PNSC considers greater employment opportunities to PMA cadets

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC), with the collaboration of the Pakistan Marine Academy (PMA), is considering providing more employment opportunities to the PMA cadets.

In this connection a high level joint meeting of both the organizations was held with the senior officials in attendance. Arif Elahi, Chairman, PNSC, and Commodore Syed Akber Naqi, Commandant, PMA, headed their respective delegations. 

The meeting constituted a three-member committee headed by Brig Rashid Siddiqui and comprising of Zaheer Baber and the Commandant, Marine Academy, as its members. 

The committee has been assigned to the task of developing a new recruitment system for the PMA cadets, with the cooperation of DG Ports and Shipping. 

The meeting decided that a conference of private marine training institutes and the heads of Merchant Navy organizations will soon be convened. 

It was also suggested that the private shipping companies be persuaded to provide employment to the PMA cadets, the number of cadets who sign on and sign off on the PNSC ships be raised from 18 to 30. These cadets may also be provided employment at harbor crafts and harbor rovers. 

It was  decided that during training these cadets will be paid scholarship (stipend) sponsored by the PNSC. The committee considered awarding scholarship of Rs one lac per head to the five position holder cadets of the PMA. The PNSC has offered financial assistance for upgrading physics and chemistry labs of the PMA.

It was also decided that only those institutions having ample experience of shipping would be allowed to impart training so that the practice of awarding certificate without any training is to discourage and brought to end. A committee comprising of the PNSC shipping experts would redesign the syllabus. 

The PNSC Chairman emphasized that the regulatory authority be reactivated particularly in the matters concerning the PMA. He also stated that he will get this matter investigated as to why the PMA cadets were not getting employment on foreign vessels. 

The participants of the meeting included PNSC’s Director Administration, Brig Rashid Siddiqui, Director, Ship Management, Zaheer Baber Qureshi, PNSC’ Manager Training, Commodore, Muhammad Aslam Rana and Hafiz Amin Nizami, the President gold medalist of the PMA.

Raeesuddin Paracha appointed Federal Insurance Ombudsman

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Mohammad Raeesuddin Paracha, a Grade 22 officer of the Federal Government, has been appointed as Federal Insurance Ombudsman at its headquarters in Karachi.

He was administered oath of office for a four-year term by the President of Pakistan, Mamnoon Hussain, at an impressive ceremony held in Islamabad recently which was attended by Senior Government Officials and dignitaries. 

Raeesuddin Paracha has a vast service experience in various government positions at the federal and provincial levels. 

Revered as a highly professional officer, he has served in the Ministry of Law, Justice & Human Rights as well as in the Ministry of Textile Industries, besides having worked as Executive Director State Life Insurance Corporation. He has also served as Deputy Commissioner, Commissioner and Secretary to the Government of Sindh in different departments. 

He had received a Master’s Degree in Statistics from the University of Karachi in the year 1979 and subsequently he cleared the competitive examination in the year 1982.

He successfully participated in the training course in Public Administration organized by National Institute of Public Administration in 2003 and the National Management Course offered by National Management Collage, Lahore in 2010. 

He was also certified by the Executive Development Institute, National School of Public Policy, Lahore, upon the completion of the Executive Programme on Improving Government Performance in 2011.

SSUET VC condoles Jamiluddin Aali’s death

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Vice Chancellor of the Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology (SSUET), Karachi, Prof Dr Syed Jawaid H Rizvi, has expressed deep grief and sorrow over the sad demise of noted writer, poet and literary figure, Jamiluddin Aali.

In a condolence message, Dr Rizvi recalled the monumental services of Jamiluddin Aali and observed that his death has created a big vacuum in the literary circles of the country which will be difficult to fill. 

Jamiluddin Aali was the recipient of three awards from the Government of Pakistan, President’s Pride of Performance Gold Medal in 1992; Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Urdu Literature) in 2003, and Kamal-i-Funn Award. 

He remained the chairman of the Urdu Dictionary Board for three years. Besides dohas, Jamiluddin Aali was revered for ghazals, poems, lyrical ballads and geets. 

His immortal patriotic songs included 'jeevay jeevay Pakistan', 'aye watan kay sajeelay jawano', 'mera pegham Pakistan', 'hum ta ba abad saee-o-taghayyur kay wali hein' and 'itnay baray jeevan sagar main'. 

The Vice-Chancellor offered his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family and prayed to Allah to rest the departed in eternal peace.

AIT secured top three positions in Annual SBTE Examination 2015

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Aligarh Institute of Technology (AIT) has once again secured top three positions in DAE Biomedical Technology, in Annual Sindh Board of Technical Education (SBTE) Examination 2015.

Bismah Inam secured 1st position with 80.71%, Sadaq Shahid got 2nd position with 80.46% and Rida Taqi gained 3rd position with 80.37%. 

The AIT has been achieving this distinctive honour for the last three consecutive years which is definitely a great achievement by AIT students and the credit goes to Nazish Tariq, HOD, and faculty member of Bio-Medical department who have made consistent efforts to bring out the commendable performance by the students. 

The Chancellor of the Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology (SSUET), Jawaid Anwar, has congratulated with the position holders, the Principal AIT and the other staff members on bringing more laurels to the institution.

