ISLAMABAD, Jun 22 (APP):Nawaz Sharif’s counsel Khawaja Haris Friday remarked that prosecution has failed to establish its case against former prime minister as his client’s name was not mentioned in documents submitted by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in Avenfield property reference.
Only an affidavit of Sherry Naqvi was related to Avenfield property amongst a total of eighty documents submitted by prosecution side, he said, adding that Nawaz Sharif has no any connection with London flats.
Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir resumed hearing of Avenfield property reference filed by National Accountability Bureau. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and his daughter Maryam Nawaz couldn’t appear before court due to exemption from hearing.
As the hearing began, the defense counsel Khawaja Haris continued his closing arguments in reference on fourth day.
He stated that former prime minister was not the beneficial owner of London flats, saying that the prosecution has failed to establish its case.
He said there was no name of Avenfield property in even charge sheet against his client. The miscellaneous applications, Tariq Shafi’s statement and MLAs of UAE, on which the prosecution was depending, also didn’t mention the name of Nawaz Sharif, he further added.
Haris said there was no need to present anything in defense of his clients as the prosecution itself has failed to establish the case.
The prosecution didn’t bring on record the miscellaneous applications of Nawaz Sharif submitted to the Supreme Court, he said.
He further stated that the matter of trust deed was only between Hussain and Maryam Nawaz, adding that this trust deed has also no connection with former prime minister.
The court, later, adjourned hearing of the case till Monday. The defense counsel would continue his final arguments in Avenfield property reference on next hearing.
Nawaz’s name not mentioned in prosecution’s documents, Haris tells court
Perpetrators of anti-Rohingya attacks in Myanmar must be held accountable: UN envoy
UNITED NATIONS, June 22 (APP):The new UN envoy for Myanmar has told authorities in her first visit to the strife-torn country that those behind atrocities and attacks against persecuted Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state “must be held accountable.”
In a statement released by the UN Spokesperson’s office Thursday, the envoy, Christine Schraner Burgener, said that in all her discussions with national leaders, she had “underlined the importance of accountability” which was “essential for genuine reconciliation.”
The envoy said credible measures were needed to establish accountability for the violence that has engulfed Rakhine and driven thousands of Rohingya from their homes.
The UN envoy “urged for credible fact-finding measures” and said the United Nations was ready to cooperate to establish such steps.
Schraner Burgener held talks with Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi and commander-in-chief General Min Aung Hlaing during a nine-day visit to the country.
After visiting the camps of displaced Rohingya in Rakhine, she also suggested that authorities hold public meetings with the affected communities to encourage “reconciliation and healing.”
Schraner Burgener, a former Swiss ambassador to Germany who was appointed special envoy in April, will travel soon to neighboring Bangladesh where 700,000 Rohingya live in overcrowded camps after being driven from their homes. She also plans to visit Thailand and China.
The United Nations has described the military campaign in Rakhine as “ethnic cleansing” and is pushing for a full investigation into allegations of atrocities.
Suu Kyi has come under fire for doing virtually nothing to stop the crimes. Her government has also snubbed and obstructed UN officials seeking to investigate the situation and prevented aid agencies from delivering food, water and medicines to the refugees.
A team of UN Security Council members visited Myanmar and Rakhine state in early May, meeting with refugees who gave detailed accounts of killings, rape and torching of villages at the hands of Myanmar’s military.
The United Nations has said it has strong suspicions that “acts of genocid” have taken place against the Rohingya.
The Rohingya have lived in Myanmar for generations but are denied citizenship and are branded illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, which likewise denies them citizenship.
The UN has described the 1.1-million-strong Muslim community as the most persecuted minority in the world.
In early June, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the government and the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Myanmar.
The envoy noted this was a particularly positive step, and expressed hope that the root causes of the refugee crisis could be tackled soon, “in particular ending restrictions on freedom of movement and granting citizenship to those eligible,” allowing safe return.
Five tourists killed in road accident
MUZAFFARABAD, June 22 (APP):At least five tourists were killed and ten other sustained injuries near Kahori some 17km away from Muzaffarabad on Thursday.
According to initial reports, police sources said that a Datsun was carrying 15 tourists on board when it was returning from the Neelum valley.The driver while negotiating a sharp turn lost control over it and the vehicle fell into a deep gorge near Kahori of Patika Tehsil.As a result, five tourists were killed while ten other sustained severe injuries. They were shifted to CMH Hospital by a local welfare organization.
