Thursday, 4 March 2021
LAHORE, MAR 4: Ambassador of Tajikistan to Pakistan, Ismatullo Nasredin visited the University of the Punjab, Lahore, and had a meeting with Prof. Dr. Niaz Ahmad Akhtar, Vice-Chancellor, University of the Punjab, Lahore.
During the meeting, various activities of academic collaboration under the Regional Integration Center, University of Punjab, Lahore were discussed.
Prof. Dr. Niaz Ahmad Akhtar announced scholarships in
different disciplines for the students of Tajikistan. He was of the view that
through developing academic linkages, both countries can further enhance their
bilateral ties.
Ismatullo Nasredin stated that Tajikistan is ready to
welcome faculty and students from University of the Punjab to promote
people-to-people contact. He highlighted that academic exchange programs under
the Regional Integration Center will be a positive step to promote the
historical and cultural linkages of Tajikistan and Pakistan.
It was decided that Regional Integration Center will play an
important role to further strengthen brotherly ties between both neighboring
countries.
Ismatullo Nasredin also had an interactive session with the
students of International relations and social sciences. He discussed Pakistan-Tajikistan
bilateral ties and highlighted the role of students and academia in further
cementing the brotherly ties between both countries.
The meeting was also attended by, Dr. Saleem Mazhar, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of the Punjab, Lahore, Deans of different faculties of the University of Punjab, Lahore and Senior Management of Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS), Islamabad.
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ISLAMABAD/BAKU, MAR 4: A delegation led by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Nadeem Raza of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, arrived in Azerbaijan on an official visit, the Azerbaijani Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
General Nadeem Raza will hold a number of meetings in Baku. The visit will last until March 6.
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Wednesday, 3 March 2021
KARACHI, MAR 3: Qais Ahmed’s brilliant bowling performance and Usman Khan’s outstanding batting performance was enough for Quetta Gladiators to secure their first win in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2021.
At the National Stadium in Karachi on Wednesday, Multan Sultans captain Mohammad Rizwan won the toss and opted to bowl first.
Gladiators posted 176-7 in their allotted 20 overs, courtesy brilliant 81 off 50 balls with the help of 10 fours and three sixes from debutant Usman.
For Multan, young pacer Shahnawaz Dhani continued his impressive run as he claimed three wickets.
In reply, Sultans—despite a 63-run opening partnership—were bowled out for 154 runs in the final over and fell 22 runs short.
Captain Rizwan continued his impressive run with the bat in hand as he scored 66 off 50 balls with the help of seven fours and two sixes.
For Gladiators, leg-spinner Qais was the pick of the bowlers as he claimed three wickets and just gave away 21 runs in his four overs.
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COURTESY SAMMA
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ISLAMABAD, MAR 3: Prime Minister Imran Khan will seek a vote of confidence from the parliament after the ruling PTI lost the hotly contested Senate general seat from Islamabad to the joint opposition, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi announced on Wednesday.
Addressing a press conference hours after the PTI's upset loss was confirmed, Qureshi said it should be made clear who stood where after today's vote.
“Those standing with Imran Khan will be seen on one side and those who are not, and think they like the ideology of the PPP and PML-N have every right to join their ranks,” said Qureshi, who was flanked by several PTI ministers including Asad Umar, Shireen Mazari, Shafqat Mehmood and Fawad Chaudhry.
He urged PTI workers to hold onto the belief that the PTI would compete with the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM). “They have united but have no ideological basis for their union. They do politics of self-interest …. and want to continue with such politics but we will bury it,” he said.
Earlier, Qureshi started the press conference by saying that today’s events had vindicated Prime Minister Imran’s stance, adding that this was not something new, but had been happening for the past several years.
He went on to count his party’s attempts to ensure transparency in the electoral process, saying the PTI had invited the opposition to move towards open ballots, but “you saw the difference between what they practised and [what they] preached.”
