Category انگلثں نیوز

NEW YORK: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on Saturday told the UN General Assembly that India was actively involved in the terrorist attacks in Pakistan by providing financial assistance to the extremists.

“Kulbhushan Yadav, on the behest of the Indian government, planned terror attacks inside Pakistan,” Qureshi said while addressing the representatives of the United Nations’ 195 member states during the UNGA’s 73rd session.

Speaking in Urdu, Qureshi said Pakistan sought resolution of all the issues through a comprehensive and serious dialogue. “The [Narendra] Modi government wasted an opportunity for a dialogue for the third time because of their negative attitude,” he underlined.

“Postcolonialism and cold war have left its imprints in the region,” he noted, adding that Pakistan would never forget the children killed in the 2014 Army Public School (APS) massacre.
Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi addresses the United Nations on the fifth day of the General Assembly’s (UNGA) 73rd session at the UN headquarters in New York, US, September 29, 2018. UN Web TV/The United Nations Live & On Demand/via Geo.tv/Screenshot

The Pakistani foreign minister said his country was engaged in the war against terrorism and its army, with the support of the masses, has ended the scourge from the country.

“Peace has been restored in the cities and villages. In the years to come, we will be able to provide an economic corridor to connect western China and Central Asia with the seaport,” he said.
Kashmir dispute

The Jammu and Kashmir dispute was the biggest hindrance to peace in the region, Qureshi said, adding that the issue would not be resolved until the UN resolutions were implemented properly.
Swaraj reiterates baseless allegations against Pakistan in UNGA

Referring to the first-ever report on Kashmir published by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights that had called for an international probe into the numerous violations, he said it had exposed India’s face.

“We welcome the report. It has validated Pakistan’s view,” Qureshi stressed.

“We call for the implementation on its recommendations. India cannot continue with the bloody mayhem on the pretext of terrorism for long. We will welcome a commission on occupied Kashmir.

“We hope India will do it as well,” he added, and warned that India should not test the patience of Islamabad by continuously violating the Line of Control (LoC).

The entire South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) had become dysfunctional due to the attitude of India, Qureshi lamented, adding that New Delhi promoted state-sponsored terrorism in the occupied Kashmir in front of the international community.

The foreign minister said his country was ready to hold a dialogue with its eastside neighbour to curtail the arms race between the two nuclear states.
‘Will continue to support Afghan peace process’

Qureshi said Pakistan had concerns about the presence of Daesh in Afghanistan. The two neighbouring nations “have been the target of foreign power’s misunderstandings for long.

“We will continue to support the Afghan peace process,” he said.
Climate change

The foreign minister called climate change “a serious issue”, and said Pakistan was among those countries who were adversely being affected by the global warming. “We believe that the resolutions in the Paris conference should not be compromised for industrial interests,” he said.

The minister informed the international community that Prime Minister Imran Khan-led government of Pakistan has planned to plant as many as 10 billion trees in the country.
‘One country has held entire region hostage’

Speaking at a press briefing after addressing the UNGA session, FM Qureshi said that India prioritises politics over peace.

“One country has kept the entire South Asian region. We are a self-respecting nation and we know how to protect our interests, country and viewpoints.”

He further added, “Pakistan knows how to tackle India should it make a mistake.”

He added, a meeting of leaders of Pakistan, China and Afghanistan will be held in December to ponder over the present situation in Afghanistan and finding a solution to the Afghan issue.

Moreover, FM Qureshi said that he will be meeting US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on October 2 to discuss bilateral matters.

QUETTA: A 3.5-magnitude jolted the city and its surroundings Saturday night, Geo News reported, citing PEMA office.

The tremors were also felt in Mastung and Pishin, sources said. No casualties, however, were reported.

According to PEMA, the epicentre of the quake was recorded near Quetta and its depth registered at 45 kilometres.

Former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar on Friday said, if Sarfraz Ahmed wants to continue captaining the national side, he needs to make bold decisions, especially when it comes to selecting the playing 11.

“Sarfraz lead the team boldly during last year’s Champions Trophy but that was nowhere to be seen during the Asia Cup,” Akhtar said in an interview with BBC Urdu.

He added, Sarfraz should pick his own playing 11.

“He should get to decide who should be in the playing 11,” Akhtar said.

On the subject, of the team playing the Asia Cup, Akhtar said the team looked confused.

“Till the last moment, there was confusion who should be dropped and who should be in the playing side. The team looked nervous and under pressure,” he added.

About the bowling, he said, “If the conditions are not suitable for the Pakistani bowlers they are exposed.”

Speaking about the upcoming Test series against Australia, Akhtar said that if Sarfraz’s batting fails in the series and he cannot lead the side, then Babar Azam seems like the likely choice to lead the Test side.

Further, he said, “Sarfraz should accept the pressure, face it and give a good performance.”

Moreover, the speedster adviced that the team should be picked keeping all the three formats in mind.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s lawyer says the report was “an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy”, and that he would seek legal redress for his client from the magazine. Photo: Reuters

Lawyers for Cristiano Ronaldo said on Friday they would sue German magazine Der Spiegel after it published “blatantly illegal” accusations by an American woman who alleges she was raped by the Portuguese soccer star in 2009.

