FARUKH SHEHZAD

Ali Alizada says during the years of the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, the Senate and National Assembly of Pakistan adopted several resolutions, Foreign Office and Armed Forces of Pakistan issued many statements condemning the illegal actions and war crimes of Armenia against Azerbaijan.

ISLAMABAD, MAY 27: This year Azerbaijan celebrates the 103rd anniversary of the establishment of Azerbaijani Democratic Republic (ADR), the first democratic republic in the Muslim world, with double and special significance, after the liberation of the internationally recognized territories from almost 30 years of illegal Armenian occupation.

The ADR left an indelible mark and entered forever into the history of the Azerbaijani nation with its rich state building experience and prepared a good basis for the future independence of Azerbaijan.

Relying solely on the support of the Azerbaijani people, H. Aliyev put an end to all negativity in the country, disbanded all illegal armed groups, established safety and order, and began building the state institutions and a regular army of Azerbaijan.

All these years Azerbaijani nation lived with one dream, to liberate the illegaly occupied territories of Azerbaijan and restore peace and justice in the region, which Azerbaijan has sought almost 30 years through all platforms.

If the creation of ADR, on May 28, 1918 was a historic event for the Azerbaijani nation, the restoration of the territorial integrity of modern independent Azerbaijan in 2020 became another glorious historic victory and achievement for Azerbaijan and its nation.

For all 30 years of the conflict, Azerbaijan has suffered a lot from Armenian aggression and Azerbaijan has been delivering the truth about this issue at all international events and forums.

More than 30 thousands of Azerbaijanis have been martyred, all cities, residential buildings, schools, hospitals, public buildings, historical sites and mosques in occupied territories of Azerbaijan have been destroyed.

Armenia insulted the entire Muslim world, kept cows and pigs in our mosques, destroyed all cultural monuments and even plowed up all graves. Despite that all leading international organizations recognized and supported the territorial integrity of Azerbaijan and demanded the withdrawal of Armenian troops from Azerbaijani territories, Armenia has always showed an unconstructive approach to the resolution of the conflict and at the end the provocative steps, statements and aggressive actions of Armenia have put an end to all negotiations and made war inevitable.

Under the resolute command of the Supreme Commander-in-chief, Azerbaijan has fulfilled its historic mission and defeated Armenia due to the professionalism and heroism of victorious Azerbaijan Army, and of course due to high national spirit and strength.

Glory to, thanks to the dedication of our martyrs, Azerbaijan has again secured its territorial integrity. May grant all our martyrs the highest rank in Jannah!

We have achieved our goal. The 44-day Patriotic war has demonstrated Azerbaijan’s power, resolve and unity. It showed that the Azerbaijani people will never put up with injustice.

We must also mention that Azerbaijan has liberated its lands through development, because development is also the backbone of our victory, and today, Azerbaijan is one of the rapidly developing countries of the world, and under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev continues its dynamic progress and economic growth.

And soon the liberated territories of Azerbaijan will also become one of the developed regions of Azerbaijan and a real paradise.

We are thankful to our brotherly country Pakistan and its nation which constantly stood shoulder to shoulder with Azerbaijan and supported its right of self-defence during Patriotic War of Azerbaijan.

Pakistan even didn’t recognize Armenia due to occupation of Azerbaijani lands and always put its principal position in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

During the years of the occupation of Azerbaijani territories by Armenia, the Senate and National Assembly of Pakistan adopted several resolutions, Foreign Office and Armed Forces of Pakistan issued many statements condemning the illegal actions and war crimes of Armenia against Azerbaijan.

This is a true demonstration of brotherhood. Azerbaijan has also always stood and supported Pakistan in all matters, including the Kashmir issue which also waits implementation of UN SC resolutions for several decades. I am sure our brotherhood and mutual support to each other will be continued and strengthened in the years ahead as well.

Pakistan and Azerbaijan have time tested relations which based on strategic partnership, confidence, mutual respect and trust.

