Day: October 19, 2022

ISLAMABAD: The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) on Wednesday officially launched the Rehbar mobile application, assisting people by answering their NADRA-related queries.

Chairman NADRA Tariq Malik said that the application has been developed to assist citizens. People can get NADRA-related information from their homes, he added. He said that people can get to know the timings, location and other information about their closest NADRA centre using the Rehbar application. The application is a step forward to indulge the citizen in the process and create ease in the NADRA processes.

Earlier in September, the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) started construction of another mega centre in Karachi after a gap of five years. According to details, the NADRA administration started constructing the fourth mega centre at Karachi’s University Road in a bid to facilitate the people of the port city.

ISLAMABAD: Minister for National Health Services Abdul Qadir Patel says Pakistan is adopting effective measures under a coordinated strategy to completely eradicate polio from the country.

Addressing the World Health Summit in Berlin, he said despite the recent floods that badly affected the country’s health system, the government is determined to complete the task of polio eradication and protecting children from the crippling disease.

Speaking on the occasion, Chair of Child Global Health, Hospital for Sick Children, Canada, Dr Zulfi Bhutta, said Pakistan has made incredible progress against polio but the recent challenges have allowed the virus to persist.

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal has said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to China next month is expected to give a new impetus to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.

Talking to media persons here in Islamabad on Wednesday, he however regretted that PTI Chairman Imran Khan through its long march wants to damage Pakistan’s image at the international level. He said no progress was seen on CPEC project during the government of PTI.

The Minister for Planning said the general elections will be held in October next year. He said the results of population census will be available by March next year following which the Election Commission of Pakistan will require four months for delimitation of constituencies.

He said the government during the next five to six months will focus entirely on the rehabilitation of flood affected people. He said Pakistan at this juncture requires stability and unity to cope with the challenges of terrorism and floods devastation.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ambassador- designate to United Arab Emirates (UAE) Faisal Niaz Tirmizi called on Federal Minister for Defence Production, Muhammad Israr Tareen here on Wednesday.

The Federal Minister for Defence Production emphasized that Pakistan attaches great importance to UAE and wishes to expand cooperation in all fields of mutual interests including defence industry.

The Minister also highlighted the capabilities of Pakistan’s defence industry in manufacturing equipment for use by Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies (LEA) of UAE. Ambassador-designate to UAE assured for his all efforts to further expand bilateral ties between Pakistan and UAE.

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday filed an application in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking to withdraw its appeals against the acquittal of Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Co-chairperson and former President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari in four references, which are fixed for hearing tomorrow (Thursday).

In its application, NAB stated that only photocopies of the documents are on record in the references against Asif Ali Zardari, thus further prosecution is not possible. Four separate applications have been submitted by NAB in the IHC to withdraw appeals against the acquittal of Asif Ali Zardari by the accountability court in the SGS, Cotecna, Ursus Tractors, and ARY Gold References.

The applications state that only photocopies of the documents are on record against the former President, and the available documents are not in accordance with the law of evidence. “Further prosecution on the pending appeals is an impossible task; therefore, to meet the requirements of justice, the court should allow NAB to withdraw the appeals against the acquittals of Ali Zardari”, the applications stated.

The accountability court had acquitted Asif Zardari and also approved NAB’s plea to withdraw the appeals against his acquittal simultaneously. In ARY Gold and Ursus Tractors’ references filed in 2000 and 2001, the accountability court had acquitted Mr Zardari on December 12, 2014. The accountability court had also acquitted Mr Zardari in the Cotecna and SGS reference on November 24, 2015.

ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has said that engineers have played a vital role in ensuring the growth and development of the country, besides improving the quality of life of the citizens.

He made these remarks while addressing the Engineers’ Excellence Awards 2020-2021 organized by the Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC) here at Aiwan-e-Sadr, on Wednesday. Among others, Chairman Engineering Council, Engr. Muhammad Najeeb Haroon, members of the Engineering fraternity and members of the civil society attended the ceremony.

The President emphasized that by imparting modern and innovative skills to our youth we could fill the resource and talent gap in important sectors which would put the country on fast-tracked development and progress. He said our educational institutions should rise to the occasion and increase their capacity to provide world-class knowledge and skills to their students so that they could compete at the international job market. The President underlined the need to equip young engineers with emerging Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools for handling data and information.

He also underscored the need for engaging fresh engineers through training and hands-on exposure to their profession. While appreciating the efforts and hard work of Pakistani engineers, the President said that the engineers had played a pivotal role in the industrial development of Pakistan. He lauded the scientists and engineers of Pakistan for developing nuclear deterrence for their country.

The President appreciated PEC for its several initiatives, which included entrepreneurship, training of engineers, development of matchmaking portal, development of green energy building code, upgradation of PEC’s bidding documents and re-activation of Pakistan Institute of Cost and Contracts for enhancing the role of engineers in the socio-economic development of the country.

The President said that it was unfortunate that despite being the fifth largest populated country in the world, our knowledge, skills and expertise did not commensurate with the strength of our population and we lagged behind in many sectors as compared to many other countries. He said it was unfortunate that we had to seek the help of qualified human resources in the vital sectors whereas by now we should have been fully self-sufficient in this regard.

He said a lot of national resources were spent on producing the engineers but they moved to other countries in the past due to a lack of employment opportunities in the country. Dr Arif Alvi said Pakistan’s highly qualified engineers had played a pivotal role in the progress and development of many countries, especially in the Middle East.

Earlier, Chairman PEC, Engr. Muhammad Najeeb Haroon said that the objective of PEC Engineers’ Excellence Awards was to recognize the outstanding services and achievements of eminent Pakistani engineers, who made a notable contribution to the country’s social and economic development. Later, the President awarded the PEC Engineering’ Excellence Awards 2020-2021 to the outstanding engineers.

ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Wednesday said the PTI Chairman Imran Khan cannot dictate the coalition government to hold early elections in the country.

Talking to a private news channel, he said the General Elections will be held as per schedule next year. The Defence Minister said Imran Khan is using pressure tactics but the government will not come under any pressure.

Meanwhile, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb has strongly denounced the language used by PTI Chairman Imran Khan against some journalists. In a statement on Wednesday, she was critical of Imran Khan’s politics saying nobody including national interests, institutions and martyrs are safe from his slander campaign.