LAHORE: Engr. Syed Ashfaq Hussain and Engr. Arshad Dad have been elected unopposed as Chairman and Senior Vice Chairman respectively of the Constructors Association of Pakistan (CAP) for the year 2020-2021.
Members of the Association also elected unopposed Naeem Akhtar Chaudhary as Vice Chairman (Punjab), Muhammad Adnan Waheed as Vice Chairman (Sindh), Muhammad Farooq as Vice Chairman (Baluchistan) and Saifullah Zia as Vice Chairman (Islamabad).
Others who were elected unopposed as members of the executive committee are Engr. M. S. Asad Mukhtar, Chaudhary Ahmad Habib, Faisal Mahmood, Engr. Mian Sultan Mahmood and Muhammad Hanif Gohar from corporate class. While Rauf Ahmad, Malik Muhammad Kaleem Ullah were elected unopposed as executive committee members in associate class.
Results of the elections will be announced at the Annual General Meeting of the Constructors Association of Pakistan to be held in the last week of current month.
Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah, a man of high principles and discipline, is one of the most promising engineer produced by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. With over 45 years of professional experience. He has the knowledge, capability and experience to create marvels in the field of engineering. Basically a Mechanical Engineer but his true calling was Civil Engineering Projects and with more than four decades of experience he can truly be known as a genius in Civil Engineering Projects, said CAP spokesman here.
Meanwhile the outgoing, Chairman Muhammad Asadullah Khan welcomed the new team and hoped that it would work with full force to resolve the issues being faced by the contractor’s community and construction industry.
Constructors Association of Pakistan is only Construction industry in Pakistan is the largest sector of Pak economy after agriculture. Total value of construction spending in Pakistan is about Rs. 20,000/- billion (10% of GDP). Constructors Association of Pakistan (CAP) licensed under Section-3 of the Trade Organizations Act by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of Pakistan and registered under Section-42 of the Companies Ordinance is the only association representing the constructors in Pakistan. CAP is engaged in representations regarding problems of constructors on several issues.

Pakistan and Netherlands can cooperate in the field of floriculture; this was said by the Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Syed Fakhar Imam while chairing a meeting with the Ambassador of Netherland, H.E. Woulter Plomp. Both countries can collaborate in fresh cut plants, flowers and bulbs. Syed Fakhar Imam highlighted the longstanding partnership between Pakistan and Netherlands, which spans over last many years and appreciate Netherland’s assistance in ensuring food security in Pakistan. He appreciated Netherlands’ efforts to provide technical assistance and trainings to Pakistan. Federal Minister informed that Pakistan and Netherlands have vast potential for collaboration in the field of Research in Food Security (Agriculture & Livestock). He appraised about the strength of livestock sector in Pakistan and the need for value addition to animal origin products (meat, dairy, etc). Syed Fakhar Imam invited Netherlands investment in dairy farming, agribusiness, food processing. The Dutch agriculture sector is diversified and covers a wide range of livestock sector. Pakistan is importing genetic material (Semen) from Netherlands for Artificial insemination to local non-descript animals and also import diary/ breeding cattle from Netherlands. The Netherlands dairy cooperative i.e. Friesland Campina is the 6th largest dairy cooperative in the world, acquired 51% shares of Engro Foods Limited (EFL) in 2016 and became a subsidiary of Friesland Campina. EFL has sizeable dairy farm setup at Nara, Sukkur (Sindh) where around 5000 dairy cattle are kept for milk production. EFL is playing a significant role in the dairy economy of Pakistan. Pakistan imports more than 7000 metric tons seed potato from Netherlands and valuing around Euro 1 million per annum. Prior to 18-09-2017, DPP was allowing import of seed potato from Netherlands based on visual inspection.Later on DPP evaluated, revised seed potato import conditions based on scientific justification and in accordance with PQR 1967 and harmonized them with USA, India, Australia, and China. On the invitation of Dutch side a delegation from Pakistan visited Netherland in July, 2018 and conducted on-spot inspection of production sites, crop production, pest surveillance and plant health system, research activities, quarantine inspection and testing system at NPPO, Netherlands and held discussions with various stake holders and it was agreed that Seed potatoes from Netherlands may be imported with the additional declaration and phytosanitary measures agreed between DPP and NPPO, Netherlands and Only seed potatoes shall be entitled to be imported inspected and certified by NAK and BKD (plant health inspection agencies of NPPO, Netherlands) during growing season and at the time of export from their registered farms. The Netherlands is the world’s second largest exporter of agricultural products, after the USA. Together with the USA and France, the Netherlands is one of the world’s three leading producers of vegetables and fruit. It supplies a quarter of the vegetables that are exported from Europe. The agri-business is one of the driving forces behind the Dutch Economy. In recent decades, farms became larger in scale and production became more intensive. As a result, fertilizers and manures made more impact on the countryside. Dutch agriculture covers a wide range of livestock and plant cultivation sectors that include arable and dairy farming, cultivation under glass and tree-growing. The Netherlands and the Pakistan share an interest to expand business ties in agriculture and livestock. Pakistan and the Netherlands enjoy friendly relations. Netherlands is one of the largest trading partners of Pakistan in the European Union. The Dutch agricultural sector produces mostly wheat, fodder maize and potatoes. The horticultural sector focuses on vegetables, flower bulbs, sweet peppers and roses mostly through greenhouses. The Netherlands has a highly mechanized agricultural sector that provides large surpluses for the food-processing industry and for exports. After the United States, the Netherlands is the biggest exporter of agricultural produce in the world, exporting 65 billion Euros worth of vegetables, fruit, flowers, meat and dairy products each year approximately. The Netherlands exports two-thirds of the world’s total fresh-cut plants, flowers, and bulbs. The Netherlands exports a quarter of the entire world’s tomatoes, and one-fifteenth of the world’s apples. The Dutch government aims to drastically reduce energy and gas consumption in the greenhouse horticulture sector.