In the last one year Covid-19 pandemic has caused the worldwide slowdown, but even in pandemic time Azerbaijan-Pakistan relations, the political, military, defence, economy, security and energy ties have continued to grow in an upward trajectory.

The leadership of two countries had a regular constructive meetings and telephone conversations where they hailed the importance of further strengthening the efforts to boost cooperation between our countries. Despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic we were able to hold bilateral political consultations, the meeting of Joint Working Group on Trade, online business forum, B2B meetings and as well as the trilateral meeting of FMs of Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey.

During the last year, we were also able to conduct several high level visits of government and military officials, including an official bilateral visit of FM of Azerbaijan to Pakistan, the bilateral official visits of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of Pakistan and the Chief of Air Staff of Pakistan to Azerbaijan, etc.

Soon an official visit of Speaker of Milli Majlis (Parliament) of Azerbaijan to Pakistan will be conducted, the meeting of the Joint Working Group on Agriculture, the meeting of Intergovernmental Joint Commission will be arranged, the visits of Chief of Naval Staff of Azerbaijan to Pakistan and the Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan to Azerbaijan, as well as Azerbaijan, Pakistan and Turkey joint military exercise will be held during this year.

The efforts for strengthening people to people contacts, cultural, media, science, education ties have also increased and the humanitarian-social projects of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation of Azerbaijan were also continued in Pakistan during this pandemic time.

The establishment of direct flights remains also one of our main aims and the agreement have already reached to start operations of direct flights as soon as Covid -19 situation will be settled down.

All these developments show the commitment of our fraternal nations and Governments to further deepen and strengthen our relations.

I thank the Government, Army and people of brotherly Pakistan for continued cooperation, support and commitment to further deepen our relations. Taking this opportunity, I congratulate Azerbaijani community in Pakistan and all my countrymen on the occasion of National Day, “May 28- Republic Day of Azerbaijan”.

Pakistan-Azerbaijan Dosti Zindabad!

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 26: Mthuthuzeli Madikiza, High Commissioner, South Africa called on Minister for Defence, Pervez Khattak here in his office in Islamabad.

The Minister for Defence said that Pakistan highly values its relations with South Africa and hopes to see them flourish in the times to come.

The Defence Minister expressed his resolve to give fresh impetus to bilateral defence cooperation through high-level exchange visits and the Joint Defence Cooperation Committee forum.

He said that Pakistan and South Africa have enjoyed warm and cordial relations ever since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1994.

The visiting dignitary assured his government's commitment and pledged to work with Pakistan to strengthen their bilateral ties.

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 26: On 25th May 2021 the XVI Meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Forum was held. The forum was conducted virtually and representatives of the SCO Member states participated.

The Sixteenth session of the SCO forum was hosted by the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Center for Global & Strategic Studies (CGSS), Islamabad being an active member of the SCO Think Tank forum participated in the forum.

From Pakistan, representatives of Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad and South Asian Strategic Stability Institute (SASSI) also participated.

The session was commenced with the opening remarks of Amb. Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, Director General, Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad of Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

He extended his gratitude CGSS and SASSI and highlighted that in the contemporary era of globalization, there is a need of regional cooperation to produce sustainable outcomes.

He was of the view that SCO provides its member states with a platform to work and cooperate together on various platforms and sectors.

Ms. Aisha Farooqui, National Coordinator SCO, Islamic Republic of Pakistan mentioned that SCO is successfully operating in the region and more states are applying for its observer status.

She highlighted the contribution of SCO towards the security and economic development of the region, especially during the pandemic.

She stated that collective efforts are required to deal with the rising challenges and Pakistan will continue to play its regional role to maintain peace and stability in the region.

Vladimir Norov, Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in his remarks appreciated Pakistan’s role in SCO.

He further indicated that SCO states stands firmly against the regional challenges. He mentioned that the recommendations of the forum will contribute the official documents presented to SCO for its future initiatives.

