Chinese President visit

Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif hand shake with Chinese President.

Democracy WINS - Pakistan WINS!

Wall street Journal news about democratic Pakistan

PCEC map

This is the original and only map of PCEC.

Mass Transit Bus Projects

Rawalpindi Metro Project

PM meets King Salman

Pakitan stands beside Saudia for its soverignity

Reduction in fares of public transport

Toll free helpline for compaints

Parliament Gallery

Group Photo| Speaker NA Sardar Ayaz Sadiq with Dr. Cyrill Nunn, Ambassador of Germany and Members of Pakistan-Germany Parliamentary Friendship Group

News reel

Followers

Monday, November 25, 2013

#PMLN leadership to rid country of crises: Saad

Monday, November 25, 2013 - Karachi—The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) had not deviated its directions towards the resolution of key national issues but after taking up the government amid terrible crises, the PML-N had acquired the responsibility to run the state sanely and not only as just a political party so it was a mater of safeguarding the interests of the state. The PML-N leadership was fully determined to rid the country of the crises and challenges and put the country on the path of progress and enlightenment and hence a little time was sought to put the things in order.

The Minister said that it was the constitutional privilege of the federal government to appoint its own Governor in Sindh but the government had sacrificed that constitutional privilege for the sake of the state and the people of the metropolis. As a political party, the PMLN could have changed the Sindh Governor but as the party in federal government, some decisions are deferred for people’s betterment and above all for the interest of the country in the long run of state’s affairs.

The metropolis had been ruled by the TT (pistols) while the PMLN office-bearers and workers had stood to the challenges like man and kept the PMLN’s colours hoisted for which they deserved due applause. Te PMLN was fully aware of the problems of the people of the city and the PMLN workers and office-bearers and that the PMLN would utilize all the available resources to put thing in order, said Khawaja Saad Rafique.

Khawaja Saad Rafique, the Minister for Railways expressed these views while addressing a press conference he had addressed at the PMLN provincial headquarters at Karsaz, Karachi Sunday. PMLN Sindh chapter General secretary Saleem Zia Awan advocate, Information Secretary Ali Akbar Gujjar, Nehal Hashmi, Arif Kiyani, Azhar Sayani, Saeedullah Afridi, Michael Jawaid, Karamat Chohan, Malik Riyaz, Zahid Shah Mir, Nisar Shah, Aman Afridi, Malik Taj, Sultan Bahadur and Asif Khan were present with the Minister.

The Minister said that the PMLN hated the drone attacks and Pakistan Tehreek-e Insaf chairman Imran Khan and those that had taken to streets were in fact assisting the government on that serious national issue.

He said that the credit went to the PMLN-led federal government for bringing the military dictator under court trial for his constitutional violence and offences and it was then the responsibility of the judiciary to say its words and deeds.

As far as the issue of Karachi Circular railways was concerned, the Minister said that he wanted that the KCR project should be commenced, completed and run with indigenous resources; however, it would depend upon circumstances ahead and then the government would take appropriate decisions while keeping the national interests abreast.

http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=224696

Imran’s politics to isolate Pakistan, says Pervaiz

LAHORE - Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rashid said on Sunday said that PTI chief Imran Khan’s politics over NATO supplies was an attempt to isolate Pakistan from rest of the world.
“Pakistan could not afford the politics of isolation as it needed friends not foes in today’s world”, he said while talking to newsmen at the 4th International Literary and Cultural Conference here at the Alhamra.
He termed the PTI Chairman Imran Khan’s demands regarding closure of NATO supplies unrealistic that would not serve the cause of Pakistan. He said Imran Khan spoke for Taliban while his sword was for the US.
He said that the PML-N government wanted end to drone strikes and elimination of terrorism from the country. However, it could not pursue a foreign policy which might seclude the country from the global village, he added.
“The NATO containers transport food items for the Afghan brethren and not arms while Pakistanis have close ties with the people of Afghanistan”, he said, adding, that any step by the PTI to stop food supplies to the Afghans, could be detrimental for the regional ties.
Pervaiz believed Imran Khan was doing politics of isolation and was bent upon spoiling Pakistan’s relations with the neighbouring countries.
He said that all the Central Asian countries, besides Afghanistan, had cordial relations with the NATO countries, and even Iran had improved its ties with the United States.
“Stalled diplomatic relations with Afghanistan could only benefit Pakistan’s foes”, he added.
Commenting on Imran Khan’s statement of a thousand year war, he said the masses had to suffer the results of wars. Pakistan wants to spread love not hatred, he said.
Pervaiz said that no NATO supplies were run on Saturday and Sunday and it was beyond comprehension which NATO supplies Imran Khan’s PTI wanted to stop on November 23 and 24, the weekend days. “It seems that the PTI leader has always preferred to hold protest rallies on weekends”, he remarked.
Replying to a query, he said that no representative from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was allowed to address the protest rally in Peshawar which raised questions whom the PTI was representing and serving.
He said Imran Khan had a dubious stance on drone strikes. In the first information report lodged against the drone attacks, he had not mentioned anyone’s name. Whether Imran did not know the perpetrator of the drone strikes, he asked.
“Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif had established himself as a great leader when Imran Khan was frolicking on the cricket fields”, he recalled.
He said that the PML-N government supported peace and rejected the politics of hatred, intolerance and isolation.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/lahore/25-Nov-2013/imran-s-politics-to-isolate-pakistan-says-pervaiz

