Proposal for revamping Railways submitted

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)


A proposal has recently been submitted to Dr Ishrat Husain Sahib, Advisor to Prime Minister on Institutional Reforms, Government of Pakistan, for investment in Pakistan Railways through Public Private Partnership. 

In view of the deteriorating condition of Pakistan Railways and increasing trend of train accidents the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, had entrusted Dr Ishrat Hussain to devise and prepare a comprehensive restructuring plan to make the organization a profitable department through public-private partnership. 

Mir Mohammad Khaskheli, Member, FPCCI Standing Committee on Railways, has submitted a comprehensive paper in this regard, a copy of which was also obtained by PNFS. 

In what has been described as an essential policy paper, it appears to be precisely well timed and could be extremely useful for future strategy of the government for the development of sustainable rail system in Pakistan. 

The paper gives an insight into the historical background besides critically analyzing the performance and financial aspect of Pakistan Railways. The gist of analysis and recommendations made in the paper are based on in-depth study of 39 years of public sector organizations and input of very senior officers of Pakistan Railways. 

As outlined in the paper, Pakistan Railways has been currently facing serious financial crisis due to circumstantial historic debt, exorbitant escalating fuel prices, pay and pension, inadequate running of freight trains, loss making passenger business, manufacturing and service units. 

In fact, the huge financial deficit had driven the Pakistan Railways to a fatal bankruptcy and government of Pakistan has been further burdened with an additional financial liability. 

It has been noted in the paper that the persistent losses incurred incur didn’t arise entirely from any public service function but gross mismanagement, incompetence and political interference also contributed significantly in mounting financial losses and escalating debt. 

The paper has pointed out that Pakistan Railways has been unable to rise up to the public’s expectations in terms of desired quality standards and efficiency of service, having failed to develop an entrepreneurial culture with respect to management, accountability for performance, assessing and reacting to the issues of tariff and fares when compared to other modes of transport, and in being innovative and capturing new opportunities. 

Mir Mohammad Khaskheli, well versed with the organization’s functions because of his long stint there, reckoned that Pakistan Railways’ ability to transform itself from non-profit making agency of government to a profitable entity depended mainly on its capacity to respond effectively to important structural challenges and the transformation required among other things, a basic change in the driving policy of rail infrastructure and operation. 

“Its adoption of public and private sector partnership, customer driven, commercially viable and market oriented system to make this national organization to function on sustainable and financially viable footings to maintain sustained economic growth,” he wrote. 

He regretted that despite of tall claims of improvement in the performance of department by the top management more than 100 train accidents occurred during the year 2019 alone.

“Huge investment is required for the development in rail infrastructure and safety of train operation. This requires complete replacement of existing obsolete signalling and communication system, rehabilitation of old aged bridges, up-gradation and standardization of railway track & rolling stock and invigorating maintenance facilities in major shops/sheds and depots,” he suggested. 

“It seems difficult to revive the past glory of Pakistan Railways and bringing trains back on tracks in the present circumstances. The situation may not change until unless a high powered honest and dedicated team is entrusted with the task to undertake important structural changes that should make the best use of its assets efficiently and wisely to revitalize this largest vital public sector organization,” he added. 

“The Government of Pakistan may invite and offer the private sector for the development of railway’s core functions to put the organization on commercially viable footings through public-private partnership,” Mir Mohammad Khaskheli suggested. 

“The objective to revive Pakistan Railways under the CPEC-related projects is praiseworthy; yet they can only scratch the surface of the dismal situation of PR which needs both institutional reforms and instrumental investments. On the institutional side one change that should take place is the broader representation in the Railway Board in existence since 1959 and reconstituted in 2015 for more informal decision making,” he continued. 

“In addition to the representatives from Ministry of Railways, Communication and Finance; representation from Ministry of Economic Affairs & Statistics, Law & Justice, Planning & Development and FBR is very vital to obtain more significant input and guidance on bilateral, multilateral and technical partnership issues,” he concluded.

IWD 2020 highlights gender equality

By Bushra Askari 
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Women’s rights and gender equality have started taking the centre stage as this year’s theme for International Women’s Day ‘I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights’ makes waves all over the world on the eve of the big day on March 8.

The United Nations (UN) Women Executive Director, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, has highlighted 2020 as the year for gender equality, having urged everyone to tackle the persistent barriers against gender equality. 

“2020 presents an unprecedented opportunity to turn things around for current and future generations of women and girls,” she remarked. 

She has remained confident about her agency’s Generation Equality campaign to deliver game-changing results to advance equality for women and girls. 

The UN agencies have been working proactively to advance gender equality in every nook and corner of the globe.