“We informed the ECP that it is your constitutional duty to ensure free and fair elections,” said Qureshi, adding that the ECP had failed to ensure transparency.
“I say this because as per our fears, a video and audio surfaced a night before the elections and Fawad Chaudhry tried to knock the doors of the ECP, but there was silence there.” The minister added that it was surprising that elections were to be held the next day but no one from the ECP was available.
At this point, they had an even greater responsibility to ensure transparency in the polls. “But we did not find them up to the standard.”
Qureshi said that the struggle started by Prime Minister Imran is one of “good versus evil”, adding that the premier had made uncountable efforts to change the political culture.
“In this fight, the nation is watching who stands where,” he said. “I want to ensure the voter, who cast their vote for the bat [PTI election symbol] that the fight will go on.
"In my opinion, today is a sad day for democracy. Those who claimed to be the torchbearers of democracy have killed the principles of democracy.”
The joint opposition candidate, PPP's Yousuf Raza Gilani, was contesting against PTI's Abdul Hafeez Shaikh for the lone general seat from the capital. He won the election by bagging 169 votes, while Shaikh received 164 votes. Seven votes cast for the seat were rejected, while there were reports that at least two PTI MNAs' votes were rendered invalid because they didn't mark their ballots correctly.
While the ruling PTI’s numerical strength in the Senate was expected to almost double from the existing 14 seats, the hottest contest was expected between Gilani and Shaikh.
Hours before polling commenced, the contest became even more controversial with the emergence of a video of Gilani's son, Ali Haider, explaining to lawmakers how to cancel their votes.
The government immediately cried foul, demanding that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declare Gilani ineligible after the emergence of the video that it said showed "votes being bought". It also filed a reference with the ECP seeking Gilani's disqualification for being involved in "corrupt practices".
Speaking to media in Islamabad, Ali Haider accepted that he was in the leaked video, but denied he was engaging in a deal to buy votes for his father.
He added that the MNAs in the video belonged to the PTI and were his "friends".
However, some audio recordings were reportedly leaked after his press conference in which a number of people could be allegedly heard discussing monetary deals worth millions of rupees with lawmakers in order to buy their votes.
Two of the voices in the leaked audios were said to be of Ali Haider and Sindh Information Minister Nasir Hussain Shah, local media [reported][5]. Speaking on Geo News programme 'Aaj Shahzeb Khanzada Ke Saath', Shah denied that the voice in the audio clips was his.
Opposition calls for PM's resignation
Addressing a press conference a little while earlier, PPP chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had hailed Gilani's win as a victory for all democratic forces in Pakistan.
"[Prime Minister] Imran Khan should resign, this is not only the opposition's demand but of the government's own members," Bilawal had claimed.
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COURTESY DAWN NEWS
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MEXICO CITY, MAR 3: 29 years ago, in Azerbaijan, in the
Nagorno Karabakh district, one of the most brutal acts of ethnic violence of
the late 20th century was committed.
During the night of February 25-26, 1992, after a heavy artillery bombardment, the Armenian armed forces, with the support of the 366th Motorized Infantry Regiment of the former Soviet Union, invaded the Khodyali district, committing atrocities without precedents against its civilian population, which involved the murder of 613 Azerbaijani civilians, including 106 women, 63 children and 70 elderly people.
1,275 people were taken hostage and the fate of 150 people remains unknown. During that night, eight families were exterminated, 130 children lost one of their parents and 25 infants lost both.
The genocide was documented with evidence recorded by
journalists from various international media.
Frozen corpses in positions of surrender, point-blank shots,
torn heads, mutilated children and women are some of the terrifying evidences
of Armenian cruelty.
By occupying Jodyali, Armenia aimed to gain a strategic advantage
and opportunities to invade other cities in Nagorno Karabakh.
Until 1994 Armenia occupied the Nagorno Karabakh region and seven adjacent districts. The Jodyalà Genocide was highlighted by Human Rights Watch as the bloodiest massacre committed in the course of that conflict. However, it was not the only case, as Armenia committed mass killings in other locations in Azerbaijan.
