Political maestro Asif Ali Zardari turns 65

By Tanzeel Rauf Farooqui

(Pakistan News & Features Services) 

Asif Ali Zardari, a man of multiple reputations, has turned 65 on July 26. Popularly known as the master of reconciliation, the former President of Pakistan is acclaimed to be a political maestro. 

Born to Hakim Ali Zardari and Bilquis Sultana Zardari in a notable and prominent tribe on July 26, 1955, Asif Zardari had a resourceful background. His political rise, however, came after he married Benazir Bhutto, the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, on December 18, 1987. 

Elections were held the following year and the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) came to power with Benazir Bhutto becoming the first women Prime Minister in Islamic world. 

Upon the dismissal of the PPP-led government, Asif Zardari fell prey to political vindication and faced multiple and prolonged arrests starting in October 1990. He, however, was elected as a member of the National Assembly of Pakistan in the same month of October 1990. 

Despite securing bail, he was not allowed to be released from prison by the government and had to wait until February 1993 before he was released. Later he was acquitted of all charges. 

He joined the cabinet of the caretaker government in April 1993, and after the general elections that year, Benazir Bhutto’s PPP once again rose to the pinnacle of power. 

Controversies awaited the second government of the PPP as well with the Bhutto family divided between Benazir Bhutto and her brother Mir Murtaza Bhutto, who was being supported by their mother, Begum Nusrat Bhutto. 

Following the murder of Murtaza Bhutto in a shootout, the government was dismissed and Asif Zardari was arrested again in November 1996. 

Despite the corruption charges and various scandals his popularity graph continued rising and he was elected to the Senate of Pakistan in March 1997. 

While remaining incarcerated, he suffered an alleged suicide attempt in May 1999 and had to be shifted to the hospital from Karachi’s Central Jail. 

After prolonged imprisonment before completion of any trial, he was released on bail in November 2004 but was shortly re-arrested and placed under a short term of house arrest before he was allowed to leave for exile. 

A master of reconciliation as he was to become, he managed to strike a deal with the then President General Pervez Musharraf, known as the National Reconciliation Order (NRO) which was drafted in October 2007, through which he managed to waive all the charges leveled against himself and Benazir Bhutto. 

As a result of the NRO, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan after her exile and was unfortunately assassinated on December 27, 2007. 

Carrying the legacy, Asif Zardari came to the forefront and alleged that his spouse was assassinated due to the lack of security provided by the government. 

Elections were held in 2008 and the PPP returned to power after a gap of 12 years. Upon the resignation of General Pervez Musharraf, Asif Zardari was elected as the new President of Pakistan and he went on to complete his term of five years, as did the PPP government, unlike the previous two occasions when they were shown the door in about a couple of years only. 

Asif Zardari silenced his critics in his role as head of the state as he proved himself to be an accomplished statesman. He rose to the occasion much to the dismay of his opponents who had thought of him to be not fit for the job. He conducted various successful visits around the world and was welcomed by his counterparts. 

The control which he had over his party was commendable, as he, while being the President, discarded the President’s power to dismiss the government through the celebrated Eighteenth (18th) Amendment, a power which was arguably misused by many Presidents in the past and he became the pilot who brought Pakistan back on route to the democratic principles. 

He’s also credited to be the leader who brought the mighty China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project to Pakistan, which has been consolidated by the successive governments since then. 

The PPP sat in the opposition after losing the 2013 elections to the Pakistan Muslim League, headed by Mian Nawaz Sharif, while the Asif Zardari-led PPP was overwhelmed by the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI). 

Asif Zardari was arrested in a fake bank accounts case, which the PPP alleged, was registered by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) due to the pressure of the government. He was nominated as an accused and was arrested on June 10, 2019 by the NAB and stayed behind bars until he was granted bail on December 11, 2019. 

Regarded as one of the most unpredictable politicians that Pakistan has ever produced, Asif Zardari has faced imprisonment for a period of almost fourteen (14) years and his health has deteriorated to a substantial degree. 

He is still regarded as a major player in the politics of Pakistan, the master of reconciliation, without any doubt. He is one of the few politicians having shown that he is not afraid of incarceration and has, on multiple occasions, stated that prison is his second home. 