#RoshanPakistan

Pakistan‚ China sign 3 MoUs for initiating power projects

China and Pakistan on Sunday signed three memorandums of understanding for initiating power generation projects.
Under the memorandums‚ China's Western Power Company will install two plants of 660 MWs in Sahiwal and 150 MW plant each in Lahore‚ Faisalabad and Multan.
A Solid Waste Power Plant will also be established in Punjab.
Punjab Chef Minister Shahbaz Sharif appreciated the agreement and said that billions of dollars world of investment will be made under these projects.
He said these projects will help promote friendly relations between the two countries.

http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/lahore/24-Nov-2013/pakistan-china-sign-3-mous-for-initiating-power-projects

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Interview |

Ramesh Singh Arora | MPA Punjab


This interview was published in Daily Waqt, dated October 06, 2013.


Saturday, November 23, 2013

Saad Rafique reaches Karachi with Rs. 250bn mega Railway project

Saad Rafique reaches Karachi with Rs. 250bn mega Railway project
http://www.thenewstribe.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/KCR.gif

Parlimentarians (2013-18)

List of our Parliamentarians after GE 2013


National Assembly

NA-18 Murtaza Javed Abbasi
NA-20 Sardar Muhammad Yousaf
NA-21 Capt R Muhammad Safdar
NA-41 Ghalib Khan
NA-44 Shahab Ud Din Khan
NA-49 Dr. Tariq Fazal Chudhary
NA-50 SHAHID KHAQAN ABBASI
NA-51 RAJA MUHAMMAD JAVED IKHLAS
NA-52 CH NISAR ALI KHAN
NA-54 MALIK IBRAR AHMED
NA-57 Sheikh Aftab Ahmed
NA-58 Malik Ihtebar Khan
NA-60 Major Rtd Tahir Iqbal
NA-61 SARDAR MUMTAZ KHAN
NA-62 Chaudhry Khadim Hussain
NA-63 MALIK IQBAL MEHDI KHAN
NA-64 Pir Muhammad Amin ul Hasnat Shah
NA-65 MOHSIN SHAH NAWAZ RANJHA
NA-66 Chudhary Hamid Hameed
NA-67 Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Bhatti
NA-68 MUHAMMAD NAWAZ SHARIF
NA-69 Sumaira Malik
NA-70 MALIK SHAKIR BASHIR AWAN
NA-73 ABDUL MAJEED KHAN
NA-75 Ghulam Rasool Sahi
NA-76 Muhammad Tallal Choudhary
NA-77 Muhammad Asim Nazeer
NA-78 RAJAB ALI KHAN BALOCH
NA-79 CHOUDHRY MUHAMMAD SHAHBAZ BABAR
NA-80 Mian Muhammad Farooq
NA-81 NISAR AHMAD
NA-82 Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan
NA-84 ABID ALI
NA-85 HAJI MUHAMMAD AKRAM ANSARI
NA-86 Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh
NA-87 Ghulam Muhammad Lali
NA-88 GHULAM BIBI BHARWANA
NA-89 Sheikh Muhammad Akram
NA-92 CHAUDHRY KHALID JAVED WARRAICH
NA-93 MUHAMMAD JUNAID ANWAAR CHAUDHRY
NA-94 Ch Asad Ur Rehman
NA-95 USMAN IBRAHIM
NA-96 ENGR KHURRAM DASTGIR KHAN
NA-97 CHAUDHRY MAHMOOD BASHIR VIRK
NA-98 Mian Tariq Mehmood
NA-99 Rana Umer Nazir Khan
NA-100 Azhar Qayyum Nahra
NA-101 Justice R Iftikhar Ahmad Cheema
NA-102 Saira Afzal Tarar
NA-104 NAWABZADA MAZHER ALI
NA-106 Ch Jaffar Iqbal
NA-107 Ch. Abid Raza
NA-109 Nasar Iqbal Bosal
