ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) informed the accountability court here on Tuesday that a co-accused in Park Lane reference against former president Asif Ali Zardari, has decided to become approver in the case.
The NAB produced Javed Hussain, a former executive director of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and a co-accused in the Park Lane reference, before the accountability court today.
The NAB prosecutor informed Accountability Judge Mohammad Bashir about the new development in the case and said that the case of the accused has been sent to the NAB headquarters.
The NAB also requested to the court for physical remand of the accused.
The prosecutor on a question of the judge informed the court the accused remained on 49 days’ physical remand with the accountability bureau.
The judge after the reply of the prosecutor rejected the plea for further physical remand and sent the accused to jail on judicial remand.
In a previous hearing the court had extended the judicial remand of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur till October 22 in cases pertaining to money laundering through fake bank accounts and Park Lane reference.
The Park Lane case has been registered under the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010.
Former president Zardari has been accused of being involved “in extending loan and its misappropriation by M/s Parthenon Private Limited, M/S Park Lane Estate Private Limited and others”.(Additional Input From INP)
ISLAMABAD: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge called on the Prime Minister Imran Khan on Tuesday. The Royal Couple was accompanied by Mr. Simon Case, Private Secretary of the Duke, and Mr. Thomas Drew, British High Commissioner to Pakistan.
The meeting was held in a warm and cordial atmosphere. While welcoming the Royal couple, Prime Minister Imran Khan recalled the love and affection among the people of Pakistan for Princess Diana, because of her compassion as well as commitment to support charitable causes.
Prime Minister Imran Khan commended the visiting dignitaries for raising awareness of the issues being faced by the modern world like climate change, inequality, and education. The Prime Minister also lauded the Royal couple for promoting positive activities in Pakistan and their interaction with young Pakistanis.
The Prime Minister apprised the Royal couple of domestic priorities and Pakistan’s perspective on external environment, including relations with India post 5 August and support for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan.
The Duke of Cambridge stated that Pakistan is a very important country for the UK. He thanked the government of Pakistan for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to them and their entourage.
The Prime Minister later hosted luncheon for the visiting dignitaries.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge are on a 5-day tour of Pakistan and would be visiting Islamabad, Lahore and the North of Pakistan.
The royal couple also met President Arif Alvi as part of their ongoing tour of the country in Aiwan-e-Sadar
For the meeting with President Alvi and PM Imran, Kate Middleton opted for white trousers by Maheen Khan paired with a bright green tunic by Catherine Walker.
She accessorized the dress with a scarf by Satrangi and earrings by Zeen.
Earlier, The Royal couple visited Government Girls High School, University Colony in Islamabad on Tuesday.
The couple saw different parts of the school and also inspected a class of mathematics. They got mixed up with the students of the school, Radio Pakistan reported.
The school administration briefed the royal couple about the school and the education system in Pakistan.
The visiting royals during their five-day visit are scheduled to visit Northern Areas and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa besides capital Islamabad and Lahore.
It is the first royal visit to Pakistan in 13 years. The last one was by Charles, the Prince of Wales, and Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, who spent five days in Pakistan in 2006.
Commenting on the Royal visit, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan said on Tuesday that British royal couple’s visit to Pakistan “reflects bright and ambitious image of Pakistan”.
“The homeland is the home of a great cultural heritage and a place of ancient civilization,” she stated in a tweet shared on her official Twitter account.
She mentioned that the visit would strengthen Pakistan-UK relations, and impact Pakistan’s identity in true and positive terms.
“Pakistan is emerging as a beautiful and attractive destination for tourists […] the fascinating beauty of Pakistan’s historic sites and northern areas are distinguishing features of the state.”
“Pakistan and the nation welcome the royal guests […] [We] hope that Prince William and Kate Middleton will return with beautiful memories,” she said. (With additional input from INP)
ISLAMABAD: The National Assembly Standing Committee on House and Library expressing its concerns over the inordinate delay in handing over the possession of the plots to the employees of National Assembly Secretariat by the management of Federal Employees Cooperative Housing Society (FGECHS) has termed it a breach of Joint Venture contractual obligation by the management of the society.
Meeting of the Committee held with MNA Ms. Kishwer Zahra in Parliament House on Monday while discussing the issue of delay in handing over the possession of plots, was of the view that a despite of deposit of money with FGECHS since year 2014, the developed plots had not been handed to the allotees.
The Committee directed the President FGECHS to immediately honor the contractual obligation.
