FARUKH SHEHZAD

ISLAMABAD, JUN 21: PTI Chairman Imran Khan on Tuesday said his party would challenge the recent amendments to the National Account­ability (NAB) Ordinance in the Supreme Court.

Earlier this month, a joint session of parliament had passed three bills, including those related to electoral reforms and the accountability law. Amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) (Amendment) Bill were aimed at preventing the “misuse of law for political engineering and victimisation of opponents”.

The changes were criticised by Imran and his party, with the PTI chairman saying the move would destroy the country as the amendment would protect white-collar criminals from accountability.

Continuing that train of criticism in today’s media address, Imran said the assembly session where the amendment was passed was a “mockery and a joke with the country”. “Those who passed the NAB amendments should be thrown into jail due to their shamelessness,” he added.

He expressed hope that the courts would take notice of the development, adding that if such moves were allowed then it would be detrimental for the country.

Imran said laws formulated in the country should not be specific to any one person but instead be applicable to the collective whole.

Tackling the major amendments one by one, Imran explained how they would be used to allegedly eliminate a number of cases against leaders of the coalition government.

The PTI chairman alleged that he was pressured throughout the entire duration of his government and blackmailed to provide a National Reconciliation Ordinance-type deal to major political figures of the present coalition government but he did not give in.

“It should be clear now their return [to power] was not to reduce inflation.”

He said if the present government remained in power then Pakistan would be on its way to a situation similar to the one in Sri Lanka.

“What they have done today (passing and implementing the NAB amendment law) is [give a] licence to [commit] corruption.”

Imran said he would issue another public call to show where the nation stood on the issue, adding that history would not forget those who abetted and supported the present government in coming to power.

Earlier today, PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi rejected the notion that the NAB reforms bill was designed with the aim to close ongoing graft cases against the party’s leadership.

“Cases against us will continue,” he said while speaking to the media outside an accountability court on Tuesday after a journalist asked him about allegations that the intention behind the legislation was to end graft cases against the country’s incumbent rulers.

He said that most of the amendments proposed to the NAB law were in fact during the PTI’s tenure and several federal ministers had admitted that these were necessary to fulfil the requirements of justice.

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COURTESY DAWN NEWS

• Expect iconic design, high-end service and absolute opulence on these luxury train rides around the world

Anyone who has spent a decent amount of time commuting on trains will know that trains sometimes can hardly be considered travelling in style. But it hasn’t always been a case of incessant delays and sardine-tight quarters. There was once a time when travelling by rail meant travelling in luxurious style. Luxury? Train travel? Well, that was very much the case, and there remain several opportunities around the globe to ride the rails in the opulence of yesteryear.

Many of these tourist trains are built around complete packages, with day trips and stop-offs around every corner. Not literally, obviously, but it is undeniably delightful that the most luxurious train rides in the world also happen to follow some of the most beautiful routes on the planet, not to mention some of the longest. Train travel as it once was? Start saving, because this is well worth it.

1. Venice Simplon-Orient-Express

ISLAMABAD, JUN 21: At Interop Tokyo 2022, the largest ICT trade show in Japan, Huawei OceanProtect Backup Storage won the Best of Show special award in the Server & Storage category. This is the first world-class award won by Huawei OceanProtect Backup Storage, demonstrating its high-end and competitive advantages.

Award-winning review: Unmatched backup storage performance. With fast backup speeds and high data reduction rates, the system can revolutionize applications and system designs and propel a new model of backup storage into the future.

Interop Tokyo is the largest and most influential ICT exhibition in Japan. Each year, the best technology companies from around the world showcase their cutting-edge solutions and technical prowess, to compete for positive Interop reviews. Huawei OceanProtect backup storage has been praised by IT experts and reviewers for its unique, industry-leading solution and flawless on-site demonstration.

The traditional Disk-to-Disk-to-Tape (D2D2T) model for data protection faces problems such as long backup window and recovery time, while the new era of Flash-to-Flash- to-Anything (F2F2X) redefines the model as backup solutions go flash, further unlocking the value of data. Huawei OceanProtect backup storage, as a next-generation smart all-flash benchmark product, is designed for the F2F2X era, featuring fast backup and restore, efficient shrinkage, and high reliability.

