Mahathir to be chief guest on Pak Day

By Tariq Butt

ISLAMABAD: Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad will be the guest of honour at the Pakistan Day Parade on March 23, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Major General Asif Ghafoor said on Wednesday.

He tweeted that Defence Minister of Azerbaijan, the army chief of Bahrain and government officials from Sultanate of Oman will also attend the parade.

The ISPR chief said various contingents from Azerbaijan, China, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Turkey will participate in parade.

Sometime back, Prime Minister Imran Khan had a telephonic discussion with his Malaysian counterpart Dr Mahathir Mohamad in which the latter accepted his invitation to visit Pakistan.

Imran Khan also called for collaboration between Pakistan and Malaysia at an operational level so that both countries can benefit from each other’s expertise.

The premier underscored close and cordial relations between the two countries and highlighted the need of high-level bilateral exchanges.

Imran Khan conveyed the immense respect of the people and government of Pakistan for the Malaysian prime minister as a statesman and global leader and extended his heartfelt felicitations to him on the victory of Pakatan Harapan in the general election. He appreciated his vision for Malaysia’s steady economic progress.

Dr Mahathir Mohamad reciprocated Khan’s sentiments and congratulated him on his victory in the last general election. In an unrelated development, the management of Bahria Town has made a new offer of paying Rs485 billion as a settlement of all the three projects in Karachi, Rawalpindi and Islamabad within a period of eight years.

Last week, it offered Rs479.598 billion as the final settlement of all the three projects within a period of nine years.

A three-member implementation bench of the Supreme Court in the Bahria Town Karachi case judgment headed by Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed while hearing the case had asked Bahria Town to revise the offer and inform it.

In pursuance of the court’s advice, Syed Ali Zafar, counsel for Bahria Town, while filing an application, offered an increase of close to Rs6 billion in the previous payment.