Maj. Gen. Khalid Amir Jaffery, (Retd), President, Centre for Global & Strategic Studies, Pakistan chaired the second session on “SCO and the Geopolitics of Eurasia: Prospects of Security Cooperation between SCO Members”. The session included speakers from Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and India.

Maj. Gen. Khalid Amir Jaffery, (Retd), President, Centre for Global & Strategic Studies, Pakistan also addressed the forum in the second session and shared his views on the topic.

He stated that SCO represents hybrid model of regional organization as it cooperates in the field of agriculture, information and technology, health, environment, climate, economy and security.

He mentioned that the COVID 19 situation has negatively impacted the economic development of many SCO states.

Furthermore, in order to ensure smooth economic cooperation, trade should be carried out with transparence and without any discrimination.

He emphasized that economic plans cannot be implemented smoothly until the security is ensured in the region.

He viewed stability in Afghanistan to be of utmost importance, especially with regards to the illegal trade and cultivation of poppy after the US withdrawal.

He mentioned that SCO holds unique position to help in the development; it sets an example of how intrastate relations can be maintained and improved between the states.

Dr. Maria Sultan, President, South Asian Strategic Stability Institute, Pakistan also addressed the forum.

The forum invited representatives of all the member SCO states including China, Russia, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, India, and Tajikistan.

The forum had discussions about boosting Socio-Economic Cooperation among SCO Member states and SCO and the Geopolitics of Eurasia: Prospects of Security Cooperation between SCO Members.

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COURTEYS CGSS

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WASHINGTON, MAY 26: The United States Department of Defence has said that it is discussing various options with Pakistan and other states in the region, including the potential for having bases there, but the talks remain inconclusive.

At a recent congressional hearing, US Assistant Secretary of Defence for Indo-Pacific Affairs David F. Helvey told the Senate Armed Services Committee that “Pakistan has allowed us to have overflight and access to be able to support our military presence in Afghanistan”.

Following that, Foreign Office Spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudri later told journalists in Islamabad that “there is no US military or air base in Pakistan, nor was any such proposal envisaged. Any speculation on this account is baseless and irresponsible and should be avoided.”

On Monday, which was the first working day since Friday’s Senate hearing where Helvey claimed having overflight access to Afghanistan, the issue resurfaced at an afternoon news briefing at the Pentagon.

“Is there anything that the US is looking for right now from Pakistan in terms of what happens after the withdrawal (from Afghanistan) is complete? Is there any update on other possible basing agreements in the region for counter-terrorism operations once the Afghan withdrawal is done?” a journalist asked.

“I don't have any specific updates in terms of the potential for overseas bases there, after our withdrawal. These are obviously diplomatic discussions that are ongoing and are clearly not complete,” Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby responded.

“We're exploring a range of options and opportunities to be able to provide a credible and viable over-the-horizon counter-terrorism capability, and there's lots of ways you can do that. Overseas basing is just one of them. So, nothing to report on that front.”

Kirby indicated that the US was also consulting other countries in the region for having access to Afghanistan. “And I certainly wouldn't speak to, in any greater detail, with respect to any one country,” he said.

Earlier, in his opening statement Kirby said that US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin called Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday “to discuss shared regional interests and objectives”.

During the call, “the secretary reiterated his appreciation for Pakistan's support for the Afghanistan peace negotiations and expressed his desire to continue to build on the US-Pakistan bilateral relationship,” he added.

Responding to another question, Kirby said the US secretary's discussion with Gen Bajwa was “very useful and dealt with a range of bilateral opportunities that our two countries have going forward”.

When a journalist asked if Austin discussed “a possible basing agreement” with Pakistan in his call to Gen Bajwa, Kirby said: “I'll just leave it to the readout and the degree of specificity in the readout.”

Another journalist pointed out that Pakistan’s foreign ministry had ruled out the possibility of providing any base to the US military. The Pentagon officials, however, said he would not comment on inconclusive talks.

Another journalist reminded Kirby that the Trump administration had stopped security aid to Pakistan because of its alleged non-cooperation in the fight against terrorism. “Is this new administration reviewing that policy — where do you stand on that?” the journalist asked.

