Day by Day Current Affairs (May 30, 2018) | MCQs for CSS, PMS, NTS

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 May 30, 2018

1. Pakistan, India agree to restore LoC ceasefire

• In a rare positive development, Pakistan and India agreed on May 29, 2018 to restore ceasefire on the Line of Control (LoC) and Working Boundary (WB) whose violation has left over 100 dead during the last nearly a year and half on the Pakistani side.
• The agreement was reached during a hotline conversation between the Directors General of Military Operations of Pakistani and Indian armies. The conversation between Maj Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza and Lt Gen Anil Chauhan was held on a Pakistani initiative.
• It was unprecedented for both sides to issue almost identical statements on the conversation, whichunlike before did not accuse the other of wrongdoing. It could have easily been made a joint statement had it not been for the difference in their terminology like Working Boundary versus International Border and some other minor details that the respective sides decided to put in.
• From the timing of the conversation, which was stated by India to be 18:00hrs and the immediaterelease of press statements afterwards, which normally does not happen and takes at least a few hours, it looked that the agreement had been reached earlier and the two commanders spoke only to formally commit to the understanding.

2. Cabinet approves five-year internal security policy

• Just two days before the expiry of its five-year term, the government on May 29, 2018 took several important decisions, including approval of the National Internal Security Policy (NISP) 2018-23 to address terrorism, extremism and other crimes effectively.
• The policy was approved at a meeting of the federal cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. The NISP is based on six approaches reorlent, reimage, reconcile, redistribute, recognise and regional.
• The NISP 2018-23 was a continuation of the previous policy which was announced in 2013. 120 actions had been recommended in the policy to improve the internal security situation in the country.
• The six approaches, provided a detailed implementation plan as to how security forces could overcome the menace of terrorism, extremism and street crimes, besides their own capacity building.
• Under a separate decision, the meeting approved issuance of Charter Class-II license (domestic) to a new airline called K-2 Airways (pvt) Limited.

3. Govt unveils food security policy, terms it most vital after defence

• Just two days before the end of their five-year term, the government unveiled the National Food Security Policy calling it the second most important issue after the national security policy.
• The government`s official policy was announced by Minister for Food Security and Research Sikandar Hayat Bosan on May 29, 2018, who claimed that the food security policy was interlinked with the national water policy and national zero hunger programme.
• The policy not only focuses on the development of crops and enhancing farm produce but also addresses the issue of food wastage which accounts for one-third of the food produced in the country.
• Discussing the water shortage issue, the minister said it was a national failure and criticised the lack of a unified approach among the provinces and the centre.

4. Educationist Dr Tariq Banuri made HEC chairman

• Prime Minister Shahid Khagan Abbasi on May 29, 2018 appointed educationist Dr Tariq Banuri chairman of the Higher Education Commission (HEC).
• Mr Banuri is a former professor at the University of Utah and holds a PhD in economics from Harvard University. He completed his masters in development economics from Williams College after finishing his bachelors in Civil Engineering from the University of Peshawar.
• He has authorized 20 books and 30 research papers, and was at the top of the list of four candidates who had been selected by a committee for the post.
• His name was followed by Dr Mukhtar former vice chancellor of Islamia University, Dr Iqbal Chaudhry and Anwarul Hasan Gilani. The committee shortlisted the candidates after interviewing over 90 people.
• The new chairman will face many challenges when it comes to improving higher education in the country.
• The last chairman, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, completed his term on April 14. He has left behind a mix of successes and failures.
• Funding for the HEC saw significant improvement in his tenure, and he took some steps to improve the quality of education in universities.

5. Saleem Baig made Pemra chief

• The government on May 29, 2018 appointed Principal Information Officer (PIO) Saleem Baig as the chairman of Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) for four years.
• The government made the announcement of Mr Baig`s appointment after President Mamnoon Hussain approved the summary of Mr Baig`s appointment sent to him by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
• The post had been vacant since removal of Absar Alam, the previous chairman of Pemra, on the order of the Lahore High Court in December last year.
• In April this year, the Supreme Court had ordered the government to hire a competent person to head the electronic media regulatory body.
• In May, a six-member committee was formed by the government and it was given the responsibility of searching and selecting a suitable candidate for the vacant Pemra chairman post.
• The committee, headed by Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz, interviewed several candidates for the purpose.