According to available details, the accident took place at the dusk, as the tourists were hailing from Mardan and Peshawar.The identity of the dead and injured could not be ascertained so far.
US, India trade friction could roil strategic partnership: Report
WASHINGTON, June 22 (APP):“While the media has been focused on trade war between the United States and its three main trade partners“ The EU, China and NAFTA, a potential trade friction is brewing between the US and India that could negatively impact strategic partnership between the two countries.
India has begun imposing tariffs on American exports worth $240 million after it failed to get exemption from the tariff President Trump imposed this month on steel and aluminum imports that has triggered a trade war between American and its major trading partners.
According to an online Foreign Policy magazine report published Thursday, though the amount involved in tit for tat actions is smaller, compared with impact on trade between the US and the EU, China, Canada and Mexico, it is not less significant.
The United States is India’s single largest trading partner and the two countries have more than $100 billion of trade between them that accounts for about 40 percent of India’s GDP. The report said that the US-India trade friction, which has been overlooked, could have consequences.
“This quarrel has the potential to erode the burgeoning strategic partnership between the world’s two largest democracies, which have been closely aligned in military and counter-terrorism fields with the goal of stabilizing the Indo-Pacific region and countering the rise of China,” the report said.
India on Thursday started imposing duties on 29 American items that include almonds, chickpeas, and chocolates, with 28 tariffs taking immediate effect and a duty on shrimp rolling out on Aug. 4.
There have been trade issues between India and the US in the past and, since President Bill Clinton’s administration, the US has filed six separate cases against India at the World Trade Organization, but it hardly had any impact on deepening geopolitical cooperation between the two countries.
However, the report said, that the way the Trump administration has been closing its markets to imports while demanding concessions for its exports has made India nervous in the same way as it had made the US three major trading partners.
According to the FP report the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has challenged India’s export subsidy policies as instruments “to sell their goods more cheaply to the detriment of American workers and manufacturers.”
In March this year, Lighthizer initiated a case against India at the WTO, which is the first such complaint since 2013, and also threatened to revoke the non-reciprocal trade benefits India enjoys under the Generalized System of Preferences by virtue of being a developing nation.
President Trump himself has criticized Indian for imposing barriers to Harley-Davidson motorcycles by saying that the US was “getting nothing” from India. The Trump administration has also hurt Indian in the services sector by cracking down hard on the route for Indian IF sector workers into the United States.
US envoy irked by UN report on poverty in America, calls it ‘misleading’
UNITED NATIONS, June 21 (APP):Stung by a United Nations report criticizing the U.S. government on poverty in America, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley called it “misleading and politically motivated.”
“It is patently ridiculous for the United Nations to examine poverty in America,” Haley wrote in letters to Senators Bernie Sanders, an independent, and Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat.
“There is no question that poverty in America remains a serious concern, but it does no one any good to inaccurately describe its prevalence or its causes.”
Sanders and Warren were among 20 congressional Democrats who wrote Ambassador Haley
last week criticizing the Trump administration for the findings.
In December, Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, issued the report following visits to California, Alabama, Georgia, Puerto Rico, West Virginia and Washington, D.C. Citing the Republican tax overhaul, Alston said his visit coincided “with a dramatic change of direction in US policies relating to inequality and extreme poverty.”
The UN rapporteur said the United States, one of the world’s richest nations and the “land of opportunity”, is fast becoming the World’s most unequal society.
“The American Dream is rapidly becoming the American Illusion, as the US now has the lowest rate of social mobility of any of the rich countries,” he said at the end of a fact-finding mission to the United States.
Alston’s report cites high infant mortality, income inequality, incarceration and obesity rates.
“It is our sincerest hope that you will relay the findings of this UN report to President Trump and that this Administration will take action to reduce poverty and uphold our international human rights treaty obligations,” the congressional Democrats wrote.
In their letter to Haley, they also asked the administration to recognize health care as a human right, address inadequate access to banking services and improve internet and transportation access, especially in rural communities.
On her part, Ambassador Haley stressed that the current administration is tackling the issue by focusing on jobs.
“Poverty is an issue the Trump Administration takes very seriously,” Haley responded. However, she said, “While there are many dimensions to poverty, the Administration’s overarching view is that the best way to help people get out of poverty is to help them get a job. There is dignity in work, and being able to provide for one’s self and family is empowering, both economically and spiritually.”
Haley also claimed Alston’s reports are not endorsed by the U.N. as a whole.