The Generation Equality campaign has been bringing together people of every gender, age, ethnicity, race, religion and country in order to drive actions that will create the gender-equal world. 

The UN has pledged to further mobilize its resources to end gender-based violence, having called for economic justice and rights for all. They desire to incorporate technology and innovation for gender equality and feminist leadership. 

This International Women’s Day, the UN Women’s multi-generational campaign, Generation Equality, brings together past and present advocates to demand gender equality in this generation. 

2020 has also been recognized as milestone year for gender equality as besides being the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Conference, the year will feature 64th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women, Generation Equality Forum in Mexico in May, and France, in July and high-level meeting of the 75th General Assembly on gender equality in September. 

This year will also celebrate 20th anniversary of Security Council resolution 1325 on women, peace and security in October, the Sustainable Development Goals five-year milestone and the 10th anniversary of UN Women.

Nisar Memon compliments Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Climate Change

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

While complimenting the Federal Climate Change and Foreign Ministries have made a visible impact internationally to keep Pakistan flag flying high, Senator Nisar Memon, a former federal minister, has noted that the challenges for even these two ministries remained enormous.

“The leadership of these ministries so far has met the challenge commendably by conceiving, launching and implementing policies and programmess to bring desired results,” he wrote in a recent newspaper article. 

“The number of productive foreign visits and representation of both the foreign minister and minister/advisor on climate change on the international bodies speak for itself the personal recognition of our representatives and the country,” he added. 

“The programme of the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, in Pakistan last month and his statements have put a seal of global approval on Pakistan’s policy of peace in the region and our response to climate change brought about by the developed economies in increasing temperature causing disasters like: melting of glaciers, floods, droughts, rising sea levels,” the Senator acknowledged. 

“The UN Secretary General recognized Pakistan’s decades of outstanding generosity and solidarity as one of the world’s largest hosts of refugees, and highlighted its commitment to climate action,” he recalled. 

“Our policy of opening up the Kartarpur corridor to facilitate Sikh pilgrims to visit Gurdwara durbar sahib and easing the tension on border towards increasing the interfaith harmony is appreciated by all including the Indian government and opposition politicians, the Indian diaspora in western world and the citizen of India,” he reckoned. 

“The efforts and successes of foreign office are remarkably backed up by our defence force working with Blue Helmet under UN flag, in the conflict areas of the world at cost of their lives, contributing to global peace Pakistan is the 6th country in UN list with its 5,093 personnel currently working in peacekeeping,” Senator Nisar Memon mentioned.

“Following the guidelines of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, our objective should be peace within and peace without. We want to live peacefully and maintain cordial and friendly relations without immediate neighbours and with world at large, we have no aggressive designs against anyone. We stand by the United Nations charter and will gladly make our contribution to the peace and prosperity of the world. This was, is and should be guideline for our foreign policy,” he observed.

Spotlight on rare diseases in Pakistan

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, in collaboration with Division of Women & Child Health, of the Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi, is holding Multidisciplinary Conference on Rare Genetic Diseases in Pakistan from March 4 to 7. 

The conference will bring together genetic researchers, pathologists and child health specialists from public and private sector organizations across the country at one platform. 

The programme is focused at outcome and challenges in management of inherited metabolic disorders, newborn screening, rare disorders case presentations and good laboratory practices alongside the ethical challenges. 

Furthermore, international experts form USA, Italy and New Zealand will also address the symposia and facilitate workshops to train the local work force aimed at establishment of Newborn Screening in the country. 

The conference provides the opportunity to interact closely with course presenters and faculty who are national and international leaders in their respective fields. The participants can expect to learn about the latest updates in research, innovation and clinical care of rare diseases including inherited metabolic disorders.

SBP Governor foresees better economic future

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Governor, Dr Raza Baqir, assured the members of the English Speaking Union of Pakistan (ESUP) as well as others attending the meeting at Beach Luxury Hotel, Karachi, on March 2 that the economic conditions of the country were far better off in many areas as compared to the past.

While the audience, having gathered much before the arrival of the chief guest, stood divided in believing the contents of the speech, the SBP Governor didn’t mind replying to tough questions in the interactive session. 

Aziz Memon, the livewire President of the ESUP, showered Dr Raza Baqir with praise while introducing him formally before inviting the distinguished speaker to deliver the keynote address. At the end of the session, the SBP Governor was presented a shield by the ESUP officials.

Dr Raza Baqir, having worked at key positions in the past, including a stint with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), described the functions of the SBP, clarifying that the collection of taxes was not its responsibility. He had taken over as the Governor of the SBP last year. 

