Mohsin Naqvi, the chief minister of Punjab, met with Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman on Sunday. Mohsin Naqvi briefed the governor on the caretaker setup’s 13-month performance. A book on the caretaker government’s performance was also given to the governor by the chief minister. While praising Mohsin Naqvi and the cabinet for finishing public welfare projects ahead of schedule, the governor also noted that the supervisory cabinet, led by Naqvi, had set a strong example for governance, transparency, and public service. Earlier, Punjab Governor Muhammad Balighur Rehman was visited at Governor House Lahore by Dr. Drago Stambuk, the ambassador of the Republic of Croatia. On this occasion, Imran Baig, the Honorary Consul General of Croatia in Pakistan, was also in attendance.
President Dr. Arif Alvi stated on Wednesday that young people have the power to alter the course of the nation by combining morals, intelligence, and education. More than answers, he added, Pakistan needed leadership and appropriate application of intelligence, and he thought the country’s youth were more than capable of filling this role. Speaking at the Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) convocation, the president stated that Pakistan must emulate China in order to meet its development objectives quickly because China’s progress has been built on the foundation of health and education. The president mentioned how Vietnam, which was devastated in the 1973 war, was one among the countries that exported $300 million worth of fisheries in 1999.
Dr. Umar Saif, the minister of information technology and telecommunications, announced on Friday that his ministry, in collaboration with all other telecom industry stakeholders, will implement a “Contract based smart phone policy” on January 15, 2024, which will help the economy by allowing travellers to receive the newest models of phones on convenient installment plans. Speaking with the media, the minister of IT stated that our goals are to promote responsible financial behaviour and guarantee that smart phone accessibility keeps growing. He also added that we need a strong mechanism to safeguard investors against defaults, suggesting steps like blocking defaulters’ mobile phones and possibly their national identity cards. The Minister stated that telecom firms will be able to directly offer smartphones to clients through installment plans under this regulation.
According to Al Jazeera, which cited information from Israel’s Channel 13, Israel has suggested a new prisoner exchange agreement to mediator Qatar through the United States. As per Channel 13, as part of the agreement, Israel would first evacuate its troops from heavily populated areas of the Gaza Strip and permit a greater amount of supplies to enter the enclave. In the second phase, as Israel retreats deeper into regions to be worked out through US and Qatari mediation, Hamas would free female Israeli prisoners, including female soldiers and the bodies of Israeli troops who had died. Since the plan does not demand a complete truce while captives are being exchanged, the media outlet claimed that Hamas has “so far rejected this proposal.”
Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, the acting prime minister, declared on Friday that the administration supported media freedom and saw it as a “fundamental pillar of the state.” When Information Minister Murtaza Solangi visited him at the PM House, he shared these opinions. The issues facing the media industry, the Council of Pakistan Newspaper Editors (CPNE), and the All Pakistan Newspaper Society (APNS) were discussed during the meeting. On this particular occasion, PM Kakar gave instructions on how to address the justifiable requests of the media sector and take the required actions in that direction. He promised to keep in touch with media representatives and journalists. Federal Information Secretary Zahoor Ahmed, Principal Information Officer Tariq Mahmood Khan, and MD Muhammad Asim Khichi of the Associated Press of Pakistan were present at the meeting.
ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, acting Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar opened the recently built state-of-the-art The National Emergencies Operation Centre (NEOC) will assist in organising future attempts to control natural disasters. The Centre would be established at the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Headquarters and aid in disaster risk reduction and damage mitigation. The prime minister praised the creation of NEOC and emphasised the significance of infrastructure and policy frameworks that are disaster-resistant. Pakistan, he claimed, was one of the nations most negatively impacted by climate change despite being one of the countries with the lowest global carbon emissions. If we don’t make these drastic changes, climate change will continue to be a problem for future generations, he said. The coordinated actions of all state organisations, particularly NDMA, during the terrible floods of 2022 were praised by the prime minister as well. “Nearly one third of the country’s population was affected by floods in 2022, with estimated economic losses of USD 30 billion,” he stated. The world has to step up and assist developing nations like Pakistan in coping with the negative effects of climate change, according to the prime minister. He also appreciated NCOC’s contributions to COVID-19 and the floods of 2022.
President Dr. Arif Alvi stated on Tuesday that Pakistan needed to do everything possible to keep its highly trained professionals, such as doctors and nurses, and emphasised that the current circumstances demanded a comprehensive plan to stop brain drain. In his speech at the convocation of the dentistry and nursing departments of the Foundation University School of Health Science (FUSH), he said, “Offering competitive job opportunities and creating a favourable work environment is essential to reduce the loss of our precious intellectual elite.” President Alvi claimed that although the nation invested resources in hiring doctors, engineers, and other professionals, the exodus of highly trained workers had a detrimental effect on the nation’s economy and rate of progress. Creating greater employment options for qualified doctors domestically, according to him, is the most efficient method to lessen their need to look for work abroad. He claimed that Pakistan needed 900,000 nurses in order to meet the country’s current healthcare needs, as opposed to the current number of 300,000. According to Dr. Alvi, just 9% of F.Sc (Faculty of Sciences) Pre-Medical students in Pakistan received admission to medical colleges, compared to 25% in India and Bangladesh. He continued that a plan was required to expand the number of medical schools in order to accommodate more students.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Anwaarul Haq Kakar paid tribute to Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah for his relentless efforts, wisdom and leadership for securing the rights...