Why Huawei OceanProtect Backup Storage was crowned the winner?

The first benefit is fast backup and restore. Upstream, OceanProtect uses a DTOE smart network interface card (NIC) to optimize protocol computation and free up CPU computing resources, doubling the array bandwidth compared to the traditional network card. Additionally, OceanProtect supports high performance SSDs on the back. The full end-to-end acceleration feature enables backup bandwidths of up to 155 TB/hour and recovery of 172 TB/hour, respectively.

In terms of reduction efficiency, multi-layer inline variable-length deduplication, feature-based compression, and byte-level compaction achieve a data reduction ratio of up to 72:1, which contributed to significant total cost of ownership savings.

In addition, 6-nine high reliability is based on active-active redundancy hardware architecture and RAID-TP technology, which can tolerate three disk failures and implement failover in seconds in the event of one failure. single controller, for high availability and reliability.

In the F2F2X era, data protection encompasses a new ecosystem and new challenges. Huawei OceanProtect backup storage adapts to high-speed backup patterns in various industries and application environments, providing superior backup and recovery to protect your data assets in the smart world.

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 20: Paymob, a leading Egyptian payment solutions facilitator announces the appointment of Fawad Abdul Kader as the Country Head for their Pakistan operations, effective April 2022. 

Mr. Kader is a fin-tech project specialist with extensive in-depth knowledge and implementation experience in the financial services industry. He has played a key strategic role in the development and deployment of financial services solutions for various financial institutions across Pakistan.

Mr. Omar El-Gammal, SVP Global Business Development Paymob (Egypt) remarked, “Paymob is very excited to have Fawad lead the operations in Pakistan. His diverse experience in fin-tech project implementation in the country is key to unlocking the right strategy for market expansion.”

More recently, Mr. Kader served as the Head of Digital Financial Services at NIFT and helped establish an aggregated domestic payment gateway under the brand name NIFT ePay. During this time, he spearheaded the introduction of an aggregated account-based direct debit service along with card and wallet-based payments for online businesses. Mr. Kader has previously served as a consultant for National Savings Digitization Project with Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) for a project funded by Karandaaz. He has also served as a Business Unit Head for numerous premier banking institutions in Pakistan, including Bank Alfalah and MCB. Throughout his professional journey, he has been a key player in developing and executing strategies aimed at facilitating the fintech and digital payment ecosystem in Pakistan. 

Mr. Kader joined Paymob in April of 2022 as the Country Manager of Paymob Pakistan. At the announcement, he stated, “As an advocate and facilitator of fin-tech infrastructure networks, I am very excited to start this new journey at Paymob Pakistan. Their omnichannel payment system, diverse product suite, and aggressive market strategy coupled with their ties in the international market and their mission to facilitate merchants everywhere are key elements of their success.  I look forward to utilizing Paymob’s successful experience to empower 100,000 merchants by 2024 all across Pakistan working closely with my team.”

Paymob is the leading MENAP digital payments enabler that builds payments infrastructure technologies empowering businesses and merchants of all sizes with access to financial services. Paymob is bridging the financial inclusion gap in the region by enabling businesses to benefit from the power of its unified commerce solution.

Paymob chose to invest in the Pakistani market as it sees a significant opportunity for increasing its internet GDP. Pakistan has a population of over 220 million, with more than 5 million retail outlets and MSME businesses across its cities that use just over 80,000 POS terminals, and less than 3,000 e-commerce gateways, meaning it is “perfectly suited” to Paymob’s ability to bridge the digital financial gap and meets the company’s criteria and strategy to expand further across MENAP, and globally.

Paymob aims to create a positive impact on the Pakistani ecosystem by empowering MSMEs across all Pakistani cities with online and face to face digital financial solutions to manage and grow their businesses. Paymob’s advanced technology offers instant onboarding features for the first time in Pakistan using products such as Payment Gateways, POS, and Soft POS.

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KUMRAT, JUN 19: Bewitching natural beauty, cultural richness and unparalleled hospitality of the diverse tourist’s destinations in Pakistan have always contributed to captivate the attention of local and exotic nature as well as generate handsome revenues.

