RESULT DECLARATION OF International “Poster/Drawing/Photography Contest, 2011

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals India (“PETA”) is a non-profit animal protection organization, located in Andheri (West), Mumbai and Foundation for a Drug- Free World is an International Organization based in Los Angeles, California, functioning in Pakistan under the support of Pakistan Coordinator, Munir Moosa Sewani.

Both organizations signed an agreement to launch a joint venture in May 2011 to raise awareness about animal rights and to demote animal cruelty. In this regard, Foundation for a Drug-Free World and PETA (India) recently launched International “Poster/Drawing/Photography Contest, 2011. More than 400 institutions participated and 6000 entries were received from all over Pakistan. It was a competitive event where extremely talented children and youth participated to share their level of knowledge. The results were declared recently in a local hotel by Poorva Joshipura, Chief Functionary PETA, India and Munir Moosa, Coordinator, Foundation for a Drug-Free World.

The first positions were bagged by Khalid Bhatti of Lahore, Meher Nawaz of Lahore Grammar School, Salma Neelofer of Chitral and Jamila Khan from Peshawar. The second positions were bagged by Arooj Majid of Laurelbank School System, Lahore, Aleema Minallah of Khaldunia High School, Islamabad, Salima Kasim of Karachi, Sundus Nasim of The Mama Parsi Girls’ Secondary School, Karachi & Rifaut Rasul of Qamar-e-Bani Hashim School while the third position was bagged by Sajjad Ahmed Qureshi of Karachi Cadet School.

All the winners received cash prizes, medal, gift hamper and International certificate while the top 28 participants received medal, International certificate and a gift hamper. The gifts and cash prizes were sponsored by Foundation for a Drug-Free World, while the t-shirts and certificates of the selected posters were sponsored by PETA, India.

On this occasion, Munir Moosa Sewani said that the main motive behind organizing such activities was to raise the awareness level of the students about animals. Each participation means educating the whole family and the whole institution. He further added that children in Pakistan showed their willingness to promote animal rights through their art and it shows that animals are creature not slave. He strongly believes that such activities can help to explore creativity of students at the same time preparing them to take wise decisions in life about animals. He further added that The Holy Qur'an strongly enjoins Muslims to treat animals with compassion and human have a special responsibility to be fair, just and kind to all other living things. He lately thanked all the institutions for putting up all the efforts in promoting animal rights and congratulates the team members for a successful venture with an Indian organization.

On this occasion, Poorva Joshipura through her telephonic conversation said that PETA India is proud to work with Foundation for a Drug Free World in using art as a medium to teach young people to have respect and compassionate towards animals. She appreciated the efforts of Munir Moosa and is looking forward to work on the further joint projects.

Addressing the gathering, Munir Moosa Sewani said, Bollywood star like Shahid Kapoor, Imran Khan, Sonu Sood, John Abraham, Lara Dutta, Priyanka and so many others joined PETA in order to raise awareness among the masses about animal rights. We are delighted that such role models are playing their social responsibilities with zeal. Munir Moosa hopes that the lollywood actors would soon come ahead and would join the mission to promote animal rights in Pakistan.

The pipeline projects of PETA (India) in Pakistan are to arrange workshops, seminars and awareness walk.

Pakistan Pharma Summit beings in Karachi

Two-day Pakistan’s 1st Pharma Summit kicked off under the aegis of Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufactures’ Association (PPMA) at a local hotel on Tuesday.

It titled “Reshaping Pakistan Pharma Industry: Trends, Challenges & Opportunities” aimed at pressing government to enhance the export of drugs to promote the industry.

Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Dr Farooq Sattar while addressing inaugural session assured PPMA to resolve their genuine demands by taking issues up. He also urged PPMA to stand for the promotion of industry, saying India organized its 1st Pharma Summit in 1950s, however, it was being held in 2011 in the country.

He said Pakistan is required an action with a vision for reshaping pharma industry. The industry has to be risen for enabling Pakistan to meet millennium development goals.

The federal minister also emphasized on the role of middleclass, saying the change is not possible without their due involvement to root out feudalism.

He underlined the need to promote public private partnership model in the country to improve the pharma industry as well.

He accepted the increase in health and education budget but emphasized on planning rather than just rising budget as it could not bring fruitful results unless proper planning is there.

