FARUKH SHEHZAD

ISLAMABAD, NOV 28 /DN/ – Positively responding to Pakistan’s offer, the 47th Session of the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of OIC in Niger has decided to host the 48th CFM Session in Islamabad in 2021.

As the prospective CFM Chair, Pakistan has also become a member of the 6-member OIC Executive Committee for the next three years.

Pakistan is a founding member of the OIC. It has always played an important role in promoting the role of OIC as a collective voice of Muslim Ummah.

The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental Organization after the United Nations, with 57 members and 5 observer states spanning over four continents.=DN

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ISLAMABAD, NOV 28 /DN/ – In a landmark development, the OIC unanimously adopted a Pakistan-sponsored resolution regarding Islamophobia today.

Tabled during the 47th Session of the OIC CFM (Council of Foreign Ministers) in Niamey, Niger, the Resolution was drafted in the context of rising incidents of Islamophobia in many parts of the world.

The Resolution expresses concern that Islamophobia, as a contemporary form of racism and religious discrimination, was on the rise. It also expresses deep concern at the recent incidents of desecration of the Holy Quran and reprinting of caricatures of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H.) which hurt sentiments of more than 1.8 billion Muslims around the world.

The Resolution decides to designate 15 March as the “International Day to Combat Islamophobia” each year. It authorizes the OIC Permanent Missions in New York to jointly table a Resolution in the UN General Assembly, calling for establishment of this day. The Resolution also urges OIC Member States to organize and support various high-visibility events aimed at effectively increasing awareness at all levels about curbing Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred, and calls on the UN Secretary General to initiate a global dialogue on countering rising Islamophobia and promoting interfaith harmony.

Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his address to the 75th Session of UNGA in September 2020, highlighted recent incidents of Islamophobia and unlawful provocation. The Prime Minister subsequently reached out to leaders of OIC Member States through two letters written on 28 October and 18 November 2020.

Speaking on the occasion, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, who led Pakistan’s delegation to the CFM, said that adoption of the Resolution was a reflection of the sentiments of billions of Muslims who respected other religions and expected similar respect for Islam and the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H.).=DN

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ISLAMABAD – In a Resolution adopted unanimously by the 47th Session of the OIC in Niamey today, the Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) reaffirmed its strong support for the Kashmir cause. The OIC categorically rejected illegal and unilateral actions taken by India since 5 August 2019.

The Resolution demands that India “cancel the issuance of domicile certificates to non-Kashmiris” as well as other unilateral and illegal actions, including “Jammu & Kashmir Reorganization Order 2020”, “Jammu & Kashmir Grant of Domicile Certificate Rules 2020”, “Jammu and Kashmir Language Bill 2020” and amendments to the landownership laws.

Also rejecting policies being pursued by the RSS-BJP regime, the 57 countries of the OIC asked India to refrain from taking any steps to alter the existing demographic structure of the disputed territory.

In a comprehensive and strongly worded Resolution, the OIC:

• Rejected the illegal and unilateral actions by India on August 5, 2019, to change the internationally recognized disputed status of the Indian Illegally Ooccupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), and demanded that India rescind its illegal steps;

• Demanded India to cancel the issuance of domicile certificates to non-Kashmiris and revoke all unilateral and illegal actions in IIOJK since 5 August 2019, while refraining from taking any step to alter the existing demographic structure of the disputed territory;

• Condemned in the strongest possible terms human rights violations perpetrated by Indian occupation forces in IIOJK and other such instances of Indian terrorism that have been the source of unspeakable suffering for the innocent Kashmiri people;

• Deplored the state-sponsored terrorism and crimes against humanity by Indian occupation forces against people of IIOJK;

• Condemned extra-judicial killings during fake ‘encounters’ and ‘search-and-cordon’ operations and demolition of homes and private properties as a form of collective punishment;

• Denounced the renewed use of pellet guns by Indian occupation forces against innocent civilians;

