Saturday, July 22, 2017
Bilawal Bhutto condemns torture and arrest of reporting team including a woman reporter of a private news channel
Chairman Pakistan People’s Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has condemned the torture and arrest of reporting team including a woman reporter of a private news channel in Islamabad today, adding that any kind of victimization and illegal actions against journalists will not be tolerated.
The woman reporter Saba Bajeer and Irfan Malik were tortured while they were performing their professional duties during the production of former SECP Chairman Zafar Hijazi in PIMS hospital.
In his press statement, PPP Chairman said that barring media from performing its professional responsibilities was denial of democratic paradigms and freedom of expression as well as an attack on the the freedom of journalism, “PPP is with journalists’ fraternity and will not let the free media to be attached by anybody,” he added.
Bilawal Bhutto said that action must be taken against those involved and it should be identified as who was behind the condemnable action against the journalists.
https://www.bankofamerica.com/sitemap/hub/signin.go
Pakistan ranks at 70 among 144 countries for recognizing role of Women in Political Empowerment
Pakistan ranks at 70 among 144 countries for identifying Women Participation in Political arena of Pakistan. In recognizing the role of Women in Political Empowerment, Centre for Career Education (ECCE) invited Farzana Yaqoob, President Asia Institute of Public Policy at Czech Republic to deliver an exclusive guest note on the state of gender parity in Pakistan.
ECCE is a leading European institute based in Prague, Czech Republic, focused on practical education to facilitate learning curve needed after graduation. The ECCE hosted a high level seminar in Prague, with graduating students of law, aimed at sharing global stakeholders perspective on working women in pursuit of enhancing women empowerment and recognizing their role in economic viability by identifying their informal contribution towards the country’s GDP.
Farzana Yaqoob, Founder and President of Asia Institute of Public Policy, was the key note speaker at the ECCE. Speaking to the ECCE Law faculty passing class of 2017, she said that, Pakistan currently stands among top 100 countries that recognize role of women in political empowerment. According to World Economic Forum, Pakistan’s overall rank stands at 90 among 144 countries on the indicator of Political Empowerment of Women. Furthermore, Pakistan is also recognized at number 70 with regards to Women in Parliament, followed by number 28 with Years with female head of state.
According to World Economic Forum, in identifying further indicators, Economic participation and opportunity currently ranks at 143, followed by Labour force participation of Women ranking at 139, Wage equality for similar work at 114. However, despite a significant change of women recognition and inclusion at Political empowerment, Pakistan’s deteriorating indicator on Education attainment currently stands at 135 followed by Health and Survival at 124 out of 144 countries.
Further, Ms. Yaqoob emphasized how Asia Institute of Public Policy is strategizing on improving Pakistan’s scorecard on the Gender Parity by identifying contribution of Women in informal economy and shifting their economic contribution from Informal economy to formal economy in order to enable them to be more self-reliant and autonomous that would inadvertently have a long lasting impact on the gender parity gap indicators for Pakistan
Farzana Yaqoob, Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum represents the next generation leadership of South Asia and has served as Former Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development in Azad Jammu and Kashmir Assembly. Ms Farzana is also the General Secretary at Einsenhower Fellowship program and has worked diligently with the Government of Azad Jammu and Kashmir to lead advent of Harassment against Women at Work Place Act followed by her subsequent efforts in amending the acid crime against women bill in the AJ&K Assembly and advocating towards drafting national action plans and legislation adopted to promote gender equality, in accordance with their commitments under Goal 5 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
Ms. Yaqoob has extensively worked with the Government of AJ&K during her tenure serving the AJ&K Government as the Minister for Social Welfare and Women Development in 2011. She has widely advocated and worked upon building confidence building measures towards increasing women participation in electoral landscape while pioneering public debates and later enactment on the Domestic violence Act for the rights of the women in Kashmir at both national and International level. Ms Yaqoob’s biggest achievement for Kashmiri women was identified upon creation of her proposed framework that ensured opportunities for women employment in the formal and informal sector; facilitating through matching public investment policies, access to markets in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and abroad by launching skill enhancement and training program to benefit more than 1200 girls and women in the AJ&K region.
Asia Institute of Public Policy is a think tank based in Islamabad with the objective to promote a research-based approach in creating Knowledge Councils premised on Trust, to facilitate the transformation of deeply-rooted socio-economic and political challenges. Asia Institute of Public Policy aims to reorganize the relationships between various stakeholders based on ‘Trust Collaterals’ from Government, Business, Academia, Media and the Civil Society in facilitating their integration by convergence so that all the stakeholders are fully actively involved in making confidence building measures on issues pertaining to global connectivity and interdependence.
Asia Institute of Public Policy works on integrating different stakeholder’s involvement on the new trajectory of ‘Trust’ convergence. The formation of Knowledge Councils (KC) would foster long-term commitment and involvement of all stakeholders and brainstorm to create common grounds for mutual Trust and benefits to their respective citizens.
Afghans dream of stepping out of the shadows with Pakistan ID scheme
By: Samad Khan
Programme aims to provide up to one million undocumented Afghans with identity cards legalizing their stay in Pakistan.
An Afghan in Pakistan without papers, Mohammad Rehman has lived all his life in fear of arrest by the police and deportation to his conflict-torn homeland. But a new Pakistan government programme to register up to one million undocumented Afghans like him, is finally allowing him to dream of stepping out of the shadows with a measure of security.
“I am feeling confident that I will have at least some sort of identity while in Pakistan,” says Rehman, who was born and raised in Pakistan to Afghan parents. “If the police arrest me now, at least I will be released without much trouble.” The pilot programme launched on July 20 seeks to register undocumented Afghans living in the country, currently estimated between 600,000 to one million, many of whom have lived in Pakistan for nearly four decades and raised children there. “I am feeling confident that I will have at least some sort of identity while in Pakistan.” Under the scheme, thousands like Rehman will be issued with an Afghan Citizen, or AC, card providing legal protection from arbitrary arrest, detention or deportation under Pakistan’s Foreigner’s Act.