“We regulate banks in order to minimize the incidents of bad debts and write-offs. We oversee the safety of the payments, which means looking after the transactions between banks and parties. Besides overseeing the foreign exchange market, we also oversee Pakistan’s foreign reserves and set the policy rate of the SBP, which in turn helps to set market rates,” he informed. 

The SBP Governor reminded the audience that the country’s exchange rate and reserves were falling alarmingly last year but the situation was brought under control by implementing some tough measures. 

“The reserves were down to $7 billion at which point we decided to change the exchange rate system and let the market decide the exchange rate. It’s a concept that many emerging markets have been using for years but it was new for Pakistan. There were a lot of apprehensions and criticism when we adopted market-based exchange rate. But those critics and experts who predicted dollar to go sky high have become silent,” Dr Raza Baqir shared.

Quoting facts and figures, he was of the opinion that the country’s economy could have been in shambles if, the difficult reforms had not been undertaken. 

He highlighted the importance of foreign exchange reserves, reckoning that it was the single most important determinant of a country’s economic sovereignty. 

The SBP Governor stated that the monetary policy committee of the central bank had to increase the interest rates because the rise in inflation was rising. 

“One of the factors of the increasing inflation was also the pressure on rupee, the depreciation of the rupee that had occurred over the preceding months had caused the prices to rise. The last rate increase was done in July when the inflation was around 8 to 9 percent. The inflation has now gone upto 12 percent but we haven’t increased the interest rates since July last,”he added. 

Dr Raza Baqir announced that the SBP, working on reducing the reliance on printed currency notes, will soon be launching a couple of innovative products to facilitate digital transactions on a massive scale.

Al Ghazi Tractors face litigation

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

A single bench of the High Court of Sindh has issued notice to Al Ghazi Tractors, through its Chief Executive/Managing Director, for appearance on March 24 in connection with a suit filed by Owaisuddin Ahmed, proprietor of Emen Engineering and Fabrication Works. 

In his petition, the plaintiff has sought the court to order and decree against Al Ghazi Tractors for payment of differential balance amounting to over PKR 4.76 million for the original equipment and parts and components supplied during the period from November 2017 to October 2018. 

He also sought the court to declare that plaintiffs are entitled to an uninterrupted and unimpeded manufacturing, sale and marketing of their original equipment parts and components of tractors. 

It was prayed that the defendants be permanently restrained from interfering in their trade and business and the court was requested to order award recovery amounting to over Rs 4.78 million for the original equipment and components supplied to Al Ghazi Tractors and also award damages against the defendants in the sum of PKR 500 million for inter-alia loss of business, reputation, mental stress. 

Meanwhile, Farina Owais, CEO of Emen Engineering, has also filed a complaint before the Sindh Human Rights Commission alleging harassment, character assassination accusing false and fabricated allegations against MD and CEO and others of Al-Ghazi Tractors 

She alleged that the opponents were harassing her to sell out property to them at the lowest amount and were mentally torturing her. She prayed to the Commission for providing safety of woman dignity, life and property from opponents.

Entries close at National Geographic Traveller Photography Competition 2020

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The entries for the highly sought-after National Geographic Traveller Photography Competition 2020 have closed down as the final time for submission was 11.59 pm (GMT) on February 23. The event is being promoted by the London-based APL Media Limited. 

Although the entrants had to be residents of the UK or Ireland only, the iconic annual competition generated global interest, catching the imagination of the photographers as well as the travelers. 

In order to enter the competition, the entrants had to submit their photograph using the entry form available as online entries were acceptable only. The photographic entries had to be below 25MB and .jpg format. 

It was mandatory to have all submissions to be the entrant’s own work, and they had to own the copyright to the photographs entered. It was also essential to have the photographs clicked within two years before the date of entry. 

The competition, in an effort to find the best talent in the country, had invited photographers of all levels from across the UK and Ireland to submit their travel images taken in the past year in one of four categories of cities, landscapes, nature and people. 

Becky Redman, Art Director, National Geographic Traveller (UK), is the designated head judge of the competition. All entries will be moderated by him before compiling a shortlist of top entries in each category. 

The National Geographic Traveller (UK) team will be sending the shortlist of entries to each independent judge. The independent judges will in turn select their three top entries for each of the four categories, who will become the finalists. The judges’ finalists will be announced on April 13 at which point the finalists will be notified. 

The head judge, Becky Redman, will then collate the judge’s votes to determine the overall grand-prize winner, who can be selected from any of the four category winners. 