• Condemned the harassment of Kashmiri women by Indian occupation forces;

• Deplored that India has callously exploited the current COVID-19 crisis to intensify its military crackdown and further advance its unlawful occupation in IIOJK;

• Welcomed the visit of OIC Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Jammu and Kashmir to Pakistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) from 2-6 March 2020;

• Reaffirmed the sentiments expressed in the unanimously adopted Communiqués of the OIC Contact Group on Jammu &Kashmir in its Ministerial meetings held on 25 September 2019 and 22 June 2020;

• Urged India to adhere to its international human rights obligations and allow the OIC Special Representative on Jammu and Kashmir and the OIC Fact-finding Mission to visit IIOJK;

• Strongly urged India to implement recommendations of the two Reports of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on Jammu & Kashmir;

• Urged international community to review their engagements with India, the occupying power, as it is violating and disregarding the international law, the international humanitarian law, and international resolutions;

• Emphasized that the question of Kashmir is of utmost importance for the Muslim Ummah;

• Recognized that Jammu and Kashmir is the core dispute between Pakistan and India, and its resolution indispensable for realization of the dream of peace in South Asia;

• Acknowledged that the people of Jammu and Kashmir are the principal party to the dispute, and should be included in any peace process for resolution of the Jammu & Kashmir dispute;

• Affirmed that any political process/elections held under foreign occupation cannot be a substitute to the exercise of the right of self-determination;

• Underscored that Jammu & Kashmir is an unresolved question of granting the right to self-determination to the people of Jammu and Kashmir that has been on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council for over seven decades now;

• Reaffirmed that the fundamental right enshrined in the UNSC resolutions that the final disposition of the State of Jammu & Kashmir will be made in accordance with the will of the people, expressed through the democratic method of a free and impartial plebiscite, conducted under the auspices of the United Nations;

• Decided to further consider the Jammu and Kashmir dispute at the 48th Session of the CFM in Islamabad.

The 57-member OIC has been a consistent and vocal supporter of the Kashmir cause, and adoption of this Resolution was a reaffirmation of the principled stance always taken by the OIC on the Jammu & Kashmir dispute.

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LAHORE, Nov 28 - The funeral prayers of Begum Shamim Akhtar, the mother of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Shehbaz Sharif was offered at Sharif Medical City (SMC) on Saturday.

ISLAMABAD, NOV 28 /DN/ – Slamming the government for terminating 4,544 employees of the Pakistan Steel Mills, Parliamentary Leader of the PPP in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman said, “The decision of sacking employees with immediate effect under the guise of reducing financial burden on Pakistan’s largest steel-making plant should be immediately taken back.

We are going through a pandemic and taking away livelihoods should be the last thing that the government should be doing”.

“This decision reeks of ulterior motives as it is clear that the government wants to sell PSM. On one hand, the PM talks about reviving state institutions and on the other, his cabinet is taking such decisions. We are going through unprecedented times and firing people during this pandemic is cruel. The government should be focusing on providing relief instead,” she added.

Rehman said, “Tabahi Sarkar has once again taken a U turn from their promises. Instead of creating the 100 Crore jobs they are taking away livelihoods at a time when food insecurity is the highest in Pakistan. We rank 88th out of the 107 countries in the 2020 Global Hunger Index”.

 “According to the IMF, close to 90 million people are expected to fall into extreme deprivation this year while Pakistan’s unemployment rate is expected to rise to 5.1%. It will be the highest level the country has faced in its at least 30 years. How can the federal government fire employees in a time of extreme inflation and unprecedented levels of unemployment?” she questioned.

The Senator said, “This abrupt, brutal and unethical move clearly reflects the federal government’s myopia and disregard for democratic norms and consultations. There are millions whose livelihood is indirectly connected to the Pakistan Steel Mills. It should have been discussed transparently and constructively with at least the stakeholders”.‎

“In the World Economic Outlook (WEO) report of 2020, the IMF projected Pakistan’s growth rate at only 1%, which is the lowest in the region. How is our economy improving again?” she questioned.

