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48 arrested as Basant celeBrated in cantt despite Ban

RAWALPINDI Staff RepoRt

BASANTwas celebrated in different areas of the Rawalpindi Cantonment despite a ban, while police arrested 48 kite flyers and sellers and recovered thousands of kites and kite flying string rolls.

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According to a police spokesman, Rawalpindi police arrested 21 on Friday and 27 violators were rounded up on Thursday night during the crackdown.

Police had made it clear that kite flying was banned and strict action would be taken against the violators, but the enthusiasts celebrated the Basant night on Thursday and Friday without fearing the consequences.

The Rawalpindi Kite Flying Association said: “We have banned the use of metal strings and aerial firing during Basant. There is no justification to ban Basant anymore.”

Kite sellers also sold kites on black market and delivered kites to people in vehicles with tinted windows.

Basant festivity was seen in different areas, including Tench Bhatta, Peoples Colony, Dhok Syedan, Dhok Chirag Din, Dhok Chaudhary, Lal Kurti, Tariqabad, Rahimabad, Tahmaspabad, Gulistan Colony, Adara, Girja, Chauhar Harpal, Dhok Mastiq, Gawalmandi, Daryaabad and other areas.

In several areas, particularly in the old city, police faced great difficulty in arresting kite flyers.

Rawalpindi police, on the directives of City Police Officer (CPO) Syed Khalid Mehmood Hamdani, continued a special crackdown against kite sellers and flyers on Friday.

The spokesman said all police stations of the cities had been directed to accelerate the ongoing operations against kite-flying ban violators while special teams under the supervision of senior police officers were also conducting raids in different areas.

Superintendent of Police, Potohar Muhammad Waqas Khan said that all available resources were being utilized to deal with kite flying.

He said Police under the supervision of Senior Superintendent of Police, Investiga- tion, Zunaira Azfar on Thursday conducted a flag march in Potohar Division to curb kite flying.

SP Potohar Muhammad Waqas Khan, Divisional SDPOs, SHOs, Elite Force, Traffic Police, and Dolphin Squad participated in the flag march, he added.

SSP Zunaira Azfar said the police have conducted a flag march in different areas of Potohar Division to maintain law and order and to warn the kite flyers and those involved in the aerial firing.

The flag march started from SP Potohar Town Office and culminated at starting point after passing through Katcheri Chowk, Chungi Number 22, Bakra Mandi, Dhoke Syedan, Baraf Khana Chowk, Peoples Colony Morr, Akhri Stop, Aadra, Wasim Market, Boher Mosque and Qasae Chowk.

The spokesman said flag marches were being conducted in various areas to make the security plan more effective and added that strict vigilance would be maintained like in previous years to maintain law and order in the city and to curb the dangerous kite flying.

HEC set to establish NAHE Regional Centre in Punjab

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has finalized the groundwork for establishing a regional centre of National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE) in Punjab. The HEC, under its Higher Education Development in Pakistan (HEDP) project, aims to strengthen its NAHE – an academic wing of HEC launched in 2019 to improve the quality of teaching, research, and governance in higher education institutions (HEIs) across Pakistan.

Establishment of four NAHE regional centres was envisioned during the life of

HEDP project.

To address the immediate need of quality training facilities for academia in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, two chapters were notified in these two provinces, last year.

Moving forward, two more are to be established in Punjab and Sindh.

In this regard, a two-day consultative workshop was held with the regional stakeholders of Punjab, for establishing the NAHE regional centre in Lahore.

The workshop was chaired by Programme Coordinator, HEDP, Dr Mahmoodul Hassan Butt, while more than 40 stakeholders, including vice chancellors and deans were present.

political instability causing economic crisis in country: ashrafi

ISLAMABAD

Staff RepoRt

Prime Minister’s Special Representative for Interfaith Harmony and Middle East Hafiz Muhammad Tahir

Mehmood Ashrafi informed that Pakistan Ulema Council announced to mark the 33rd foundation day of the PUC from February 18 to 28 across the country. the Council was established in 1990. Ashrafi, who is the PUC chairman, said a number of programmes including conventions and seminars would be part of ten-day celebrations and in March, Paigham-e-Islam Conference would also be held. He said the PUC was member of various national and international organizations and played its vibrant role for inter-sect and inter-faith harmony on the globe. Ashrafi said the PUC had set some targets to achieve in the year 2023 and 2024, and the system of Khilafat-e-Rashida was on its main agenda. He said it would continue its efforts to establish the system of Khilafat-e-Rashida in the country as it was based on justice and equality. He said today’s “judicial system is in dire need of reforms as it is not serving the purposes of general public who are languishing in jails for years but it was hearing political cases on top priority”. Ashrafi said there would be no use of elections if political and religious parties did not introduce electoral reforms and make it mandatory for all the contesting parties to accept the results of elections open-heartedly. He raised the question that what would be the solution if someone did not accept the mandate of winning party in the elections as it would cost huge public funds spending. Ashrafi said Pakistan was lagging behind other nations due to political instability in the country. If Ulema and Mashaykh could be united under the umbrella of Paigham-e-Pakistan then why not political leaders could reach a consensus in the shape of ‘Charter of Pakistan’ to get out the country of prevailing social, political and economic crisis, he added. He asked all the stakeholders to create a congenial environment and sit together at one table to remove their differences and put the country on road to progress. Ashrafi said if someone was accused of desecration of the Holy Quran or blasphemy of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) would be punished by the court of law, also adding that nobody would be given free hand to be complainant, judge and executioner.

laws spanning over 209 years available on Balochistan official web

The participants provided their valuable inputs on the envisioned role of the NAHE regional centre and how it would build the capacities of faculty and administration in performing their roles more efficiently.