NA-110 Khawaja Muhammad Asif
NA-111 Chaudry Armaghan Subhani
NA-112 Rana Shamim Ahmed Khan
NA-113 Syed Iftikhar ul Hassan
NA-114 ZAHID HAMID
NA-115 MIAN MUHAMMAD RASHEED
NA-116 DANIYAL AZIZ
NA-117 AHSAN IQBAL
NA-118 Muhammad Riaz Malik
NA-119 Muhammad Hamza Shehbaz Sharif
NA-120 Muhammad Nawaz Sharif
NA-121 MEHAR ISHTIAQ AHMAD
NA-122 SARDAR AYAZ SADIQ
NA-123 Muhammad Pervaiz Malik
NA-124 Shaikh Rohale Asghar
NA-125 Khawaja Saad Rafique
NA-127 Waheed Alam Khan
NA-128 Muhammad Afzal Khokhar
NA-129 MIAN MUHAMMAD SHEHBAZ SHARIF
NA-130 SOHAIL SHOUKAT BUTT
NA-131 RANA AFZAAL HUSSAIN
NA-132 Rana Tanveer Hussain
NA-133 Mian Javed Latif
NA-134 Sardar Muhammad Irfan Dogar
NA-135 Muhammad Barjees Tahir
NA-136 Chudhary Bilal Ahmed Virk
NA-137 Rai Mansab Ali Khan
NA-138 SALMAN HANIF
NA-139 WASEEM AKHTAR SHAIKH
NA-140 Rasheed Ahmad Khan
NA-141 RANA MUHAMMAD ISHAQ KHAN
NA-142 Rana Muhammad Hayat Khan
NA-143 CH NADEEM ABBAS REBERA
NA-144 muhammad arif ch
NA-145 Syed Muhammad Ashiq Hussain Shah
NA-146 Rao Muhammad Ajmal Khan
NA-147 MUHAMMAD MOEEN WATTOO
NA-148 Malik Abdul Ghaffar Dogar
NA-151 Skindar Hayyat khan Bosan
NA-152 Syed Javed Ali Shah
NA-153 Dewan Ashiq Hussain Bukhari
NA-157 Muhammad Khan Daha
NA-158 ASLAM BODLA
NA-159 Choudhary Iftikhar Nazir
NA-160 SYED IMRAN AHMAD SHAH
NA-161 CHAUDHARY MUHAMMAD ASHRAF
NA-163 CHAUDHRY MUHAMMAD MUNIR AZHAR
NA-164 SARDAR MANSAB ALI DOGAR
NA-165 SYED MUHAMMAD ATHAR HUSSAIN SHAH GILLANI
NA-166 RANA ZAHID HUSSAIN KHAN
NA-167 Chaudhary Nazeer Ahmad
NA-168 Sajid Mehdi
NA-170 Saeed Ahmed Khan Manais
NA-171 SARDAR MUHAMMAD AMJAD FAROOQ KHAN KHOSA
NA-172 Hafiz Abdul Kareem
NA-174 Sardar Muhammad Jaffar Khan Leghari
NA-175 Doctor Hafeez ur Rehman Khan Drishak
NA-176 Malik Sultan Mehmood
NA-179 Makhdoomzada S B A Sultan
NA-181 Sahibzada Faiz ul Hassan
NA-182 Syed Muhammad Saqlain Bukhari
NA-183 Makhdoom Syed Ali Hassan Gillani
NA-184 MIAN NAJIBUDDIN AWAISI
NA-185 Muhammad Baligh ur Rehman
NA-186 Mian Riaz Hussain Peerzada
NA-189 ALAM DAD LALEKA
NA-190 Tahir Bashir Cheema
NA-193 SHEIKH FAYYAZ UD DIN
NA-196 Mian Imtiaz Ahmed
NA-197 MUHAMMAD ARSHAD KHAN LAGHARI
NA-271 Lt.Gen R Abdul Qadir Baloch


KPK Assembly

PK-8 ARBAB AKBER HAYAT
PK-36 Muhammad Sheeraz
PK-45 Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan
PK-47 Sardar Aurangzeb
PK-49 Raja Faisal Zaman
PK-54 Mian Zia ur Rehman
PK-55 Saleh Muhammad
PK-56 Wajeh uz Zaman Khan
PK-59 Nawab Zada Wali Mohammad Khan
PK-63 Abdul Sattar Khan
PK-86 Qaimos Khan
PK-87 Muhammad Rashad Khan

 

Sindh Assembly

PS-89 Humayon Mohammad Khan
PS-114 Irfanullah Khan Marwat
PS-129 Shafi Muhammad Jamot

Balochistan Assembly

PB-1 Tahir Mehmood Khan
PB-14 Sardar Dur Mohammad Nasar
PB-23 Nawabzada Jangez Khan Marri
PB-25 Mir Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali
PB-26 Rahat Jamali
PB-27 Mir Izhar Hussain Khoso
PB-33 Sardar Sanaullah Zehri
PB-50 Akber Askaani