Bestowed with uncountable benediction, Pakistan’s plains and hilly areas in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and Northern areas present ample opportunities of amusement to hundreds of thousands tourist thronging these places every year.

Kumrat Valley, situated in the Upper Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, is also one of the beautiful discoveries of the social media with all its attractions of green pastures, snow clad mountains, the river Panjkora, foggy mounds and imperturbable beauty of the forest.

“The year 2016 proved as a turning point for the hidden beauty of Kumrat Valley to be revealed through social media and soon it became one of the famous tourist’s destinations for the visitors”, Assistant Commissioner, Sheringal, Muhammad Yar Khan said.

“Before 2016, there was not even a single hotel in the valley for the tourists to stay but later on small hotels were constructed in the forests by the local people to facilitate visitors,” he added.

The place is so beautiful that despite a 48 kilometer dilapidated track from Sheringal, Union Council in Upper Dir, tourist embark on this journey to visit the heavenly place. Although, this track was repaired sometimes back but damaged again due to frequent snowfall.

“Despite the poor road conditions, around 6,000 visitors entered Kumrat Valley on the first day of Eid-ul Fitr, 8,000 on the second and 10,000 plus on the third day of Eid,” Muhammad Yar Khan said.

He said for facilitation of the visitors the administration maintains strict law and order. “Not even a single crime was reported during last one year of my posting therefore visitors can freely roam around the valley without any threat.”

Muhammad Yar however mentioned to dearth of good doctors, educationists and other professionals in the area as most of the people after getting good education move to cities or abroad for job purposes.

Former Prime Minister, Muhammad Nawaz Sharif visited the place during his tenure and wanted to give it the status of a National Park. But, local people resisted this proposal fearing that their land and forests would be confiscated by the government.

Pakistan People’s Party government established Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University in Sheringal in 2016 and the PTI government in KPK also focused on forest conservation and promotion of tourism in the areas.

Meanwhile, an official of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, Zaman Khan said that Deputy Inspector General of Police has issued strict instruction to maintain law and order in the area.

“We follow instructions and try to keep the area crime free,” he said but mentioned to language barriers and overcharging by hotels when asked about complaints registered by the visitors.

“Most of the visitors complain of language barriers, extra charging by shops and car parking as well as dilapidated roads,” he added.

Around one million tourists visit the valley during the peak four months of summer season with most of them coming from Punjab and Sindh. This rising number of visitors has risen the number of locally constructed two star hotels to 45 in addition to small huts.

The hotels capacity sometimes fall short to accommodate the visitors that make local people to fleece the tourists charging them Rs 8,000 to Rs 15000 per night.

“This is irritating. We go there for leisure time but the local fully benefit from our presence over there by charging much more than the actual price,” said a visitor Adnan Chaudhry, hailing from Faisalabad.

“If the nature has bestowed them with its bounties, they should care for the fellow visitors. Procinvial authorities should devise a pricing mechanism for the tourists visiting this area,” he said.

He said, “we can understand that they have only seasonal income as there are lesser opportunities of earning during harsh winter. But, the rates should be convenient to both sides.”

More than 70 percent area of the valley comprises forest while 30 percent of barren land. The people in the valley lack proper source of income and most of them migrate to other cities for job purposes.

Major agricultural crops of this area are potatoes and apple gourd (Tinda). However, the weather is also favorable for growing winter crops in summer season which are supplied to main cities.

The trees falling in the forest due to heavy rains or fast winds is another source of income for them as selling these trees in the market brings 60 percent share to local people and 40% to the government treasury.

Since, this is very low literacy rate area, the Assistant Commissioner informed that his office has written to the provincial authorities for construction of high schools for boys and girls.

Population in this area comprises 70 percent Kohistani and 30 percent Gujjars and language usually spoken is Kohistani as this area links to Indus Kohistan starting from silk route down to Kohistan, Palas, Shangla and Kalam. But, they all also know Pashto well.

This area is so beautiful that whatever the hardships, the tourists cannot be oblivious to enchanting beauty of Kumrat blue water, Jahaz Banda, Badgoi Top, Gwaldai Dara and Sundarai Dara and upcoming beautiful lakes planned by the provincial government for the tourists.

