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Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on

Tuesday said that record funds had been disbursed to the federating units under the PML-N government.

Chairing a meeting of the Cabinet here, the Prime Minister said

that all the development and energy security initiatives had either been

completed or in completion phase which speaks volumes of the development and

energy security endeavors bearing fruit during the PML-N government since 2013.

The Prime Minister informed the cabinet that these initiative of

national importance started by the PML-N government were unmatched if compared with those planned from 1999 to 2008.

The Prime Minister apprised the cabinet about his recent visit to

Karachi on last Saturday. The Prime Minister said during the visit he announced Rs. 25 billion for Karachi and Rs. 5 billion for Hyderabad under a comprehensive package to be implemented by the federal government under the policy and administrative supervision of Governor Sindh with fixed time lines and fixed costs.

He said under the package, one hospital and medical college for

Karachi would be set up, extension of green line metro to other areas while additional resources would be provided for new water projects.

The Prime Minister said 50 fire tenders would be provided for KMC

while series of underpasses and bridges would be constructed to reduce the traffic mess in the port city.

About Hyderabad package, he said one university and medical college

would be established in Hyderabad while additional grant to be provided for Hyderabad Municipal Corporation besides upgradation of infrastructure of all industrial states. These projects will be executed with in fixed time and cost and transparently, he added.

The Prime Minister also informed about the meeting he chaired during

Karachi visit on law and order in the wake of recent surge in street crimes in the port city.

He said that provincial government had been asked to play it's due

role in the development work in the province in general and Karachi in particular.

The Prime Minister reaffirmed all out support from the federal

government to the provincial government in the development and ensuring peace and security in Sindh.

The Cabinet lauded the announcements from the Prime Minister in his

Karachi visit.

The Prime Minister also informed the cabinet about the recent

presentations given to him on WAPDA and NHA which lasted for several hours but remained incomplete due to paucity of time.

Prime Minister Abbasi said that so much development work and energy

initiatives had been taken under the PML-N government that were difficult to

summarize in detailed presentations.

Secretary Interior briefs the Cabinet on laws relating to weapons'

licensing. Cabinet members discussed the proposal in detail.

In this regard, the Prime Minister constituted a Committee chaired by

himself with Interior Minister, Minister for CADD, Minister of State for

Information & Broadcasting and National Security Advisor as members to

collate proposals of Cabinet members put forward today and bring the agenda

item again.

The Prime Minister directed Interior Ministry to revalidate data

regarding licenses issued, adding that 90 days grace period to be given to

all license holders of Prohibited Weapons for registration with NADRA.

The Prime Minister also directed to hold Cabinet meeting every

Tuesday.

The cabinet also approved initiation of Negotiation on

Inter-Government Agreement between Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Resources, Government of Islamic Republic of Pakistan and National Development & Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China for Supply of POL Products and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), Petroleum Division.

Approval was given to Ratification of Agreement between the Government

of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China for Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with Respect of Taxes on Income, Revenue Division.

Source: Ministry of Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage

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WASHINGTON � A provincial leader of the Islamic State militant group in Afghanistan has been killed in a U.S. air strike in eastern Kunar province, Afghan and U.S. military officials confirmed Sunday.

U.S. and Afghan Forces have confirmed the death of Kunar provincial Islamic State of Iraq and Syria-Khorasan (ISIS-K) emir, Abdul Rahman, U.S. forces in Afghanistan said in a statement.

Rahman was killed along with three additional senior IS members on Thursday in Kunar's Dara-e-Pech district, the statement added.

Abdul Rahman was a potential candidate to become the IS leader in Afghanistan following Abu Sayed's death in a U.S airstrike last month.

The death of Abdul Rahman deals yet another blow to the senior leadership of ISIS-K, said General John Nicholson, Commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He found out just like those before him that there are no safe havens in Afghanistan.

U.S. and Afghan forces have been engaged in joint- counterterrorism operations against IS in eastern Afghanistan. American and Afghan military forces have promised to eliminate IS in Afghanistan in 2017.

Hundreds of IS fighters, including several senior commanders, have been killed in recent months.

Abu Sayed, the group's top leader in Afghanistan, was killed in a U.S. airstrike last month. Sayed was the second IS leader in the past four months, and third in the past year, to have been targeted and killed. Abdul Hasib, his predecessor, was targeted in a U.S.-Afghan security forces raid in Nangarhar's Achin district in April.

We will hunt them down until they are no longer a threat to the Afghan people and the region, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan said following the death of Abdul Rahman.

Based in southern parts of eastern Nangarhar province, IS's Khorasan Province branch (ISIS-K) emerged in early 2015 in the mountainous areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan to cover Afghanistan, Pakistan and other nearby territories.

IS in Afghanistan has primarily been active in several districts of eastern Nangarhar province. Since its emergence, the terror group has targeted villages in several districts in the province, killing and abducting hundreds of people and setting their homes on fire.

IS under increasing pressure

Facing large-scale joint-U.S. and Afghan forces operations in Nangarhar, IS militants are trying to expand to mountainous parts of the adjacent Kunar and Nuristan provinces which share a border with Pakistan.

Police authorities in Nangarhar last week arrested five minors - 10 to 15 years old, who were being transported by IS recruiters from Kunar to a Nangarhar's remote district for training purposes.

Despite the battlefield successes of Afghan and American Special Forces against the Islamic State in Afghanistan, IS has carried out or claimed responsibility for several deadly attacks across the country, sparking fears that the group might be seeking to trigger sectarian conflict in Afghanistan and the greater central Asian region.

IS said its fighters stormed Iraq's embassy in Kabul last month, and the terror group also claimed responsibility for a suicide attack on a Shi'ite mosque in western Herat province in early August.

Amongst the dead was the father of Fatima Qaderyan, captain of the Afghan all-girls robotics team that made headlines last month after managing to get U.S visas to participate in the International Robot Olympics for High School Students in Washington D.C.

They were initially denied U.S visas, but following President Trump's personal intervention, they were able to travel to the U.S.

Source: Voice of America

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