State, rebels committed war crimes in Syria’s Ghouta
UNITED NATIONS, Jun 21 (APP):A high-level UN inquiry commission says that during a five-year Syrian government siege and two months of fighting earlier this year in which government forces captured eastern suburbs of Damascus from rebels, both sides committed war crimes.
In a report released Wednesday in Geneva, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry condemned the government siege on the suburbs known as eastern Ghouta, saying at least 265,000 individuals lived in the area during the “longest running siege in modern history.”
The Syrian government siege ended in April when government forces and their allies launched a crushing offensive to capture the area leaving hundreds of people dead.
The 23-page report urged all parties to the conflict in Syria to desist from resorting to sieges in the future, concluding they are characterized by war crimes.
The report details the events that led to its recapture by pro-Government forces in April this year, following a “dramatically escalating” military campaign.
Neighbourhoods suffered aerial and ground bombardments “which claimed the lives of hundreds of Syrian men, women and children”, the report notes, with “numerous homes, markets and hospitals all but razed to the ground”.
These indiscriminate, “widespread and systematic bombardments” and the act of deliberately attacking protected objects, amounted to war crimes, it continues.
Commenting on the events in eastern Ghouta, Commission of Inquiry Chair, Paulo Pinheiro, condemned the civilian deaths as “abhorrent”.
In addition to the deadly violence they faced, families were denied food and medicine, the veteran rights expert noted, before adding that “no warring party acted to protect the civilian population” during the last phase of the siege.
According to the report, between February and April this year, besieged armed groups and terrorist organizations based inside eastern Ghouta “relentlessly fired” unguided mortars into Damascus city and nearby areas, “killing and maiming” hundreds of Syrian civilians.
Insisting that “there can be no justification” for the indiscriminate shelling of inhabited areas, Commissioner Hanny Megally said that this, too, amounted to a war crime.
According to the report, by the time Government forces declared eastern Ghouta recaptured on 14 April, some 140,000 individuals had fled their homes and up to 50,000 were evacuated to Idlib and Aleppo governorates.
“Tens of thousands” of people have been unlawfully interned by Government forces in what the report’s authors call “managed sites” in rural Damascus, which includes Ghouta.
Their number includes women and children, which is “reprehensible”, Commissioner Karen Koning AbuZayd said.
The report is scheduled to be formally presented next week, on 26 June, during an interactive dialogue at the current session of the Human Rights Council.
Americans own nearly half world’s guns in civilian hands: survey
NEW YORK, Jun 21 (APP):Americans own 40 percent of the world’s firearms, despite making up only four percent of the global population, according to a new study.
There are more than one billion firearms in the world, but 85 percent of those are in the hands of civilians, with the remainder held by law enforcement and the military, according to the Small Arms Survey.
Of the 857 million guns owned by civilians, 393 million are in the United States – more than all of the firearms held by ordinary citizens in the other top 25 countries combined, the survey found.
The Small Arms Survey is an annual poll produced by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The biggest force pushing up gun ownership around the world is civilian ownership in the United States,” said Aaron Karp, one of the authors of the report which compiles new data from the last ten years.
“Ordinary American people buy approximately 14 million new and imported guns every year,” Karp told a news conference at UN headquarters in New York.
Americans have access to powerful firearms that are not available in many other countries due to tighter legislation.
“Why are they buying them? That’s another debate. Above all, they are buying them probably because they can. The American market is extraordinarily permissive,” he said.
Gun ownership rates vary across the world, with 121 firearms for every 100 residents in the United States compared to 53 in Yemen, 39 in Montenegro, and 35 in Canada.
The survey comes amid a debate about US gun laws that was given fresh impetus by the massacre of 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in February.
On May 18, Sabika Sheikh, a Pakistani exchange student at the Santa Fe High School in Texas, was killed along with nine others after a heavily armed fellow student opened fire on his classmates.
More than 30,000 gun-related deaths occur annually in the United States.
The US must take immediate measures to address its gun violence “epidemic,” including banning assault weapons and expanding mental health treatment, according to a study released in April by researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina.
40 women graduate as accident investigators
ISLAMABAD, Jun 22 (APP):The General Directorate of Traffic and Najm for Insurance Services Company celebrated on Thursday the graduation of the first batch of 40 women investigators to handle and manage traffic accidents.
According to Saudi Gazette, The graduation ceremony was held at Four Seasons Hotel here in the presence of Director General of Traffic Maj. Gen. Muhammad Al Bassami.