Punjab Assembly


PP-1 RAJA ASHFAQ SARWAR
PP-2 Raja Muhammad Ali
PP-3 IFTIKHAR AHMED
PP-4 Raja Shaukat Aziz Bhatti
PP-5 ENGINEER QAMAR UL ISALM RAJA
PP-6 CH NISAR ALI KHAN
PP-10 MALIK IFTIKHAR AHMED
PP-14 Raja Abdul Hanif
PP-16 Col R Shuja Khanzada
PP-17 Muhammad Shawez Khan
PP-18 Sher Ali Khan
PP-19 Zafar Iqbal
PP-20 Chaudhary Liaqat Ali Khan
PP-21 Tanveer Aslam Malik
PP-22 ZUIFIQAR ALI KHAN
PP-23 MALIK MUHAMMAD ZAHOOR ANWAR
PP-24 Raja Muhammad Awais Khan
PP-25 Mahar Muhammad Fayyaz
PP-26 CHAUDHRY LAL HUSSAIN
PP-27 Nazar Hussain
PP-28 Doctor Mukhtar Ahmad Bharath
PP-29 Ghulam Dastagir Lak
PP-30 CHAUDHRY TAHIR AHMAD SINDHU ADOVOCATE
PP-31 MIAN MUNAZIR HUSSAIN RANJHA
PP-33 Chaudhry Abdul Razaq Dhiloon
PP-34 Dr Nadia Aziz
PP-36 Rana Munawar Hussain Alias Rana Munawar Ghous
PP-37 SAHABZADA GHULAM NIZAM UD DEEN SIALVI
PP-39 Malik Muhammad Javed Iqbal Awan
PP-40 Karam elahi Bandial
PP-41 MUHAMMAD ASIF MALIK
PP-42 MUHAMMAD WARIS KALLU
PP-52 M. Afzal Sahi
PP-53 Iffat Maraj Awan
PP-54 Rai Haider Ali Khan
PP-55 Rana Shoaib Adrees Khan
PP-57 JAFAR ALI HOCHA
PP-59 ARIF MAHMOOD GILL
PP-60 RAO KASHIF RAHEEM KHAN
PP-62 Ch Raza Nasrullah Ghumman
PP-63 AJMAL ASIF
PP-65 Haji Muhammad Ilyas Ansari
PP-66 HAJI KHALID SAEED
PP-67 CH.FAQEER HUSSAIN DOGAR
PP-68 SHEIKH IJAZ AHMED
PP-69 MIAN TAHIR
PP-70 Rana Sana Ullah Khan
PP-71 MALIK MUHAMMAD NAWAZ
PP-72 Khawaja Muhammad islam
PP-73 Muhammad Ilyas
PP-74 Muhammad Rehmat Ullah
PP-75 Imtiaz Ahmad Lali
PP-76 MUHMMAD SAQLAIN ANWAR SIPRA
PP-78 Rashida Yaqoob
PP-79 MEHR KHALID MAHMOOD SARGANA
PP-80 KHALID GHANI CHAUDHRY
PP-81 Iftikhar Ahmad Khan
PP-82 Mian Muhammad Azam
PP-85 Abdul Qadeer Alvi
PP-86 AMJAD ALI JAVAID
PP-87 LT Col (R) Sardar Mohammad Ayub khan
PP-88 Nazia Raheel
PP-89 Makhdoom Syed Ali Raza Shah
PP-90 Mian Muhammad Rafique
PP-91 IMRAN KHALID BUTT
PP-92 MUHAMMAD NAWAZ CHOHAN
PP-93 CH ASHRAF ALI ANSARI
PP-94 ABDUL RAUF MUGHAL
PP-95 PIR GHULAM FAREED
PP-96 MUHAMMAD TAUFEEQ BUTT
PP-97 Chaudhary Muhammad Ashraf Warraich
PP-98 Chaudhary Muhammad Iqbal
PP-99 Qaisar Iqbal
PP-100 Ch shamshad ahmad khan
PP-101 Riaz Bibi
PP-102 Ch.Rafaqat Hussain
PP-103 Akmal Saif Chatha
PP-104 Shaukat Manzoor Cheema
PP-105 Malik Fiaz Ahmad Awan
PP-106 Chaudhary muhammad asad ullah
PP-108 Nawabzada Haider Mehdi
PP-109 MAJOR R MOEEN NAWAZ WARRIACH
PP-111 Haji Imran Zafar
PP-112 Ch Muhammad Ashraf
PP-113 Mian Tariq Mehmood
PP-114 Malik Muhammad Hanif Awan
PP-115 Ch Shabir Ahmed
PP-116 Hameeda Mian
PP-117 Syed Tariq Yaqoob
PP-119 SHAFQAT MAHMOOD M
PP-120 Sayed Muhammad Mahfooz Mashedi
PP-121 Rana Muhmamad Iqbal Harnah
PP-122 Chodhary Muhammad Akram
PP-123 Khawaja Muhammad Asif
PP-124 Rana Abdul Sattar Khan
PP-125 Ch Tariq Subhani
PP-126 LIAQAT ALI
PP-127 MUNAWAR AHMED GILL
PP-128 Rana Muhammad Afzal
PP-129 Ch Mohsin Ashraf
PP-130 Muhammad Asif Bajwa Advocate
PP-131 Ch Arshad Javaid Warraich
PP-132 Awais Qasim
PP-133 ABU HAFS MUHAMMAD GHIYAS-UD-DIN
PP-134 Manan Khan
PP-135 KHAWAJA MUHAMMAD WASEEM
PP-136 Shujah Ahmad Khan
PP-137 Khawaja Imran Nazeer
PP-138 Ghazali Saleem Butt
PP-139 Bilal Yasin
PP-140 Majid Zahoor