At the same time, the massacre in Khodyali was clearly
intended to terrorize and break the spirit of the Azerbaijanis in order to
guarantee a psychological advantage for their future attacks. This is also
proven by the statements of former Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan, who in
the book by British author Thomas de Waal Black garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan
Through Peace and War confesses: - “Before Khodyali, Azerbaijanis thought that
Armenians were not capable of lifting the hand against the civilian population.
We managed to tear down that opinion ”.
After a period of almost 30 years, the persistent ignorance
on the part of Armenia of the UN resolutions that demanded the withdrawal of
the Armenian troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan, as well as the
failure of the negotiations within the framework of the Organization to the
Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) because of the destructive position
of Armenia itself, Azerbaijan managed to liberate its territories during the
recent 44-day war, also erupted as a result of another Armenian provocation.
However, the inhumane and terrorist nature at the state
level of the Armenian leadership manifested itself once again during that war,
when its armed forces, in flagrant violation of all the norms and principles of
international humanitarian law, launched attacks with heavy artillery. ,
rockets and ballistic missiles against the Azerbaijani civilian population,
including in cities located far from the conflict zone, including Ganja, the
second largest city in the country, Barda, the city that suffered the bloodiest
attack of all, as well as Terter, Aghdám, Mingachevir, Goranboy, Gabalá,
Kurdemir, Absherón, etc. Cluster munitions were used by the Armenian armed
forces during these attacks, a fact that was also condemned by Human Rights Watch
and Amnesty International.
The same vandalism is currently observed in Azerbaijani
territories liberated from Armenian occupation, which resemble Hiroshima after
the atomic bombing and where Armenia totally destroyed the historical and cultural
heritage of the country.
Now, reconciliation with Armenia is difficult. Despite this,
Azerbaijan remains committed to its path and policy of dialogue, peace and
regional cooperation, convinced that the only way to achieve prosperity in the
region is reconciliation and lasting peace, but for this to be achieved,
Armenia must abandon their territorial claims, policy of aggression and hatred.
In memory of that unfortunate event, recently, the Embassy
of Azerbaijan in Mexico headed by Ambassador Mammad Talibov, commemorated with
a solemn ceremony at the monument to the Jodyalà Genocide in the Plaza
Tlaxcoaque of the Historic Center of Mexico City.
In addition, on the outskirts of the Embassy of Azerbaijan
in the Bosque de las Lomas neighborhood of Mexico City, an altar dedicated to
the victims of that genocide was installed. Until then, diplomats and floral
offerings from other embassies in Mexico arrived.
(Information and photos: Embassy of Azerbaijan in Mexico)
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COURTESY protocolo.com.mx
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Exclusive / Editor-In-Chief
Farukh Shehzad
Environmentalists and the head of states of various
countries including the government of Pakistan have been searching for a way to
reduce air pollution for a very long time. If you take a look at big cities,
such as Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Multan, Peshawar and others, you will see
that the city skylines are already engulfed in smog. People from all over the
country point at the gasoline engines from cars as the main cause of the
problem.
It’s already a common knowledge that the smoke coming out
from cars is one of the most destructive factors that affected and still
continues to affect the ozone layer. Also, it is one of the main contributors
of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere which is the cause of global warming and
climate change.
Combine this with the global financial crisis and the
unstable price of fuel you will eventually see why people prefers electric
cars.
Because of the growing concerns in air pollution and the
current state of the economy of the Pakistan today, more and more Pakistani people
are now planning to get rid of their old gasoline powered vehicles and are now showing
their interest in buying electric cars and waiting for the governments decision
for launching electric cars for every common man as we saw in Islamabad a few
months back that the government of Pakistan experimenting to launch electric
cars in a well established way.
At its most basic, electric cars works very much like your
conventional car. The only difference is that instead of having an internal
combustion engine that uses gasoline to power the car, this particular car runs
purely on electricity, which means that it produces no harmful emissions at
all.
