Imran Khan sworn-in as 22nd Prime Minister of Pakistan
Islamabad (Aug 18, 2018) President Mamnoon Hussain administered the Oath to Imran Khan at the Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad.
Talking to media, prominent personalities and political figures described today’s transfer of power as a dawn of new era.
High-profile guests attending the ceremony included caretaker Prime Minister Justice (retd) Nasir-Ul-Mulk, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Zubair Mahmood Hayat, the Chief of Air Staff Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan, former Cricketers, Showbiz personalities, Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi, Naval Chief Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi and other people belonging to all walks of life attended the swearing-in ceremony.
Khan, who famously captained the national cricket team to World Cup glory in 1992, had also invited some of his former teammates to witness his formal ascension to the top ministerial job in the country.
Guard of Honour
As the ceremony concluded, Khan proceeded to the Prime Minister’s Office, where he was presented a guard of honour.
The national anthem was played and a contingent of the three services presented him salute. Imran Khan inspected the guard of honour and was then introduced to the staff of the Prime Minister House.
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325 newly elected members take oath during first session of 15th National Assembly
ISLAMABAD (AUGUST 13, 2018) : Outgoing NA speaker Ayaz Sadiq chaired the memorable session and managed vow to the MNAs-choose in the 342 members house. The session started with the MNAs-choose supporting the national song of praise and was trailed by the recitation of the Holy Quran. The speaker at that point read out the system for the race of the new speaker and representative speaker.He at that point managed promise to the MNAs-choose following which they marked the move of individuals in sequential order arrange.
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Election for speakers, deputy speakers of National ,KP, Sindh, Punjab, Balochistan assemblies
National Assembly : Asad Qaiser of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf was elected as Speaker of the National Assembly, defeating Khursheed Shah of joint opposition front. Qaiser bagged 173 votes against Shah’s 146 while eight votes were rejected.
Meanwhile, Qasim Suri has been elected as Deputy Speaker of the lower house.
Punjab Assembly : Joint candidate of PTI-led alliance Chaudhry Pervez Elahi has been elected as Speaker Punjab Assembly after securing 201 votes. His rival, PML-N’s Chaudhry Iqbal, obtained 147 votes.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Dost Mazari has been elected as the Deputy Speaker of the Provincial Assembly of Punjab.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly: PTI member Mushtaq Ghani was elected Speaker of the Khyber Paktunkhwa Assembly by securing 81 votes.
His opponent Laiq Muhammad secured 27 votes. Mehmood Jan of the PTI was elected as Deputy Speaker of the assembly.
Sindh Assembly: Siraj Durrani have been elected speakers of the Sindh Assembly and Rehana Leghair as Deputy Speaker .
Following the result announcement, the successful candidates were administered oath.
Durrani secured 196 votes while his opponent from MQM Javed Hanif bagged 59.
Balochistan Assembly: Balochistan Awami Party leader Mir Abdul Quddus Bizenjo has been elected Speaker Balochistan Assembly. Bizenjo bagged 39 votes against Muhammad Nawaz, who secured only 20 votes.
PTI’s Sardar Babar Musa Khel has been elected as the Deputy Speaker of the Provincial Assembly.
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PM Imran Khan finalises names of 21-member cabinet
The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf on Saturday announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan has finalised the names of his 21-member cabinet.
The announcement comes hours after Imran Khan took oath as the 22nd prime minister of Pakistan earlier in the day. According to a list issued by the party’s central media department, out of the 21 names announced 16 have been given the portfolio of a minister while five others will perform their duties as advisers to the premier.
List of Ministers:
Law and Justice ……………………………………………………….. Dr. Muhammad Farogh Naseem
States and Frontier Regions: ……………………………………… Chaudhary Tariq Bashir Cheema
Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony …………………….. Noorul Haq Qadri
Human Rights ………………………………………………………… Dr Shireen Mazari
Petroleum Division …………………………………………………. Ghulam Sarwar Khan
Defence Production ………………………………………………… Zubaida Jalal
Information and Broadcasting Division:………………………. Fawad Chaudhry
National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination… Aamir Mehmood Kiyani
Ministry of Foreign Affairs…………………………………………. Shah Mahmood Qureshi
Ministry of Defence:………………………………………………….. Pervez Khattak
Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs ……………………….. Asad Umer
Ministry of Railways ………………………………………………….. Sheikh Rashid Ahmed
Inter-provincial Coordination …………………………………….. Fehmida Mirza
Information Technology and Telecom…………………… Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui
Fed. Edu. & d Professional Training & Heritage Division.. Shafqat Mahmood
Water Resources Ministry…………………………………………. Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar
List of Advisers
Establishment Division………………………………………………. Mohammad Shehzad Arbab
Commerce, Textile, Industry & Production and Investment. Abdul Razak Dawood
Institutional Reforms and Austerity…………………………….. Ishrat Hussain
Climate Change ……………………………………………………….. Amin Aslam
Parliamentary Affairs…………………………………………………. Babar Awan
According to the 18th Constitution Amendment, the size of the federal cabinet should be not more than 11 per cent of the total strength of the National Assembly and Senate.