The President FGECHS apprised the committee that the present management of the society would fully abide by its contractual obligations after the approval of the lay out plan by the CDA and handing over of land of National Assembly Employees Housing Society (NAECHS) to the FGECHS. He informed the Committee that the society had been subjected to mismanagement and malpractices by the previous management of FGECHS, therefore the plots could not be handed over so far. He further informed that the previous management was being investigated by the NAB.
The President NAECHS apprised the Committee that 376 developed plots out of 1097 plots had been handed over to the members of NAECHS, whereas further 100 plots have been agreed to be allotted subject to approval of the layout plan by CDA. He further informed that process of demarcation of land of NAECHS was in process and the same would be handed over to the FGECHS management for further action.
While discussing the matters pertaining to the cleanliness of Parliament lodges, the Committee lamented the lethargy of janitorial staff and directed for ensuring the cleanliness of the premises. The Committee directed CDA to ensure timely payment of wages to the janitorial staff. The Committee also directed to ensuring that lifts in the lodges are in proper working condition and quality food in the Cafeteria prepared in accordance with the prescribed health standards.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Ms. Aliya Kamran, Ms. Munawara Bibi Baloch, Ms. Musarat Asif Khawaja, Ms. Romina Khursheed Alam, Mr. Farrukh Habib, Additional Secretary (A) National Assembly and concerned officers of M/o Interior, ICT and CDA. (With additional input from INP)
BELGRADE: An important breakthrough in the relations of Pakistan and Afghanistan took place when the Speakers of both countries decided to hold bilateral talks at parliamentary levels to promote cooperation and understanding as well as to evolve trust based strategy for fostering people-to-people contacts.
The development took place when the Speaker National Assembly, Asad Qaiser met with his Afghan Counterpart, Mr. Rahman Rahmani on the on the margins of the 141st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Belgrade, Serbia.
The Afghan Speaker appreciated the efforts of the government and parliament of Pakistan for improving the state-of-affairs between the two countries and also lauded the initiatives of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan in expanding the scope of cooperation by opening up the Torkham Border for 24/7 trade operations.
Asad Qaiser informed the Afghan Speaker that the National Assembly of Pakistan was ready to offer its services for enhancing the capacity of the Afghan Parliamentarians and Parliamentary Officials through the platform of Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services (PIPS). He further extended an invitation to the Afghan Speaker for leading a parliamentary delegation to Pakistan to discuss the outstanding bilateral issues including the relaxation in visa regime as well as expansion of trade and commerce activities between the two countries.
While informing the Afghan delegation on the Indian brutalities in the IOJ&K, the Speaker NA also urged the Afghan Speaker to play his due role in normalizing the situation in the Indian Occupied Jammu & Kashmir which is under siege for last 72 days in order to avoid a humanitarian crisis in the region.
The maiden meeting between the Speakers of the two countries proved instrumental in paving way for relations and continued cooperation through parliamentary platforms. (With additional input from INP)
ISLAMABAD: The Capital Development Authority (CDA) has awarded the contract for Service Road (North) of Sector E-12 in Islamabad and directed the contractor to mobilize all machinery by Sunday.
On the instructions of CDA, the contractor has set up a site office in Sector E-12 and work would be started in the couple of days.
The tender for the Service Road (North) of Sector E-12 was published in the newspaper on September 12, 2019, in response of which 16 construction companies participated in the bidding. M/s Shabir Ahmed & Brothers gave the lowest bid which was 30% below the estimated cost Rs.139.228 million. After fulfillment of codal formalities and approval from competent forum contract awarded to the lowest bidding company as offered 97.107 (million) rupees.
The contractor will not only construct the entire Service Road (North) dualize, but also scoop of work including three culvert and drainage network on this road in the first step, because of the full development of Sector E-12 at the 45th meeting of CDA-DWP has already been approved the PC-I amounting to Rs.6630.2 million, by which all the infrastructure of Sector E-12, including electrification.
It is pertinent to mention here that sector E-12 remained stalled for three (03) decades due to which the plot allottees were facing difficulties. Incumbent management of the Authority, after prioritizing the development of the sector not only carried out massive operations to vacate land from illegal occupants but also completed codal formalities during a short time spam and approved the Rs.6630.2 million PC-I, due to continuous and efficient efforts, construction of Service Road (North) has been made possible, and construction work will start in the next few days. (With additional input from INP)
ISLAMABAD: President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) Muhammad Ahmed Waheed Saturday said that Jinnah Super Market was one of the important commercial centers of Islamabad and represented the face of the federal capital where foreign clients often used to visit for shopping, therefore, CDA and MCI should focus on the development of this market on modern lines to facilitate the growth of business activities.