Ronaldo’s lawyer Christian Schertz said in a statement the report was “an inadmissible reporting of suspicions in the area of privacy”, and that he would seek legal redress for his client from the magazine.

The statement was sent to Reuters by Ronaldo’s agent Gestifute in response to a request for comment on the Der Spiegel story. Gestifute did not answer any specific questions about the content of the Der Spiegel report, which Reuters was unable to independently verify.

Ronaldo is one of the biggest names in world sport. He has been named player of the year five times and transferred to Juventus from Real Madrid this summer for 100 million euros. The Italian club declined to comment on the Der Spiegel report.

The magazine said the rape allegedly took place in June 2009 in a hotel room in Las Vegas, according to Leslie Mark Stovall, lawyer for the alleged victim, Kathryn Mayorga.

Ronaldo and Mayorga then reached an out-of-court agreement, according to Stovall as reported in the magazine.

It said, according to Stovall, that she had pledged never to speak of the accusation again and Ronaldo paid her $375,000.

“Kathryn was sexually assaulted in June 2009 by an individual named Cristiano Ronaldo,” Mayorga’s lawyer, Leslie Mark Stovall, said in a video published online by Der Spiegel.

Reuters was not able to independently verify Mayorga’s allegations.

Stovall did not immediately respond to email requests from Reuters for comment on the report and Mayorga was not available for comment in telephone calls to her home.

Her lawyer told Der Spiegel, however, that he had filed a civil complaint seeking to declare the non-disclosure agreement void.

“The purpose of this lawsuit is to hold Cristiano Ronaldo responsible within a civil court of law for the injuries he has caused Kathryn Mayorga and the consequences of those injuries,” Stovall told Der Spiegel.

Schertz said he would seek compensation from Der Spiegel for “moral damages in an amount corresponding to the gravity of the infringement, which is probably one of the most serious violations of personal rights in recent years.”

The magazine’s Deputy Editor-in-Chief, Alfred Weinzierl, told Reuters that Der Spiegel had repeatedly written to Ronaldo’s management and lawyers about the allegations before publishing its report.

“We sent written questions, to which there were no answers. Nobody sued us in connection with earlier Ronaldo reports,” he said in an email.

Mayorga told Der Spiegel she no longer felt bound by the non-disclosure agreement as she suffers from the consequences of the night nine years ago.

“I’ve had like these serious breakdowns,” she told the magazine. “And again, blaming of the rape. And I blame him, and I blame myself for signing that thing.”

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan has issued the schedule and voters’ list for by-elections in the constituencies of national and provincial assemblies.

According to ECP, 5.57 voters are registered to cast their ballots in 12 constituencies of the National Assembly.

In the provinces, 2.39 voters will cast their ballots in 12 constituencies of Punjab, 1.58 million in 10 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 483,167 in three of Sindh and 183,381 in two of Balochistan.

As per the schedule, by-polls will be held on a total of 39 constituencies – 36 on October 14 and the remaining three have been scheduled for October 31.
By-elections on October 14 countrywide: ECP

By-elections on NA-35 Bannu, NA-53 Islamabad, NA-56 Attock, NA-60 and NA-63 Rawalpindi, NA-65 Chakwal, NA-69 Gujrat, NA-103 Faisalabad, NA-243 Karachi and NA-124 and NA-131 Lahore will be held on October 14. The remaining three — on PS-111, PK-71, NA-247 — are scheduled for October 31.

The national and provincial assembly seats fell vacant due to the death of candidates or resignation of elected lawmakers from seats as they had won more than one seat in General Elections 2018 held on July 25.

KARACHI: Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation (SIUT) has rejected reports claiming the centre’s founder, Dr Adib Rizvi, is critically ill.

The urology and transplantation centre issued an official announcement regarding the “false and baseless” reports circulating on digital and social media.

“The public at large is informed that Dr Adib Rizvi is in the best of health,” the announcement read.

“All such news is false and untrue,” it added.

SIUT also requested the public to not to circulate such news without authentication.

Dr Rizvi is is a prominent surgeon who played a vital role in introducing transplant surgery in the country.

SIUT is a hospital that started off as an eight-bed surgery ward in Civil Hospital, Karachi in 1972. But Dr Adib’s care for the indigent patients at the ward and support of the administration resulted in the unit’s recognition as the Department of Urology and Transplantation in 1986.

Five years later, in 1992, the department became an institution and started functioning, offering free-of-charge medical services to people who can otherwise not afford treatment.

Skilled professionals at SIUT attend patients for services including major and minor surgeries, dialysis, transplants, radiology tests and laboratory investigations.

ISLAMABAD: The Lahore High Court’s (LHC) decision upholding National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) better known as NAB Ordinance has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

Lawyers Foundation for Justice has filed the petition against LHC’s decision.