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 19: The iconic actor-producer Mr. Adnan Siddiqui will not be attending APPNA to be held in the US from July14-16 given that Indian artistes too will be part of the program. 

As a self-respecting Muslim, Mr. Siddiquistrongly condemns the insolent and obscene remarks made by Hindu right-wing Indian politicians against the beloved Prophet (P.B.U.H). 

“My conscience will never allow me to be in the same space asartists from the country that has insulted our Prophet. I have nothing against the artists personally butas a form of personal protest and as solidarity for my Muslim brethren worldwide,

I have excused myselffrom the event,” Mr. Siddiqui has said.The remarks by the two Indian leaders have received widespread criticism from Muslim nations across the world including Pakistan. 

“As a Pakistani too, I stand with my country that has strongly criticized the Indian government’s enabling of such Islamophobia,” asserts Mr. Siddiqui.

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By, Munaza Kazmi

Today, an increasing number of girls and women migrate to the city’s sex trade to escape poverty and abuse at home. Some are trafficked and sold into the business. Many others, however, are born into the trade. For generations, families of courtesans have put their girls into prostitution when they are fourteen or fifteen years old. At this point in the generational cycle, a mother usually retires from the business and then manages her daughter’s career.

There are around 42 million female prostitutes all around the world, almost 80 percent of them range in age between 13-25. Keeping in view the poverty and gender inequality, probity of around 50 percent could be in the developing countries.

Since, women in the underdeveloped countries are deprived of basic rights and are exploited through physical violence, forced marriages, life threat, fake love affairs, runaway and sexual abuses. The conservative mindsets of the male-dominant society do not accept the women with follies. Whenever a woman put a step out of her home even for a work, the evil eyes of the men always gaze at her, moreover every possible situation could be made to buy the piece of flesh.

Poverty, illiteracy, economic unacceptability, family pressure, runaways, low payroll status and societal injustice are the causes of women’s entry intoprostitution. However, better to say, “Prostitution is existing due to its high demands prevailing in the society”.

During a correspondence with a 29 years old sexworker Meena from Haripur, I came to realize the difficulties of her life, the respect and love she yearned for, that all she wanted to do was to marry and lead a normal life but could not afford to. “My past is my curse; I have no way out,” she said as looking deeply in at nowhere. I know her for past 10 years and seen the ups and downs of her life, how her family insists her for sending money back at home, how she sold herself in order to marry her sisters and even brother.

Our society hate such women because they ignore the fact that, Villain is just a victim whose story hasn’t been told.

The issue of sex-workers in Pakistan is a taboo and has never been discussed openly.
Since Pakistan’s inception, no NGO or government organization has worked for the rights and rehabilitation of sex workers; they are only taken into consideration when talking about HIV.

Ironically, Pakistan sees its fair share of prostitution but most of it is carried out in secret. Although the trend of “red-light sex workers” was decreasing, “Heera Mandi” is now just a glistering tale of past, the business had found a new ally for itself in the internet.

Indeed, a coin has two sides, there are women how are economically pushed into this slavery, along there are some cases who deliberately jump into prostitution.

Sitaraa 27 years old refugee girl, enjoying the bounties of God whishes to join this line, only for the sake of more only saying, “I want a rich patron to support my lifestyle, from my pocket money I cannot afford brands”.

This world is full of spectacles unimaginable sometimes, one end is the poverty sicken, on the other lust and disgust.

Prostitution is a hard work. It is a cutthroat business and girls usually have a short career. Even those who start at the top usually descend the career ladder very rapidly. They are in their prime at eighteen and are ‘used goods’ by twenty-five. Until recently, a variety of classes of women lived and worked in this business, from elite courtesans who earned the equivalent of thousands a night, to women in down-market lane, who earned a few rupees per customer. At a basic level, all the women sold the same services, together with their youth and varying degrees of beauty.

Jalwa, years old married woman, was forced into prostitution after closing off the saloon in which she worked, “I wanted to get a job. I tried everywhere,” she said. But her weakening financial conditions got the better of her. “My children and husband do not know that I work as a sex worker. I told them I work at a parlor,”.