Because it doesn’t use any kind of fossil fuel to power the
car, this also means that you don’t have to buy gasoline ever again in order
for you to power the car. All you need to do is charge the batteries in the car
from time to time in order for you to keep it running.
This means that instead of filling it up with gasoline, all
you need to do is plug the car in electricity outlet and you will be charging
the batteries in no time at all.
You need to understand that the electric car concept have
existed ever since the first car was invented. The only problem back then was
the technology. The materials for the body of the car were too heavy, the
batteries were not efficient, and it was simply expensive to build and run.
Today, thanks to the advancement of technology, electric
cars are far more advanced than it was before. Equipped with the latest battery
cell technology along with light and very strong materials, electric cars have
overcome its major drawback which was the distance it was able to go. Today, a
single charge can take you a hundred miles or even more.
And, the best part of all this is that the batteries can be
fully charged rather quickly. You can even go on a road trip across the country
and when you have lunch, you can easily charge the batteries and get you ready
for your trip after you eat your lunch.
However, you have to remember that the electric car
technology is still in its infancy. It will still need to come a very long way
before it is accepted by society as an alternative to gasoline powered cars.
Despite the fact that electric cars still needs to go a long way before it
becomes the primary choice for personal vehicles, you will see that there are
already increasing numbers of people who are now using electric cars.
With electric cars, you will be able to save money on gas and also contribute in to stopping global warming. It’s really not that far in the future before you start seeing almost all people using electric cars.
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ISLAMABAD, MAR 3: Polling for 37 seats of the Senate is underway under the supervision of the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) as a total of 78 candidates contest from Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Islamabad.
In the National Assembly, the first vote was cast by PTI's Shafiq Arain while the second one was cast by federal Minister for Water Resources Faisal Vawda.
All Senate candidates from Punjab were elected unopposed last month after disqualification or withdrawal of papers by other contestants.
Polling started at 9am and will continue till 5pm without any break. ECP staff reached the Parliament House in Islamabad early morning on Wednesday. The campaign for this year's election ended at midnight on March 3.
Voting is taking place through secret ballots after a long-drawn open ballot controversy kept the ruling and opposition parties engaged in a war of words as well as a legal battle before the much-awaited Supreme Court decision.
While the ruling PTI’s numerical strength in the Senate is expected to almost double from the existing 14 seats, the hottest contest is expected in Islamabad between former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, who is contesting as a joint candidate of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), and Adviser to PM on Finance Hafeez Sheikh.
The math
The Senate — the upper house of parliament — was, until recently, a body of 104 lawmakers. Each serves a term of six years, barring resignation, disqualification, or other extraordinary circumstances. They are not all elected at the same time: rather, half are elected at one time, and the other half three years later.
In 2021, 52 senators (who were elected in 2015) are set to retire. The other 52 were elected in 2018 and will retire in 2024. However, elections are being held only on 48 seats this time after erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were merged with KP.
Therefore, the Senate will now comprise 100 lawmakers; 23 each from all the provinces and four from Islamabad. The remaining four senators from Fata will retire in 2024.
The 23 seats allocated to a province comprise 14 general seats, four reserved for women, four for technocrats and one for minority member.
Earlier, all Senate candidates from Punjab were elected unopposed after major political parties — PTI, PML-N and PPP — agreed to withdraw candidatures of some of their respective hopefuls. As a result, out of the 11 seats, five each went to the PTI and the PML-N and one to the PML-Quaid, an ally of the PTI.
The ECP, in its code of conduct, had barred President Dr Arif Alvi and the governors of all the provinces from taking part in the election campaigns.
It had also instructed all candidates to open exclusive accounts for their election expenses and to make all transactions through it. They will have to submit their return of election expenses to the returning officer on Form C within five days from the date of election.
Election process
The Senate election is held through secret voting on the basis of single transferable vote through "preference voting". All four provincial assemblies are electoral colleges for the four respective assemblies.