Maha Al-Shanifi, director general of corporate communications and marketing at Najm, said the graduates have undergone an intensive training program after having been selected on the basis of clear and precise criteria to handle and manage accidents. She said that Najm’s decision to employ female investigators comes in line with the royal decree issued by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman to make amendments in the Traffic Law and its executive regulations to allow women to drive, in line with the prescribed Shariah regulations.
Al-Shanifi emphasized the company’s keenness on improving its operations and accordingly had started training programs for women in order for them to qualify and take up jobs of accident investigators. She also underscored the significance of empowering women so as to make them an effective component in the society. She stressed the urgent need for female staff to take charge of investigating traffic accidents directly when women start driving from Sunday.
The Najm company announced earlier the opening of employment opportunities for women to take up jobs of investigators in the company after completing all the preparations to attract and train women cadres, who will be able to assume duty in the field of management and treatment of traffic accidents. The company had set three conditions for accepting Saudi women trainees to work as field investigators of traffic accidents: language proficiency, lack of criminal records, and readiness to work in morning and evening shifts.
Fahad Bin Ibrahim Al Akeel, CEO of Najm, stressed the importance of involving women in managing and handling of traffic accidents, saying that this would contribute to effective implementation of the royal decree to allow women to drive as well as to ensure the best solutions to handle emergency situations.
Al-Akeel said that Najm is working in partnership with the Traffic Directorate to enhance awareness of drivers, especially about safety rules, in line with the company’s strategy to improve the level of traffic awareness among road users and attending traffic accidents while maintaining the top international standards. This will, in a way, keep pace with realizing the goals of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 and expanding the scope of work according to clear growth plans and upgrading in the provision of services.
US jobless claims fall for fourth straight week
Washington, June 21 (AFP/APP):US claims for unemployment fell for the fourth week in a row last week, extending an unprecedented streak of low levels, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The continued scarcity of layoffs suggested June was likely to be another strong hiring month as the data were collected during the survey week for the department’s more closely watched monthly US employment report.
For the week ending June 16, the number of new claims for jobless benefits fell by 3,000 to 218,000, marking the 21st week below the level of 250,000.
Claims have now held below 300,000 for more than three years, the longest such stretch ever recorded.
The less volatile four-week moving average fell a steeper 4,000 to 221,000 claims. Though they can see big swings from week to week, jobless claims can be used as a gauge of health of labor markets and the prevalence of layoffs.
With unemployment at its lowest level since 2000, employers are increasingly stretched to fill open positions, making them unusually reluctant to lay off workers who will be difficult to replace.
Anecdotal reports indicate companies have begun to rehire retirees and poach workers from other companies, which is beginning to eat into profits but has yet to result in statistical signs of faster wage growth.
The Federal Reserve has cited the tight labor markets as a justification for accelerating the path of interest rate increases this year.
British commander says Taliban attack after Eid-ceasefire disappointing
WASHHINGTON, June 21 (APP):British army Lt. Gen. Richard J. Cripwell, the deputy commander for the Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan expressed his disappointment over the Taliban attack that came after a ceasefire between the militants and the government for Eid-ul-Fitr.
Speaking to reporters in Washington via tele-conference from Kabul, Gen. Cripwell said that the ceasefire and the burgeoning peace movement in Afghanistan led NATO officials in the country to believe the country is on the ‘edge of opportunity.’
“We are, of course, disappointed that the Taliban decided not to continue, and chose instead to return to war,” he said but added that NATO was fully behind the Afghan government, and Resolute Support would continue to honor the government’s ceasefire as long as it endures.
Although the Taliban ceasefire has now ended, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has decided to extend the government ceasefire, and has reiterated his offer of unconditional talks. This shows that a serious desire for peace was here in Afghanistan, the British Gen. said.
Speaking about the ceasefire, the General said that it was a ‘courageous’ move by the Afghan government and the Taliban agreed to the cease-fire and the nation saw what peace could look like as government and Taliban marked the end of the holy month of Ramadan this past weekend.
Ghani extended the ceasefire, but the Taliban carried out their first attack after the ceasefire, killing 30 Afghan soldiers in Badghis, a city in western Afghanistan.
Gen. Cripwell said that the military pressure on Taliban was on in an effort to bring the group to the table. “We are not here to do this ourselves,” the general said to Pentagon reporters via video teleconference.
“Our focus is on building capability to ensure the Afghan security forces can deliver effective, targeted military pressure to protect and secure their population and create the conditions for a political settlement.”