The winners will be notified by e-mail before April 30. The grand-prize winner will head to Mexico with National Geographic Journeys and the category winners will receive a Manfrotto tripod. The selected entrants will also be included as part of a global press and media campaign, and featured on the National Geographic UK website. It has been announced that the prizes must be taken by December 15.

Coronavirus may be transmitted from computer keyboard, cell phone

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Coronavirus has been hitting headlines the world over for all kind of reasons. All aspects relating to the virus are being deliberated at all levels and the experts are sharing whatever information they may be having with them in this regard. 

The fear factor has gripped literally the whole world, particularly those countries where the virus has been suspected to have found its way. While the authorities are in the process of taking preemptive measures, there are all sorts of warnings coming from different sources. 

The scientists in China, from where it all started, have reportedly detected the Coronavirus appearing in the outside environment. It’s a kind of information that should be followed with caution by the regular visitors to the the net shop for gaming. 

According to the Chinese scientists, the virus could be in door handles, cell phones, computer keyboards and water valves. So you should pay attention often clean your phone, computer keyboard offline. 

Reportedly, the scientists in Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province in southeast China, on February 2 discovered the nucleic acid of the new strain of Corona virus (2019-nCoV) on a door handle at a patient's home, believed to have been infected with this new virus. 

The People's Daily claimed that this was the first time that the scientists in Guangzhou had discovered the new strain of Coronavirus in the outside environment. 

According to the findings, the nucleic acid of the new corona virus strain appeared on the door handle which showed that the houses must be cleaned and the hands must be washed regularly as the virus mainly transmitted through droplets and contact.

“But if the virus appears on the surface of an object, you can become infected by indirect exposure. That's when you touch the infected surface, then use your hands to eat or rub your eyes,” the report said. 

“In fact, having a computer keyboard or a phone with lots of viruses is something scientists have long proven. This is because we constantly touch them with our hands, while eating, typing or maybe sneezing into them and making them become the place to attach to different viruses for a long time,” it added. 

“The advice is to use alcohol solution to regularly clean your phone, computer keyboard and even wash your hands with alcohol solution to reduce the risk of infection with Coronavirus,” the report suggested.

New typhoid protecting vaccine found

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

An emergency vaccination campaign in Sindh following the outbreak of typhoid in the province has found the typhoid conjugate vaccine to be effective in preventing new cases of the disease. 

The researchers of a recent event at Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi, revealed that over 10,000 cases of extensively drug resistant (XDR) typhoid, a strain of the disease resistant to an unprecedented range of antibiotics, have been reported since 2016 in Karachi and Hyderabad which led to the launch of an emergency vaccination campaign in January 2018 in the worst affected areas of Hyderabad which saw 207,000 children between 6 months and 10 years of age receive the new vaccine. 

At the same time as the campaign, researchers set up a surveillance system in the same area over an 18-month period to screen a cohort of over 20,000 children, who received the vaccine, to detect cases of typhoid. They found that 9 out of 10 children in the cohort, or 89 per cent, did not contract the disease. 

“The results of the vaccine’s effectiveness are in line with a study in Nepal. This strengthens the case for the national rollout of the vaccine,” Dr Farah Qamar, an associate professor in paediatrics and child health at AKU, remarked.

During the event, Dr Farah Qamar spoke about how lessons from the Hyderabad campaign had been applied in Lyari, Karachi, and during the Sindh-wide rollout, conducted in November 2018, which aimed to reach over 10 million children during a three-week period. 

A mop-up campaign is now being planned in Sindh in March 2020 to immunize children between the age of 9 months and 15 years missed during the previous drive. 

The researchers noted that parents, whose children haven’t receive the vaccine, are keen to participate in the forthcoming immunization campaign. 

The speakers at the event revealed that cases of typhoid were being reported in parts of the Punjab province such as Lahore and Multan. The province is yet to launch the vaccine. 

The Punjab EPI Director, Dr Muhammad Saeed Akhtar, informed that cases of XDR typhoid and multi-drug resistant typhoid had been noticed to date.

“The Punjab government plans to include the vaccine in its routine immunization programme between September and October 2020. We will study the lessons learned from the Sindh campaign in order to ensure the success of our drive,” he shared. 

Dr Anita Zaidi, director of vaccine development, surveillance, and enteric and diarrheal diseases at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, expressed her support for efforts to generate evidence of the efficacy for this vaccine against typhoid fever. 

She added that a strategy to combat typhoid requires an integrated approach that covers access to clean water, improved sanitation, and immunization. 

During the event, the researchers from the AKU explained how their collaboration with the health authorities in Hyderabad helped trace the cause of the outbreak. 