List of Current Provincial Chief Ministers
Province Name Party
Balochinstan Jam Kamal Khan Balochistan Awami Party(BAP)
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
Punjab SardarUsman Buzdar Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
Sindh Murad Ali Shah Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)
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Pakistan celebrates 72nd Independence Day
ISLAMABAD: (14th Aug. 2018) Pakistanis across the country and in other parts of the world celebrated the country’s 72nd Independence Day on Tuesday 14 Aug, 2018, with traditional fervour and enthusiasm, as President Mamnoon Hussain emphasised on the “power of vote” in his address on the occasion.
CEREMONY: The main ceremony was hosted at Islamabad’s Jinnah Convention Centre, where President Mamnoon Hussain hoisted the national flag. The ceremony was also attended by caretaker Prime Minister Nasirul Mulk, the three chiefs of the armed forces and other notable personalities and foreign dignitaries. Commandant Pakistan Naval Academy Commodore Waqar Muhammad was the chief guest at the ceremony.
SUPPORT FOR KASHMIRIS: Mamnoon paid tribute to the sacrifices of the sons and daughters of the soil in establishing peace in the country and reiterated Pakistan’s unswerving political and moral support for Kashmiris in Indian-occupied valley. “Pakistan will continue to provide its political and moral support to resolve the Kashmir issue under United Nations resolutions,” Mamnoon said. He called upon the international community to raise its voice to get the Kashmiri people their due rights.
PAKISTAN’S INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATED WORLDWIDE:
The Independence Day of Pakistan was celebrated with spirit and enthusiasm in India ‘New Delhi’, United States(US), High Commission in Dhaka, Embassy in France (Paris), Saudi Arabia ( Jeddah, Embassy in China, High Commission in UK (London) where Pakistani flag hoisted .
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Support for criteria based approach for NSG membership growing
Islamabad : August 2, 2018
Strategic Vision Institute has hailed government’s pro-active diplomacy for successfully advocating criteria based approach for membership of Nuclear Suppliers Group and called for bolstering the country’s candidature for admission into the multilateral export control regime.
The think tank, which specializes in nuclear deterrence and strategic stability issues, in a statement issued here underscored that Pakistan should focus on improving the narrative about its nuclear program and consider the steps that could further strengthen its NSG candidature.
SVI’s recommendations were based on an in-house roundtable discussion that was attended by diplomats, experts and academia.
President SVI Dr Zafar Iqbal Cheema said: “The nuclear politics of NSG is a significant issue and it is important for Pakistan to find suitable policy alternatives for generating a viable international support its membership of the NSG”.
It should be recalled that the stalemate on the admission of new members particularly the non-NPT states continued at the twenty-eighth Plenary Meeting of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) held in Jûrmala (Latvia) on 14 and 15 June 2018. The public statement issued after the meeting had said: “discussions were continuing on the requests for participation that had been submitted”. These deliberations on membership for non-NPT states Pakistan and India had started in 2016 at the Seoul Plenary and have continued since then without any progress. Pakistan has during this period successfully lobbied for criteria based approach, while simultaneously exposing the loopholes in the separation plan committed by India and the anomalies in its safeguards agreement.
Speaking at the in-house roundtable, Mr Kamran Akhtar, director general at the Arms Control and Disarmament Division of the Foreign Office, said: “The support for this (criteria based approach) is growing and a good number of countries are now calling for developing criteria for admitting non-NPT states”. He further pointed out that several international studies had also corroborated Pakistan’s long held position that any exemption for India could undermine the regional strategic stability by helping it (India) expand its nuclear program. ( Source: Agencies )
Miscreants vandalize, set ablaze 12 girls’ schools in Chilas, Diamer district
CHILAS (Friday 3rd Aug. 2018) Unidentified assailants burned down at least 12 schools in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Diamer district late on Thursday night and fled, causing panic among residents, locals and police said.
Local police officer Mohammad Bashir said the attacks on schools took place before dawn on Friday near Chilas, but there were no casualties as the schools were closed at the time.
