KARACHI: Former president and Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said on Saturday that an empowered parliament can decide the future of the country and the nation and all democratic political parties should unite to empower the parliament.
In his message to the nation on Independence Day, he said that the supremacy of the elected parliament of the people is essential for a free, independent and dignified Pakistan.
The former president said that Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah laid the foundation of Pakistan as an independent state. Quaid-e-Awam Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto made Pakistan a strong and stable country by giving it the unanimous 1973 constitution which is still a symbol of trust and bond between all the units of the federation.
Asif Ali Zardari said that the dictators distorted the constitution for power but failed. He said that only an empowered parliament can decide the future of the country and the nation.
President Zardari said that Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto solidified the the pact of unity and solidarity between the federation and all units with her blood. He said that the 18th Amendment is the guarantee of a strong and stable Pakistan.
Now, the time has come to make sustainable decisions for the country and the nation by fully implementing the Charter of Democracy. All democratic political parties of the country should unite to empower the parliament.
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Saturday scheduled a hearing for Monday against the dismissal of plea for the physical remand of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Shahbaz Gill.
A hearing has been scheduled for Monday by the Registrar on the application of Advocate General Islamabad. Acting Chief Justice Amir Farooq will hear this petition. Shahbaz Gill and others have been made parties in the petition.
The petition has demanded that the orders of the Judicial Magistrate be canceled and Shahbaz Gill be physically remanded, adding that the court should declare that there was no judicial order in the Shahbaz Gill case, but an administrative order.
ISLAMABAD: Youth is far more vulnerable to tobacco addiction, which also results in loss of productivity, a survey conducted by World Health Organization (WHO) shows about 1200 kids between 6 and 15 years of age start smoking in Pakistan on a daily basis.
Chromatic Team believes Pakistani youth, that makes about 60% of the total population, is just as precious and deserves protection from the menace of tobacco.
Therefore, tireless working to make Pakistan tobacco free, Chromatic Trust has launched their second round of awareness campaign involving youth to send clear message that tobacco in any form is unacceptable through post cards.
In this Chromatic’s digital campaign Pakistan’s youth between age 8 to 25 is encouraged to use their creative minds to design postcard digitally on Photoshop, illustrator or any other software demanding ban on nicotine pouches and other modern tobacco products.
The designs will be short listed by renowned celebrities and art analysts. The winning post card will be awarded Rs50,000 while runner up will get cash prize of Rs25,000.
The participants will be sending their designs to the Chromatic Trust through twitter, facebook, instagram or email.
CEO Chromatic Trust, Shariq M. Khan while speaking to media said that in a country with a majority young population it is unacceptable to have such prevalence of modern tobacco products.
This competition represents the true voices of our youth and aims to make them aware of the menace of modern tobacco products. “Involving youth in awareness campaign like these where adults and teen-agers are taking anti-tobacco initiatives in their hands has proved successful in kicking tobacco consumption habit and dissuade hundreds of thousands of young people from taking it up”, Shariq Khan said.
The postcard campaign is continuity of last year’s Chromatic’s awareness drive through which the trust’s message was conveyed to millions of children across Pakistan about the dangers of smoking and how it harms their precious health.
The success of last year’s competition compelled Chromatic to continue their efforts through social and digital media with an aim to aware youth about the side effects of tobacco products especially nicotine pouches. “It was through our continued efforts that convinced the government to increase tax on tobacco which was a big achievement in last four years”, Shariq told media.
Treasuring the spirits, creative minds and productivity of participants the designs will be presented to Prime Minister of Pakistan and media for mass awareness.
TOBA TEK SINGH: One robber killed during the encounter with the police on Saturday while two others were arrested, after they robed as person in Toba Tek Singh.
On Chichawatni road in Toba Tek Singh, the robbers in a car stole cash and a mobile from a citizen and fled.
On the complaint of the citizen, the officials of Kamalia Saddar Police Station chased the robbers and surrounded them near Chichawatni Road. Meanwhile, there was an exchange of fire.
ISLAMABAD: Advocate General of Islamabad, Jahangir Jadoon Saturday challenged the decision taken by the local district and sessions court rejecting the plea to extend PTI leader Shahbaz Gill’s physical remand in a sedition case.
Gill and others were named in the petition filed in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) today.
The petitioner urged the high court to declare the decision taken by the district and sessions court null and void while extending the physical remand of the PTI leader.