Names of the sex workers have been changed to protect their identity.

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Munaza Kazmi holds MPhil in Management Sciences (Bahria University Islamabad, 2020). She’s a travel writer, an author, & co-author of scientific contributions in national & international publications. Her main areas of research include tourism & quality management.

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Munaza Kazmi

The classical History lovers are pinned everywhere in the world, looking for exploring another piece of art. Pakistan! Famous for its wildest and most dangerous peaks, is a home to Indus Valley civilization, Gandhara, Mughal Rule, Tribal Kingdoms and a lot many. However, one can only look at them in Museums, Palaces or Forts, but had never got the opportunity to live the History. What if I take you somewhere.

IMAGINE! in the middle of gigantic mountains, a day into the actual homes of Kings and Queens, the splendor of Royalty on the rhythms of History.

About 170km,almost a two hours unforgettably beautiful drive from Sakardu Airport, Gilgit Baltistanlies the Shigar, an absolutely beautiful gift of nature.There are stunning natural treasures like the Katpana Desert, also known as the Cold Desert and is the highest desert in the world. Among the valley’s mountainous landscapes is K2, the second-highest mountain in the world, Trango Towers, Concordia Glacier amongst many other glaciers. Surrounded by greenery and captative beauty of lakes, Shigar is no doubt a glamorous tourist spot.The perfect tone of the clouds, the huge mountains and the tranquility makes the place a heavenly and magical,where your IMAGINATION will be turning into reality.

Serena Shigar Fort, known as Fong-Khar which in the local language means the “Palace on the Rock”, it is one of Northern Pakistan’s most beautiful hotels. There you almost feel as if you have stepped in to a movie set because it is so picturesque.

Decorated by the magnificent beauty of Baltistan’s Karakoram Mountain Range and four centuries of folklore and legends, Serena Shigar Fort is a oneofakind heritage boutique hotel situated within a peaceful natural setting. Experience history in a 450-year-old fort and the 17th century Palace of the Raja of Shigar, along with the more recently added "Old House" and "Garden House".

Ancient mountain landscapes, stunning views and the ambience of a 400-year-old Fort-Palace set our 15 rooms and 5 suites among Pakistan’s most serene and timeless sanctuaries. Ornamented in warm earth tones, all accommodations feature locally inspired design touches like wooden floors, exquisite woodwork, native stone and period furnishings.

The 13 traditional guest rooms located in the original 17th century Palace offer you an exclusive glimpse into the life of the Raja and Rani of Shigar, where you can actually enjoy the ways of royalty. Moreover, a more recent addition to the grounds, the Garden House offers 7 conventional rooms with modern comforts like flat-screen televisions and room service. These accommodations were crafted using building materials and techniques faithful to the historical architecture of Shigar Fort. Adorned with handmade fabrics and antiques, Garden House rooms feature private terraces with views of the Amacha Garden. The most important! all rooms at Serena Shigar Fort are non-smoking.

Standard Room: These non-smoking heritage rooms offers either double, single or twin beds covered by cloudy white sheets and a well-appointed bathroom with shower. 

Garden House Standard Room: Spacious Garden House Rooms feature double or twin beds, a lobby area, cable television and a romantic private wood balcony facing the picturesque Baradari monument and Amacha Garden.

Garden Suite: Providing a little more space than Garden Rooms, Garden Suite feature a king bed, sitting area with Diwan, in-room cable television, a modern bathroom equipped with all the modern-day facilities, and a glamorous private balcony facing the beautiful Baradari monument and Amacha Garden, from where the scented smell would keep coming.

Heritage Suite: The hotel’s 3 Heritage Suites originally served as the chambers of the royal women and the Raja’s mid-season quarters. Spacious and opulently decorated with period antiques, these Suites offer a king bed in the main bedroom, a single bed in a separate anteroom or Shah-e-Nasheen and a sitting area. Special features include beautiful paneled ceilings and carvings on Shah Nasheen.