Earlier, M. Haroon Qasim, Chairman, PPMA said one of the biggest challenges that the pharmaceutical industry is currently facing is the health ministry's proposed transfer to provinces which will also cause the devolution of the pharmaceutical industry. There is a danger in this because standards of every province will be different, he added.

Professor. Dr. Atta ur Rahman, UNESCO Science Laureate / President, Pakistan Academy of Sciences / Fellow, Royal Society – UK / Coordinator General, COMSTECH, said Science and technology may facilitate the achievement of Millennium Development Goals through sustained and enhanced economic growth; provide employment opportunities; enhance market efficiency; tackle population growth issues; climate change and environmental degradation.

Dr Atta-ur-Rahman said, “Effective science and technology policies are crucial and central to the development prospects of Pakistan in 2 distinct yet interconnected ways. First, science and technology can provide tools that help alleviate the specific problems that afflict our nation and impede their development prospects, such as disease, lack of infrastructure (energy, information, transport, etc.), and degradation of the environment. Second, science and technology are central to the dynamics of economic development itself.”

Khalid Mahmood, Managing Director, Getz Pharma (Pvt.) Limited, shared his thoughts on Pharma Vision 2020 – The Road Ahead. He said Pakistan has inadequate infrastructure, adding, there has been no price increase in any pharmaceutical providers in the country since 2001 which input costs have gone up by 40 to 60 per cent.

He said Pakistan does not have any single FDA/MHRA approval plant / product approval so far.

He urged to create a pharma policy research and advocacy council with a team of market oriented economists and technocrats to recommend to the government.

Dr. Ali Montaseri, Managing Director, Jaber-Ebne-Hayyan Company, Iran, Salman Burney, Chairman, Glaxo Smith Kline Pakistan Limited Badar Khushnood, Country Consultant, Google Inc. S. Khalid Tawab, Vice President, FPCCI, Khadeeja Balkhi, Sustainability & Corporate Responsibility Consultant, Dr. Kaiser Waheed, Managing Director, Medisure Pharma and Nadeem Naqvi Managing Director, Karachi Stock Exchange were speakers at the summit.

Asif Misbah, Managing Director, Macter International, Kashif Sheikh, Managing Director, CCL (Pvt.) Limited, Mian Asif Shuja, Managing Director, Schazoo Laboratories (Pvt.) Limited, Muzaffar Jafri, Director Commercial, Hilton Pharma (Pvt.) Limited, Dr. Sarmad Maqbool, Director Marketing, Abbott Laboratories, Syed Jamshed Ahmed, Director Marketing & Sales, PharmEvo (Pvt.) Ltd, Mujeeb ur Rahman, Director Marketing, Macter International and Asif Sattar, Deputy Managing Director, Atco Laboratories participated in a panel discussion.

SECP revises maximum management expense limits

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan while monitoring the insurance sector is also endeavouring to remove bottlenecks that hamper its growth and is attempting to bring it at par with international standards.

The SECP protects the interest of the policyholders and ensures that the companies have the ability to pay claims to consumers, even when there is a slowdown in investment growth.

Vide a previous circular, the Commission put a ceiling on life insurers and family takaful operators registered under the Insurance Ordinance 2000, in respect of management expense limits which include operating expenses, business acquisition costs i.e. commission to agents etc., ensuring that they are maintained at the optimum levels.

Recently, taking cognizance of the operational difficulties being faced by a few life insurance companies, the SECP has reviewed and prescribed new maximum management expense limits for two years, i.e., 2011 and 2012.

Whilst granting the relaxation, the SEC urged upon the life insurance and family takaful companies to focus on various cost-cutting measures viz. distribution channels, type of sales force, adopting internal controls on variable costs, etc.

Doing Business in Pakistan: UK Conference strengthens trade bonds with Pakistan

Minister for Trade and Investment Lord Green

As part of the UK’s efforts to promote investment in Pakistan, UK Trade and Investment hosted a conference ‘Doing Business in Pakistan’ in London yesterday, Thursday 10 February.

Its goal was to realise the potential for increased investment opportunities into Pakistan by encouraging UK companies to consider expanding their operations there. Over 80 business representatives from the UK and Pakistan attended the event

Minister for Trade and Investment Lord Green, speaking at the event, said:

“Pakistan will be one of the world’s drivers of growth in years to come, notwithstanding some of the challenges of the present.