The government on Wednesday managed to pass three crucial Financial Action Task Force (FATF) related laws in a joint session of parliament, which was marred by the opposition’s protests.
Prime Minister Imran Khan also attended the joint session which was chaired by National Assembly Speaker Asad Qaiser. Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Shahbaz Sharif, PPP chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Jamaat-i-Islami senators Sirajul Haq and Mushtaq Ghani and PPP Senator Raza Rabbani among others were also in attendance.
As soon as the session began, Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan tabled the Islamabad Capital Territory Waqf Properties Bill which was initially passed through a voice vote.
However, the NA speaker asked for a vote count with members being asked to stand up from their seats after the opposition shouted in protest. The bill was passed with 200 members voting in favour and 190 voting against it.
A clause by clause reading was done with each clause being approved by the house. Amendments to certain clauses were proposed but rejected by the house through a voice vote. The ruckus continued as opposition members chanted slogans during the voting on amendments in the clauses of the bill.
JI Senator Mushtaq Ghani, who introduced amendments in several clauses, angrily accused the speaker of “passing legislations illegally”. He also claimed that the speaker had not allowed him to speak on his turn.
Opposition members also insisted on speaking while amendments were being introduced but Qaiser insisted that only lawmakers who wanted to move amendments should address the parliament. When opposition lawmakers continued to make noise, the speaker asked Awan to read out the rules
regarding addressing while voting was underway. According to Rule 130, Awan said, only lawmakers who wanted to move amendments were allowed to speak while voting was underway.
Amid the racket, PTI MNA Maleeka Bokhari introduced amendments in several clauses of Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, all of which were passed.
While Bokhari was reading out proposed amendments, the opposition walked out. The Anti-Money Laundering (Second Amendment) Bill, which was then tabled by Awan, was also passed through voice voting without any opposition.
PTI MNA Faheem Khan tabled the Anti-Terrorism Act (Amendment) Bill, 2020 which was also passed without opposition.
According to the ATA (Amendment) Bill, 2020, the investigating officer, with the permission of the court, can conduct covert operations to detect terrorism funding, track communications and computer system by applying latest technologies in 60 days. The bill was rejected by the Senate earlier in the day.
After the parliament passed the bills, the prime minister thanked lawmakers who voted in favour of the legislations for “standing with their country”.
During his address to the parliament, the prime minister said that the opposition’s “attitude” in the session today and earlier negotiations on the bills showed that the “interests of [opposition parties] and their leaders were the opposite of Pakistan’s interests”.
“Going on the black list would mean sanctions, our economy crashing; we were hoping opposition would jointly pass legislation for FATF because it’s for Pakistan, not [our] personal interest,” PM Imran said.
The premier told the assembly that during the negotiations, the opposition had proposed 34 amendments in the NAB rules.
“They used FATF to protect their interests […] when they saw we weren’t being blackmailed, they got stuck on money laundering,” he remarked. He criticised the opposition for suggesting that money laundering be excluded from NAB rules, saying that if they had nothing to hide, there should be no reason to oppose its inclusion.
He said it was “important to pass this legislation, not [just] because of FATF but money laundering”. He recalled that he was asked to provide a money trail for an apartment he bought in London, even though he did not hold a public office at the time.