PP-141 Mian Mujataba Shuja Ur Rehman
PP-142 Muhammad hamza shehbaz sharif
PP-143 Choudhry Shahbaz Ahmad
PP-144 Rao akhtar
PP-145 Muhammad Waheed Gul
PP-146 Malik Muhammad Waheed
PP-147 MOHSIN LATIF
PP-149 RANA MASHHOOD AHMAD KHAN
PP-150 Mehar Ishtiaq Ahmad
PP-153 Ramzan Siddique Bhatti
PP-154 Syed Zaeem Hussian Qadri
PP-155 Main Naseer Ahmad
PP-156 Ch yaseen Sohail
PP-157 MUHAMMAD TAJAMMAL HUSSAIN
PP-158 Malik Ghulam Habib Awan
PP-159 MIAN MUHAMMAD SHEHBAZ SHARIF
PP-160 Malik Saif Ul Malook Khokhar
PP-161 Mian muhammad shahbaz sharif
PP-162 MUHAMMAD KHURRAM GULFAM
PP-163 Khurram ijaz chattah
PP-164 Pir Muhammad Ashraf Rasool
PP-166 Faizan Khalid Virk
PP-167 Muhammad Arif Khan Sindhila
PP-169 Sajjad Haider Gujjar
PP-171 Rana Muhammad Arshad
PP-172 Malik Zulqarnain Dogar
PP-173 Muhammad Kashif
PP-174 Jamil Hassan Khan
PP-175 MUHAMMAD YAQUB NADEEM SETHAI
PP-176 MOHAMMAD ANIS QURESHI
PP-177 MUHAMMAD NAEEM SAFDAR ANSARI
PP-178 MALIK AHMAD SAEED KHAN
PP-179 Malak Muhammad Ahmad Khan
PP-181 SHEIKH ALAUDIN
PP-182 MEHMOOD ANWAR
PP-184 Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan
PP-185 SAMEENA NOOR
PP-186 Javaid Alla-ud-Din Sajid
PP-187 Syed Raza Ali Gillani
PP-188 CHAUDRY IFTIKHAR HUSSAIN CHACHAR
PP-190 Main Muhammad Munir
PP-191 Mian Yawar Zaman
PP-192 Ali Abbas
PP-193 MUHAMMAD MOEEN WATTOO
PP-196 Abdul Waheed Chouhdry
PP-197 M Ehsan Uddin Qureshi
PP-198 Peer zada Mian Shazad Maqbool Bhutta
PP-199 Mmalik Muhammad Ali Khokhar
PP-200 Shaukat Hayyat Khan Bosan
PP-201 Malik Mazhar Abbas Ran
PP-202 Raey Mansab Ali Khan
PP-203 Rana Tahir Shabbir
PP-204 Rana Ijaz Ahmad Noon
PP-205 Mehdi Abbas Khan
PP-206 Naghma Mushtaq
PP-214 Nishat Ahmad Khan Daha
PP-215 Ch Fazal ur Rehman
PP-216 AMIR HAYAT HIRAJ
PP-219 Karam Dad Wahla
PP-220 KHIZER HAYAT
PP-221 MALIK NADEEM KAMRAN
PP-222 MUHAMMAD ARSHAD MALIK ADVOCATE HIGH COURT
PP-223 Muhammad Arshad Khan Lodhi
PP-225 CHOUDHARY MUHAMMAD ARSHAD
PP-226 CHAUDHRY MUHAMMAD HANIF JUTT
PP-227 MIAN ATTA MUHAMMAD MANIKA
PP-228 MIAN NAVEED ALI
PP-230 DR FARRUKH JAVED
PP-231 PIR KASHIF ALI CHISHTY
PP-233 Ch Irshad Ahmad Arain
PP-234 Mian Irfan Aqeel Daultana
PP-235 Bilal Akbar Bhatti
PP-236 Muhammad Saqib Khurshid
PP-238 Asif Saeed manais
PP-243 Sardar Zulfiqar Ali Khan Khosa
PP-247 Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif
PP-248 sardar sher ali gorchani
PP-250 Sardar Atif Hussain Khan Mazari
PP-251 Ahmad Yar
PP-256 Muhammad Imran
PP-257 Ahmad Karim Qaswar Langrial
PP-258 Syed Haroon Ahmed Sultan Bokhari
PP-259 Sardar Khan Muhammad
PP-264 Qaisar Abbas Khan
PP-265 Ejaz Ahmad
PP-268 Qazi Adnan Fareed
PP-269 SARDAR KHALID MAHMOOD WAARAN
PP-270 MIAN MUHAMMAD SHOAIB AWAISI
PP-272 Malik Muhammad Iqbal Channar
PP-273 Muhammad Kazim Ali Peerzada
PP-274 Muhammad Afzal Gill
PP-275 Ch Khalid Mehmood Jaja
PP-277 FIDA HUSSAIN
PP-278 Shoukat Ali Laleka
PP-279 RANA ABDUL RAUF
PP-281 Ihsan ul Haq Bajwa
PP-282 Choudhary Zahid Akram
PP-285 Makdum Syed Muhammad Masood Alam
PP-287 MIAN MUHAMMAD ISLAM ASLAM
PP-290 MUHAMMAD EJAZ SHAFI
PP-293 Mohammad Umar Jaffar
PP-294 Mahmood ul Hassan
PP-296 CHAUHDARY MUHAMMAD SHAFIQUE