NATO trainers are helping Afghan forces, now, at every level. Senior NATO leaders partner with Afghan defense and interior officials. They work to increase institutional strength and look to root our inefficiency and corruption, the general said, as quoted by a report at the official Pentagon website.
Interim-govt ensuring merit on transfer,postings: Ali Zafar
ISLAMABAD, June 21 (APP):Caretaker Minister for Information, Broadcasting and Law Affairs, Barrister Ali Zafar on Thursday said that interim government was trying to ensure merit on all transfers and postings in bureaucracy.
The government was working under its define responsibilities given in the Constitution, he said talking to a private news channel.
The interim-set up could not take decisions of transfers and postings at all levels, however he said that the decisions were being made in consultation with Election Commission of Pakistan regarding shuffling in bureaucracy.
He said Imran Khan had written a letter to the caretaker prime minister for addressing some complaints, the other political party leaders should follow suit.
As far as administrative matter of the provinces was concerned, Barrister Ali Zafar said it was prerogative of the caretaker government to look into the affairs of their respective areas.
It was also the responsibility of the caretaker government to run the day-to-day affairs of the state, he said and added, it was the utmost liability of the center to ensure free and fair elections within the stipulated time frame.
All out efforts would be made to conduct elections in a transparent and peaceful manner, the minister said.
To a question about the participation of voters, he urged the people to come forward to make the election a success.
State, rebels committed war crimes in Syrias Ghouta
UNITED NATIONS, June 21 (APP)::A high-level UN inquiry commission says that during a five-year Syrian government siege and two months of fighting earlier this year in which government forces captured eastern suburbs of Damascus from rebels, both sides committed war crimes.
In a report released Wednesday in Geneva, the Independent International Commission of Inquiry condemned the government siege on the suburbs known as eastern Ghouta, saying at least 265,000 individuals lived in the area during the longest running siege in modern history.
The Syrian government siege ended in April when government forces and their allies launched a crushing offensive to capture the area leaving hundreds of people dead.
The 23-page report urged all parties to the conflict in Syria to desist from resorting to sieges in the future, concluding they are characterized by war crimes.
The report details the events that led to its recapture by pro-Government forces in April this year, following a dramatically escalating military campaign.
Neighbourhoods suffered aerial and ground bombardments which claimed the lives of hundreds of Syrian men, women and children, the report notes, with numerous homes, markets and hospitals all but razed to the ground.
These indiscriminate, widespread and systematic bombardments and the act of deliberately attacking protected objects, amounted to war crimes, it continues.
Commenting on the events in eastern Ghouta, Commission of Inquiry Chair, Paulo Pinheiro, condemned the civilian deaths as abhorrent.
In addition to the deadly violence they faced, families were denied food and medicine, the veteran rights expert noted, before adding that no warring party acted to protect the civilian population during the last phase of the siege.
According to the report, between February and April this year, besieged armed groups and terrorist organizations based inside eastern Ghouta relentlessly fired unguided mortars into Damascus city and nearby areas, killing and maiming hundreds of Syrian civilians.
Insisting that there can be no justification for the indiscriminate shelling of inhabited areas, Commissioner Hanny Megally said that this, too, amounted to a war crime.
According to the report, by the time Government forces declared eastern Ghouta recaptured on 14 April, some 140,000 individuals had fled their homes and up to 50,000 were evacuated to Idlib and Aleppo governorates.
Tens of thousands of people have been unlawfully interned by Government forces in what the reports authors call managed sites in rural Damascus, which includes Ghouta.
Their number includes women and children, which is reprehensible, Commissioner Karen Koning AbuZayd said.
The report is scheduled to be formally presented next week, on 26 June, during an interactive dialogue at the current session of the Human Rights Council.
Shahnaz disappointed over scraping of Champions Trophy
ISLAMABAD, June 21 (APP):Former Olympian Shahnaz Sheikh Thursday expressed disappointment over the scraping of the Champions Trophy Tournament saying it WAS part of the Indian lobby’s plan to isolate Pakistan from the game.
Talking to APP, he said World Cup, Champions Trophy, Asia Cup and Junior World Cup had been introduced by Pakistan. “Currently Pakistan Hockey Federation and the game is going through hard times therefore the federation needs to tackle the situation well,” he said.
He said the team had prepared very well for the Champions Trophy to be held in Netherlands from June 23. “I hope the team performs well and bring home laurels,” he said.
Responding to a question he said both Pakistani and Indian teams had same playing style and whichever team played well would win the event.