He said this while addressing a delegation of Traders Welfare Association (TWA), Jinnah Super Market, Islamabad that visited ICCI led by its President Malik Rab Nawaz. Tahir Abbasi Senior Vice President and Saif ur Rahman Khan Vice President ICCI were also present at the occasion. Asad Aziz Senior Vice President, Ch. Ashraf Vice President, Abdul Rehman Siddiqui Secretary General, Fasih Ullah Khan Joint Secretary, Abrar Ahmed Finance Secretary, Abdul Malik Press Secretary and others were in the delegation.
Muhammad Ahmed Waheed said that CDA had constructed a parking in Jinnah Super by spending millions of rupees, but it was not made operational as yet due to which traders were unable to utilize it. He said that CDA should provide lights, security guards, sanitation staff and other facilities for parking to make it operational. He assured the delegation that ICCI would fully cooperate for resolving key issues of Jinnah Super Market.
Speaking at the occasion, Malik Rab Nawaz President and Abdul Rehman Siddiqui Secretary General, Traders Welfare Association, Jinnah Super, Islamabad said that due to absence of rent law, traders were always feeling insecure as they could be evicted from shops any time. They stressed that government should arrange the early passage of amended bill from the parliament for promulgation of a balanced rent control act in Islamabad. They said that CDA has not done any development work in Jinnah Super for the last many years due to which traders were facing problems.
They office bearers of TWA said that footpaths in Jinnah Super were broken while sewerage system and sanitation arrangements were in pathetic condition and urged that CDA and MCI should look into these issues for urgent redress. They said whenever transformer burnt in the market, IESCO was not repairing it on time. They called upon the CDA, MCI and IESCO to address the key issues of Jinnah Super market to facilitate the growth of trade activities.
Tahir Abbasi Senior Vice President, Saif ur Rahman Khan Vice President ICCI, Zubair Ahmed Malik Group Chairman, Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi Vice President FPCCI, Zafar Bakhtawari, Khalid Chaudhry and others also spoke at the occasion and stressed upon need of better development of Jinnah Super Market, Islamabad. (With additional input from INP)
ISLAMABAD: The number of Dengue patients across the country crossed 50,000 on Saturday as health officials struggled to handle with the deadly epidemic on a mass scale.
According to health department report, at least 250 people have already died of dengue in different parts of the country over the past few weeks. The twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are the worst-hit areas.
Health officials estimate that at least 25,000 people in the twin cities have tested positive for the dengue virus recently. In the two big hospitals of Islamabad alone, some 8,000 dengue cases have been identified.
Health departments has confirmed at least 35 deaths from the dengue virus in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. On Friday, another death was reported from the Morgah area of the Rawalpindi city.
Reports suggest that at least 750 dengue patients are currently undergoing treatment at different hospitals in the twin cities, where the health staff taking care of them numbers only 35.
At least 150 law enforcement officials have also fallen victim to the dengue virus. Authorities are not revealing the correct figures out of fear of a backlash by the general public.
Meanwhile, Thousands more people reportedly tested positive for dengue in Punjab.
The officials from the provincial health department of Punjab detailed that the tally mounts to 5650 for dengue patients this year including 140 new cases were reported in Rawalpindi, 24 in Lahore so far.
The health department had elaborated that the surveillance teams had checked more than 274,320 places in rural parts and overall 76,580 urban places to detect dengue larvae.
The teams had registered around 124 cases over finding the presence of dengue larvae besides arresting 37 people, the department had said.
As many as 167 fresh cases of dengue fever have been reported during the last 24 hours in Karachi. Last week, two people died of dengue in Karachi, taking the death toll of people dying from the deadly disease to 14 in the metropolis.
According to the Dengue Surveillance Cell the number of patients infected with dengue fever in Karachi has crossed 1500 this month.
In 10 days of this October 1517 people were infected with dengue virus, the cell said in its report.
Overall 4,563 people were infected with the dengue virus in current year in the metropolis.
According to the report, 16 patients of dengue fever died in Sindh, as the overall 4858 patients have been reported so far across the province this year.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the provincial government was taking preventive measures including separate wards in all government hospitals for dengue patients. (With additional input from INP)
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday fixed imprisoned former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s petition in the Al-Azizia reference for hearing on October 29.