Interview |

Mary Gull | MPA Punjab


This Interview was published in Daily WAQT dated September 29, 2013



Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Punjab’s model of m-governance

Punjab’s model of m-governance

By Dr Umar Saif

“How do I know that you are not showing the pictures from last year?” The chief minister was getting increasingly irate at the slideshows of pictures being shown as evidence that different government departments were performing activities to prevent another dengue epidemic in 2012. “These do not carry a time-stamp or show the place where these activities were actually performed.”
I came back from that meeting thinking that the biggest challenge for the government, ironically, is to effectively monitor its own work. Did the school teachers show up in class today? Did the drug inspectors actually visit the drug stores before filing their compliance reports? Did the district government staff use the anti-mosquito spray in the neighbourhood’s most vulnerable to a dengue outbreak? Did the sanitary workers fix the sewerage problem before monsoon?
Over the last two years, we, at the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB), focused our energies on solving this problem. Our instrument of choice: smartphone. Historically, governments have invested billions in buying personal computers, laptops, data centres and fibre connectivity to power enterprise applications, but adoption has been a perennial challenge. The smartphone naturally solves many challenges at once: it is cheap (less than $100) and portable, intuitive to use, doesn’t require uninterrupted power, includes an embedded GPS device and has an always-on network connection. Most importantly, it has some social value embedded in it: people can use it to call family and friends, their children can play games on it. Unlike a PC, it is typically not handed over to some assistant in a back-office.
Our first application, developed literally over a weekend, was for the City District Government Lahore to track the activities of its dengue prevention field staff. Each worker was given a basic Android phone and our first application enabled the field workers to take a picture of a completed task, tag its GPS coordinates (geo-tag) and upload it to our dashboard. Our system time-stamped the incoming pictures and mapped them to the field worker’s phone numbers. Visualised on a Google map, we instantly started getting a feel of where and when the prevention activities were performed, or not.
As our anti-dengue campaign progressed, we bought 1,500 Android phones and kept refining our applications. The system was used by 17 different government departments and hundreds of field workers, and we have received over 200,000 pictures from all over Punjab. We developed more applications that enabled field entomologists to report Aedes Larvae clusters, as well as health workers to GPS tag the houses of the confirmed patients. With this data flowing in, we built a state-of-the-art epidemic early warning system, which statistically analysed the larvae reports and patient locations, and raised red flags wherever it detected a potential outbreak. This information was promptly shared with the local government to help it target its activities in the most vulnerable areas.
This system has led to a full-blown real-time disease surveillance system in Punjab, tracking all 26 WHO notifiable infectious diseases. Cross-verification of data from our dashboard has become a common practice in the government. The system has been featured by the MIT Technology Review, The Economist, NPR and BBC.
Encouraged by the success of our system for tracking disease outbreaks, the PITB has been working on numerous applications to help the government monitor its own work. Drug inspectors now carry our smartphones to report their visits to pharmacy outlets; visits of livestock EDOs are tracked using our smartphone applications; Lahore police uses our smartphone applications to analyse crime hotspots; agriculture extension workers report their activities using our smartphone applications; the Lahore Waste Management Company (LWMC) uses smartphone applications to report its cleaning activities after Eidul Azha; this year, monitoring of Hajj facilities for pilgrims was done using our smartphone-based applications. Such is the adoption of our systems that over 25,000 geo-tagged activities were uploaded by the LWMC during the three-day Eid campaign a few days ago. And the chief minister Punjab personally reviewed this data, after every hour!
Going forward, we are developing a platform, in collaboration with the World Bank, which would enable people without an IT background to generate a monitoring application by simply dragging-and-dropping components. We are experimenting with increasingly advanced features. For example, our application for the irrigation department is designed such that the picture of a depth-metre is automatically processed to extract the level of water in a canal — making it difficult to hide the theft of irrigation water in tail canals.
Our model of mobile governance, or m-governance, is quickly taking root in Punjab. The rapid adoption, level of innovation and sophistication of our evolving systems is unprecedented in public sector organisations, especially in developing countries. In the coming year, seven major government departments will heavily start using our smartphone-based monitoring systems — employing over 30,000 smartphones. If we manage to keep our momentum, Pakistan may become one of the leading examples of innovations in m-governance.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 13th, 2013.