Provincial assemblies
Punjab (47 votes* elect a senator)
There are 371 total seats in Punjab Assembly; however, only 368 are currently occupied. Of these, 181 are occupied by members of the PTI, 165 by PML-N members, 10 by PML-Q members, 7 by PPP members, 4 by independent lawmakers, and one by a member of the Pakistan Rah-e-Haq Party.
Sindh (22 votes* elect a senator)
The total seats in Sindh are 168. Currently, 99 of them are members of the PPP, 21 are members of MQM-P, 30 PTI, 14 Grand Democratic Alliance, three TLP and one MMA.
KP (19 votes* elect a senator)
The total seats in the KP Assembly after the merger of Fata are 145. Ninety-four are members of the PTI, 14 are members of MMA, 12 of the ANP, 7 of the PML-N, 5 of the PPP, 4 of BAP, 3 of JUI-F, one each of the PML-Q and Jamaat-i-Islami, and 4 are independent members.
Balochistan (9 votes* elect a senator)
The total number of seats in the Balochistan Assembly is 65 but currently 64 seats are occupied. Of these, 24 are BAP members, 10 BNP, 10 MMA, 7 PTI, 4 from the ANP, 3 BNP-A, 2 Hazara Democratic Party, one each from the PML-N, PkMAP and Jamhuri Watan Party, and one independent member.
Federal (171 votes* elect a senator)
At present, the National Assembly has 342 seats for lawmakers from across the country. It currently comprises 341 members. The ruling PTI holds 157 seats, PML-N 83, PPP 55, 15 MMA, MQM-P 7, BAP 5, PML-Q 4, BNP 4, GDA 3, AML 1, ANP 1, JWP 1, and four are independent members.
Prominent candidates
There are a total of 78 candidates contesting the 2021 Senate elections from the federal capital and the three provinces.
The candidates include 14 from the PTI, 13 from the PPP, two from the PML-N, two from MQM-P, 11 from BAP and one from TLP. In addition to this, three candidates will be contesting as independents.
Those who were elected to the upper house of parliament from Punjab include Saifullah Sarwar Khan Nyazee, Aon Abbas, Ejaz Ahmad Chaudhry and Syed Ali Zafar of the PTI, Prof Sajid Mir and Irfanul Siddiqui of the PML-N, and Kamil Ali Agha of the PML-Q.
Prominent Senate candidates from Sindh include PTI's Faisal Vawda (the party's only candidate for a general seat), current Deputy Chairman Senate Saleem Mandviwalla, Sherry Rehman, Farooq H. Naek and Taj Haider from the PPP, Pir Sadaruddin Shah of the Grand Democratic Alliance (GDA) and MQM-P's Faisal Subzwari.
In KP, prominent politicians contesting the election include federal information minister Syed Shibli Faraz, special assistant to the prime minister Sania Nishtar and Liaqat Khan Tarakai, Maulana Attaur Rehman, Tariq Khattak and Ranjeet Singh from Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Taj Mohammad Afridi of BAP and PPP's Farhatullah Babar.
The PTI has no candidate for the Senate from Balochistan. Candidates from other parties include Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) founder Saeed Ahmed Hashmi and Sajid Tareen of the Balochistan National Party-Mengal (BNP-M).
Election controversy
Allegations of horse-trading are present during every Senate election but this year's polls were marred by controversies over the method of voting as the government sought to hold them through open ballot while opposition parties rejected the idea.
The ruling PTI filed a reference in the Supreme Court asking for its opinion on whether the elections could be held through open ballot, promulgated an ordinance, and introduced a constitutional amendment bill in the National Assembly, all just weeks before the polls were to take place.
On Monday, the Supreme Court announced that Senate polls would be held through secret ballot under Article 226 of the Constitution. A day later, the ECP said that this year's election would be "conducted as provided in the Constitution and law as per past practice".
Online complaints
A complaint management system has been generated for public to share their grievances with the ECP online through its official website www.ecp.gov.pk.