“In modern hockey the role of goalkeeping and penalty corners are very important therefore Pakistan has to perform extraordinary in both these departments,” he said.
He said in his tenure Pakistan had qualified for the Champions Trophy final in 2014 after 16 years which was a great achievement.
Shahnaz also criticised the federation’s statement that Champions Trophy was only an event to prepare for this year’s Asian Games.
“This is a top class event and one should participate in it with full preparation,” he said and added that such statements make the players’ morale down.
Speaking on how to improve hockey in the country, he said tournaments must be held at schools and colleges.
“At least six hockey academies should be established in the country and Pakistan Hockey League should be organized soon as it would benefit the players at grassroots level,” he said.
China and Nepal ink 14 agreements including cross-border railway network
BEIJING, June 21 (APP)::China and Nepal have signed 14 agreements including a cross-border railway, infrastructure, post-disaster reconstruction and human resources here on Thursday.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and his Nepali counterpart Khadga Prasad Sharma Oil who held bilateral talks also witnessed the signing of memorandums of understanding (MOUs) on capacity.
The Nepali prime minister is currently on a five-day visit to China. This is Oli’s first visit to China after his recent re-election. He visited China during his earlier brief tenure as prime minister in 2016.
During the talks, the Chinese premier informed the visiting Nepali prime minister that China was willing to strengthen cooperation with Nepal in infrastructure connectivity, logistics, trade and investment under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
The Nepali leader said he hoped the trip could enhance cross-border railroad connectivity, infrastructure development, trade, investment and tourism under China-proposed Belt and Road framework.
The Nepali leader also tried to confirm plans for a China-Nepal Economic Corridor under the BRI.
The Nepali prime minister with a 100-plus delegation began a five-day official visit to China on Tuesday at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
During his visit, the Nepalese prime minister also met President Xi Jinping and applauded China’s development achievements, highly appraised China’s positive role in international affairs, and thanked China for its support for the country’s development transformation.
Americans own nearly half world’s guns in civilian hands: survey
NEW YORK, June 21 (APP)::Americans own 40 percent of the world’s firearms, despite making up only four percent of the global population, according to a new study.
There are more than one billion firearms in the world, but 85 percent of those are in the hands of civilians, with the remainder held by law enforcement and the military, according to the Small Arms Survey.
Of the 857 million guns owned by civilians, 393 million are in the United States – more than all of the firearms held by ordinary citizens in the other top 25 countries combined, the survey found.
The Small Arms Survey is an annual poll produced by the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.
“The biggest force pushing up gun ownership around the world is civilian ownership in the United States,” said Aaron Karp, one of the authors of the report which compiles new data from the last ten years.
“Ordinary American people buy approximately 14 million new and imported guns every year,” Karp told a news conference at UN headquarters in New York.
Americans have access to powerful firearms that are not available in many other countries due to tighter legislation.
“Why are they buying them? That’s another debate. Above all, they are buying them probably because they can. The American market is extraordinarily permissive,” he said.
Gun ownership rates vary across the world, with 121 firearms for every 100 residents in the United States compared to 53 in Yemen, 39 in Montenegro, and 35 in Canada.
The survey comes amid a debate about US gun laws that was given fresh impetus by the massacre of 17 people at a high school in Parkland, Florida, in February.
On May 18, Sabika Sheikh, a Pakistani exchange student at the Santa Fe High School in Texas, was killed along with nine others after a heavily armed fellow student opened fire on his classmates.
More than 30,000 gun-related deaths occur annually in the United States.
The US must take immediate measures to address its gun violence epidemic, including banning assault weapons and expanding mental health treatment, according to a study released in April by researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina.
President Mamnoon back home after four-day Tajikistan visit
ISLAMABAD, Jun 21 (APP):President Mamnoon Hussain returned here Thursday on completion of his four-day official visit to Tajikistan.
During the visit, the President met with Tajik leadership and discussed ways to further strengthen the bilateral ties in diverse areas.
He also addressed an international conference on “International Decade of Action: Water for Sustainable Development 2018-28.”
On the sidelines of the moot, the president also held bilateral meetings with President Gurbanguli Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan and Chief Executive of Afghanistan and discussed matters of bilateral and mutual interest.
At Dushanbe Airport, the president was seen off by Deputy Prime Minister of Tajikistan Zokir Zoda Mahmad Toir. Pakistan’s Ambassador in Tajikistan Tariq Iqbal Soomro and senior embassy officials were also present on the occasion.