The Diamer Youth Movement has called for a protest in Chilas, the district headquarters, against the targeting of education institutions in the district. This is the not the first time schools have come under attack in Diamer. Girls’ schools, in particular, were targeted, allegedly by extremists, in 2004 and 2011.
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Brave army soldier Maqbool Hussain passes away in Attock
ISLAMABAD: ( 28 Aug. 2018) Maqbool Hussain, a soldier of the Pakistan Army who faced extreme torture in Indian prisons during his detention for 40 years, breathed his last at the Combined Military Hospital in Attock, according to a statement issued here on Tuesday by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
In a statement, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa expressed his sorrow over the death of Maqbool Hussain, a resident of Tral Khal area of Azad Jammu Kashmir.
In 1965 war, the late soldier was taken as a prisoner by the Indian Army, but he was never given the status of a Prisoner of War (PoW), which provides him with certain rights and benefits. He vanished and was declared missing on August 20, 1965.
The Indians could never break Maqbool Hussain’s resilience despite all sorts of mental and physical torture. The torture grew to such an extent that they cut off Maqbool’s tongue, taking away his power to speak forever. After spending 40 years in Indian jails, Maqbool Hussain was released in 2005 during prisoner exchange at the Wagha border.
The man spent 40 years in the Indian jails, subject to inhumane torture and negate but he never said a word against his country – Pakistan. It is said that Maqbool Hussain, whenever he bled, wrote “Pakistan Zindabad!” on the walls with his blood.
When Maqbool Hussain was released, he had already lost his senses due to the brutal torture he had faced at the hands of the Indian Army during the four decades. When he was questioned about his identity, he kept replying by writing: “No 335139,” which was his army bearing number.
He was awarded Sitara-i-Jurat on March 23, 2009. The Inter-Services Public Relations even co-produced a drama on Sipahi Maqbool Hussain’s heart-wrenching but a patriotic story, directed by Haider Imam Rizvi.
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Russia to supply radar for protecting nuclear power plant in Pakistan
The radar is set to control and protect the Karachi nuclear power plant’s facilities
By : Grigoriy Sysoev
MOSCOW, August 30. /TASS/. Russia will supply a civilian radar station to Pakistan to protect facilities of the nuclear power plant in Karachi, the press office of RTI hi-tech company said. “A memorandum of cooperation in the field of organizing the delivery of the civilian radar Surok was signed at the Army-2018 international military and technical forum between RTI Group and the Pakistani company TechWin Enterprise. The radar is set to control and protect the Karachi NPP’s facilities, and also some other installations of Pakistan’s critically important infrastructure,” the press office said.
Both sides also agreed on exploring the possibilities of implementing joint projects in radiolocation and information systems in the interests of various ministries and departments of Pakistan.
RTI Group also held negotiations at the Army-2018 forum with China Electronics Corporation (CEC). Both sides agreed on opening joint R&D and experimental design works for creating new products and technologies, and also modernizing the Russian equipment earlier supplied to China. “A delegation from Vietnam got interested in the RTI’s competences and experience in situational centers for creating national environmental crisis management centers in that country. The Indian partners were shown the possibilities of civilian projects in the field of information and communication technologies,” the press office said.
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Iranian foreign Javad Zarif minister arrives on two-day visit to Pakistan
Islamabad : 30 Aug. 2018: ‘Pakistan stands with Iran in this hour of need’: Qureshi on US withdrawal from nuclear accord.
Welcoming the dignitary, Qureshi noted the potential for “strengthening the already strong bilateral relationship” between Pakistan and Iran.
Foreign Ministers of Pakistan and Iran, and other officials meet in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Detailed discussions were also held on regional and global issues, including the situation in Afghanistan and the United States’ decision to unilaterally withdraw from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) more commonly referred to as the Iran nuclear deal. Iran FM meets COAS
FM Zarif also called on Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi. According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), regional security situation and other matters of mutual interest were discussed. The army’s media wing said the visiting dignitary “acknowledged and appreciated Pakistan’s contributions for conflict prevention in the region”.
Iranian Fm meets to PM Imran Khan
Zarif delivered a message of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, inviting the Prime Minister for the upcoming Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Summit in Iran. Welcoming the foreign minister, Khan thanked the Iranian Supreme Leader’s support for Kashmiri’s struggle for self-determination as well as for the manner in which Pakistan Independence Day was celebrated in Iran.
PM Khan said that Pakistan and Iran were connected by inseparable bonds of historic, religious and cultural affinities. He added that during his tenure, Pakistan would make all efforts to cement these relations in various areas to the benefit of both countries.
He also emphasized on restoring complete peace and stability in the region.
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