News ki dunya

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Secretary Syrus Qazi has called for a binding global framework to guarantee the responsible use of AI and cyberspace and war­ned against unfair restrictions on developing countries’ access to emerging techn­ologies. “Pakistan emphasises the need for international cooperation to develop a legally binding framework governing the responsible uses of cyberspace and artificial intelligence technologies,” the foreign secretary said on Friday while addressing the concluding session of a workshop in Islamabad. The event was jointly hosted by the Centre for Intern­­ational Strategic Stud­ies (CISS) in collaboration with the Geneva-based United Nations Instit­ute for Disarmament Rese­arch (UNIDIR), accor­­ding to a press release. The workshop focused on exploring the convergence of AI and cyberspace in the context of global security, the security impacts of emerging technologies and their ethical considerations. Mr Qazi emphasised that Pakistan believes in “a r...

• SBP officers in top grade earn between Rs1.7m and Rs3.9m per month, Senate told • Rabbani highlights disparity in remuneration of employees in different grades, demands govt rein in bureaucracy’s spending ISLAMABAD: The disclosure that many officers of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) are drawing monthly salaries higher than the two-year emoluments of a lawmaker irked senators on Friday, who called into question the performance of those overburdening the exchequer. Caretaker Finance Minister Shamshad Akhtar, during Question Hour in the Senate, informed the house that SBP officers in OG-8, the highest grade, were drawing salaries ranging between Rs1.7 million and Rs3.9 million per month. She said the total number of SBP employees was 1,078 and a budget of Rs6.8 billion had been allocated for their salaries and benefits for FY2022-23. At this, Senator Danesh Kumar said that being an autonomous organisation does not mean the employees should draw salaries of around fou...

RAWALPINDI: Of the 20,296 suspects involved in the May 9 attacks, the Punjab police have so far managed to arrest about 872, spurring the investigation branch into action to improve its performance, as senior police officers have termed these numbers embarrassing for the department. Punjab Additional Inspector General (AIG), who heads the investigation branch, chaired a meeting of the district heads of the investigation wing earlier this month, in which reservations were expressed over the pace of investigation regarding the May 9 violence. During the meeting, it was noted that the overall police performance in the non-ATA [anti-terrorism act] cases “was not up to the mark”. The meeting was informed that a total of 269 cases were registered with the police in connection with the May 9 violence, out of them at least six cases were cancelled, whereas complete challans of 37 cases had been submitted. However, at least in 177 cases, the challans are incomplete. In addition to this...

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has sought permission from district administration to hold workers convention at Liaquat Bagh or some other suitable place on Nov 25. After getting the application, the district administration sought report from special branch whether the permission will be provided to the party to hold convention in Liaquat Bagh or not. “After getting the report from special branch of police, the report will be sent to Punjab caretaker government for final permission,” said a senior official of the district administration. He said the matter would be placed at the divisional intelligence committee also in a day or two. He said that it would not be possible to allow the public meeting at Liaquat Bagh due to some security threats. PTI’s Lawyers Wing General Secretary Khan Aaqil Khan Advocate submitted the application and said that PTI was the largest political party in the country and it was holding workers convention in connection with general elec...

• Bench orders authorities to use modern devices to locate ‘disappeared’ individuals • Compensation to be paid to families after cabinet’s nod, court told KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Thursday hinted at summoning the caretaker prime minister if police and provincial administration could not make any progress in recovery of missing persons. The SHC warned the law enforcement agency and administration to produce the missing persons in court or else it would pass appropriate orders in this regard. When the hearing began, a two-judge bench comprising Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto and Justice Amjad Ali Sahito was informed that no progress was made in almost all the cases of missing persons fixed for hearing on Thursday. Justice Phulpoto remarked, “The court may summon the prime minister if police and administration are powerless.” The bench further observed that cases of the people who had gone missing from Karachi were pending for the past 10 years, but no progress had ...

• Report on redrawn constituencies to be published on Nov 30 • Over 1,400 objections to delimitation filed; representations come from 124 of 143 districts ISLAMABAD: In a significant step towards the Feb 8 general election, the printing of final electoral rolls has begun as the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Thursday concluded hearings on objections to the new delimitation of constituencies. During a meeting chaired by Chief Election Commissioner Sikandar Sultan Raja, it was announced that the final report on redrawn constituencies will be published on Nov 30, as planned. All told, the ECP received 1,403 representations challenging the delimitation of national and provincial assembly constituencies. An analysis by Pattan highlighted that challenges to the preliminary delimitation were filed from 124 of the country’s 143 districts. In Punjab, the battleground province in elections to grab political power, the preliminary delimitation was challenged from every ...

KARACHI: Doubting Pakistan Muslim League-N’s assurances, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) insisted on Thursday that a multi-party coalition under its former ally is being formed only to roll back the 18th Amendment to the Constitution after the general elections. The party also suspected that the PML-N is “conspiring” the entire plan to bring all parties on board, aiming to secure a two-thirds majority for another constitutional amendment that would ultimately render the 18th Amendment null and void. “A few politicians while sitting in the comforts of their drawing rooms are becoming part of this conspiracy,” said PPP Sindh chapter president Senator Nisar Khuhro during a ceremony at Arts Council organised in connection with the party’s foundation day celebration. “I appeal to all my friends not to become part of this move, which is equivalent to an attack on the 1973 Constitution. I can only appeal and convince them; otherwise, the PPP will stand firm and won’t let this happen...