SBP defines procedure of repatriation of liquid assets, deposit of tax
KARACHI, Jun 21 (APP):State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Thursday issued the procedure for repatriation of liquid assets
and deposit of tax under Foreign Assets (Declaration and Repatriation) Act-2018.
The government has fixed June 30 as the last date for the declaration of assets and income
under Tax Amnesty Scheme-2018.
State Bank, in a statement issued here on Thursday, explained: 1) The declarants cannot pay tax through exchange companies, money business services etc. The tax payment can only be made through banking channels either from the declarants’ own accounts or from the accounts of the declarants’ immediate family members i.e. his/her parents, children, spouse and siblings (brothers and sisters).
In case of payment through the immediate family members’ accounts, the
tax payer while sending the copies of payment slip ID (PSID), Form “A” etc. to SBP for generation of computerized payment receipt (CPR) will also send satisfactory documentary evidence to establish the relationship.
2) The balance in foreign currency (FCY) account deposits as of March 31, 2018 or June 20,2018, whichever is less, can be used for the purpose of tax payment. For instance if the balance in an FCY account is dollars 10,000 and dollars 5000 respectively on March 31, 2018 and June 29, 2018. The tax payment to the extent of dollars 5000 can be made from this account.
3) While it is highly desirable to remit funds through wire transfer from the banks where the declarants or their immediate family members are maintaining the bank accounts, the declarants having bank accounts outside Pakistan but presently residing in Pakistan can also pay the tax in dollars by depositing the dollars cheques with the authorized branches of National Bank of Pakistan in Pakistan for collecting the proceeds for the SBP account in NBP New York.
This may however take 7 to 10 days in collection of the proceeds. The
declarants using this payment option should be aware of possible delays in collection of the proceeds. The declarants using this payment option shall after deposit of the cheque with NBP shall electronically transmit the copy of the cheque, deposit slip, PSID, Form A etc. to SBP for issuance of CPR. The SBP shall issue the CPR on realization of the cheque proceeds in the SBP account.
4) It is possible due to deduction of bank charges by the remitting
bank. The declarants thus should make sure that the funds being remitted to SBP are at least equivalent to the amount appearing in PSID. The CPR would only be issued if the funds appearing in the PSID have been received in the SBP account.
5) The whole amount repatriated to Pakistan and the tax paid on the
amount being declared and repatriated, shall be covered under the amnesty scheme.
6) The declarant can make two separate wire transfers or one at his/her
choice. In case of one SWIFT message (wire transfer), he/she will give the signed statement of application of funds including the amount to be paid as taxes and the amount to be converted into Pak Rupee etc.
7) The funds can be remitted within three days of generation of the PSID.
The remittance date means the date on which the declarants bank sends the funds in SBP account in New York through wire transfer and gives a copy of the SWIFT message to the declarant.
8) To a query that the date of remittance of funds by the declarant’s
bank and the date of realization of funds in SBP account in New York be different , State Bank cleared , It can be different due to difference in time zones and/or processing of remittance in New York.
9) About change in the exchange rate on the date of PSID creation and
the date SBP realizes funds in its account, SBP has elaborated that as the tax liability is in USD, the exchange rate variation will have no impact on the tax liability of the declarant. The CPR is issued for the same PKR and USD amounts as mentioned in the PSID. Thus the exchange rate for the purpose of tax payment is locked for the tax payer at time of generation of PSID.
The liquid funds to be repatriated for conversion into PKR will however
be converted and deposited in the declarants’ PKR account at the rate prevailing on the date of realization of USD funds in the SBP account.
10) About , how long it can take to receive Computerized Payment
Receipt (CPR), once the amount is remitted to SBP, the Central Bank said the CPR is issued within 24 hours of the receipt of funds in SBP accounts and the relevant documents i.e. copies of PSID, Form A, CNIC, statement of application of funds etc as detailed in SBP notification of April 16,2018.
11) In case of declarant does not receive any CPR, who will be the
contact person in SBP, State Bank of Pakistan outlined that the tax payer should send the reminder on the same email address (tax.foreignassets@sbp.org.pk) at which he/she has sent the documents for creation of PSID. A team of 12 officials has been deputed to respond to the queries.
Caretaker govt to utilize all capabilities, resources for timely elections: Ali Zafar
ISLAMABAD, Jun 21 (APP):Minister for Law and Justice Barrister Syed Ali Zafar on Thursday said that it was their pledge to the nation that the caretaker government would utilize all capabilities and resources for ensuring timely elections.