Railways make train journey more comfortable

New coaches in the AC and economy classes have been attached with the Karakoram Express train on November 24. These coaches will also be having certain value additions. 

In the AC coaches, water dispenser has been made available besides the installation of LEDs and the availability of wifi services while in the economy coaches, curtain has been provided in each gallery of six berths to make the journey of the passengers more comfortable and secure. 

Moreover public address system with an arrangement of Azan has also been installed. 

The Chief Operating Superintendant of the Pakistan Railways, Mahmood Hassan, alongwith the Deputy Superintendant of Karachi, Haseeb Burgari, visited the station and examined the coaches.. The DCO Karachi and other departmental officers were also present on the occasion.

Sindh Police makes foolproof security arrangements

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Inspector General Police, Sindh, Ghulam Hyder Jamali, has directed that besides recording of majalis and processions on the occasion of Chehlum of Hazrat Imam Hussain (RA) at the range, district and zonal levels, steps be taken for strict vigil at procession routes and parking areas besides police patrolling in targeted sensitive areas, snap checking and advance e intelligence collection and its timely sharing. 

He directed that all possible steps should also be taken for continuous watch on places of majalis and procession routes besides technical sweeping, scanning and clearance from bomb disposal squads. 

The IGP called for preparing security measures on the basis of inner and outer cordon of central Chehlum processions under close coordination between police and other law enforcing organizations.  

He instructed that every step be taken for removal of encroachments, abandoned or out of order vehicles in the way of processions, He called for extraordinary security measures on the day of Chehlum for small and major processions and the majalis to be held besides deploying snipers at selected high rise buildings on the route of central procession. 

He directed that special responsibilities be entrusted to police commandos, reserved and anti-riots platoons, special and crime branches.

US Vice Consul General briefs shipping companies on visa procedure

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) organized a briefing regarding the hurdles in obtaining US visa. The US Vice Consul General, James Allman Gulino, briefed the shipping companies regarding the hardships faced in obtaining US visa. 

The Economic Officer of the US Consulate in Karachi, Richard Rasmussen, PNSC’s Chairman, Arif Elahi, PNSC’s Executive Director, Brig Rashid Siddiqi, Director Ports and Shipping, owners of private shipping companies and their representatives attended the briefing. 

Gulino, speaking on the topic of visa policy and procedure, provided the attendants with the details regarding obtaining US visa and told them that one doesn’t have to face any undue delay or difficulty if he or she has a machine readable passport, SSB and is registered at the agent. 

“The applicants have to face difficulty if they lack the eligibility, don’t follow the standard procedure, provide invalid or incomplete documents or fail to provide required information,” he explained. 

The representatives of shipping companies requested that the procedure be made easier, some regulations should be relaxed and undue delay in issuance of visa be done away with. Speaking to media, 

Arif Elahi, Chairman PNSC, said that the main purpose of the briefing was to understand the matters related to US visa and give the Pakistani shipping companies proper orientation so that their cadets or deck cadets may face no undue difficulty at US ports. 

“The cadets passing out from Pakistan Marine Academy do not get jobs because of not having the US visas. The US visa gives them an additional international advantage as they can enter ports in many countries without any hindrances. This increases their chances of getting lucrative jobs,” he added. 

The PNSC Chairman also said that in order to obtain visa, one has to satisfy the visa officer with proper related documents. He related suggestions to make the visa process easy and curtail the difficulties of seamen with reference to documents.

PNSC signs agreement with Faysal Bank

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) has successfully swapped its loan of Rs 3.3 billion with another loan on soft terms with a repayment period of four years on low mark-up. As a consequence, the PNSC has saved tens of millions of Rupees.

In this respect, a signing ceremony was held in the PNSC Building on November 18 which was attended by Senator  Kamran Michael,  Federal Minister Ports and Shipping, Arif Elahi, Chairman, PNSC, Tayyaba Rasheed, Head of Investment Banking Faysal Bank, Jarrar Haider Kazmi, General Manager Finance,  PNSC, and other officials of the two organizations.

The agreement was signed by Bilal Asghar, Head of Corporate Investment Banking on behalf of Faysal Bank and Imtiaz C Agboatwala Executive Director, Finance, signed on behalf of the PNSC.

On this occasion Arif Elahi, Cjairman, PNSC, informed that the agreement has enabled the corporation to repay the outstanding loan and replace with a loan on softer terms, saving substantial financial cost.

Veteran mathematician Prof Dr Rana Khalid Naeem passes away

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi
(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The mathematics department of the Sir Syed University of Engineering & Technology, (SSUET), and the Karachi Mathematical Association (KMA) have condoled the sad demise of Prof Dr Rana Khalid Naeem, a former Chairman of the mathematics department of the University of Karachi, who passed away the other day. 

The meeting was presided over by the SSUET’s Vice Chancellor, Prof Dr Jawaid H Rizvi, who is also the President of the KMA. 

He recalled the services of Dr Rana Khalid in the field of mathematics and highlighted his achievements and contribution towards the promotion of mathematics. 

The President and members of KMA offered Fateha and prayed to Allah to rest the departed soul in eternal peace and grant fortitude to the family and the circle of friends to bear the great loss.