“Privatizing institutions is not the solution as it is obvious that the government is doing it to hide its incompetence. Instead of providing relief and support, the federal government is adamant on firing employees in times of job uncertainty. The PPP rejects this move. The same incompetence has led to severe wheat and sugar shortages in the country,” concluded Parliamentary Leader of the PPP in the Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman.=DN

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Tashkent, Uzbekistan - Deputy Prime Minister of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Chairman of the State Committee for Tourism Development Aziz Abdukhakimov met with Director of the Austrian company “Doppelmayr” for CIS countries Valery Yashin.

The parties discussed the development of cable cars in Uzbekistan. It should be noted that on 25 November, Doppelmayr’s technical specialists visited Bostanlyk and Zaamin districts in order to study the area for the construction of new ropeways.

According to Aziz Abdukhakimov, two gondola-chair-type cable cars and three lifts for servicing ski slopes will be built in Zaamin. In Amirsoy, it is planned to additionally build a gondola-type cable car, several lifts that will serve the ski slopes.

In addition, it is also planned to build two observation gondola cable cars. As part of this mission, negotiations were held to accelerate these projects. Doppelmayr technicians arrived and began topographic surveys, engineering survey and geological works, on the basis of which the routes of the cable cars and chair lifts were determined.

Following the meeting, an agreement was reached on signing a memorandum on cooperation on the development of cable cars in Uzbekistan, in particular in Bostanlyk and Zaamin regions. The Austrian company “Doppelmayr” specializes in the production of cable cars and equipment for them: chair lifts and gondolas.

The company pioneered the production of the 3S three-rope gondola in Kitzbühel (Austria), Koblenz (Germany) and Whistler-Blackcomb (Canada). It also brings a number of innovative products to the market, such as heated lift seats.

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Sydney Thunder won the Women’s Big Bash League 2020 after registering a seven-wicket win over Melbourne Stars in the final on their home turf on Saturday.

Stars’ decision to bat first came back to haunt them as the side were restricted to 86-9 in their 20 overs.

Katherine Brunt was the top scorer for Meg Lanning’s side as she made a cautious 27-ball 22 while Annabel Sutherland hit a boundary and a six on her way to run-a-ball 20.

The Sydney side put on a clinical display with the ball with Shabnim Ismail and Sammy-Jo Johnson taking two wickets each while Samantha Bates, Hannah Darlington, Lauren Smith and Heather Knight also getting their names in the wicket taker’s list.

The side completed the 87-run chase in 13.4 overs with Knight scoring unbeaten 26 off 19 deliveries with two boundaries and a six to her name while Rachel Trenaman made 26-ball 23 with the help of fours.

Captain Rachael Haynes scored 21 from 17 ball after hitting two boundaries and a maximum.

Brunt along with Alana King and Tess Flintoff took a wicket each for the Melbourne team.

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COURTESY SAMAA.TV

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• RINSTRA is the gateway for Pakistani content and talent to the local and international media markets and enthusiasts

ISLAMABAD, NOV 28 /DN/ - Pakistan has more than 76 million internet users, 37 million active social media users, and 2.4 million users added each year, yet Pakistan does not own any digital media platform.

Last decade has proven to be the revival of Pakistani film industry. Hundreds of films, documentaries and other media content have been produced, providing opportunity to talent and contributing toward the Pakistani economy.

But the global pandemic has forced cinema to close and halted other activities, such as film festivals, pushing back the efforts made for the revival of the industry. Now is the time we shift to digital, overcoming the barriers for telling our story our way.

RINSTRA is Pakistan’s first short-form digital media platform for on-demand streaming and for creation of user generated original content on iRINSTRA. 

RINSTRA provides entrepreneurship opportunities to emerging and established content creators and film makers in Pakistan and beyond. RINSTRA gives content creators access to a large Pakistani community around the globe.

