Category: Business News

Minister for Finance Mohammad Ishaq Dar has underscored that Pakistan had long historic ties with the United Kingdom and relations between the two countries needed to be further expended for the mutual benefits of the two sides.

He was talking to UK’s envoy Dr. Christian Turner in Islamabad on Saturday.

He also briefed the British High Commissioner about devastations caused by the recent floods in Pakistan. The Finance Minister briefed the envoy about economic agenda and priorities of the government and said that present government aims to bring about economic and fiscal stability leading to economic recovery and growth.

Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar thanked the British High Commissioner for extending flood relief support to Pakistan.

 

Source: Radio Pakistan

The United States government has delivered an additional batch of eight million Pfizer COVID-19 pediatric vaccine doses to Pakistan.

According to the US Embassy in Islamabad, this shipment increases the United States’ donation to more than 78 million safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine doses to the people of Pakistan, including 16 million pediatric doses.

The United States is committed to partnering with the Government of Pakistan to protect the Pakistani people.

In addition to the vaccines, the U.S. government has also provided over 80 million dollars in direct and in-kind support to assist the Pakistani people in the fight against COVID-19.

The support has included more than one point two million N-95 masks, 96,000 surgical masks, 52,000 protective goggles, one million COVID-19 rapid diagnostic tests, 1,200 pulse oximeters, and 200 ventilators for 64 Pakistani hospitals.

The US government has also trained over 50,000 health workers, including 30,000 women, across the country on home-based care for COVID-19 patients and established a national network of disease surveillance and response units and teams.

The United States also provided four mobile testing labs in July to Pakistan’s National Institute of Health to strengthen Pakistan’s ability to diagnose diseases in remote and underserved areas.

 

Source: Radio Pakistan

Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States Masood Khan has said that rehabilitation and reconstruction in Pakistan would require longer-term commitment of the international community, development partners and philanthropic organizations across the globe.

Talking to a delegation of US based Muslim humanitarian organizations in Washington, he said it would take years to rebuild Pakistan after massive devastation caused by floods of biblical proportions.

The delegation included representatives of Islamic Relief USA, Zakat Foundation, Al-Khidmat Foundation, Helping Hand USA, Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA) and others.

The Ambassador lauded US based Muslim humanitarian organizations for their untiring efforts and generous support towards relief and rescue operations in Pakistan.

He also appreciated the generosity of American philanthropists and non-Muslim organizations that have stepped forward and were contributing towards relief activities.

Discussing immediate requirements of the flood affected areas, Masood Khan said that dewatering equipment, water purification plants, blankets, bedding and warm clothes, especially in view of winter season, would greatly help in alleviating miseries of the displaced population.

The Ambassador also thanked United Nations, US government, members of the US Congress and Senate and other dignitaries including global media for its solidarity and highlighting immense sufferings of the flood affectees.

Talking on the occasion, the delegation said that around 3.5 million Muslims residing in the US are standing beside their brothers and sisters in Pakistan at this difficult hour. He informed that American Muslim Humanitarian Forum has been established to collectively respond to the needs of the floods affectees.

The meeting was informed that renowned American organizations and US tech companies were also generously contributing towards relief activities.

Ambassador Masood Khan thanked the delegation for their efforts and generous support. He informed the participants that leading US companies, corporate entities and humanitarian organizations were also being engaged to partner in relief activities.

The Ambassador urged the participants to engage community leaders, opinion makers and humanitarian organizations to garner maximum support for the flood effected population.

 

Source: Radio Pakistan

The leadership of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has expressed the resolve to continue efforts with passion till the complete rehabilitation of the flood-affected people.

The resolve was expressed at a meeting of the party presided over by the Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad.

The meeting appreciated the efforts and fervour of the government and institutions especially armed forces for assistance and rehabilitation of the flood-affected people.

Senior leadership of PML-N also condemned the plan of assault on Islamabad by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf  and decided that the miscreants would be dealt with iron hands according to law.

The participants said these elements are trying to create political instability and chaos in the country by shedding blood.

They noted that these elements earlier conspired to cause default of Pakistan, destroy the economy, create disunity in the national institutions, attack institutions and run a foul campaign against the martyrs.

These elements also conspired against China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, against friends of Pakistan and against security of Pakistan in the name of cypher and now these conspirators are colluding against economy of Pakistan and the flood affectees in the name of long march.

The meeting lauded efforts of the prime minister and his team for improving value of the rupee against the dollar and stock exchange and for saving the country from default.

 

Source: Radio Pakistan

Valiant knocks by Imam-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq helped Balochistan secure a draw against Central Punjab at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on the fourth and final day of the second round of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2022-23.

The other two matches between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Southern Punjab at Abbottabad and Sindh and Northern at Faisalabad also ended in draws.

Northern – with 33 points – are at the top of the table, followed by Balochistan (30). Central Punjab have 28 points, Sindh 21, Southern Punjab 16 and the title defenders Khyber Pakhtunkhwa find themselves at the bottom with 13.

Balochistan began the day at 137 for one and were 213 runs behind Central Punjab’s mammoth 535 for six with Imam not out on 72. The left-handed opener converted his overnight score into his 10^th first-class century before he was run out for 108. The 26-year-old smashed 13 fours in his 231-ball innings.