“For UK companies deciding on which export markets to target, it is important that they look to those markets that are experiencing growth. There are significant opportunities for partnership between UK and Pakistan firms and I would encourage businesspeople to explore these with the help of UK Trade & Investment.”

Chairman of the
Board of Investment
Saleem Mandviwalla

Pakistan’s Minister of State and Chairman of the Board of Investment Saleem Mandviwalla also spoke at the event, alongside British High Commissioner to Pakistan Adam Thomson and Pakistan High Commissioner to London Wajid Shamsul Hasan.

The UK is committed to strengthening its strategic relationship with Pakistan, including a growing trade and investment relationship. Bilateral trade is already worth more than £1 billion annually and over 100 British companies are operating successfully in Pakistan.

Major British players include Unilever, Shell, GlaxoSmithKline, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and Barclays. Karachi also has the largest purpose-built Toni & Guy hair salon in the world.

The Chief Executive of Hubco Power, Vince Harris, spoke at the event about doing business in Pakistan, said:

“In the constant challenging and dynamic environment of Pakistan, HUBCO over the years has consistently rewarded investors with a stream of attractive half-yearly dividends and a share price profile at or above the Karachi Stock Exchange market, which has given confidence to the shareholders to expand the business with the building of two additional power plants, taking the company to a US$2 billion total investment.”

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan urges probe into alleged honour killing

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called upon the Punjab government to ensure an early and transparent investigation of an alleged incident of honour killing of a young woman in a village of Bahawalpur district.

The young woman, Saima, left her parents house in November and went away to Karachi with a man named Dilawar she wanted to marry as her family wanted her to marry someone else. Saima’s family had took Dilawar’s father to Karachi with them and brought Saima back to Bahawalpur three days later and assured her that she would be married to Dilawar. However, she was confined in her house for the next two months, where she died in unexplained circumstances early on January 22.

In a letter to the Punjab government, HRCP said: ”The family claims that Saima had committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance and for obvious reasons wants that version to be accepted. No report is yet available to determine the cause of death but the doctor who had conducted the post mortem examination says that there were visible marks of torture on her body and that the cause of death could be determined only from findings of a chemical laboratory test report.

HRCP expressed concern over reports that the police were not taking interest in the investigating and one of the rich accused was being pampered by police.

“HRCP apprehends that crucial evidence in the case may be destroyed unless prompt action is taken to investigate the matter properly. We also fear for the safety of the persons who had highlighted the case. They should be afforded adequate protection and an assurance of safety given to any witnesses who may want to come forward. Justice demands that inquiry must be fair and no favour should be shown to the accused,” HRCP said.

DCO KARACHI STARTS ANTI POLIO CAMPAIGN

Karachi. Jan 26: About 527 teams of vaccinators will administer oral polio vaccination in over 2.7 million children below 5 years of age during 3 day anti polio vaccination campaign in Karachi.

Over five thousand health workers will take part in the campaign which is extendable if the target is not achieved in the scheduled time.

This was stated by District Coordination Officer Karachi Muhammad Hussain Syed while talking to media representatives at the launch of the polio vaccination drive by administering polio drops to children in Civic Center on Wednesday. The DCO also addressed a meeting on this occasion which was attended by town health and municipal officers and representatives of World Health Organization, UNICEF and NGOs. EDO Health Dr. Nasir Javed, EDO E&IP Dr. Saif-ur-Rehman, EDO Education Ibrahim Kanbhar and other city government officers were also present on this occasion.

The meeting discussed and finalized the strategies to make the polio eradication campaign successful.

Speaking on this occasion, DCO Karachi Muhammad Hussain Syed said that Pakistan is still among those four countries where polio virus exists, therefore all possible measures should be taken for eradication of this virus and to make our country polio free.

He said that city government will try its best to achieve the target during the current campaign. A total of 284 health centers have been set up in different areas of city to provide the facility of oral anti polio vaccination.

DCO Karachi said that the THO of the concerned town has the main responsibility to make the campaign successful in their town with the cooperation of Town Municipal Officer, adding that written complain will be forwarded to government against the town health officer who would not fulfill his duty.