Gill was arrested on Tuesday afternoon from Banigala Chowk in the capital a day after making controversial remarks on a private TV. He was subsequently booked on charges of sedition and inciting the members of the state institutions against their leadership.
A treason case was registered against him at Kohsar Police Station under several sections Pakistan Penal Code, including 124-A (sedition), 131 (abetting mutiny, or attempting to seduce a soldier, sailor or airman from his duty), 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot if rioting be committed; if not committed), 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups, etc), and 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), among others.
During the hearing a day earlier, the investigating officer (IO) submitted an application to the court seeking the extension of Gill’s physical remand by 12 days stating that the physical remand was necessary for the arrest of others involved in the offence and the recovery of the mobile phone used by the PTI leader for the commission of the offence.
However, Gill objected to the IO’s application, claiming that police were “using [the] physical remand only for the purposes of torture”.
He said that no mobile phone was used for his comments on the news channel, pointing out the remarks during the live transmission were aired on August 8, when mobile phone services remained suspended on account of 9th Muharram.
Gill said, he was speaking during the news bulletin via the landline phone installed at his Banigala office and therefore, “there is no justification for [the] grant of physical remand”.
Based on the counsels’ arguments and Gill’s statements, Judicial Magistrate Umar Shabbir observed that since the police had already obtained the video and audio of Gill’s remarks and the results of the voice matching test had been received, the investigation of the case had, in fact, been completed and there was no need for an extension of the suspect’s physical remand.
Early child marriage refers to union between two underage individuals who are made to sign a legal contract for a legal harmonization. Such union can take place formally as well as informally depending on the circumstances. These underage children are then made to live with their spouses regardless of being minors.
As per the report of UNICEF, in Pakistan, almost around 18 percent girls get married before the legal age, directly contributing to the ratio of early marriage to a greater extent.
Child marriage occurs most often in rural areas of Pakistan and the primary driving factor is poverty among the low income households where education is minimal. Whereas, in forced marriages, one or both spouses are unable to give full, free and informed consent about marriage, regardless of their age. In forced marriage one or both spouses are unable to end or leave the marriage.
In some countries children are not able to give legal consent. Therefore, all child marriages are mostly considered forced marriages. Child, early and forced marriage is a human rights violation and is against several international agreements of human rights.
According to International laws, marriage of boys and girls should be free, full and informed consent. The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) recommends the minimum age of marriage to be 18 years.
Early Child and forced marriages in Pakistan occur mostly in rural and low-income households, where education is least. Its highest ratio is in Sindh (for 72% girl and 25% boys). Similarly, in KP’s tribal areas, 99% girls are victims. Moreover, huge ratios of young girls are forced to marry under the age of 18 due to socio-economic and cultural reasons.
According to UK’s Forced Marriage Unit, in 2017, at least 439 cases of child forced marriages were reported in Pakistan, ranking it on top of four ‘focused’ countries, followed by Bangladesh, Somalia and India.
CAUSES FOR EARLY CHILD AND FORCED MARRIAGE
The primary reason for early marriage is the biases against women’s education however, the impact of lack of policy enforcement cannot be ignored either.
In Pakistan, there are various causes of early child marriages. The most amongst those causes are: lack of implementation of the existing laws; children are treated like slaves; tribal and feudal structure of society; lack of awareness in the public about harmful effect of child marriages; extreme poverty; internal trafficking; and lack of will of government in implementing laws.
Child marriages have been a major cause of girls’ illiteracy or lower level of education. It can also damage the girl’s physical, mental and social health leading to serious health issues in the future.
Marriage is considered as a social act, a family matter where some parents do not consider their children’s consent for their marriage. This is most often the case when young girls are concerned, but also sometimes with young men, because parents consider marriage a social act and they consider it their duty to have their children married.
Parents feel they have to protect them and act in their best interests by having them married, and preferably at a young age.
(Syed Abdul Hadi Burney is a student of criminology as major subject with mass communication as minor subject at Karachi university. He can be reached at Ranpootahmed@gmail.com)
KARACHI: The Pakistani rupee continues to appreciate against the US dollar and has gained over 9% or Rs21 during the last nine trading sessions.
Considering the positive cues in the forex market, the country’s top currency dealer has predicted that the greenback will come down to Rs180-190 after the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) tranche.