Royal Suite: Originally the Raja’s royal summer quarters, this non-smoking suite features one comfortable king bed, an adjoining sitting area, originally Raja’s Baithak, a “Shah-e-Nasheen” and an airy, hanging wooden latticework balcony. Decorated in period antiques with a splendid view of the Shigar stream, the room is appointed with a working desk, one exquisite bathroom and a powder room.

Fong Khar Restaurant

The culinary philosophy at Serena Shigar Fort is based on providing the finest seasonal and, where possible, local ingredients from Shigar Valley farms and providers. All meals feature fresh produce from hotel’s very own cherry orchards and vegetable garden, including a handmade cherry ice cream sure to be the delight of your stay.

Amidst a historic stone and wood design, Fong Khar Restaurant invites conversation among guests while savoring an innovative menu of Pakistani, Balti, Chinese and Continental specialties.

During the warmer months, the al fresco garden is the perfect setting for a meal beneath the grapevine with beautiful views of the Shigar stream and surrounding village. However, for private dining events, the first floor offers a Turkish-style seating area with an open veranda seating presentinggorgeous village and stream views.

From the traditional stone and wood architecture to the tranquil sight and sound of the Shigar stream flowing in front of the hotel, the experience here is that of a peaceful home away from home in an ancient, historic undisturbed wilderness.

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Munaza Kazmi holds MPhil in Management Sciences (Bahria University Islamabad, 2020). She’s a travel writer, an author, & co-author of scientific contributions in national & international publications. Her main areas of research include tourism & quality management.

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ISLAMABAD, JUN 17: To enhance the professional growth of students and promote industry-academia linkages, Air University conducted Career Fair 2022 at its university premises today.

The career fair provides excellent opportunities to students for gainful employment as well as to strengthen its partnership with prospective employers. At the same time it provides an opportunity for prominent national and multinational companies to connect with fresh, energetic talent and position themselves as preferred employers.

More than 100 national and international organizations representing multiple industries and sectors participated in the Career Fair. Students and recruiters took part in different activities including extensive on-spot screening interviews, sharing information as well as exchanging resumes. Moreover, company representatives also counselled students regarding their career choices and job market requirements.

Vice Chancellor Air University, Air Marshal (Retd) Javed Ahmed said that such events provide common platform to students and job providers so the talent gets the recognition and ways to channelize their inner strengths and energies and employers get the best for their companies. He mentioned that post COVID 19, virtual networking options are very important as employers and employees both prefer to connect through virtual platforms.

He further added that as part of CPEC interventions government should ensure provision of university at every 1000 KMs which can serve as a major prosperity tool to help Pakistan promote education and overcome economic problems.

Director Digital Time Communications, Nazakat Hussain appreciated the role this industry-academia-youth linkage is playing in the youth employment. He said that such collaborations will go a long way in the economic and social development of country by polishing talent and creating a talent pool.

The Diabetes Centre also participated in the career fair not only to hire fresh graduates but also raised awareness among the youth about the diabetes and its symptoms.

Pepsi, Air Blue, Nayatel, Meezan Bank, Soneri Bank, UBL, Askari Bank, Ufone, ProPakistani, PTCL, Huawei, Fauji Cements, Digital Time Communications, The Diabetic Centre and many other prestigious organizations participated in the Career Fair 2022.

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Get up to 12% savings on your Qatar Airways flight along with a chance to win a complimentary FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ package 

13 lucky winners will win a trip of a lifetime to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ 

The promotion will run for flights booked and travelled by 31st August 2022

ISLAMABAD, JUN 16: Qatar Airways passengers who are Visa cardholders in UAE, Kuwait and Oman, are being rewarded with the chance to win special savings and prizes, including a fantastic FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ package thanks to Visa and Qatar Airways. The package includes match tickets along with 3-4 nights of hotel accommodation in Qatar. Some of the packages offered as prizes include airline tickets to / from Qatar. In time for making travel plans for this summer, the promotion also gives Visa card holders up to 12% discount for flight tickets booked from Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, UAE and Pakistan.

The offer will be valid for online bookings completed through www.qatarairways.com using the promotional code VISA22, payment made with Visa cards and travel starting within the campaign period. The promotion will be offered for all Qatar Airways-operated destinations subject to certain exclusions. 