“At this time, US security assistance to Pakistan is still suspended, and I won't get into speculating one way or another about if or whether that will change going forward,” the Pentagon official said.

“At least, can you say that there is a discussion about the security assistance to Pakistan to be resumed or it is on the table or not?” asked another journalist.

“I won't go beyond what I said in the question previous,” Kirby responded.

The US has increased its consultations with Pakistan after President Joe Biden announced his plan to pull out all 2,500 US troops from Afghanistan by Sept 11.

The US and Pakistan also resumed high-level security talks on Sunday when US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan met his Pakistani counterpart Moeed Yusuf in Geneva. A joint statement issued after the talks said, “both sides discussed a range of bilateral, regional, and global issues of mutual interest and discussed ways to advance practical cooperation”.

Since 2011, when relations between the two countries began to strain, the US and Pakistan have had several summit level meetings, but Washington avoided high level engagement with Pakistani security officials.

Relations started to improve after 2018, when Washington launched a new push for peace in Doha, holding direct talks with the Taliban. Pakistan supported the talks and played a key role in persuading Taliban leaders to participate in the Afghan peace process. Washington publicly acknowledged Islamabad’s “positive role” in these talks.

The meeting between the two national security advisors followed back-to-back congressional hearings in Washington on the planned US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The discussions focused on how to maintain peace and stability in Afghanistan after the US withdrawal.

At the Senate Armed Services hearing, Helvey told the lawmakers that the US will continue its conversation with Pakistan “because their support and contribution to the future of Afghanistan, to future peace in Afghanistan, is going to be critical”.

At another hearing, US chief negotiator for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad said he believed Pakistan’s civilian and military leaderships recognised the economic benefit of having peace in Afghanistan and Washington was working on a plan to create “the potential (economic) connectivity”.

Last week in New York, Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi also held a series of virtual meetings with US lawmakers, telling them that Pakistan was seeking a broad-based, strategic partnership with America, which would also cover Afghanistan.

Earlier this month, Gen Bajwa visited Kabul where he offered support for the Afghan peace process in a meeting with President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul.

While reporting the visit, the US media noted that Pakistan “remains a key player in efforts to resolve the conflict between the Taliban and the Kabul government”.

The reports noted that in the past Washington accused Islamabad of harbouring militants, but in recent statements “Washington and other Western powers have acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts to push the militant group to take part in peace talks”.

At one of the congressional hearings, Ambassador Khalilzad described Gen Bajwa’s visit to Kabul as “positive,” adding that both sides had “discussed some steps” for bringing peace to Afghanistan and for improving relations between Islamabad and Kabul.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 26: “Pakistan is in dire need of a national political dialogue to mitigate the key issues plaguing the country’s education system in the aftermath of the pandemic.” 

These views were expressed by senior journalist ZarrarKhuhrowhile moderating a national dialogue aimed at generating discourse around Pakistan’s education priorities.

The virtual dialogue was organized by Education Champions Network (ECN), a platform of 12 civil society organizations advocating for 12 years of free, equitable, quality education for every girl in Pakistan.

Senior political representatives from across the country who participated in this event included Senator Mr. Mushahid Hussain and MPAs Madiha Nisar and Zeenat Bibi from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Shamim Aftab from Punjab and Rabia Azfar from Sindh.

Public Financial Management expert, Mr. Asim Bashir Khan while speaking at the forum pointed at the urgent need for an increase in the country’s education budgets. “An estimated investment of Rs. 12 trillion is needed over the next 10 years to ensure every out-of-school child in Pakistan is finally in schools. 

At the current rate of investment, it will take Pakistan 45 years to merely overcome the backlog of the 22.8 million children who were out of school prior to the pandemic.”

Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed felt that a lack of political will rather than resources was primarily responsible for the persistently low priority accorded to education.

“The feudal mindset that continues to dominate the political landscape in Pakistan needs immediate redressal if we are serious about honouring the constitutional promise of providing free and quality education to every Pakistani child.” 