6. New envoy takes charge in US to deal with daunting challenges

• Pakistan has a new ambassador in Washington now, Ali Jahangir Siddiqui, as Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary relinquished his charge on May 29, 2018 after serving his country in the US capital for a little more than a year.
• Mr Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhary, who assumed the office of the ambassador on March 13, 2017, said that in those 14 months and 17 days, he `defended my country passionately and in a complex and difficult phase of US-Pakistan relationship`. He said during this phase, he `pursued a multi-pronged strategy, which I hope will be built upon by my successor`.
• Mr Siddiqui arrived in Washington on May 28, 2018 night and was welcomed at the airport by Rizwan Saeed Sheikh, the deputy chief of Pakistan Mission to the US. Mr Siddiqui assumed his office just two days before the government that appointed him completes its term.

7. Two British Pakistanis in UK`s billionaires club

• Two Pakistani origin businessmen are among the British nationals with net worth of one billion pounds, according to Sunday Times rich list 2018.
• Gujar Khan-born Sir Anwar Pervez is the first Pakistan-born British national on the list with a net worth of 3.09 billion pounds. Although the fortunes of Sir Pervez rose by £145 million during the year, his rank on the Sunday Times list fell from 40th to 43rd.On the list, British chemical tycoon Jim Ratcliffe is at the top with a net worth of over 21 billion pounds.
• The rise of Sir Anwar Pervez is considered among the most inspiring rags-to riches stories in the UK.
• After arriving in the UK at the age of 21 and settling down in Bradford, he like many other economic migrants did some menial jobs. Later, he set up a convenience store in west London with his savings. In 1976, he set up a warehouse in Acton area of west London along with three other friends and relatives with very small seed money.
• The company then named Bestway now stands as a strong business group with stakes from cash-and-carry to pharmacy. The Bestway Group now trades from more than 60 warehouses under its own name and the Batleys brand, which it acquired, enjoying an 18 per cent market share in the grocery wholesale sector, where it supplies to about 100,000 retailers.
• According to Sunday Times, Zac Goldsmith, Lady Annabel Goldsmith and family inherited a quarter of Sir James Goldsmith`s wealth that stood at £1.2 billion when he died in 1997.

8. First human rights trial since 2011 revolt opens in Tunisia

• A Tunisian court on May 29, 2018 heard the first round of cases brought by a commission probing human rights violations stretching back six decades, with 14 former officials, including the ousted dictator, on trial.
• The Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD) was set up in 2014 following the revolt that toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.
• It has a mandate to investigate human rights violations between 1957, when Habib Bourguiba became president, and the date of its creation, with the aim of holding perpetrators to account and rehabilitating their victims.
• First court case concerned the forced disappearance of Kamel Matmati, a member of the Islamist movement Ennahda, who was arrested in October 1991 during Ben Ali`s rule, and tortured to death.

9. Israel seizes control of boat in Gaza blockade protest

• Israeli forces stopped and seized control of a Palestinian protest boat May 29, 2018, as those aboard sought to demonstrate against the Jewish state’s blockade of Gaza.
• The incident occurred amid high tensions in the Gaza Strip after militants fired dozens of mortars in the direction of Israel, whose military retaliated by hitting dozens of targets. The boat, carrying sick Gazans and those unable to find work, was stopped by Israeli forces several kilometres (miles) out at sea, Salah Abdul Atti, one of the organisers, told AFP. “Israeli forces surrounded it and intercepted it,” he said, adding communications had been lost with the boat.
• There was no immediate confirmation from the Israeli army and the circumstances of the incident were unclear. Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus said the boat was making an “illegal attempt to break a legal naval blockade that we have imposed on Gaza ever since the terrorist organisation called Hamas seized power.”
• One main boat carrying around 20 people accompanied by a group of smaller ones had set off from the fishermen’s port in Gaza City on May 29, 2018 morning.
• There were conflicting statements about whether the boats would seek to break Israel’s blockade, which currently allows them to travel nine nautical miles (16 kilometres) off the coast.

10. Afridi to skipper World XI as Morgan injured out

• Eoin Morgan has been forced to pull out of the ICC World XI squad for the 31 May Twenty20 International against the Windies at Lord’s due to a fractured finger.
• Morgan, England’s limited-overs skipper, had been set to captain the side. He will be replaced as captain by former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, while Morgan’s compatriot Sam Billings will take his place in the squad. Surrey all-rounder Sam Curran and England fast bowler Tymal Mills have also been added to the World XI squad.
• Afridi, a leg-spinning all-rounder, represented his country in over 500 international matches and famously broke the record for the fastest ODI century in his maiden international innings as a 16-year-old.