Qatar Airways VP Sales – Middle East, Levant, Caucasus and Pakistan, Mr. Dersenish Aresandiran, said: “The FIFA World Cup coming to Qatar this year is a major draw for passengers from all over the World. As the World’s Best Airline, we are delighted to be able to work with Visa to offer passengers the opportunity to join us here in Qatar for this extraordinary event.”

Madhur Mehra, Visa’s Head of Merchant Sales and Acquiring for MENA, said: “As travel continues to reopen post-pandemic, this promotion is a great way to reward Qatar Airways passengers when they use their Visa card to book their travel. We are delighted to partner with Qatar’s national carrier to enrich Visa cardholders’ payment experiences with chances to win once in a lifetime and unique prizes.”

Qatar Airways is providing incredible travel options during Summer 2022 with flights operating daily from the World’s Best Airport, Hamad International, to its global network with a huge number of leisure choices. Whether passengers are seeking summer vacations including tranquil beach gateways, energetic city breaks, bold adventure destinations or incredible family and friend escapes, there is something for everyone.

The airline is providing global connectivity from more than 150 gateways worldwide to some of the most desired vacation destinations, whilst offering unparalleled comfort and exceptional service on board to give passengers an unforgettable journey.

A multiple award-winning airline, Qatar Airways was named ‘World’s Best Airline’ in the latest World Airline Awards, managed by the international air transport rating organisation Skytrax. The airline’s hub, HIA, was recently recognised as the ‘Best Airport in the World 2021’, ranking at number one in the Skytrax World Airport Awards 2021.

In addition to this, Qatar Airways has become the first global airline in the world to achieve the prestigious 5-Star COVID-19 Airline Safety Rating by Skytrax. This follows the success of Hamad International Airport (HIA) as the first airport in the Middle East and Asia to be awarded a Skytrax 5-Star COVID-19 Airport Safety Rating. These awards provide assurance to passengers across the world that the airline’s health and safety standards are subject to the highest possible standards of professional, independent scrutiny and assessment. 

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KARACHI, JUN 15: Considering media as the fourth pillar of a state due to its important role towards transferring information and opinion making, experts at a consultative workshop have called for capacity building of media persons especially on health issues including provision of emergency healthcare services.

Healthcare professionals, representatives from media regulators, media experts and academicians attended the consultative workshop which was organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), APPNA Institute of Public Health-Jinnah Sindh Medical University and Khyber Medical University.

Objective of the workshop, which was part of the ICRC’s Health Care in Danger (HCiD) initiative, was to develop training for journalists to promote ethical and responsible reporting on the issues related to healthcare in Pakistan. 

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Lubna Ansari-Baig, Chairperson AIPH-JSMU, said, “Various research studies have identified that irresponsible media reporting always hinders the provision of emergency healthcare services. There is a need to improve the standards of media reporting on health issues to counter misperceptions, promote factual reporting, and stop the gradual erosion of trust between healthcare providers and the public.”

The experts in the workshop deliberated in depth upon the problems pertaining to reporting on health matters in national media and provided their feedback to strengthen the content of the training. They also stressed upon the need for following up this exercise with hands-on trainings for journalists on ethical standards of reporting on health. 

Participating in the discussion, Secretary General of Pakistan Medical Association, Dr Qaisar Sajjad, said, “Healthcare workers are working in challenging circumstances, especially in emergency departments, to provide life-saving services. They need the support of media personnel to promote attitudes and behaviours among the general public that facilitate the provision of healthcare services”.

The representatives of media at the workshop voiced the needs of journalists and reporters specific to reporting on health care. They called for media persons’ capacity building and trainings to objectively report on the issues facing the healthcare sector. 

At the same time, they were also of the view that it’s important for healthcare workers to also enhance their communication skills to enable a clearer flow of information between the media and healthcare professionals, especially during disasters or emergencies.

Under the HCiD initiative, the ICRC has been working to make healthcare safer in Pakistan by promoting evidence-based initiatives in collaboration with diverse stakeholders including public health institutions, medical academia, healthcare authorities, and the Pakistan Red Crescent Society.

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