The ever-smiling, witty politician cannot be understood by everyone as he has developed a personality that is indeed distinct to his political rivals. The political slogan of the PPP that is “Ek Zardari sub pe bhaari” does in both letter and spirit suit this unique politician.

China’s homegrown amphibious aircraft makes sea-based test flight

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

China's domestically developed large amphibious aircraft AG600 successfully made its first sea-based test flight on July 26. 

The test flight demonstrated the aircraft's ability to operate in challenging maritime conditions and conduct missions, including far sea cargo transport and maritime emergency rescue, the aircraft's developer said. 

The AG600 aircraft took off from waters near the coastal city of Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, on the morning of July 26. It was on show for around 31 minutes and finished a set of test maneuvers in the sky, before landing at an airport in Rizhao, Shandong Province. 

The event marked the success of the AG600's first sea-based test flight, the aircraft's developer Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC) announced in a statement. It also prepared the aircraft to conduct missions, including far sea cargo transport and maritime emergency rescue, in the future, the company said. 

The successful sea-based test flight indicated the AG600 has now basically reached its designed goal. Its next steps will likely involve more test flights as well as tests that challenge the plane's ability to resist sea water corrosion for extended periods, carry heavy cargo, and put out fire. 

The Chinese military expert, Yin Zhuo, told China Central Television previously that the AG600 is also suitable for military operations, such as patrol and anti-submarine missions. The amphibious aircraft is expected to be delivered by 2022, the Xinhua News Agency had reported in 2018.

KPK takes steps to facilitate jail inmates

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services) 

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) government has taken a number of steps to bring improvement in jail condition in the province. 

In this regard to involve jail inmates in healthy activities the KPK Department of Sports and Tourism has setup an open-air gym with all necessary equipment at the Central Jail in Peshawar. This step is expected to bring about a positive change jail inmates. 

The KPK Prisons department has also undertaken other measures for the welfare of prisoners such as ensuring basic healthcare, setting up hospitals and dispensaries, ambulance service at all major jails. 

The specialist doctors also visit jail hospital once in a week for the provision of specialized treatment to inmates. Blood screening tests for Hepatitis B and C of prisoners in all the jails/lockups is also being ensured. 

The KPK government has also appointed ten psychologists in the prisons for the rehabilitation of prisoners. The number of staff and the infrastructure of the prisons have also improved. 

The KPK Prisons department has introduced Computerized Prison Information Management System for easy access to the information of the inmates.

Railways officers urged to work more diligently

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Superintendent of the Pakistan Railways, Multan Division, Shoaib Adil, while advising all the officers to work hard and diligently, stressed that all the officers must report all the issues of their respective departments so that their immediate solution is possible while relinquishing and tracing railway lands.

He expressed these views while presiding over the monthly meeting of the Divisional Officers in the Committee Room of the Railway DS Office, while addressing the officers at the monthly meeting held in the Committee Room. The officers of all departments participated in the meeting. 

The DS inquired the officers about the problems being faced by their departments and he issued the necessary directives on the spot while urging the officers to work harder and more diligently. 

"Our first duty is to take care of the passengers and employees while taking precautionary measures during the corona epidemic. However, violation of corona SOPs will not be tolerated under any circumstances, while all legitimate issues of the employees. This is indeed a difficult time. All the officers and employees of the railways can face this problem together,” Shoaib Adil observed.

Young girl breaks into men dominated arena

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

 A young girl has entered into men's dominated business by selling her domestically grown livestock in Karachi's largest makeshift cattle market attracting thousands of buyers as Eid-ul-Azha, due to be celebrated on August 1, comes nearer.

The 21-year-old Ayesha Ghani can be seen attending to the customers and selling the sacrificial animals at the cattle market on Super Highway.  

She has already shattered the myth that only men could do such kind of business. She has also brought along a new trend of online buying as her animals are also up for sale online on social media sites titled Desi Cows. 

The resident of Karachi could be spotted, standing in the market every day, putting at least around three dozen sacrificial animals including 36 cows, oxen and calves on sale, with different prices. 