The participants suggested that the centre should also be replicated in other regions of the province to meet their needs.

The implementation of the revised Undergraduate Education Policy (UEP) was also discussed at length, and HEIs extended their support to HEC for its implementation.

They were also briefed on the upcoming HEC initiatives to further improve the higher education system in the country. They suggested involving universities in designing capacity building programmes for faculty and administration.

Dr Salvador Malo, a World Bank consultant, was also engaged during the session via video conference. He is assisting HEDP in assessment of learning outcomes through the use of an international test at national level in Pakistan. The international test has been contextualized for use in Pakistan with his help. Dr Malo is assisting HEDP to develop and embed flexible integral education and promote relevant competencies and critical learning skills via revised UEP implementation.

PTI moves LHC against acceptance of 70 MNAs resignation

LAHORE

Staff RepoRt

Invoking jurisdiction of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Friday Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) urged the court to declare National Assembly Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf decision illegal who accepted 70 MNAs’ resignations without providing hearing opportunity in the matter.

Making Speaker NA, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP), and others as respondents in the matter the PTI MNAs, including Fawad Chaudhry, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Pervaiz Khattak and others challenged the acceptance of their resignations as MNAs by NA speaker.

In the petitions, the former lawmakers maintained that without hearing their viewpoint, the NA speaker accepted resignations.

Urging the LHC to nullify the decision of speaker Raja Pervaiz Asharaf the petitioner prayed the court to issue directives to the Election Commission of Pakistan to denotifying order in this regard. “Therefore, it is prayed to the court to declare the acceptance of PTI lawmakers’ resignations null and void,” the petition read.

Earlier in the day, the LHC sought replies from National Assembly (NA) Speaker Raja Parvez Ashraf and other respondents in a case pertaining to the acceptance of 43 PTI MNAs’ resignations. Justice Shahid Kareem took up the petition filed by 43 PTI leaders, including Riaz Fatyana, against the NA speaker’s move for accepting their resignations without due process. The LHC has directed the NA Speaker Raja Pervaiz Ashraf to submit his reply till March 07 in the case. Earlier, the Lahore High Court (LHC) suspended the Election Commission of Pakistan’s notification that de-notified 43 MNAs of the PTI.

Polio immunization campaign continues in 39 districts

ISLAMABAD Staff RepoRt

A sub-national polio vaccination campaign on Friday continued in 39 districts of the country to vaccinate more than six million children under the age of five years. The drive was started after sewage samples in Lahore tested positive for wild poliovirus last month. The polio drive continued in nine districts, including the seven endemic districts of Bannu, D.I.Khan, Tank, Lakki Marwat, North Waziristan, Upper South Waziristan and Lower South Waziristan in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and two districts of Punjab including Lahore and Faisal- abad. The drive was conducted after two environmental samples collected from two separate sites in Lahore tested positive for wild poliovirus in January. The first positive sample of 2023 was detected on January 19 and was genetically linked to the poliovirus found in the Nangarhar province of Afghanistan in November 2022, according to the national polio lab at the National Institute of Health. This was the first evidence of cross-border transmission in more than a year. The second positive sample was reported on January 27, which was genetically linked to a virus circulating in south Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

In a statement, Minister for Na- tional Health Services, Abdul Qadir Patel encouraged parents and caregivers to ensure that their children are vaccinated in this and every campaign to protect them from the disability-causing virus and to stop it from gaining a foothold in their communities.

He said the presence of wild poliovirus with genetic links to the virus in Afghanistan and south KP in sewage samples is evidence that the virus was moving with people and circulating in our communities.

The minister said, “Poliovirus on any side of the border is a threat to children in both countries. Only repeated doses of the oral polio vaccine can offer life-long protection.”

QUETTA Staff RepoRt

Balochistan Law Department (BLD) has compiled all the laws covering the past 209 years from 1812 to 2021, all the compiled volumes were uploaded on the website of the Law Department for convenience of lawyers, public and departments. This was disclosed by Parliamentary Secretary Law and Parliamentary Affairs ,Science and Information Technology Dr. Rubaba Khan Buledi when Director Codification section of Law Department Mr. Muzmal Hussain, Deputy Director Mr.Hafeezullah, and former Director Parliamentary Affairs Mr.Saeedullah met here and presented the last certified updated complete and final published volumes to her during the meeting. Dr. Rubaba Khan Buledi paid great tribute to the entire team including the director and deputy director of codification section for completing the task within a short period of time. She praised the high quality of work in printing and publishing and said that completion of the last volumes was pending for the last 29 years, which have been updated and compiled. The first certified volume of the Balochistan Law Department was published in 1988, which included laws, orders, and ordinances from 1812 to 1962. A second volume was published in 1992 containing updates from 1963 to 1969, a third volume was publicized in 1994 which compiled all information from the 1970 to the 1980 saying these three volumes were completed and published in six years, since then, work in this regard was suspended .

Marriyum meets turkish earthquake women victims in adiyaman

ADIYAMAN

Staff RepoRt

Minister for Information and Broadcasting Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday met the earthquakeaffected women in Adiyaman, Turkiye. The minister on the occasion hugged the victims and expressed her profound grief over the loss of life and property in the earthquake, a press release said. She expressed solidarity with the government and the people of Turkiye on behalf of the government and the people of Pakistan. “The Government of Pakistan stands with its Turkish brothers and sisters in this hour of difficulty,” she remarked. Marriyum Aurangzeb said Pakistan would provide all possible help for the rehabilitation of the earthquake victims.

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