Day: March 18, 2023

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Baseball Federation of Asia has announced the dates of 3rd Asian Women’s Baseball Championship 2023 during its meeting held in Japan

Lahore, March 18, 2023 (PPI-OT): The Executive Committee Meeting of Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) was held on March 18, 2023 at Tokyo Dome Hotel Japan. Mr. Jeffery Koo President BFA Chair the meeting. President Pakistan Federation Baseball Syed Fakhar Ali Shah who is also Vice President of Baseball Federation of Asia represents Pakistan in the meeting.

Syed Fakhar Ali Shah while talking informed that the Executive Committee Meeting of Baseball Federation of Asia was held in Tokyo, Japan under the Chairmanship of Mr. Jeffery Koo President BFA. All the executive members of BFA were attended the meeting. During the meeting the Executive Committee has approved the following:

1. The 3rd edition of the Asian Women’s Baseball Championship which is also qualifying round of Women’s Baseball World Cup will be held in Hong Kong from May 21 to June 2, 2023. Teams from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Philippine, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Pakistan will participate in the event.

2. U15 Asian Baseball Championship will be held in China in the month of July. Pakistan U15 Baseball Team will participate in the event.

3. Asian Baseball Championship (Senior) will be held in Taiwan in the month of November 2023. Top 3 teams will qualify for U23 World Cup 2024. After winning 15th West Asia Baseball Cup 2023, Pakistan Baseball Team has already qualified for the participation in the championship.

4. 19th Asian Games will be held in Hangzhou China from September 24 to October 7, 2023. 13 teams will participate in the games. Pakistan has already qualified for the games.

The meeting ended with a vote of thanks.

For more information, contact:
Pakistan Federation Baseball
Punjab Stadium, Ferozepur Road,
Lahore, Pakistan
Tel. +92-42-353-41121
Fax + 92-42-357-11828
E-mail: pakistanfederationbaseball@hotmail.com

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IBA Karachi organized a summit on the Power of Women Entrepreneurs

Karachi, March 18, 2023 (PPI-OT): The Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi’s Aman Center for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) organized a summit on ‘Unlocking The Power of Women Entrepreneurs’, collaboratively with CLICK, Sindh Investment Department (SID) and IBA’s Alumni Affairs Department. In her address, the chief guest, Federal Minister for Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety, and Chairperson, Benazir Income Support Programme, Shazia Marri, emphasized on the need to train women so they contribute to the economy. “More inclusive societies will emerge, if human capital is developed,” said Marri.

Dignitaries from The World Bank, the SID, Mr. Muhammad Sohail, Alumni Representative on the IBA Board of Governors and women entrepreneurs also graced the occasion. During his opening remarks, Executive Director, IBA, Dr. S Akbar Zaidi reiterated that women play an important role in the society. Following the chief guest’s remarks, a panel discussion commenced featuring eminent women entrepreneurs: Misbah Naqvi, Early-Stage Investor, Co-Founder and General Partner at i2i Ventures, Kauffman Fellow; Nadia Patel Gangjee, Founder Sheops, Founder and CEO Femprow; Saeeda Mandviwalla CEO and Art Director, Toni and Guy and CEO, Spa Ceylon; and Tara Uzra Dawood, CEO, Ladies Fund, Board Member, Pakistan State Oil and Dawood Family Takaful Limited. The session was moderated by Dr. Saima Husain, Assistant Professor and Director, Quality Enhancement Cell, IBA.

The women entrepreneurs shared their life experiences, their struggles and challenges, and what enabled them to become change makers. Syed Qasim Naveed Qamar, Special Assistant to the Chief Minister on Investment and Public Private Projects, spoke about the outcome of the CLICK project which will enable the government and policy planners to take necessary actions for facilitating women in the formal economy.

Dr. Lalarukh Ejaz, Assistant Professor and Director, IBA-AMAN CED delivered the closing remarks, thanked SID and CLICK for their support, and distributed the mementos among the chief guest and panelists. Twenty-seven, female IBA students and alumni showcased their start-ups and businesses at the event. The event was a remarkable opportunity to network with various stakeholders.

