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UN’s FAO, GOP sign $5 million funding agreement for flood victims

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UN's FAO, GOP sign $5 million funding agreement for flood victims

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Pakistan have signed a $ 5 million funding agreement for a project to recover from the devastating floods that hit the country and Balochistan in particular, in 2022.

The collaboration between FAO and the Balochistan Agriculture & Cooperatives Department (BACD) represents the first time that FAO has received funds through a government in its role as a recipient of funding from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), said a press release issued here by FAO.

A grant signing ceremony was held at the Economic Affairs Division (EAD) between the Government of Pakistan and ADB. Federal Secretary for Economic Affairs Kazim Niaz and Executive Director of Japan to ADB Takahiro Yashi, representative of the Japanese Embassy in Pakistan were also present on the occasion.

The project follows ADB’s approval of a USD 5 million grant to provide emergency flood assistance and strengthen the country’s disaster and climate resilience, and food security. The ADB Grant was in turn financed by the Japan Fund for Prosperous and Resilient Asia and the Pacific (JFPR) and is part of the larger USD 475 million Emergency Assistance Loan (EAL) and USD 3 million technical assistance grant approved by ADB in December 2022.

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The assistance responds to the Government of Pakistan’s request to support its post-flood recovery and reconstruction efforts and is aimed at supporting the restoration of irrigation, drainage, flood risk management, on-farm water management, and transport infrastructure in the flood-hit provinces of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Sindh.

The additional financing of the JFPR Grant expands the scope of ADB’s post-flood rehabilitation efforts, particularly by supporting the urgent provision of climate-resilient seeds for staple crop cultivation, women-led livelihoods to meet basic household needs, and incorporating measures to strengthen community resilience to disasters caused by natural hazards.

Through this project, FAO will ensure the provision of climate-adaptive rice seeds to 60,000 farm households for the next Kharif sowing season to increase productivity in four Balochistan districts most affected by the 2022 floods; Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Usta-Mohammad and Sohbatpur.

The seeds will be sown over approximately 30 per cent of the total rice cropping area of the target districts. FAO will also support women’s livelihoods in agriculture by providing them with durable farming toolkits for facilitating farming activities and protective footwear for safer rice transplanting.

The project builds on FAO’s immediate response to the floods in Nasirabad division by supporting smallholder farmers in planting for the Rabi season. It also reinforces the FAO Director-General’s pledge at the International Conference on Climate Resilient Pakistan last January in Geneva, when he ensured that: “FAO will continue to play a leading role in transforming Pakistan’s agri-food systems to make them more efficient, inclusive, sustainable and resilient, a challenge that has gained urgency following recent floods that have devastated the country’s agriculture sector.” 

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Pakistan laments UNSC inability to implement resolutions on Palestine

Pakistan laments UNSC inability to implement resolutions on Palestine

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Pakistan laments UNSC inability to implement resolutions on Palestine

 Pakistan ambassador to the United Nations Munir Akram has said that the Israeli government is taking illegal and inhumane actions in Gaza.

Commenting on the United States’ vetoing the UNSC resolution seeking Palestine’s full membership, Ambassador Munir lamented that permanent UN Security Council members did not reach a consensus to implement the crucial decision.

“The Israeli government is taking illegal actions in Gaza and the United Nations has fulfilled its responsibility in the Security Council and the General Assembly. However, permanent members did not agree to implement the decision of the UNSC,” he said.

The member states were bound to implement every decision of the UNSC, he said highlighting that there had been resolutions regarding human rights violations in Gaza.

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The ambassador said that efforts were underway to negotiate a Gaza ceasefire at the UN. A special session on the Palestine’s membership would be held on Friday (today), he added.

“At the UN meeting, the Security Council will be asked to review its decision,” he said. 

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International flights operation resumes as IBMS restored at Lahore airport

International flights operation resumes as IBMS restored at Lahore airport

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International flights operation resumes as IBMS restored at Lahore airport

The Integrated Baggage Management System (IBMS) which was affected by the fire in the immigration hall at Lahore airport on Thursday, has been restored completely.

After restoration of the IBMS, two international flights landed at the Allama Iqbal International Airport. According to the CAA, a short circuiting in the special immigration area had damaged the immigration system. It took more than two hours to control the fire.

Only one Air Blue Hajj flight was able to leave the airport in the meanwhile. The other three flights were manually handled and took off the runway.

According to Civil Aviation, 35 domestic and international flights from Lahore faced delay or cancelations due to smoke at the airport immigration counter after the incident. Passengers hailing from other cities were shifted to nearby hotels.

Meanwhile, Federal Aviation Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif also visited the terminal building of Lahore airport. He inspected the fire affected area. On this occasion, the federal minister was also briefed on the restoration of domestic operations.

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LHC registrar stopped from fixing Raja’s plea for additional election tribunals

LHC registrar stopped from fixing Raja’s plea for additional election tribunals

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LHC registrar stopped from fixing Raja's plea for additional election tribunals

The Lahore High Court has prevented the registrar from fixing for hearing a petition filed by Salman Akram Raja, a senior lawyer and top PTI leader, seeking the formation of additional election tribunals.

LHC’s Justice Shahid Karim took up Raja’s plea for hearing on Friday.

During the course of proceedings, the judge observed that his name had also been proposed for the tribunal, so how he could hear this case.

At this, Raja remarked that this was not a personal matter of a judge and that the court could hear this case.

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Later, the court sought a response from the Election Commission for not appointing judges as tribunal judges.

Salman Akram Raja had approached the Lahore High Court seeking the formation of additional tribunals. He had made the chief election commissioner a party in his petition.

Raja had contended in the petition that election tribunals had been constituted in the high courts of other provinces, but no additional tribunals had been formed even after a letter from the LHC chief justice to the Election Commission which was causing a delay in the hearing on election-related appeals.

The petitioner had sought the formation of additional election tribunals in the high court, through a legal order.

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