He said that the katchi abadies and rural areas will be focused more during the campaign. He also appealed to citizens of Karachi to take this campaign seriously and ensure oral anti polio vaccination in all children below 5 years of age.

This was also decided in the meeting that the Director Private Schools will appoint focal person for administering oral anti polio drops who would also coordinate with the DDO Revenue and union council secretary for the campaign.

EDO Health Dr. Nasir Javed and representative of WHO and town municipal Officers also gave briefing about their respective areas during the meeting.

Jumbo World Cup books offer greater reading pleasure as tournament nears

Four of the seven sports books brought out by Jumbo Publishing so far have been on the subject of the Cricket World Cup, two each on the last couple of editions of what is considered to be the showpiece event of the game.

The Cricket World Cup 2011 is round the corner and it’s the ideal time for the game’s followers to touch base with the mega event by revisiting the past tournaments in order to refresh their memories.

Fiasco, which is an eye-witness account of the World Cup 2007, reveals a lot of facts that might even amuse you. The chapters on the high-profile Bob Woolmer murder case, which was later withdrawn, serve as eye-openers.

Fiasco, authored by Ehsan Qureshi, has brought to light a few of the characteristics of the Pakistan captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq, that no other journalist had dared reporting. There are exclusive profiles of many of the characters responsible for bringing about debacle for Pakistan in the tournament.

Mission Caribbean also concerns the World Cup 2007, staged in the Islands across the Caribbean Sea for the first time, but this book was published on the eve of the tournament that attracted a huge number of tourists from all over the world.

Mission Caribbean, authored by Syed Khalid Mahmood, is a handbook on the World Cup 2007, containing the pen-sketches of all the members of every 16 participating team, Australia, Pakistan, England, Sri Lanka, India, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Bangladesh, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Canada, Scotland, Netherlands, Ireland and Bermuda.

Top of the Charts is a kind of unique book in which the top 25 performers of the World Cup 2003 have been profiled in detail. Syed Khalid Mahmood has given his thoughts about the 25 cricketers who, in his opinion, dominated the event.

The cricketers to be profiled in Top of the Charts include Ricky Ponting, Glenn McGrath, Adam Gilchrist, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Zaheer Khan, James Anderson, Shane Bond, Wasim Akram, Brian Lara, Herschelle Gibbs and Chaminda Vaas.

Spotlight on World Cup 2003, another effort of Syed Khalid Mahmood, covers the spectacular tournament in a different way. There are contributions from eminent people like Wasim Akram, Sikander Bakht and Azeem Sarwar who have shared their own experience.

Spotlight on World Cup 2003 has the scorecards of all the matches with the narration of the 10 most exciting games of the tournament played in the African continent for the first time. There are chapters on the various issues related to the event that generated a lot of interest.

**For details of the above books, please write to jumbopublishing@yahoo.com or call Asad Raza at 0333-2304024

HRCP plea for security for non-Muslims in Balochistan

Lahore, January 19: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has asked the Balochistan government to address concerns of members of non-Muslim communities residing in Balochistan regarding growing incidents of abduction of non-Muslims in the province.

According to a press statement issued on Wednesday, HRCP has conveyed to Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani the concern among non-Muslim communities in the province over the recent increase in abductions of non-Muslims there. The latest incidents include the abduction of Mr Maharaj Lakhmigar of Qalat on December 21, and of Mr Rajeev Kumar from Noshki on January 10. HRCP said that several other incidents of abduction of non-Muslim citizens in Balochistan had also been reported in the media in the last few months.

HRCP said that while those abducting Mr Lakhmigar had asked for his community to raise funds for his release, without mentioning any amount, the abductors of Mr Kumar had not contacted the family so far. “The families of the abducted individuals are obviously in great mental agony and fear for their safety. This spate of abductions has also increased a sense of insecurity and vulnerability across the non-Muslim population in the province,” HRCP said.

“Balochistan has long enjoyed considerable reputation as an area where non-Muslims have lived in relative peace and safety. No effort should be spared to ensure that that reputation remains untarnished,” HRCP said, requesting the chief minister to ensure that all necessary measures are taken to allay the fears of non-Muslim citizens in Balochistan and restore a sense of security among them.