Following Imam’s dismissal, Asad, the Balochistan captain, took the lead role in the fightback and added 63 runs for the fifth wicket with Ali Waqas (25 off 64), depriving Central Punjab bowlers of any further inroads. Asad was unbeaten on 62 off 140 balls and had dragged Balochistan to 303 for six in 118 overs at the close of play.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kamran Ghulam missed what could have been his second century in as many matches by 14 runs. The right-handed middle-order batter made 86 off 175 (10 fours and two sixes) before Ahmed Bashir curtailed his stay at the crease. Kamran began the fourth and final morning of the match at 41 not out.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were 275 for seven at the start of the day and were all out for 334. Southern Punjab were 101 for two in 44 overs with opener Zain Abbas top-scoring with 32 off 51.

 Pakistan Test teammates Nauman Ali, captain of Northern, and Fawad Alam, Sindh’s middle-order batter, scored half-centuries at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad.

Northern began the day on 363 for six and were all out on 417 with the highlight of the day being Nauman’s 123-ball 65 (nine fours and two sixes).

Starting the second innings with a 40-run lead, Sindh made 160 for four. They had their first three wickets down for 23, but Saad Khan and Fawad Alam, with 72 and 60 not out, respectively, ensured there were no further dramas and Sindh finished the match as a draw.

Scores in Brief

 Balochistan v Central Punjab at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi:

Balochistan 185 all out, 47.2 overs (Hussain Talat 43, Asad Shafiq 34, Haseebullah 25, Azeem Ghumman 21; Ahmed Daniyal 3-41, Mohammad Ali 3-49, Umaid Asif 2-39) and 303-6, 118 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 108, Asad Shafiq 62 not out, Ali Waqas 25; Ahmed Daniyal 3-73)

Central Punjab 535-6d, 143.3 overs (Tayyab Tahir 137, Azhar Ali 107, Qasim Akram 92, Aamer Yamin 50 not out, Mohammad Saad 38, Abdullah Shafique 36, Abid Ali 30; Hussain Talat 2-75, Akif Javed 2-116)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa v Southern Punjab at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 240 all out, 69.2 overs (Waqar Ahmed 134 not out, Sahibzada Farhan 44; Mohammad Ilyas 4-76, Ahmed Bashir 3-31, Hasan Ali 2-42) and 334 all out, 108.5 overs (Kamran Ghulam 86, Sahibzada Farhan 83, Waqar Ahmed 75, Khalid Usman 22; Hasan Ali 4-82, Ali Usman 3-83, Ahmed Bashir 2-76)

Southern Punjab 308 all out, 91.2 overs (Umar Siddiq 112, Salman Ali Agha 64, Yousuf Babar 23; Ihsanullah 3-45, Arshadullah 2-73, Arshad Iqbal 2-87) and 101-2, 44 overs (Zain Abbas 32, Usman Salahuddin 31 not out, Salman Ali Agha 26 not out)

Sindh v Northern at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad:

Sindh 457-8d, 138.5 overs (Saud Shakeel 158, Sarfaraz Ahmed 70 not out, Khurram Manzoor 58, Omair Bin Yousuf 36, Saim Ayub 35, Mohammad Asghar 29 not out, Asif Mehmood 21; Mubasir Khan 4-140) and 160-4, 56 overs (Saad Khan 72, Fawad Alam 60 not out; Mubasir Khan 2-57, Mehran Mumtaz 2-84)

Northern 417 all out, 143.3 overs (Faizan Riaz 119, Umar Amin 105, Nauman Ali 65, Sarmad Bhatti 46, Mohammad Huraira 42; Mohammad Asghar 4-138, Zahid Mehmood 4-138)

 

Source: Pro Pakistan

In order to curb the losses incurred by the ex-WAPDA distribution companies (DISCOs), the federal government has decided to install AMI (Advanced Metering of Infrastructure) meters on all the feeders suffering high losses by June 2023.

A daily national, while quoting a senior official of the Energy Ministry, said that besides feeders, the AMI system will also be installed on all commercial and industrial connections, bulk consumers, and one-point supply in decreasing order of load. Installation of AMI meters would start from feeders having the highest percentage of losses.

The official stated that an independent autonomous directorate would be established in this regard. Each DISCO would share the timeline of the completion of said projects with a project director, other teams and the Power Division.

The official hoped that the installation of the high-tech system will help eradicate electricity theft and technical losses as the conventional energy auditing system is unable to figure out the areas of high energy losses.

The report stated that DISCOs would have no problem in outsourcing feeders and transformers once this system gets installed as this would aid in correcting feeder coding and indexing consumers’ reference numbers with the right transformer. This in turn would enable DISCOs to take a meter reading through a real-time GMS technology as well as remotely disconnect the meter.

The report also mentioned that the DISCOs would coordinate with meter manufacturers and contractors for adding specific features to the meters besides implementing AMI.

 

Source: Pro Pakistani

The Election Commission has completed the arrangements for by elections to be held on the 16th of this month in nine constituencies of the National Assembly and three constituencies of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab.

This was informed by Secretary Election Commission Sikandar Sultan Raja, while chairing an important meeting in Islamabad today (Tuesday) to review the preparations for upcoming by-elections.

The Commission was briefed regarding the second phase of local body elections in Sindh, which are scheduled to be held on 23 of this month.

The Election Commissioner was further informed that the Election Commission has written to the Federal Government for an amount of 600 million rupees to hold by-polls, but these funds have not been received yet.

 

Source: Radio Pakistan