Zapping mosquitoes, and corruption

Zapping mosquitoes, and corruption


LIVE in a crowded South Asian city and a host of problems—smog, contagious disease, corruption—may plague you. Each winter, the air grows foul. The monsoon season brings mosquitoes, bloodsuckers capable of carrying nasties such as dengue and malaria. As cities expand and people are packed closer, they are more likely to pass on infections. Overwhelmed municipalities, especially if weakened by corruption, offer a weak response. In Lahore, Pakistan’s second-most populous city, there were 21,292 confirmed dengue patients in 2011, a particularly dire year. At least 350 of them died, victims of associated haemorrhages or shock.
The usual response is to send out fogging lorries to spray a choking mixture of insecticide (such as DDT) and kerosene to kill mosquitoes. Public officials also advise residents to drain every reservoir of water near their homes. Mosquito larvae flourish in puddles, even inside old tyres or old flower pots. But foggers sometimes spread their helpful poison too liberally, where no dengue-infected mosquitoes are present, or too rarely, perhaps neglecting poor neighbourhoods. Municipal workers skip puddle-hunting, or fail to tip chemicals into ponds to kill the larvae. Crooked workers sell their insecticides or refuse to spray without bribes from residents.

After their especially grim spell, Lahore’s authorities last year looked for ways to use technology—in particular cheap, widely available smartphones—to help them put up a better fight against the mosquitoes. They equipped 1,500 city workers with $100 smartphones and asked them to take “before and after” photographs of their anti-dengue tasks and to upload images, tagged by location, so that they could be plotted on an online map, made available to the public. They also recorded where larvae were spotted (usually in traps), and reported the locations of known dengue patients.
The resulting data were then analysed to create a visualisation showing where and when dengue was infecting people. It was then possible to predict where dengue-infected mosquitoes would buzz up next, so that fogging and larvae-hunts could be targeted appropriately. The use of smartphones also had more subtle effects. Knowing they were being monitored and tracked in public, municipal workers also applied themselves more assiduously to their tasks. Anyone looking at the online map could see if the work being done in a particular area was adequate—and complain if it was not.
All this seems to have worked. Last year Lahore suffered just 255 dengue cases, and no deaths, says Umar Saif, a computer scientist seconded to the Punjab provincial government who oversaw the tracking side of the project. Strong political interest helped, too. The chief minister of Punjab, Shahbaz Sharif, who was re-elected in May, led daily meetings on the anti-dengue fight. Of course, 2012 might simply have been a milder year for dengue than 2011, so the effectiveness of the new approach will become apparent only after a few more years. Already, however, the Punjab government is extending the use of mobile phones to gather data and improve broader public services.
Other officials, such as veterinarians who are paid to travel to farms to deworm cows, have to take smartphones to record themselves at work and upload geotagged self-portraits to an official website. This makes it possible to check that they are actually turning up for work. They are also required to record the phone numbers of farmers they visit, some of whom are randomly called afterwards to be asked if the service was up to scratch.
Mr Saif is also trying out a model devised by Zubair Bhatti, a former Pakistani local-government official who now works for the World Bank. It involves making random calls to users of public services—including the police, health services and administrative services such as registering property—to inquire about the quality of service and whether they were asked to pay a bribe. Anyone who volunteers his mobile-phone number (so far, more than 1.3m people have signed up) will get a two-minute robocall from Mr Sharif, the chief minister. He explains that they will shortly receive a text message reviewing their encounter with a local official.
Even among the poorest fifth of households, 80% now use phones, so the technology can reach almost everyone. Illiteracy is a problem, but the chief minister’s call alerts a recipient to get help, if needed, with reading the text message when it arrives. It contains a specific question: did the police respond, as required, within 15 minutes of your emergency call? Were you asked for a bribe at the hospital, or when registering property? By collating the responses it is possible to spot problem departments and crooked officials.
Around 25,000-30,000 automated calls are now being made each day, and “we are gathering remarkable data on who is corrupt and where,” says Mr Saif. It is heartening that in the first two months after the scheme began, 60% of respondents said they were happy with their recent experiences of public services. That could help put anger over corruption into perspective. It is striking, too, that many complaints were over unclean offices, unclear fees for official services and petty frustrations, rather than corruption alone.
Either fight, against dengue or shoddy public services, could yet be reversed in Lahore. Smartphones, geotagged photos and canvassing for public feedback only help if the data gathered are acted upon. But phones are letting sunlight shine brighter on the workings of public services in Lahore. If they work as a disinfectant there, others may follow its lead.

http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21578520-technology-and-government-how-clever-use-mobile-phones-helping-improve

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Back on track:

Nandipur power plant picks up speed


KARACHI: The Nanidpur power plant which had been experiencing severe delays in construction has finally picked up speed. Almost all of the construction material of the 425 megawatt (MW) cycle power plant, that had been abandoned at Karachi Port since 2010, has been transported to the project site in Gujranwala so as to complete the power plant promptly.