The six-month registration programme began with pilot projects in the country’s capital Islamabad and the north-western city of Peshawar, which hosts the largest number of undocumented Afghans. The programme is expected to roll out in all four provinces from August 16. The push to issue the cards has been welcomed by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. It will allow Afghans to stay in Pakistan for the time being, until they can be issued documents such as passports, by the Government of Afghanistan. “The initiative will bring much needed relief for many Afghan families where some were registered refugees, while others had no legal status,” UNHCR spokeswoman Duniya Aslam Khan told a news briefing in Geneva on Friday (July 21). “It will help regularize the stay for many refugees at a time when return to their home country may not be possible,” she added. The registration follows three years of consultations between the governments of Afghanistan and Pakistan and UNHCR. It forms part of Pakistan’s Comprehensive Policy on the Voluntary Repatriation and Management of Afghans, which was endorsed by its cabinet in February this year.
“The initiative will bring much needed relief for many Afghan families.” Other components of the plan include: extending the validity of the Proof of Registration cards to some 1.4 million registered Afghans refugees until the end of 2017; a commitment to adopt a national refugee law; and a visa regime for different categories of Afghan refugees who have the Proof of Registration cards.
Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority, Ministry of States and Frontier Regions and the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation will oversee the project, with support from the International Organization for Migration, or IOM, and UNHCR. UNHCR will assist IOM with an information campaign to reach Afghan communities living in Pakistan, as well as ensuring that Afghans with international protection needs are referred to UNHCR.
Aside from easing his fears of arrest, Afghan refugee and honey vendor Saleem Khan sees other benefits from the registration programme. He hopes that having a card will allow him to move more freely and access markets in the village of Mandi Bahuddin in Punjab, and, reduce his children’s fear of discrimination in school. “My daughters were reluctant to attend the school as their teachers would bother them from time to time due to lack of documents. Police would stop us at every check post. After getting the card, we will be relieved,” he says.
Pakistan - Nawaz Sharif needs to decide by tonight about stepping down: Shah
Opposition Leader in the National Assembly, Khursheed Shah said on Saturday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif needs to decide by tonight to step down from his post.
Shah, speaking to reporters here, stated that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) should choose a new prime minister from the party.
“He [Nawaz] needs to decide by tonight to resign so he can maintain dignity. If he wants to convey his innocence he should. We do not want to get into that debate. But the decision needs to be made tonight before the Supreme Court verdict," Shah said.
Shah emphasised that the PPP wanted Parliament to complete its tenure and for a new prime minister to come. “We have never demanded that the government or assembly be dissolved."
The Opposition leader said he agreed with Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar’s objections.
“[My] differences with Nisar aside, his objections are correct that Nawaz Sharif consulted with junior members of his party and ignored the senior leadership,” Shah remarked, adding that whether Nisar decides to resign or not is the minister’s decision to make.
Shah also took aim at Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan. “It’s not just Nawaz Sharif who will be going. Imran Khan will also go with him,” he said.
U.S. withholds Pakistan reimbursement over Haqqani network: Pentagon
Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
The United States will withhold $50 million remaining in military reimbursements to Pakistan for fiscal year 2016 because Defense Secretary Jim Mattis believes that Islamabad has not done enough to blunt the Islamist militant Haqqani network, a U.S. official said on Friday.
The decision was not the first time that the Pentagon has declined to make military reimbursements to Pakistan. Last year, it withheld $300 million. Pakistan has been reimbursed $550 million of the $900 million it was authorized to receive in fiscal year 2016. Of the rest, $300 million had already been reprogrammed for other purposes, but had not been previously reported. Mattis' latest decision affects the remaining $50 million.
Relations between the two countries have been frayed over the past decade, with U.S. officials frustrated by what they term Pakistan's unwillingness to act against Islamist groups such as the Afghan Taliban and the Haqqani network.
Adam Stump, a Pentagon spokesman, said the $50 million could not be released now because Mattis "could not certify that Pakistan has taken sufficient action against the Haqqani Network per the requirement in the FY 2016 National Defense Authorization Act." President Donald Trump's administration is exploring potentially hardening its approach toward Pakistan to crack down on militants launching strikes in neighboring Afghanistan.
Possible Trump administration responses being discussed include expanding U.S. drone strikes and perhaps eventually downgrading Pakistan's status as a major non-NATO ally. Mattis told reporters on Friday that the decision was not linked to the administration's broader South Asia strategy, which is still being reviewed.
"This is simply an assessment of the current state of play," Mattis said. "It is not a policy, it is a reality."
The United States in 2012 designated the Pakistan-based Haqqani network as a terrorist organization. The year before, U.S. Navy Admiral Mike Mullen, then the top U.S. military officer, caused a stir when he told Congress that the Haqqani network was a "veritable arm" of Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate.
Pakistan argues that it has done a great deal to help the United States in tracking down terrorists and points out that it has suffered hundreds of deaths in Islamist militant attacks in response to its crackdowns.
Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry, said that Islamabad had continued to fight militants. "It may be noted that the funds in question are a reimbursement of the expenses incurred by Pakistan towards achieving our common objectives in the fight against terrorism, and not an assistance," Chaudhry said in a statement.
Pentagon spokesman Stump said the decision did not "reduce the significance of the sacrifices that the Pakistani military has undertaken over previous years."
He said Pakistan still had time to take action against the Haqqani network in order to receive reimbursements next year.