RINSTRA started when a group of Pakistani expatriates started a volunteer organization called DICE for Distinguished Innovation Collaboration and Entrepreneurship. The mission of DICE is to create a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in Pakistan. It works with the academic institutions and it has a network of universities across the country from University of Karachi to University of Chitral. Innovations from universities are showcased to the investors and industry. Investment in innovations and young innovators has resulted in creation of many entrepreneurial ventures. 

One of the mega projects of DICE is to develop a global digital media platform which is Pakistan’s own. Pakistan is fifth largest population in the world but does not have a major digital media platform. Our story narrated by international platforms is mostly negative. To change this narrative and improve the image of Pakistan, we have to tell our story our way. 

Taking the mission of encouraging the artists and storytellers, RINSTRA celebrated November 20 as “Pakistan Storytellers Day”. Haseena Moin was awarded Storyteller of Pakistan with a Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual AGHI Awards for 2020. RINSTRA aims to celebrate Storytellers’ Day every year to celebrate and honor creative minds of the industry.

RINSTRA is the gateway for Pakistani content and talent to the local and international media markets and digital platforms. Rising stars on iRINSTRA are promoted on the main RINSTRA platform that will open-up global opportunities for the artists. The state-of-the-art RINSTRA platform offers content creators to discover, create, showcase and monetize their content creation and creative pursued.

Chairman and Co-founder, Rinstra Technologies and Vice President DICE Foundation USA, Dr. Adil Akhtar said, “this initiative was conceived and incubated by DICE CAM (Creative Art & Media) Platform of DICE Foundation. We further developed it by inviting the key professionals in the Pakistani media industry, specializing in media management, news and entertainment content creation and production designs. This is a milestone for the media industry in Pakistan, as RINSTRA will enable the true creativity of the people. A person with an idea or creative skill can now impact the narratives of the media on his or her own.”=DN

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On twenty-ninth of November every year, the free people of the world celebrate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 1977

ISLAMABAD, NOV 28 - On twenty-ninth of November every year, the free people of the world celebrate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 1977, solidarity with the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to freedom and self-determination, and to establish their independent state on their national soil, with Jerusalem as its capital.

Ambassador of Palestine to Pakistan Ahmed Ameen said this in a statement.

The ambassador further said, this day reflects the adherence of the vast majority of countries in the world to the values of International justice and the need to achieve security and peace in the region.

 Justice requires that the Palestinian people be empowered to determine their own destiny like other peoples, and to enable them to attain their national aspirations and goals in building a free, sovereign and viable state and to end the Israeli military occupation and the Zionist settlements as well, especially in the city of Jerusalem, which is witnessing the fiercest settlement building aimed at uprooting the Palestinian existence from the holy city.

 He added, on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, our people are still under direct Israeli occupation and are subjected to an abominable racial discrimination regime, in which our people suffer from repeated violations of the Israeli occupation forces and the settler flocks who target the Palestinian people, their land, sky, air, capabilities and natural wealth.

 On the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, two-thirds of which are still suffering from a refugee status since 1948, they live in camps in the neighboring countries clinging to the right to return to their villages and cities from which they were forced out, and are still awaiting the implementation of United Nations resolutions, especially Resolution 194, which stipulated their return to their homes.  The resolution has emphasized to compensate Palestinian refugees as well.

Despite everything, the Palestinian people are still clinging to their national identity and resisting Israeli plots to eliminate our culture and heritage.

Palestinians have been living in the land of Palestine for thousands of years while struggling to maintain their identity and integrity guaranteed first by their massive sacrifices in the course. The modern history of Palestine, which has been represented by hundreds of thousands of martyrs, wounded and prisoners, as well as the UN resolutions in its various organizations and branches have also guaranteed them, and also included the obligations that the occupying power tries to evade from by establishing alternative paths and by disavowing their commitments and by practicing the most severe violations against the Palestinian people.