"I have raised these animals at home by my own. That's why I have a special affection towards them,” Ayesha disclosed. 

"Most buyers are looking for animals available at economical prices, contrary to the facts that the prices have sky-rocketed this year due to inflation. The business has slowed down this year amid coronavirus outbreak,” she remarked.

"I have been an animal lover all my life. However, this is the first time that I am personally selling animals in the market," she added. Ayesha hoped that more women would get encouraged to see her and get involved in this business. 

However, the challenges that she faced being a woman, standing in a male-dominated market were bound to surface at first. 

"After all, girls do face a lot of difficulties in our society but I have taken the first step and hope to see more women and girls stepping forward. Today, women are second to none and they should not consider themselves inferior to anyone. We can progress in every field," she felt. 

In Pakistan, the business of livestock having cows, buffaloes, sheep, goats and camels reaches its boom when the whole country is filled with cattle markets with sellers piling up sacrificial animals for sale before the Eid-ul-Azha. Every year, these markets are abuzz with buyers and sellers, over 95 percent of whom are estimated to be men.

Railways Multan DS convenes emergency meeting

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Superintendent of the Pakistan Railways, Multan Division, Shoaib Adil, convened an emergency meeting with the office-bearers and representatives of the union to look into their grievances and find solutions for the mutual benefit of the organization.

A resolution was passed in the meeting in which the station masters and the assistant station masters were reminded to go by the book and carry out their duties and functions with utmost care and caution. 

This was necessitated by the growing number of train accidents which had not only caused the loss of precious human lives but also brought the trust of the organization at stake. 

The union demanded that the signaling system connected with the train operation should be fixed immediately, the distribution of scales should be stopped and the seniority list should be enforced in letter and spirit.

It was resolved that the management and employees would work together to restore the trust of their department.

Railways officials review flood safety measures in Multan

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

As the security measures continue in the Pakistan Railways Multan Division, in view of impending floods, the departmental chiefs visited various points to get first-hand knowledge of the scenario. 

After reviewing safety measures, necessary instructions were issued, according to the details submitted by the Deputy Chief Engineer Bridge Headquarters, Rizwan Cheema. 

The Divisional Superintendent, Multan, Shoaib Adil, accompanied the Deputy Chief Engineer, also visited Muzaffargarh Bridge No 331, Shujaabad Canal. 

Divisional Engineer, Abid Razzaq, Assistant Engineer Khurram, IOW Kifayatullah and Bridge Inspector Sheikh Adil were also present on the occasion. 

The DS Railways Multan remarked that, in view of the danger of floods, full security measures have been taken by the Division.

Coronavirus Update: Sindh’s fatalities surge past 2,100

By Mukhtar Alam
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Sindh’s COVID-19 fatalities surpassed 2,100 on July 24 when authorities in the government confirmed 14 more deaths during the last 24 hours, with 917 more infections, taking the tally of patients who lost lives in July to 704 so far for the province. 

An average of 29 COVID patients has died daily during July. The death tally was 1,406 on July 1, 1,501 on July 7, 1,713 on July 10, 1,826 on July 13, and 1,922 on July 16.

The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in a statement on July 24, declared that with the deaths reported during the last 24 hours ending in the morning, the number of COVID fatalities reached to 2,110. 

He, however, added that the number of patients who recovered from the disease so far recovered had reached to 103,491 so far, including 4,089 those declared having defeated the lethal virus on July 24. 

The Chief Minister further shared that there were at present 11,199 active COVID-19 patients in the province, including 10,445 at homes, 59 at isolation centres and 695 at designated hospitals. 

“The condition of 428 patients was stated to be critical, while 67 of them had been put on ventilators,” he added. 

According to the statement, a total 11,812 samples were tested, taking the overall number of tests to 688,317, while the overall tally of infected cases came to 116,800. The provincial rate of infection remained 17%.

Karachi, as usual, registered the maximum (499) new infections on July 24, followed by Hyderabad (50), Ghotki (31), Sukkur (25), Khairpur (24), Thatta (20), Shaheed Benazirabad (19), Umerkot (19), Sanghar (16), Jamshoro (15), Mirpurkhas (15), Badin (14), Jacobabad (13), Sujawal (10), Larkana (10), Kambar Shadadkot (9), Naushero Feroze (9), Shikarpur (6), Dadu (6), Matiari (6), Tando Allahyar (3) and Tharparkar (1).

In the meantime, the Sindh health department website, updated around 8.30 pm, showed the total number of COVID-19 infections in Sindh as 116,686, with 2,139 related deaths.

An official analysis of COVID-19 cases in Sindh, updated on July 24, revealed that 2,127 deaths occurred in the province so far, including 29 out of province patients. Korangi and Central districts of Karachi reported the maximum 2.9% mortality rate, followed by Karachi West (2.8%), Karachi East (2.6%), Sujawal (2.5%) and others.

COVID-19 opens new business avenues

By Masood Sattar Khan
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

As coronavirus (COVID-19) has played havoc with economies of many counties during the past four or five months but at the same time it has opened new avenues for businesses.

It has provided new concepts in business that got an overwhelming response. One of the innovations during this pandemic happens to be the growing widespread popularity of online trade or business through the internet. 

As Eid-ul-Azha is around the corner, one of the most popular chains of superstores, having branches not only in Karachi but in other major cities of Pakistan too, has introduced a package of sacrificial animals (Qurbani). 

The intending customer has to pay around PKR 20,000 for a goat weighing 12 to 14 kilogrammes while another company has offered goat for PKR 26,000. Similarly cow shares are available for PKR 13,500 as well as PKR 16,500.

As the booking has started from July 10, the management of the superstore chain disclosed having received an overwhelming response from the people desiring to fulfill the obligation of Sunnat-e-Ibrahimi. 

The promotional flyers for ‘Qurbani’ offer has been marketed aggressively on the digital media, reaching the masses which has been hooked to smartphones more often than past due to lockdowns and social distancing. The overseas Pakistanis have also shown interest in these offers.

Pakistan Railways conduct seminar on maximizing safety

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Level crossings, particularly unmanned, have become a major source of concern these days owing to the frequent violation of governing rules and regulations by the road users, causing horrific accidents besides ensuing heavy loss of precious lives, exorbitant and sometimes irreparable damages to rolling stock of Pakistan Railways and staining the image of Railways in the eyes of the public for no fault of its own.

In order to have a sound understanding on the subject, Pakistan Railways, Karachi Division, conducted a seminar on maximizing level crossing safety at its Technical Training Centre in the city. 

The Project Director, Karachi Circular Railways, Ameer Mohammad Daudpota, and the Divisional Engineer-III, Kamran Ahmad Ghori, gave a comprehensive presentation, followed by a panel discussion, comprising of three Deputy Divisional Superintendents, who responded to the queries raised by the audience. 

Classification of level crossings, special class, engineering and traffic level crossing as well as paraphernalia available to the officials at the level crossings were briefed, at length, along with the different safety features of every class of level crossing allowed across railway line. 

The seminar called three basic safety parameters: safety through visibility of level crossing, warning boards and training of manpower, as the bedrock of explicit safety features along the track.

The KCR Project Director underlined the policy guidelines for the existing and new level crossings on the mainline and branch line.

"Currently there are 121 manned level crossings in Karachi division and PR is exigently working on transformation of unmanned to manned level crossings in the existing states of fiscal and human resources,” he shared.

While discussing the frequent accidents at unmanned level crossings the PD KCR commented that those were governed as per West Pakistan Motor Vehicle Ordinance 1965 and responsibility lied with the road users if any accident happened.

"The July 3 unmanned level crossing accident resulting in death of Sikh pilgrims transpired not only due to sheer negligence of bus driver but unusual adoption of google map for hastily reaching the destination,” he reckoned.

The seminar laid emphasis on frequent inspections and timely overhauling of level crossings in order to deter untoward scenarios in future.

The Divisional Superintendent, Pakistan Railways, Karachi, Arshad Salam Khattak, in his concluding note, pointed out that everyone should realize the responsibility as the collective effort would drastically improve the current day position.

He directed the divisions' Public Relations department for initiating a media awareness campaign, in all the media, and approaching PEMRA for obtaining time slot in the electronic media for airing public awareness messages.