Speaking to mediamen here outside Islamabad High Court, he said foolproof security would be provided at sensitive polling stations for peaceful elections.
On the reports of the interior ministry about sensitive and most sensitive polling stations, security will be provided at the polling stations, he said adding it was not possible that a sensitive polling station was left without security so there would be no compromise on security during elections.
He said the government had received an application from National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to include the name of Nawaz Sharif and Maryam Nawaz in the Exit Control List (ECL).
The Prime Minister constituted a committee including Interior Minister, Minister for Information, Broadcasting, Law and Justice and Minister for Finance to consider the matter, he added.
He said wife of Nawaz Sharif and mother of Maryam Nawaz was ill and in critical condition and both of them were outside the country.
He said if anybody had his name in the ECL, then a decision of the cabinet was required for granting him permission to go abroad. He said in the case of Zulfi Bukhari’s visit outside Pakistan it was said that his name was on the ECL and he went abroad.
There was a verdict of Supreme Court and a method defined in the law to put a name in ECL, he said adding name of Zulfi Bukhari was not in the ECL but was in the black list.
He informed that the approval of cabinet was not required for inclusion or withdrawal of name from the black list, adding preparing blacklist was not a complex process.
Ali Zafar said changes had been made in the bureaucracy at federal and provincial levels and more changes in the bureaucracy would be made to ensure impartial elections.
To a question about demand of a political party for removal of governors, the minister said in case of complaint of interference and influence on the next elections, anybody should be removed if any evidence was found and the Election Commission could also take action in the connection.
To a question, he said it was mandate of the caretaker government to hold free, fair, impartial and transparent elections. “Under the articles 19 and 19A, we believe in freedom of expression and freedom of media and we will continue to inform the people on every matter.”
Responding to another question, he said in order to implement order of Islamabad high Court, the institutions took action against property of a media organization, and he had sought information about the case and if any injustice was done then he will stand with the media.
He said as per its mandate, the caretaker government will take steps to raise the standard of living of people of FATA, after its merger into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by undertaking police, judicial and administrative reforms. Institutions will be established in the former FATA areas in a phased manner and in this connection the caretaker government would fulfill its responsibilities, he added.
During the visit to Islamabad High Court, the minister met the office bearers of Islamabad High Court Bar Association and lawyer community.
Ahsan urges nation to vote for building of strong economy
ISLAMABAD, Jun 21 (APP):Leader of Pakistan Muslim League(N) Ahsan Iqbal here on Thursday said the next election was about making a choice whether the nation wanted to continue the journey to build a strong economy or let some elements disrupt the process of development.
Addressing a press conference here, he said, “This election is about a choice whether we want to continue the journey to build our economy or disrupt the process of development.”
He said 10000 megawatt were added to the national grid by Pakistan Muslim League(N) government and mega projects were completed in its tenure during the last five years. Now electricity was available for 18 to 20 hours a day in the country, he added.
He said Imran Khan has popularity on the social media and he claimed to be champion of the youth but he did not establish any universities.
Imran Khan did not carry out any development projects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and had no experience to run a government, he added.
He said investment of $ 30 billion has already been actualized in the projects of CPEC.
According to Vision 2025, the goal was to include Pakistan in the 20 biggest economies by creating a strong economy, he said adding, “One of our priorities is the human resource development,” he added.
He said Peoples Party in the past undermined the development projects like motorway started by PMLN.
President Mamnoon leaves for Pakistan
DUSHANBE , June 21 (APP):President Mamnoon Hussain Thursday left for Pakistan at the conclusion of his four-day official visit to Tajikistan.
The President was seen off at the Dushambe Airport by Deputy Prime Minister of Tajikistan Zokir Zoda Mahmad Toir.
Pakistan’s Ambassador in Tajikistan Tariq Iqbal Soomro and senior embassy officials were also present on the occasion.
Deputy Prime Minister of Tajikistan presented a album to the president having pictures of his four-day visit.
During the visit, the President held talks with Tajik leadership to further strengthen bilateral ties between the two brotherly countries in diverse areas.
He also addressed a high level international conference titled the International Decade of Action “Water for Sustainable Development” 2018-28.
On the sidelines of the conference , the President also held bilateral meetings with President Gurbanguli Berdimuhamedow of Turkmenistan and Chief Executive of Afghanistan and disussed matters of bilateral and mutual interest.