For more information, contact:
Executive, Communication and Public Affairs,
Institute of Business Administration Karachi (IBA)
Main Campus: University Road, Karachi – 75270, Pakistan
UAN: +92-21-111-422-422 (Ext. 269)
Fax: +92-21-99261508
Email: raza.lakhani@khi.iba.edu.pk
Website: https://www.iba.edu.pk

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NUST International Conference Explores Non-Traditional Security Challenges and Calls for Collective Attention and Reciprocal Action

Islamabad, March 18, 2023 (PPI-OT): The 3rd International Conference on Business, Management and Social Sciences (ICB-MASS) themed Non-Traditional Security Challenges was held by NUST Centre for International Peace and Stability (CIPS) with NUST Business School (NBS) and School of Social Sciences and Humanities (S3H) on March 14-15, 2023. The conference hosted speakers, diplomats, government officials, representatives of inter-governmental organizations (INGOs), think tanks across and outside the country amongst others.

The unique presentations of the speakers demonstrated the richness of thoughts and clarity of ideas vis-a-vis the discourse of non-traditional security challenges. While the presentations brought forth the praxis of the subject matter, there was an unequivocal spoken and unspoken consensus on the greater need for mutual, collective, and reciprocal attention towards non-traditional security challenges – both in theory and practice.

On the first day, the conference was graced by the presence of Dr Rizwan Riaz, Pro-Rector RIC as the Chief Host, Prof Dr Ijaz Shafi Gilani as the keynote speaker, and Amb. Dr Raza Muhammad – President IPRI as the Chief Guest. In his keynote address, Prof Ijaz Shafi Gilani historically traced the dialectical manifestation of security both as a subject of globalisation and hard politics. His dilation of the subject exposed the nexus of politics, technology, and security challenges.

He questioned some of the assertions about Pakistan which were devoid of empirical and verifiable yardsticks. He argues whether Pakistan can pay serious attention to its civilizational crisis which is an integral element of non-traditional security challenges. As the Chief Guest, Amb. Dr Raza Muhammad identified the spectrum, nature, and scope of insecurity challenging Pakistan. In addition, he examined the imperative of developing a strategic vision for Pakistan in an emerging new world order.

The second day of the conference was accorded similar intellectual stimulations from the numerous in-depth analyses of the presenters and guests. As the Chief Guest Speaker, Gen Zubair Hayat offered an insightful take on the subject, his nuanced understanding of non-traditional security challenges was scholastically challenging. Combined with identifying the dynamics and implications of the new threats for Pakistan and the region, his presentation intellectually shoved into the unmapped territory of tangibility and intangibility of security threats.

As the keynote speaker of the day, Prof Przemyslaw Osiewicz from Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland, stretched the discourse from the lens of international relations and simultaneously exposed the participants to the notion of astropolitics – a novel politics which transcends the traditional international competition amongst states, a competition over who’s got the power to rule the outer space. His argument on the future of astropolitics hinges on the readiness of states to strike a balance between competition and cooperation.

During the concluding session, Dr. Ashfaque Hasan Khan, Principal School of Social Sciences and Humanities (S3H), NUST, interrogated the subject of non-traditional security challenges through the prism of economics. He particularly expounded on how the dictatorial policy of transnational and international institutions continues to hold the developing country hostage and by extension complicate the management of ‘economic non-traditional security’ challenges troubling nations like Pakistan.

As a behaviourist and psychologist, Prof Dr Salma Siddiqui, Dean at NUST School of Social Sciences and Humanities (S3H) addressed the subject of non-traditional security from a humanist angle. She emphasized the need to raise the living, psychological, and environmental standards of every individual as the recipe for individual actualization. The conference ended with insightful remarks by Maj. Gen. Salim Raza, Principal NIPCONS.

For more information, contact:
Director Press and Media Release
National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST)
NUST Campus, H-12, Islamabad, Pakistan
UAN: +92-51-111-11-6878
Tel: +92-51-90851381
Fax: +92-51-90851382
Email: prnust@gmail.com
Website: www.nust.edu.pk

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Report on Islamic Social Finance for Social Protection launched at IPS

Karachi, March 18, 2023 (PPI-OT): Islamic social protection system fulfils multiple SDGs and serves as an excellent tool for building resilience and equilibrium in social and economic lives. For that, effective reforms at the legislative, constitutional, and operational levels are needed to tap the potential of Islamic finance options. This was stated at an event organized on March 17, 2023 to launch a landmark report, ‘Islamic Social Finance for Social Protection in Pakistan’, based on research conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad in collaboration with Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) and Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH.

