored that the PTV has turned into a profitable entity in the PTI Government. PTV now has an accumulative profit of Appx Rs. 1 billion, he said.

The Committee was also briefed on overall PTV Sports Programming. The Management of PTV Sports apprised that the viewership of PTV Sports was in an upswing as compared to other sports channels. The Management informed that From Sep 2019 until March 2021 up to USD 12.5 Million have been cleared.

The Estimated income of PTV Sports for 2021-2022 is up to Rs. 1.8 billion, senate body informed. The officials maintained that PTV Sports would be converted to UHD before the start of the PSL 7 edition (January 2022). The Chairman Committee while addressing the officials of PTV Sports said that focus should also be paid to the content along with improving the Screen Quality.

On the matter of altercation between PTV sports host Nouman Niaz and former fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar the Officials from the ministry said that the matter had been sorted out by the Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Fawad Choudhary and an inquiry was still underway.

The Chairman Committee also sought a detailed report on the matter to be presented before the committee once the inquiry is completed. The Chairman Committee regretted the incident. He called Shoaib Akhtar a legend. It is not only about our heroes, it is about our prestige and dignity, he asserted.

Senator Moula Bux Chandio, Senator Lal dean, Senator Irfan ul Haque Siddiqui, Senator Naseema Ehsan, Senator Umer Farooq attended the meeting. Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting, Farrukh Habib, Officials from PTVC and PTV Sports also participated in the meeting.

For more information, contact:
Senate of Pakistan
H.No.7, Cat-II, G-8/2, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-9204564534
Fax: +92-51-9205703
E-mail: senate@comsats.net.pk
Website: www.senate.gov.pk

Islamabad, November 30, 2021 (PPI-OT):Senate Standing Committee on Cabinet Secretariat met on Monday under the Chairmanship of Senator Rana Maqbool Ahmad at the Parliament House. The Committee while fearing the hike in prices of fuel as from 12 rupees /litre in one jump raised question on the authority to decide the fuel prices. The Committee recommended in its meeting that the Parliament should be given discretion to decide the prices of the fuel in the larger interest of the Public.

Public Petition PP – 3880 regarding framing of recruitment rules in respect of regularized civil gazette officer (BS -17) – HOS Frontier corps KP [South] was disposed of with the directions by the Committee to complete the process within a week, for the Establishment to take up the matter according to the rules and attain finality in the form of report to be submitted to the Senate Standing Committee, on the issue, within a fortnight.

It was submitted in the Petition that their regularization further promotion criteria have not yet been formulated and Civil Gazetted Officers in FC-KP (South) are still in the same scale having no career progression including six (06) account officers (BS-17) and Education Officers (BS 17), one (01) Medical Officers (BS -17), one (01) Sub Division Officer and one (01) Public Relation Officer.

The Committee was apprised that the Establishment after incorporating the views of the Ministry of Interior, is agreed upon to finalize a way forward that the civil Gazette officers (BS-17) in FC-KP (South) and FC-KP (North) were not adjusted in accordance with the decision of Cabinet Sub-Committee on regularizing, Ministry of Interior may take up a fresh case with MS Wing Establishment Division for creation of these posts of Civil Gazette Officers (BS-17) in FC-KP (South) and FC-KP (North).

On the point of BS-18 posts, the Ministry of Interior may take up the case with the MS Wing Establishment Division with complete Justification based on increase in functions/workload for creation of these posts along with proposed organogram.

Matter pertaining to Starred Question No. 7 and 8 asked by Senator Walid Iqbal regarding the posting of the officers of National Assembly, Senate, other constitutional bodies and services other than the occupational group as Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners and also as Chief Secretaries of the four Provinces, Gilgit Baltistan and AJK was taken up in detail.

The Establishment Division informed the Committee that the post of the Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners are manned by the officers of Pakistan Administrative Services and Provincial Civil Services being their cadre posts as envisaged in the schedule appended with Civil Service of Pakistan (Composition and Cadre) Rules, 1954.

Senator Walid Iqbal held reservations on the appointment of two chief secretaries of Sindh and Baluchistan outside of the Pakistan Administrative Services, when those positions can only be occupied by the officers of the PAS.

“How this exception has been made” Senator Walid stated while deliberating upon the matter. The Committee recommended providing further documentation on the constitutionality continuity of the 1954 Composition and Cadre Rules including the agreement that led to the rules of 1954.

The Committee was also informed by the Establishment Division that the same matter is also sub judice in the Higher Courts, the Federal Tribunal Court, and the Senate Committee on Delegated legislation.

While vetting upon the matter the Committee also raised question to justify the 10 % quota for the officers from other services which severely injures the promotional rights of the officers who have hard earned this position through the competitive exam.

Discussion on Public Petition PP-3745 pertaining to PTDC, submitted by Malik Muhammad Khan, Chairman MK Pakistan could not be taken up on account of repeated absence of the representative from Baluchistan Government. The Committee directed the Establishment to write a letter to the Baluchistan Government to adhere to the directions of Senate Committee and show appearance in order to dispose of the matter at its earliest.

The meeting was attended by Senators, Moula Bux Chandio, Engr. Rukhsana Zuberi, Saadia Abbasi, Muhammad Talha Mahmood and Walid Iqbal. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Muhammad Khan, along with senior officers from the Cabinet Division and their attached departments were also in attendance.

For more information, contact:
Senate of Pakistan
H.No.7, Cat-II, G-8/2, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-9204564534
Fax: +92-51-9205703
E-mail: senate@comsats.net.pk
Website: www.senate.gov.pk

Islamabad, November 30, 2021 (PPI-OT):Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed to continue to take legal action against the elements involved in hoarding and profiteering of fertilizers. He was presiding over a meeting in Islamabad to review the current stock and prices of fertilizer in the country. The Prime Minister was told that an online portal had been developed to monitor the supply of fertilizers, enabling the provincial and district administrations to keep a check on the movement of fertilizers.

It was also informed that following the last week’s direction of the Prime Minister to take measures against hoarding, the price of fertilizer has registered an average decrease of 400 rupees per bag. Chief Secretary Punjab told the meeting that control rooms had been established in every district to receive complaints and check-posts had also been established to curb inter-provincial smuggling of fertilizers.

For more information, contact:
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
Government of Pakistan
4th Floor, Cabinet Block, Pak. Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-9103557
Email: info@moib.gov.pk
Website: http://www.moib.gov.pk