Besides, a special monitoring cell has been set up in the Election Commission Secretariat to check corrupt practices in the Senate elections under Section 167 of the Elections Act, 2017. This cell is working 24 hours a day so that people can send a complaint of any corrupt practice related to Senate election 2021 to the ECP.
As the Chief Election Commissioner will also monitor the Senate election himself, people can send their complaints about electoral corruption directly to him at cec@ecp.gov.pk.
On Tuesday, the CEC called a meeting of Nadra chairman, PTA chairman and the FIA director general and sought their proposals to check electoral corruption. They were also instructed to immediately inform the ECP if any kind of corruption came to their notice so that immediate legal action could be taken.
To make Senate elections transparent, the ECP has already decided to enforce a code of conduct, obtain affidavits from candidates and set up a digital facilitation centre.
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COURTESY DAWN NEWS
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ISLAMABAD, MAR 3: Hours before lawmakers across the country are set to go to polls in the much-anticipated Senate elections 2021, a video surfaced on Tuesday showing the son of Yousuf Raza Gilani, the joint opposition's most prominent candidate for the polls, explaining to lawmakers how to cancel their votes.
The government immediately cried foul, demanding that the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) declare Gilani ineligible after the emergence of the video that it said showed "votes being bought". It also filed a reference with the ECP seeking Gilani's disqualification for being involved in "corrupt practices".
PPP leader and former prime minister Gilani, who hails from Multan, has been fielded as a joint candidate of the opposition alliance Pakistan Democratic Movement from Islamabad. His lone competition for the general seat will be Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh of the PTI.
In the night-time video of about one-and-a-half minutes, first shared by ARY News, Gilani's son Ali Haider Gilani can be heard apparently explaining through specific details to at least two lawmakers how they can waste their votes during the election.
The faces of none of the men in the video can be clearly seen and it is not clear whom Ali Haider is talking to or who recorded and leaked the video.
Within minutes of the video being broadcast, the various chapters of the ruling PTI and government spokespersons started tweeting about it, saying the clip had "exposed" Gilani as well as the opposition.
"Yousuf Raza Gilani's son caught buying votes in the Senate and giving away tricks to waste votes. This is the character of the PDM and their joint candidate," a tweet from PTI's official account said.
Speaking to media in Islamabad, Ali Haider accepted that he was in the leaked video, but denied he was engaging in a deal to buy votes for his father.
Addressing a press conference outside the ECP offices in Islamabad, Minister For Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry said the video showed Ali Haider explaining to PTI MNAs how to waste their votes.
The minister said after Ali Haider's "confession" that the video was true, it was the ECP's responsibility to declare Gilani ineligible to contest Wednesday's elections and file a reference against him under Articles 218, 219 and 220 and the Supreme Court's recent judgement on the presidential reference seeking open ballot in the Senate polls.
"But notwithstanding our reference, I hope the chief election commissioner will take notice of this video," Chaudhry added.
He said the SC in its verdict had given clear directions to the ECP to use technology and eliminate money and horse-trading from the elections. But "it is very unfortunate that the ECP said it could not change the method in this election and the video that emerged this very evening proved the ECP's version and point of view wrong," he added, terming the commission's argument "weak".
The PTI later said the ECP had taken notice of the "horse-trading video", and welcomed the move.
Although Chaudhry had said the reference against Gilani would be sent to the ECP on Wednesday morning, PTI MNAs Farrukh Habib and Kanwal Shauzab managed to submit the same late on Tuesday.
The writ petition filed by them seeks Gilani's disqualification "for being guilty of corrupt practices and also for violating the law and the Constitution of Pakistan" as well as "for being involved in criminal activity with corroboration [sic] with his real son".
'I've done nothing wrong'
In his presser, Ali Haider said the MNAs in the video belonged to the PTI and were his "friends".
