Saudi FM’s visit to lead to investment worth billions of dollars in Pakistan — PM Sharif

KARACHI: Authorities in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province have barred entry of dumper trucks in the commercial hub of Karachi from 6am till 11pm, a senior official said late Saturday, amid a rise in fatal road accidents that involved heavy vehicles.
The announcement came hours after a dumper truck crushed three people to death in the city’s Ibrahim Hyderi area. It followed a similar incident in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, which claimed three lives a day ago.
Fatal road accidents are common in Pakistan where traffic rules are rarely followed and roads as well as a majority of vehicles are in poor condition. Road crashes have killed at least 96 people, including 71 men, 12 women and 13 children, and injured nearly 1,300 others in Karachi in the last two months, local media reports, citing police.
On Saturday, Sindh Chief Secretary Asif Haider Shah presided over a meeting of senior provincial officials and decided to introduce a Vehicle Inspection and Certification System (VICS) in the province among other measures to contain the rising number of road accidents.
“All vehicles in the city should have a certificate with a QR code from the Transport Department,” said a statement issued from the chief secretary’s office after the meeting, adding that authorities will conduct physical verification of all heavy vehicles and their drivers in the city.
The chief secretary directed inspection of all water tankers of the Karachi Water and Sewerage Board within a month, while the Sindh Solid Waste Management Board, which collects garbage with the help of dumper trucks, was ordered to shift operations to nighttime within 3 months.
“The main reason for accidents is the lack of implementation of the heavy traffic laws,” the chief secretary was quoted as saying.
“FIRs [police complaints] should be registered against those who drive recklessly along with a challan.”
The official urged motorcyclists to wear helmets and instructed traffic police to increase enforcement of traffic laws in the city.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar this week called for an extraordinary summit of the foreign ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss the ongoing plight of the people of Palestine, and US President Donald Trump’s proposal to resettle Palestinians in Gaza to other countries. 

Earlier this month Trump suggested that Palestinians residing in Gaza should be resettled in Egypt, Jordan or other countries while addressing the media alongside visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The proposal was rejected by both Egypt and Jordan and countries including Pakistan, prompting condemnation from various international rights groups as well.

Dar spoke to his Iranian counterpart Seyed Abbas Araghchi over the telephone during which both diplomats discussed Trump’s proposal. Dar described it as “deeply troubling and unjust,” the foreign office said on Saturday. 

“He also conveyed Pakistan’s support for convening of an Extraordinary OIC meeting of Foreign Ministers to deliberate upon this issue,” the foreign office said in its statement. 

“The two Ministers agreed to maintain close contact on these developments in the days ahead.”

Dar said the Palestinian land belongs to the people of Palestine, adding that a two-state solution in accordance with the UN Security Council resolutions is the only viable option to resolve the Middle East crisis.  

“Pakistan shall continue to support the establishment of a sovereign, independent, and contiguous Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital, the statement quoted Dar as saying. 

Trump’s controversial statement came weeks after Hamas and Israel agreed to a six-week initial ceasefire phase, which ended 15 months of war. 

The truce included the gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from central Gaza and the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza.