By Abdul Qadir Qureshi   (Pakistan News and Features Services) Way is paved for assembling and later gradual manufacturing of electric cars and bikes in Pakistan with the launching of electric cars by the Dewan Motors Limited (DML), a reputed name in the automobile sector, at a glorious launch ceremony at the Convention Centre of DHA Golf Club on June 4.  The Chairman of Senate, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, also a former Prime Minister, was the guest of honour as hundreds of participants from various walks of life celebrated another remarkable achievement by Pakistan.  Speaking on the occasion, he acknowledged and applauded the ground breaking initiative undertaken by the Yousuf Dewan Companies (YDC) in the automotive sector.  “The establishment of a state-of-the-art vehicle assembly plant equipped with cutting-edge robotics technology, signifies the strength and capabilities of the company,” he remarked.  He was confident that, based on its reputation and tra...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi  (Pakistan News and Features Services)  Former Railways bigwigs and stalwarts have taken exception to successive railway accidents claiming many precious human lives and described the same as utter professional mismanagement and overloading of railway system caused by launching of new trains with old rolling stock just for political reasons.  “The recent spate of accidents on PR’s network reflects the breakdown of an intricate system put in place to ensure safety of train operations. These horrific accidents are reflective of utter mismanaged and a quickly deteriorating and overheated system, adversely affecting the safety of train operations,” the former senior railway professionals observed while offering their comments on railway accidents one after the other.  The tragic accident occurred at Walhar station, near Sadiqabad, on July 11 in which about 24 precious lives were lost and more than 70 passengers injured, some of them...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi  (Pakistan News & Features Services) The Divisional Superintendent, Pakistan Railways, Karachi Division, Syed Mazhar Ali Shah, got the much talked about the newly introduced Karachi-Rawalpindi Sir Syed Express inaugurated on July 4 through Muhammad Suleman, the first passenger to have booked the ticket from Karachi.  Talking to media on the occasion, he informed that the train having a total capacity of 646 seats, offers three classes of AC Sleeper, AC Business and Economy. It had 100% booking for the opening day. The train, branded as luxurious, had the facilities of dining car and wi-fi. The train will reach its destination in 21 hours via Faisalabad. Upon completion of ML-1, the travel time of the train will reduce to 10 hours.  Besides facilitating passengers it’s being expected to earn the much-needed revenue for the Pakistan Railways.  The train, named after the legendary scholar and thinker, Sir Syed Ahmad K...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) The overseas students, including over 20,000 Pakistanis, in China are set to be benefitted from the revamped policy of Beijing allowing international students to take up part-time jobs.  China will allow international students at Chinese universities nationwide to take part-time jobs during their studies to make the country's higher educational system more attractive, the Ministry of Education said in a statement provided to China Daily on August 7.  The government of China has been introducing a number of exploratory changes allowing international students in Beijing and Shanghai to take part-time jobs or internships off campus as long as they obtain approval from their academic institutions and the entry and exit administrative authorities.  In 2016, the Ministry of Public Security had implemented new policies to allow foreign students recommended by their host universities in Beijing to t...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) The Ministry of Planning, Development and Reforms, Government of Pakistan, has appointed Hassan Daud as the spokesperson on matters related to China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).  The ministry, through a statement, has announced that Hassan Daud, who is Project Director of the CPEC Support Project, will be authorized to issue statements on status of CPEC projects to all forums if required after due approval.  “All concerned including center of excellence CPEC (PIDE) are advised to acknowledge this in view of importance and coherence of CPEC arrangements”, the statement said adding that any official participating in CPEC related event should coordinate with CPEC secretariat ministry of planning for updated information on all CPEC related activities.  When contacted by PNFS, Hassan Daud vowed to keep the media posted of the developments regarding the CPEC projects as and when they happe...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi (Pakistan News & Features Services) Describing national security of Pakistan as key to our survival and growth, Senator Nisar Memon, a former Federal Minister, called upon everyone to rise to the occasion to work for a common of cause of upholding the dignity of our people, sovereignty of the country and strengthening of the institutions, which he reckoned, were in a state of decay.  He gave the clarion call while speaking at the second launch of his book "An Insight into the Senate of Pakistan" held at the NJV High School's auditorium in Karachi on March 4. Earlier the first launch of the book had taken place in Islamabad.  Besides Nisar Memon himself, other speakers on the occasion included former Federal Minister and Senator Javed Jabbar, former Chief Minister and Senator Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, Marvi Memon, Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme, Syed Raghib Shah, former chairman WAPDA, and Tariq Hussain from Worl...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi (Pakistan News & Features Services) The Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal has said that Pakistan is fast coming back on its real economic track and would be looking at its future in the year 2018 when its GDB will be close to 6 percent as against 5.3 percent in 2017.  He was speaking as chief guest at the grand launch of Shehzor truck, the most popular light commercial vehicle produced in the automotive history of Pakistan with over 50,000 units in operation. Shehzore has become the generic name for pickups in the country, Dewan Muhammad Yousuf Farooqui, Chairman, Yousuf Dewan Motor Company remarked in his welcome speech at the launch of Daehan Shehzore at the Mohatta Palace Museum on February 25. Ahsan Iqbal recalled that there was a time when big industrialists and businessmen would be speaking about relocating their industries and concerns to Canada and Dubai and smaller ones to Lahore but today they are coming back to Karachi and P...

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi (Pakistan News & Features Services) The Pakistan Railways has made great strides in its revenue earnings with Karachi railway division alone having achieved amazing targets with total revenue earnings rising from Rs 4172.468 million in 2011-12 to Rs 15,615.820 million in 2015-16. The statistics showed that railways’ revenue earnings stood at Rs 2326.312 million in 1988-89 and soared to Rs 4726.668 million in 2012-13 but shot up to Rs 15,615.820 million in just 2 years 2014-16.  "The earnings of the division stood at Rs 12,158 million in 2014-15 as against the target of Rs 9304.276 million and went up to Rs 15,615.820 million as against the target of Rs 12,732 million in 2015-16,”Engr Nisar Memon, the Divisional Superintendent Railways Karachi Division, informed in an interview.  Giving head wise earning position, he revealed that from July 2016 to October 2016, the railway's passenger earnings touched a record Rs 2126.150 million as...