"They called me [and] I have met them several times. As a candidate's son, it is my right to seek votes," he said, adding that his family only asked for the "vote of conscience" and did not engage in the buying and selling of votes.
Haider said the MNAs which numbered "more than two" told him they wanted to vote for Gilani and not Hafeez Shaikh. "They asked me what should we do if our party is suspicious of us and tries to take away our ballot. [...] I told them if they are given an already marked ballot, they should also mark Gilani's name and put it in the ballot box so that vote neither goes to Hafeez Sheikh nor [Gilani]," he added.
"I think I have done nothing wrong; my conscience is satisfied," he emphasised, saying no video showed him dealing with the MNAs to decide their payments.
Haider said he had been meeting many people as part of his father's election campaign because it was the right of a candidate to ask their constituents — MNAs in this case — for votes.
He alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan had "bought votes" by doling out funds worth Rs500 million each among government lawmakers. He called upon the ECP to take notice of this "bribe".
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COURTESY DAWN NEWS
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LONDON, MAR 3: The British Home Secretary Priti Patel believes human traffickers should be able to get life imprisonment, The Times writes.
On Sunday, the Home Office announced that ministers would set out further details in the coming weeks.
“Whilst criminal gangs continue to put lives at risk it is right we consider every option to stop their exploitation of people. The government will set out further details in the coming weeks,” a Home Office spokesperson said.
Human traffickers can currently be sentenced to 14 years in prison in the UK, while the average prison sentence is three years.
A government source told The Times that there are no plans to impose a minimum sentence but that they hope for longer sentences for those currently sentenced to three or four years in prison.
A total of 14,773 people are currently in reception centers in the UK, awaiting either stay or deportation.
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COURTEYS norwaytoday
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LAHORE, MAR 3: Sarmad Ali, General Secretary, All Pakistan Newspapers Society visited the University of Punjab, Lahore and had a meeting with Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Niaz Ahmad at his office on Tuesday.
Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar, Regional Integration Centre Director Dr Fauzia Hadi Ali, Centre for Global and Strategic Studies (CGSS), Islamabad, Executive Director, Mr. Khalid Taimur Akram and others participated in the meeting.
Mr Ali expressed his keen interest in promotion of academia-professional linkages with the School of Communication Studies. He said that both the organizations were rich in history and must work together for provision of quality human resource in the media.
He said that various technological advancements had brought several changes to the media industry and there was a need to equip our students with technical skills to meet the modern requirements of the profession.
PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmed said that PU would extend full support to
promote industry-academia linkages. He said that it was our duty to serve the
country as well as society.
He said that as per the modern demands of the subject of communication and media studies, the administration had upgraded the former Institute of Communication Studies to the School of Communication Studies and several departments had also been established under the school.
Later, Sarmad Ali visited School of Communication Studies where he had a question-answer session with the students on various national issues as well as the media industry.
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COURTESY CGSS
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LAHORE, MAR 3: Belarusian Ambassador Andrei Metelitsa has expressed the resolve to promote bilateral relations with Pakistan and its universities through collaboration in various fields of mutual interest.
He was talking to Punjab University Vice Chancellor Prof Niaz Ahmad during his visit to PU here on Tuesday. Pro Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Saleem Mazhar, deans of various faculties, Director External Linkages Dr Sobia Khuram, Centre for Global and Strategic Studies Executive Director Khalid Taimur Akram, and others were present on the occasion.
Addressing the meeting Metelitsa stressed the need to promote academic relations among the universities of both countries through exchange of faculty members and students and joint research projects.
He said that art, culture and literature could play an important role in strengthening ties between both countries. He said that Belarus also aimed at promotion of trade ties with Pakistan. PU VC Prof Niaz Ahmad said that both the countries could benefit from each other’s potential in various fields.
He said that PU would extend full support in promotion of relations with Belarusian universities. He also briefed the ambassador regarding recent achievements of Punjab University in international ranking of universities. Later, Metelitsa presented Belarus’s national flag to the VC.
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COURTESY CGSS
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