The IHC’s registrar office has issued a cause list according to which a two-member bench comprising Justice Amir Farooq and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani will conduct the hearing.
It is pertinent here to mention that Nawaz Sharif had filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court against his sentence in the Al-Azizia case. In his miscellaneous plea, the erstwhile premier had requested the court to hear his stance over judge Arshad Malik’s affidavit.
The application further asked the court to make five persons – including the British expert who conducted forensic audit of the judge’s video – as court witnesses.
The IHC had summoned a written reply from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) after issuing a notice over Nawaz Sharif’s plea. The former PM and Nasir Butt – a character involved in Arshad Malik’s video scandal – had filed miscellaneous petitions after the footage was made public.
Furthermore, attested copies of judge Arshad Malik’s affidavit and press release were provided to all parties of the case over the court’s directions.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday called out the international media for continuing to give “headline coverage” to the ongoing Hong Kong protests but “ignoring the dire human rights crisis” in occupied Jammu & Kashmir.
“I am puzzled as to how international media continues to give headline coverage to Hong Kong protests but ignores the dire human rights crisis in IOJK — an internationally recognised disputed territory illegally annexed by India with 900,000 troops imposing a siege on 8 million Kashmiris [contd] for over 2 months, with a complete blackout of communications, thousands imprisoned — including [the] entire spectrum of political leadership plus children — and a growing humanitarian crisis,” the premier wrote on Twitter.
I am puzzled as to how international media continues to give headline coverage to Hongkong protests but ignores the dire human rights crisis in IOJK – an internationally recognised disputed territory illegally annexed by India with 900k troops imposing a siege on 8mn Kashmiris
“In IOJK, 100,000 Kashmiris have been killed over 30 years fighting for their right to self-determination as committed to them by the international community through UN Security Council resolutions,” he added.
Prime Minister Imran will participate in formation of a human chain today to show solidarity with the people of occupied Kashmir who have been facing curfew for over two months.
The chain would be made after Friday prayers. It will start from D-Chowk and the premier will join it at Gate No 1 of Prime Minister Office.
PTI chief organiser Saifullah Niazi has directed party workers to reach D-Chowk to form the human chain. (With additional input from INP)
ISLAMABAD: The commission formed by the federal government to revise the master plan of Islamabad has proposed relaxation in rules for setting up housing societies in the capital.
Sources said the commission proposed changes to the ‘rigid’ rules and from now housing schemes could be developed on 200 kanals instead of the earlier 400 kanal minimum requirement.
The commission will present its draft report before the federal cabinet soon. It proposed that the CDA should allow developers to set up housing schemes on 200 kanals subject to fulfillment of planning parameters.
The sources said the commission members at their last meeting held on Oct 4 observed that because of the ‘rigid’ rules housing societies had been avoiding getting no-objection certificates (NOC) from the CDA that resulted into unauthorised construction.
Draft report says minimum requirement of 400 kanals be reduced to 200 kanals.
Currently, there are over 100 unauthorised housing schemes in the capital and owners of majority of them have also sold out the land which was initially reserved for green areas, amenities, schools and parks.
The civic agency never took any serious action on time rather in most of the cases kept itself restricted to issuing only ‘notices’ to the violators.
On the other hand, the citizens who purchased plots in housing schemes are now suffering because of the illegal status of the housing schemes. On the recommendations of the CDA, utility companies are also not providing them gas and electricity connections.
Some CDA officials said that in many housing schemes the owners had been facing shortage of the required 400 kanals and after selling the available plots had left the projects abandoned, causing problems for those who had purchased plots there.
A senior officer of the CDA confirmed that from now a housing scheme could be developed on 200 kanals. He, however, said as per the set standards a housing scheme should be developed on 400 kanals. But in those cases where owners do not have 400 kanals, they would be allowed to develop a scheme on 200 kanals. But they will have to leave the amenity land in accordance with the formula of 400 kanals.
“Personally, I support the commission’s decision. Now, the housing schemes have a fair chance of developing societies on 200 kanals as earlier it was practically difficult for them to acquire a 400 kanal compact piece of land in the capital,” he said.
Meanwhile, the commission also recommended one more storey in all commercial centres which are already facing the issue of parking. However, CDA officials said plaza owners who would add a new storey would provide the required parking space. (With additional input from INP)