He pledged to raise the issue of the country’s lukewarm funding to the education sector in the Senate.

Despite the pandemic and the fairly recent merger of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with erstwhile FATA, KP was able to increase its education development budget by 43% during the fiscal year 2020-21. 

At the same time Punjab and Balochistan introduced cuts worth 19% and 27% respectively. 

In the same vein, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also been allocating 70% of its education development expenditure to improve girls’ access to education for the last two consecutive years while other provinces are yet to follow suit.

Highlighting the province’s exceptional performance, Chairperson of the Provincial Standing Committee for higher Education, Madiha Nisar shared, “We have been closely following reports by the international donors according to which close to 1 million children have already dropped-out of schools during the pandemic and an estimated 700,000 are further feared to drop-out. 

We, in Khyber Pakhtunhwaare very mindful of this alarming situation and are hopeful to introduce a healthy increase in the province’s education development budget to mitigate this impending crisis.”

During the past decade Sindh has been successful in allocating a significant chunk of its annual budget for education; its education portfolio standing second only to Punjab. 

However, despite this huge investment, Sindh’s performance vis-à-vis enrolment and retention rates, teacher training, construction and upgradation of schools and addressing the issue of missing facilities has remained among the bottom 3 regions of the country. 

Commenting on this dichotomy, MPA Rabia Azfar said, “To begin with a very small portion of Sindh’s overall education budget is earmarked for development initiatives; over 80% of it is consumed in salaries and other administrative expenses. 

No meaningful change in the province’s education indicators can be introduced without increasing its education development budget.”

Enhanced investment in the underfunded education sector is urgently required to make education accessible to the country’s most marginalized learners including girls and children with disabilities. 

This would include enhancing the current ambit of scholarship, stipend and/or conditional cash transfer programs for out-of-school children in addition to building new infrastructure and teachers’ training, especially at the secondary level. 

It is also needed to pilot and mainstream blended and alternate learning solutions to make Pakistan’s education system resilient against future shocks such as the ongoing pandemic.

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 25: The International Conference on Digital Futures and Transformative Technologies (ICoDT2) is an international forum for sharing knowledge and results in theory, methodology, and applications of Intelligence Systems. 

Held in collaboration with (SEECS, NUST) and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) recently. 

The opening remarks of the conference were given by Pro-Rector RIC NUST, Dr Rizwan Riaz.

Also in attendance;Chair IEEE Islamabad Chapter Dr. Uzair Khan, General chair of the conference was Dr. Osman Hasan (Principal SEECS) and Mr. Shahzad Rasheed, CTO Huawei Pakistan.

Speakers were invited from 6 countries to participate in the conference where 47 researchers presented their research papers during the 2-day session. 

The total number of research papers submitted was 177, 23 of which were presented by students in the Huawei Poster Competition where the winners and runner-ups were awarded prizes by company.

In the post graduate category, Muhammad Usama Sardar, Sobia Ashraf and Sadaf Iftikhar won 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions respectively. Usman Siddiqui grabbed the 1st spot in the under graduate category. 

Dr. Osman Hasan, Principle SEECS during the closing ceremony, “This is the first flagship and international conference on digital future and transformative technologies. 

The conference was focused on intelligent systems and have brought together industry-academia to have the open discussion about the industrial needs and how academia can play its role.”

Mr. Shahzad Rasheed, CTO, Huawei Pakistan who was invited as a chief guest, “NUST is contributing a lot in terms of enabling the future of this country with digital transformative skills. These technologies are the future and Huawei is trying to make sure that we transform this world to a much safer place and make life easier for people.

9 invited talks and 6 workshops were also arranged where over 800 participants attended the conference online, despite the hurdle of COVID-19.

The conference covered significant contributions to all major fields of Intelligence Systems in theoretical and practical aspects. The aim was to provide a platform for researchers and practitioners from both academia as well as industry to meet and share cutting-edge developments in the field.