The session, presided by Prof Dr. Qibla Ayaz, chairman, Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), was addressed as the guest of honor by Muhammad Arshad, CEO, Prime Minister’s Health Program, Khalid Rahman, chairman, IPS, Dr. Atiquzzafar Khan, dean social sciences, Riphah International University, Dr. Salman Ahmad Shaikh, director, Islamic Economics Project and principal investigator of the study, and Mohammad Mustafa Khan, technical advisor, GIZ. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Qibla Ayaz termed the trust-deficit of the people in government institutions and capacity as the major hurdle in the way of creating a Zakat-based welfare system in Pakistan and stressed that foundations grounded in trust are hope for the future of social protection in Pakistan.

Therefore, he stressed, the need is to promote and strengthen trustworthy faith-based social welfare organizations, which must also be given opportunities to flourish. Moreover, the government should initiate partnerships with such private sector organizations. This would result in a more efficient social protection system and build public trust and confidence in the government. The willingness to take ownership, collective effort, and action-oriented measures on part of institutions are foundational to the success of nations, said Muhammad Arshad. The functioning of institutions like Akhuwat, Alkhidmat Foundation, and Edhi Foundation present a bright side of this potential that must be taken forward to a higher level, with a prominent role of the new generation.

As part of action-oriented measures in this context, health insurance under the Sehat Sahulat Program will be converted to the Takaful mode to align it with the Islamic social finance model next year, he announced. Khalid Rahman stressed that the issues affecting the overall paradigm of life must not be discussed in isolation, rather a comprehensive facilitating environment must be created to bring into focus multiple factors and issues affecting the country. He further emphasized the integration of relevant institutions, cooperation-based working models rather than competition, public-private partnership, and consensus as crucial to exploiting the existing unexplored potential in the country.

Dr. Salman Shaikh outlined the establishment of a comprehensive Islamic social finance ecosystem with a proper governance framework and administration. He further explained the social security mechanisms in Islam, analyzed various challenges and obstacles encountered in institutionalizing Zakat, Ushr, and Waqf, explored ways to tackle these issues, and proposed policy steps for reforming the administration of Islamic social finance institutions.

Commenting on the report, Dr. Atiquzzafar highlighted that a welfare economy based on Islamic economic principles provides a prospective alternative to the Riba-based economic system. Countries like Malaysia have set a good example in the adoption of Islamic social finance tools for the social protection of the people. As the collection and disbursement of Zakat is the state’s responsibility, the government should take into account the models of these countries to develop an economic fiscal system based on social welfare.

Adding to this, Mustafa Khan stated that diverting the flow of money towards the lowest strata of society and preventing the rich from getting richer and the poor poorer should be the most important principle for any government to adopt in related policy matters.

For more information, contact:
Outreach and Publications,
Institute of Policy Studies (IPS)
1, Street 8, F-6/3, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-8438391-3 (Ext: 122)
Fax: +92-51-8438390
Website: www.ips.org.pk

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Funeral Prayers of Chinese Student Offered at New Campus

Islamabad, March 18, 2023 (PPI-OT): Funeral prayers of Ruitong LI (Yaqoob), a Chinese student of BS Translation and Interpretation who passed away in an accident on March 15, were offered at new campus of the International Islamic university Islamabad (IIUI).

Vice President Administration and Finance, Dr. N.B. Jumani along with other high ups, Students Advisor Dr. Rizwan Aftab, faculty members, employees and a large number of students participated in the funeral prayers. The deceased student was buried in the H 11 graveyard.

News of the demise of Yaqoob in an accident has engulfed the campuses with grief. The university leadership has expressed deep sorrow and grief on the loss of the precious life of its student. IIUI President has prayed for the eternal peace of the departed soul.