China's Dong Fang Electric Corporation Limited has agreed to complete the project as swiftly as possible.

Captain (retd) M Mehmood, Managing Director (MD) of the project monitoring unit of Nandipur power plant has expressed immense interest in the plan. With this increased pressure Dong Fang Electric Corporation Limited company has promised to complete one unit of the power plant by the end of May 2014.

The whole power plant is expected to be completed ahead of its schedule in December 2014 at around November 2014.

The PML-N government is giving the power sector top priority and is making huge investments in order to reduce the power shortage. The government has made all the efforts to remove any obstacles in the execution of the plan. The project will cost $329 million and will produce 425 MW of electricity.

Dong Fang Electric Corporation Limited had previously left the country due to unexpected delays in the project. However, their return highlights the prospects of the project finally being completed.

The Nandipur Power Project is a combined cycle project, consisting of four turbines: three turbines run on furnace oil and one on steam. Officials said that the plant will create 400 new jobs in Sindh and three other provinces. The plant is located on the left bank of Upper Chenab Canal in Nandipur, Gujranwala. It will enhance industrial production and bring a new era of development in the country.

End.

Electricity from Solid waste

German group to generate 100MW from solid waste


LAHORE: Two MoUs were signed between Punjab government and international group of Germany, ALBA, with regard to generating energy from solid waste here on Monday. Under the agreements, the German company will invest in the projects of generating energy from garbage and hospital waste. The project will be executed speedily and will start producing 100MW electricity in 2015.
Managing Director Lahore Solid Waste Management Company Waseem Ajmal on behalf of Punjab government while Chief Executive Officer Martin Becker Rethmann singed on behalf of German company. Chief Minister Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Chairman Lahore Waste Management Company Khawaja Ahmed Hasaan, Vice Chairman Punjab Investment Board, Additional Chief Secretary Energy, Special Secretary Health, Secretary Information, Chairman Bin Kutab Group Bashir Malik, International Head of Sales ALBA group and other members of German group attended the ceremony.
Talking to media on the occasion of signing ceremony of MoUs, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif said that the agreements between Punjab government and German group for generating energy from solid waste is a welcome step. He said that German group has expertise in generating energy from solid waste and has made an agreement with Lahore Solid Waste Management Company for generating energy through garbage and hospital waste. He said that under this agreement a 100 megawatt power plant will be installed in Lahore and the German group will make most of the investment in this power plant. The Chief Minister said that through German technology, green coal will be made from solid waste for generating energy. He disclosed that ALBA group Berlin, Germany is a prominent investor group which is working in various countries of the world. He said that this German group has expertise in generating energy from solid waste. He said that ALBA group has an annual turnover of 300 Euros. He said that disposal of hospital waste is a big ch
allenge and generating energy through hospital waste will also help in disposing it properly. Shahbaz Sharif said that the agreements made with German group will be fully implemented and this project will be executed speedily. He said that after Lahore, the launching of this project in other cities will also be considered. He said that four thousand tons waste will be available for generating energy. He said that Germany is an important country of the world with regard to technology. He said that with the collaboration between Punjab government and German group not only modern machinery will reach Punjab but it will also acquire knowledge about German technology.
Replying to a question of media, Shahbaz Sharif said that former rulers disappointed the nation and did not bring investment of even a single penny during last five years. He said that PML-N government is working sincerely for promotion of investment and due to its steps, foreign investment is coming to the country.
Chief Executive Officer ALBA group Martin Becker Rethmann said that they feel pleasure to work with the Punjab government. He said that we will set up a plant of generating 100MW electricity from solid waste jointly with the Punjab government. He said that they have inspected the site and have also discussed this matter with the officials of Punjab government. He said that the work on this project will be carried out speedily and it will start generating electricity from 2015.
Earlier, a delegation headed by Chief Executive Officer of ALBA group of Germany Martin Becker Rethmann, called on Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif.   Chairman Lahore Waste Management Company Khawaja Ahmed Hasaan, Vice Chairman Punjab Investment Board, Additional Chief Secretary Energy, Secretary P& D and members of German group were also present on the occasion. Cooperation in generating energy from solid waste was discussed in detail during the meeting. Chief Executive Officer of ALBA assured investment in solid waste sector in Punjab.

http://paktribune.com/business/news/German-group-to-generate-100MW-from-solid-waste-11743.html

Trust of Overseas Pakistanis

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