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 25: The Higher Education Commission (HEC) and Microsoft Pakistan have announced 2 Pakistani National winners for Microsoft Student hackathon. 

The judges were impressed by the incredible breadth of ideas and the technology that brought them to life in the Virtual Semifinals held in Pakistan. 

Team “QueryCity” from FAST NUCES Peshawar Campus and Team “AI Based Ophthalmology Grading” from NUST CEME Rawalpindi have fetch the crown to represented Pakistan at world finals. 

The National Winners have been awarded with Rupees 100,000 cash prize each and as a World Finalist both teams also received USD 1,000 in Azure credits. 

The runner-up teams have also been given cash prices and Gift hampers which includes 12 Regionals winners from North, Center, South and Teams from Baluchistan. 

The announcement came in a virtual event held in Islamabad in which i, Federal Minister of Education Shafqat Mehmood, Microsoft Country Manager Shahzad Khan, Microsoft Country Education Lead Jibran Jamshad, Education Lead MCC Ms. Angela Nganga and other senior Management took part.

As an initiative of the Strategic Partnership with Higher Education Commission; Microsoft Pakistan & HEC reached out to more than 100 campuses through multiple virtual campaigns in a bid to create awareness around the competition which aligns with Microsoft’s global student competition – Imagine Cup.

This initiative resulted in record breaking project entries (600+) in this competition, almost double the number from 2019. 

A lot of remote and underprivileged areas were targeted specifically in the drive for this competition. Students were initially evaluated in regional finals, held virtually and the best teams competed to win the National Finals. 

Federal Minister of Education Mr. Shafqat Mehmood praised HEC and Microsoft Pakistan contribution in providing such platforms that encourage bright minds to show case their talent and present innovative solutions to most complex problems of the modern world. 

He further said “The Government is committed to the well-being of Pakistani youth, as it considers them a national asset. Competition like these plays vital role in bringing best out of our young talented minds and project them at global stage”.

Executive Director HEC Dr. Shaista Sohail shared her thoughts that “We have seen extremely innovative ideas coming in and many of the students, who have been participating in such competitions, have established their own start-ups which are now becoming multi-million-dollar companies.” 

Microsoft Country Education Lead Mr. Jibran said “This student hackathon competition is one of Microsoft’s efforts to transform skill development, nurture budding technologists and foster collaboration. 

It is all about innovation, transformation and what comes next. The talent we have in Pakistan is phenomenal and such competitions only help highlight this raw talent and give them a platform to reach the global community. 

I believe we will encourage these students to compete in the 2022 Imagine Cup which aims to cultivate a spirit of social and technological entrepreneurship, empowering students to use their creativity to address real societal problems through technology”.

Over the past 19 years, more than two million competitors have signed up for Microsoft’s global student technology competition to build something that matters to them, make a difference in their communities, and innovate for impact. 

In the 2021 Imagine Cup, the brightest young minds worked together virtually for a chance to win USD75,000 and to reimagine solutions to solve today’s global challenges in four categories: Earth, Education, Health, and Lifestyle and we look forward to supporting these great minds to enter in next year’s competition.

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BAKU, MAY 25: Chairman of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping has sent a letter of congratulations to President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

“On behalf of the government and people of the People's Republic of China and on my own behalf, I am honored to extend my sincere congratulations and best wishes to you and the friendly people of Azerbaijan on the occasion of your country’s national holiday - the Republic Day,” the Chinese leader said in his letter.

“The China-Azerbaijan relations are experiencing dynamic progress. Our countries support each other on issues of mutual interest.

Xi Jinping: China-Azerbaijan relations are experiencing dynamic progress

The cooperation between our countries as part of the joint "Belt and Road" project continues to deepen, considerable results have been achieved in the joint fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” Xi Jinping noted. “I attach special importance to the development of China-Azerbaijan relations.

 I am ready to make joint efforts together with you to ensure the further development of our friendly relations and cooperation to the benefit of our countries and peoples.”