“Our research involved geographic mapping which highlighted how the majority of typhoid cases were reported around sewage lines. Household water samples also tested positive for contamination showing that the drinking of contaminated water was the most likely cause for the outbreak,” Dr Momin Kazi, an assistant professor (research) in paediatrics and child health at AKU, mentioned. 

The research and policy advocacy efforts supporting the vaccine’s launch were backed by a team at AKU including Professor Rumina Hasan, Professor Zahra Hasan and Dr Sadia Shakoor from the department of pathology and microbiology, Dr Farah Qamar, Dr Tahir Yousafzai and Dr Momin Kazi from the department of paediatrics and child health at AKU.  

The control and prevention of water-borne diseases such as typhoid is a global health priority with targets under goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals calling for the eradication of such diseases by 2030.

Nisar Memon regrets lack of governance

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Senator Nisar Memon, a former federal minister, has regretted the lack of governance at the top, believing that it’s about time to let the youth take leadership of country which will also help achieve happiness with them taking ownership of challenges.

“Of course, we have governance. The Constitution of Pakistan and all state institutions govern the 219.4 million people. Is it effective, decisive and sustainable? Even if one wishes to look optimistically, it is difficult to give an affirmative answer,” he wrote in a recently published newspaper article. 

“If governance was effective by this multi-party conglomeration in Islamabad, it would be visible in all walks of life. The conduct of parliamentary affairs, the quality of debates, government response to private bills and answers to members questions, the handling of Ordinances for converting them to bills, the absence of relevant government ministers during debates, and the language used by government leaders provoking harsher response from opposition benches; all point to an ineffective governance,” he observed.

“Let’s see the governance effectiveness in its economic policies. It would have been visible in results of economic policies which in nineteen months have brought unprecedented hardships to all sections of society due to increasing prices, Pakistan Bureau of Statistics reports the food and beverages prices increased by 23.6% in January 2020; non-availability of essential food items; reduction in earnings making goods and service out of their reach; the rising inflation of 14.56%; and the lack of jobs. All these confirm ineffective governance,” Senator Nisar Memon pointed out. 

“The effectiveness of governance could not have been out of sight of citizens if speedy and affordable justice was provided at the doorstep of citizens. The pending cases, 1.9 million according to Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan, due to lack of enough courts is causing hardship to people. The free education committed in the Constitution is yet to be provided, the poor quality of education in government schools, and the inadequacy of curriculum to prepare them to participate and contribute to economy of the country is yet another consideration,” he explained. 

“The level of basic health facilities and the medical services is forcing citizens to go for private medical services at huge costs and burden, it is reported in November 2019, in private hospitals a normal delivery package costs Rs. 200,000-300,000 and average cost of a private room between Rs. 8000-15,000 per day without healthcare facilities. The utility service bills include innumerable and unclear taxes and these days the jacked up wrong bills are adding insult to injury,” he added. 

He didn’t mince words in stating that all the economic hardships have reportedly increased the societal pressures leading to suicides, crime rate and terrorism. 

"The effective governance requires unity in rank and file of all institutions, which too is wanting. The burden of which lies on government leadership which must plan meticulously by taking all pros and cons of policies before launching them and then have patience and firmness to see them through,” he reckoned. 

The former federal minister emphasized that governance can be effective and decisive if coupled with sustainability. “In 2016, we committed to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of UN and government will be better advised to tune itself to achieve them in the interest of its own people. The government talks of mafias who must be defeated at all cost. The fast eroding value system can be addressed by the trust in capability and capacity of government and by isolating unprincipled corrupt interest groups from government. Even the perception will affect the governance with its far-reaching impact on lives of people,” he thought. 

“The government cannot be at war internally and externally all the time. Creating crises to cover up deficiencies leads to question: do we have governance? The internal strength of governance is likely to provide impetus in resolution of external issues,” he advised. 

“Our tremendous resources must be mobilized by developing indigenous economic systems and not by representatives of the outside forces. Our youth, with 49.2% being female population, is our strength if harnessed by human resource development and providing them the opportunities,” he continued. 

“It is time to let the youth take leadership of country; this will also help achieve happiness with them taking ownership of challenges. Are people happy? It can be measured not by economic indicators alone but by social indicators as practiced for years in a small country like Bhutan,” he reminded. 

“The drifting away from Quaid’s guiding principles is yet another challenge to governance. The independence and security can be assured if sovereignty in governance is kept in focus while framing all our policies like: foreign, defence, economic, social, judicial and we replace the colonial laws and colonial way of life in the interest of our country and its citizens. A sovereign Pakistan’s vision will be the one to unite the nation towards making the country and institutions strong by protecting, preserving and developing Pakistan for all its citizens,” he concluded.