Chairman Exchange Companies Association of Pakistan (ECAP) Malik Bostan while talking to media said that the Almighty has been kind to this country and this is also because of the efforts of the incumbent government.
“If you look at the June import data, it was $7.75 billion which came down to $4.75 billion, a decline of $3 billion. The appeal of Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and his request to UAE and Saudi Arabia helped as well in stabilising the market”, Malik Bostan went on say.
Bostan said that now the IMF official has also said that Pakistan has fulfilled all prior conditions “we will get the IMF tranche. This news has boosted the market.”
The ECAP chairman added that importers were withholding proceeds and they sold out $215 million in the interbank market on August 1 and the same day greenback fell by Rs10.
“Some people sold dollars at Rs240 and Rs250 and those who were holding back are now selling as well.”
Agreeing with the anchor’s assessment, Bostan said people are selling dollars in huge numbers but there are no buyers.
“We don’t have much cash to purchase dollars.”
Thanking overseas Pakistanis for rescuing the country, Boston said he had predicted that the foreign currency will come down to 185 and appealed to them to invest in the rupee.
“As I said earlier, the dollar rate will come down to 180-190 after the IMF tranche.”
Previously, he added, people were selling $10-15 million and now they are selling up to 20-25 million dollars, pounds and riyal daily.
In response to a question regarding punitive actions taken by the central bank, Boston said some exchange companies were selling at a higher profit rate so the SBP imposed penalties on some of them and closed their ranches but the banks were playing a negative role by opening LCs at higher rates and that was creating panic but the timely intervention of the SBP controlled the situation.
“The SBP has started inquiry against those involved let’s see what happens next,” he added.
ISLAMABAD: The government must introduce a mechanism to thwart the threat of desertification in many areas of Sindh, Balochistan, and South Punjab.
According to the local experts, out of total of 79.6 million hectares, 62 million hectares of Pakistan’s total land are vulnerable to desertification, especially in these areas.
There are various factors that are contributing to desertification such as drought, overgrazing, over-exploitation of land and water resources, over-cultivation of marginal lands, deforestation, soil erosion, water logging and salinity, and the use of inappropriate agricultural technologies.
Rashid Baloch, an agriculturist, said the loss of vegetation cover has already increased risk of zoonotic diseases such as Covid-19 but the more concerning issue is desertification in many areas of Southern Punjab.
“Periodic droughts are the primary cause of desertification. South Punjab has been experiencing this problem due to various reasons that need the attention of the government,” he said.
A report compiled by the climate change ministry stated that the programmes that can address desertification included afforestation/agroforestry in degraded areas; improved crop production in dry lands; improved range/livestock feeding and management; soil and water conservation, water harvesting, and efficient use of water resources.
Other preventive actions included integrating land and water management to protect soils from erosion, salinization, and other forms of degradation; and protecting the vegetative cover, which could be a major instrument for soil conservation against wind and water erosion.
With almost 80 percent of the country’s area consisting of arid or semi-arid land, however, much of Pakistan’s agricultural land is vulnerable to desertification — the process by which arable land becomes desert due to drought, deforestation, and inappropriate agricultural practices.
An official said “The green initiatives aim at supporting the voluntary Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets by 2030 and also implementing National Action Programme to Combat Desertification. Restoring lands degraded due to outpouring desertification and seething droughts will not only lead to economic resilience but also help create jobs in the country.”
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad Police have invited the Police of other provinces to participate in the 75th Independence Day celebrations to be commencing on August 13.
An invitation letter was written in this regard following directions of the Minister for Interior to celebrate the event in a befitting manner.
The special troops from Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa arrived in Islamabad to conduct a flag march in public places. The bands of all provinces will play national songs during the March in the manifestation of provincial harmony and national unity.
ISLAMABAD: A court in Islamabad while hearing a sedition case against PTI leader Shahbaz Gill rejected the prosecution’s plea seeking an extension in his physical remand and sent him to jail on judicial remand.
The PTI leader was produced before the court today after the completion of two-day physical remand.
Gill was brought in the Duty Magistrate Umar Bashir’s court on Friday. Islamabad police pleaded the court to extend the physical remand of the PTI leader.
While the court allowed his legal team to meet the politician. The legal team met Gill in court room.
On the other hand, Islamabad police stopped PTI workers to go near the court. On this, the PTI workers chanted slogans against the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government.
It should be noted here that Shahbaz Gill was arrested three days ago for incitement against institutions and their leadership.