“I wish you the best of health and success in all your endeavors, and the friendly Azerbaijan and its people prosperity and happiness.”

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EU leaders agreed to cut air links with Belarus on Monday, as leader Alexander Lukashenko's regime paraded a dissident journalist arrested after his flight was forced to land in Minsk.

BRUSSELS, MAY 25: European Union leaders agreed on Monday to impose more sanctions on Belarus, including economic ones, called on their airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace and authorised work to ban Belarusian airlines from European skies and airports.

Meeting in Brussels, the 27 National leaders of the bloc demanded an immediate release of dissident journalist Roman Protasevich, as well as an investigation by the International Organization for Civilian Aviation into a Sunday incident during which Belarus forced a Ryanair flight to land in Minsk.

"We are closing our airspace to planes from Belarus and call on EU airlines not to fly over the country," said the head of the bloc's executive, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. "Further economic sanctions will be presented soon."

EU leaders agree to pile more sanctions on Belarus over Ryanair incident

The EU currently has a travel ban and an asset freeze in place on 88 Belarusians, including Alexander Lukashenko, and 7 companies, over Minsk's crackdown on protests following a contested presidential election last year.

Further individual sanctions could target oligarchs bank-rolling Lukashenko, diplomats said.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said the new restrictions must be put in place immediately.

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COURTESY Anews

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ISLAMABAD, MAY 25: A new private airline named ‘North Air’ has been provided with the TPRI (Tourism Promotion and Regional Integration) license by the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority). This new airline in Pakistan is reportedly planned to operate flights for a few major cities in the northern areas including Gilgit, Skardu, Chitral as well as the emerging port city of Gwadar in the south. 

North Air will initially operate flights between the capital city of Islamabad and all of the aforementioned destinations. The airline will be headquartered at the New Islamabad International Airport.

“North Air” New Airline Launched To Boost Tourism In Pakistan

There are three more private airlines that are due to be launched in Pakistan soon. The CAA is in the process of providing these airlines with their Regular Public Transport (RPT) after scrutinising their operation models. Q-Airlines, Fly Jinnah, and Jet Green are expected to start domestic flight operations in the near future.

The launch of these new airlines will take the number of private airlines operating in Pakistan to seven. As of now, Air North, SereneAir, Airblue, and AirSial are operating in the local private airline industry, mostly handling domestic flights as well as a few international flights. 

According to the new CAA regulations, private airlines would only become eligible for international flights after completing one year successfully with at least a fleet of three aircraft.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which is the country’s national flag carrier, has also recently commenced direct flight operations from Lahore to the northern areas of Pakistan.  The PIA is using Airbus A-320 aircraft for the flight operation to Skardu. The fare of this flight starts from PKR 7,500 per person.

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COURTESY whenwherehow

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With some input from Farukh Shehzad / Editor-In-Chief

The Pakistani celebrity Mahira Khan recently on May 23 spotted on middle of the road making dance moves openly.

Mahira Khan has been setting up wrong trend and culture for young Pakistani girls by dancing on the middle of the road.

Mahira Khan is Muslim lady and for a Muslim lady is not allowed dancing openly and secretly at any stage of the life.

Mahira Khan dancing on middle of the road is purely against the Islamic values as well.

If Pakistani young girls start following dance moves of Mahira Khan on middle of the road so they will be start diverting from the path of truth.

We need to save the future of our Muslim girls to give them better results in the life to come. To achieve this target PTI govt should take legal action against the women dancing on middle of the road.

This is purely an Islamic country and it is not the European Country…  For Reminder!

Mahira Khan should also rethink about her recent act and should not repeat it in the days to come.

Earlier, Mahira Khan danced in the middle of the road and her video had gone viral on the social networking websites.

Mahira Khan said some loose character words too like, “Cuz if you lose that.. you’re nothin’, in which the actor said not to lose the craziness because if you lose that you would be nothing.

So, immediate action is need by the govt authorities to stop women dancing on middle of the road acts, trends and culture.

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