For more information, contact:
Public Relations,
International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI)
Room No.118, Admin Block, New Campus,
H-10 Sector, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-9019249
Fax: +92-51-9257909
Email: iiuipublicrelations@iiu.edu.pk
Website: www.iiu.edu.pk

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Aga Khan University Graduates 777 Students, Celebrates Founder’s Day and 40th Anniversary

Karachi, March 18, 2023 (PPI-OT): The Aga Khan University on Saturday celebrated the graduation of the Class of 2022, its first-ever Founder’s Day and the University’s 40th anniversary. Simultaneous ceremonies were held in Pakistan, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and broadcast online to an international audience of AKU’s friends and supporters. Princess Zahra Aga Khan attended the ceremony in Karachi and shared a message from His Highness the Aga Khan, Founder and Chancellor of the University.

Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah was the Chief Guest. A total of 777 students graduated from AKU’s global campuses with diplomas and degrees in 19 fields, bringing the total number of diplomas and degrees awarded by the University to more than 19,000, including more than 4,500 in East Africa. In Pakistan, the School of Nursing and Midwifery graduated its 5,000th student. Students graduated in nursing, medicine, education and media and communications.

“Graduands, my wish today is that you will know the joy of planting hope in people’s lives, of building bridges of understanding, of venturing into the uncharted waters where new knowledge is discovered,” His Highness the Aga Khan said. “May your futures be rich in challenges embraced and overcome. May you be bold amid uncertainty, and see your boldness rewarded.” AKU dates its inception from the receipt of its Charter from the Government of Pakistan on March 16, 1983, making this its 40th anniversary week. Founder’s Day is a new annual tradition at AKU. On Founder’s Day, the University reflects on the vision of His Highness the Aga Khan, celebrates AKU’s impact and recognizes all those who are making the founding vision a reality: faculty, staff, donors, volunteers, students, alumni and partners.

Princess Zahra Aga Khan expressed her gratitude to the global University community for the “magnificent gift” of its support for AKU over the past four decades. “As we mark its inaugural Founder’s Day, its 40th anniversary and the graduation of the Class of 2022, AKU has never had more to celebrate,” she said. “I am deeply, deeply grateful to everyone who has made its journey possible.” President Sulaiman Shahabuddin paid tribute to His Highness and “his vision of a university that reconciles loyalty to international standards with service to those in need, that prepares its students to use knowledge to identify and solve problems, that demonstrates that science is the property of no single culture, but of all humanity.”

“It is thanks to his singular devotion to making that vision a reality, no matter the obstacles, that we are here today,” President Shahabuddin said. Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, the Chief Guest of the ceremony, said, “I am glad to be able to take this opportunity to thank the members of the AKU community who came to the aid of their fellow citizens in their hour of need, whether as volunteers or as donors. The fact that so many AKU students participated in the University’s flood response speaks highly of them and of the education that they have received here.”

AKU’s 40th year will see the launch of several new academic programmes. In Pakistan, classes will begin at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. In East Africa, the University will begin offering a six-year Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and a four-year Bachelor of Science in Nursing. In Kampala, Uganda, the University is building a new campus that will include a University Hospital and academic centre. In his message, His Highness the Aga Khan traced AKU’s 40-year journey from 1983 to the present, calling AKU a source of hope and expressing pride in its achievements and confidence in its future.

“Today, as in 1983, the future of the University lies in the hands of its leaders, faculty, staff, and supporters,” His Highness said. “Together, all of us are the custodians of the founding vision. Our history gives us every reason to believe that so long as we remain true to that vision, AKU’s light – the light depicted in the University’s seal – will grow ever brighter, helping to illuminate the path to a better future for the people it serves.” In his valedictory speech, Mian Arsam Haroon urged his classmates to “transform into action the knowledge you have received in the halls of this university and honor the commitment of the village that raised you.”

The Chief Guest in Tanzania was Ambassador Manfredo Fanti, Head of the European Union Delegation to Tanzania and to the East African Community. In Uganda, the Chief Guest was Ms Cornelia Penzel, KfW Country Director for Uganda. In Kenya, the Chief Guest was Dr Beatrice Muganda Inyangala, Principal Secretary, State Department for Higher Education and Research.

For more information, contact:
Media Executive
Department of Public Affairs
Aga Khan University (AKU)
Stadium Road, Karachi
Tel: +92-21-34930051
Fax: +92-21-34934294, +92-21-34932095
Cell: +92-301-8258028
Email: rasool.sarang@aku.edu, public.affairs@aku.edu
Website: www.aku.edu