Tag: SAARC

  • Modi can attend SAARC summit virtually if he doesn’t want to come to Islamabad: Pak Foreign Minister

    Modi can attend SAARC summit virtually if he doesn’t want to come to Islamabad: Pak Foreign Minister

     

    Pakistan has extended India a virtual invitation to attend the summit for the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) virtually if Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi does not want to attend the summit in Islamabad. It was revealed by Foreign Minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a news conference on Monday.

    He said, “Pakistan considers SAARC as an important forum. We are willing to host the 19th SAARC summit and if India has any issue in attending the summit in person then it can attend virtually.”

    The Secretary-General of SAARC recently visited Islamabad and Pakistan has shown eagerness to host the summit.

    FM Qureshi further added, “If India cannot attend the summit in Islamabad at least it should not stop other members,” while giving an invitation to other SAARC members for the next summit.

    While talking about bilateral relations with India, Qureshi said that durable peace, sustainability and economic development in the region have been halted by the ruling party Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) whose political ideology is based on anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim sentiments.

    He added, “India’s unilateral and illegal actions in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) since August 5, 2019, aimed at undermining the status of the disputed territory, perpetuating its illegal occupation and altering its demographic structure, and the unabated widespread violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and state-terrorism perpetrated against the innocent Kashmiris have further vitiated the environment and threatened international peace and security.”

    He further expressed that Pakistan wants friendly relations with every neighbouring country, however, it depends on India to take necessary steps towards dialogue and resolution of the Kashmir dispute.

    The Foreign Minister also highlighted the worsening situation of Kashmiri leaders and the persecution of the locals.

    In November 2016, India refused to attend the SAARC summit which was scheduled in Islamabad due to the high tensions between both countries.

  • NCOC confirms first case of Omicron variant in Pakistan

    The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has confirmed the first case of the Omicron variant in Pakistan.

    “The National Institute of Health, Islamabad has been able to confirm that a recently suspected sample from Karachi is indeed the ‘Omicron variant’ of SARS-CoV2. This is the first confirmed case but continued surveillance of identified samples is in place to identify trends,” a tweet from the official Twitter handle of the Centre read.

    In another tweet, NCOC stressed upon the importance of getting vaccinated to stay safe from new variants.

    On December 8, the first suspected case of the Omicron variant was detected in Pakistan. The case was detected in a 57-year-old female patient, who was unvaccinated. As per, Sindh Health Minister Dr Azra Pechuho the patient had no travel history.

  • NAB elected head of SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum

    NAB elected head of SAARC Anti-Corruption Forum

    The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been elected as the head of the Anti-Corruption Forum of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

    An official press release issued by NAB said the anti-graft watchdog was the “role model” not only for Pakistan but also for entire SAARC countries as NAB had been unanimously elected as chairman of the organisation’s Anti-Corruption Forum, which was a great achievement for Pakistan.

    NAB’s performance is lauded by SAARC countries, national and international organisations like Transparency International (TI), World Economic Forum (WEF), Pildat and Mishal Pakistan.

    In addition, “Pakistan is the only country with whom China has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for eradication of corruption,” the press release said.

    From the beginning, NAB has managed to recover Rs328bn and returned the money to affected people, government and private departments without keeping a single rupee of its share, deposited all recoveries in the national exchequer, says the press release.

    NAB has established its own research academy for the capacity building of investigation officers (IOs) on modern lines. Moreover, it has also established a forensic science laboratory at its Rawalpindi office for scrutinising of documents, analysing fingerprints and digital data.  

    NAB has also established an anti-money laundering cell in its headquarters.