Ambassador Ameen said a just solution to the Palestinian issue requires an end to the new apartheid regime imposed by the Israeli occupation force and an end to its occupation of the Palestinian land that has continued since June 5, 1967, including Jerusalem, which is also a prelude to resolving all crises in the region, and an entry point for the Palestinian people to restore their pioneering civilization role in building The values of the humanitarian system that the peoples of the world seek, on their land and in their independent and sovereign state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.

  On behalf of the State of Palestine and the Palestinian people, the ambassador  saluted the brotherly people of Pakistan for their sympathy and support, appreciates the solidarity statements of the honorable President, Government, Parliament and all Political Parties .

The Embassy highly evaluates our historical relations with Pakistan for the last 8 decades, we are proud of Pakistan’s friendship and we feel stronger with it’s support on official and public levels. institutions and bodies that express on daily basis their solidarity with the Palestinian people and their rights.

 The Palestinian embassy in Pakistan appreciates the historical Pakistani fraternal stances in supporting the Palestinian people to obtain their rights, he added.

‘We also extend our appreciation to the friends of Palestine around the world for their support and solidarity on the Day of the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and in their expression of their adherence to the values of justice and freedom’.

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COURTESY DNA NEWS

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LAHORE, NOV 28 - The mother of PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif will be laid to rest in Lahore today.

In a statement, the party said that funeral prayers for Begum Shamim Akhtar will be offered after Zuhr at the Sharif Medical City in Raiwind.

She will be buried next to the grave of her husband, Mian Sharif, at the family's Jati Umra estate. Punjab PML-N president Rana Sanaullah said religious scholar Raghib Naeemi would lead the funeral prayers.

Strict security arrangements have been made for the funeral and the main road leading to Jati Umra has been cordoned off.

Begum Shamim had passed away last week in London. She was in her 90s and had been unwell for a month or so, sources in the party had said. On Friday, Nawaz and other family members had attended her funeral prayers in London before her body was flown to Pakistan.

Earlier today, Shehbaz and his son, Hamza Shehbaz, both of whom were released from jail on five-day parole on Friday to attend the final rites of Begum Shamim, received her body at the Lahore airport. According to reports, the body has been shifted to the morgue at Sharif Medical City.

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TEHRAN, NOV 28 - Iran’s president on Saturday accused Israel of killing a prominent Iranian scientist long suspected by the West of masterminding a secret nuclear bomb programme, state TV reported.

Iran’s clerical and military rulers have threatened revenge for Friday’s killing of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, who Iranian media said died in hospital after assassins gunned him down in his car near Tehran.

“Once again, the evil hands of global arrogance were stained with the blood of the mercenary usurper Zionist regime,” a term for Israel, President Hassan Rouhani said in a statement, according to state TV.

“The assassination of martyr Fakhrizadeh shows our enemies’ despair and the depth of their hatred [...] His martyrdom will not slow down our achievements.”

Fakhrizadeh had long been suspected by Western, Israeli and Iranian exile foes of the Islamic Republic to have masterminded what they said was a covert atomic bomb programme. Iran has long denied seeking to weaponise nuclear energy.

He was believed to have headed what the UN nuclear watchdog and US intelligence services believe was a coordinated nuclear weapons programme in Iran, which the Islamic republic said it shelved in 2003.

He has the rare distinction of being the only Iranian scientist named in the International Atomic Energy Agency’s 2015 “final assessment” of open questions about Iran’s nuclear programme and whether it was aimed at developing a nuclear bomb.

The IAEA’s report said that he oversaw activities “in support of a possible military dimension to (Iran’s) nuclear programme” within the so-called AMAD Plan.

The death of Fakhrizadeh could provoke confrontation between Iran and its foes in the last weeks of Donald Trump’s United States presidency while complicating any effort by President-elect Joe Biden to revive the detente of Barack Obama’s presidency.

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