The petition stated that the NAB Ordinance lapsed after the 18th Amendment and thus the Supreme Court should declare LHC’s decision null and void.

The LHC had upheld the NAB Ordinance’s legality while hearing a petition to suspend the conviction of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law Capt (retd) Safdar in Avenfield reference case on September 13.

“NAB Ordinance is an effective law,” the LHC had remarked.

“The NAB Ordinance holds and has neither been dissolved nor any changes have been made to it,” the court had stated.

The LHC had further said, “The NAB Ordinance will be effective till any amendments are made to it.”

WASHINGTON: ( Media-92) United States Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells on Thursday said, the US wants “positive and constructive” relations with Pakistan.

In an interview with BBC Urdu, Wells said, “Pakistan is an important country in the region [South Asia] with an important part to play.”

Responding to a question regarding the expectations from the new government in Pakistan, the American diplomat said, “We have the same expectations from Pakistan that we have from other countries in South Asia.”

“We comply with South Asia’s policy of eradicating ‘non-state actors’ and want to eliminate terrorists’ activities and proxy in the region,” Wells added.

The American diplomat further said the US desires to work with the Pakistani government.

“US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met with Prime Minister Imran Khan after he took office and discussed positive and constructive relations between the two countries,” she said.

Wells further said, “We have told Pakistan before that terrorists’ groups are still active in the country and they need to be eliminated.”

Speaking about Pakistan and its neighbours, the American said, “We welcome the statements from PM Imran about peace with neighbours and any steps taken by Pakistan regarding this.”

Further, Wells said, “Pakistan needs to support economic stability in Afghanistan and give permission to things being brought from Afghanistan to India.”

Stating that the economic relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan are of the utmost importance to the peace in the east and west, she said, “Border management between Pakistan and Afghanistan is important.”

“US disagrees with any cross-border terrorism. We know Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan take advantage of the fact the government has no authority in Afghanistan,” she said adding. “We are working towards bi-lateral talks between the two countries.”

Wells further said, “We want to eliminate any more Mullah Fazlullah type terrorist groups in the country.”

“Establishing peace in the country is top priority. Both the countries have witnessed a wave of terrorism,” she said.

Moreover, she said, “Afghanistan is working towards convincing Taliban for peace talks just like Pakistan is working towards peace in the region, she added.

ISLAMABAD: ( Media-92) The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) led government on Friday decided to head the parliamentary committee to be constituted for probing the alleged rigging in the July 25 polls and not appoint an opposition member on top.

Sources said senior PTI leadership had advised Prime Minister Imran Khan to keep the chairmanship of the committee with the government.

“PM Imran has given approval for a PTI member to head the parliamentary committee,” the sources said.

“The recommendation to appoint Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak as the head of the parliamentary committee has been approved,” they added.

Further, sources said that consultations are under way for names of those to be included in the parliamentary committee. “Shireen Mazari, Shafqat Mehmood, Ali Muhammad Khan and Amir Dogar might be part of the committee.”

“Government’s allied party, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) has put forth the name of Tariq Bashir Cheema to be included in the committee,” sources further said.

Earlier, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) finalised four names to be part of the committee. The PML-N decided on Ahsan Iqbal, Murtaza Javed Abbasi, Rana Sanullah and Rana Tanveer to represent the party in the committee.

Sources said that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) has also finalised names for its representatives in the committee.

Govt, opposition agree to form special committee to probe rigging in polls

Last week, the PTI-led government and opposition parties had agreed to form the committee to probe rigging allegations.

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had assured the government and opposition would have equal representation in the committee.

Qureshi had further said that the committee chairman will be announced by the government after consultation with PM Imran. “The committee will comprise NA members and will not include any senator,” he had said.

A Hong Kong man has developed the world´s first ever human case of the rat version of the hepatitis E virus, according to new research from one of the city´s leading universities.

There had previously been no evidence the disease could jump from rats to humans, the University of Hong Kong said Friday, warning the discovery had “major public health significance”.

“This study conclusively proves for the first time in the world that rat HEV can infect humans to cause clinical infection,” the university added.

Rat hepatitis E virus is very distantly related to human hepatitis E virus variants, HKU said.

The disease was found in a 56-year-old man who persistently produced abnormal liver function tests following a liver transplant.

He could have contracted the illness through food infected by rat droppings, researchers said, according to details of the findings reported in the South China Morning Post.

The man lived in a housing estate where there were signs of rat infestation outside his home. He is now recovering after being treated for the virus, the SCMP added.

The human version of hepatitis E is a liver disease that affects 20 million people globally each year, according to the World Health Organisation.

It is usually spread through contaminated drinking water.

Symptoms include fever, vomiting and jaundice, and in rare cases liver failure.

Rodent problems in Hong Kong have escalated in recent months because of a sustained spell of hot and humid weather.

Hong Kong has been hit hard by disease outbreaks in the past.

In 2003, almost 300 people died from SARS — severe acute respiratory syndrome.

The bubonic plague, carried by rats, swept through mainland China and Hong Kong in the late 19th century killing thousands.