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  • Current Affairs 28th October 2018

    Updated : 28-Oct-2018

    Current Affairs 28th October 2018 - Important Points

    • Asma Jahangir won UN Human Rights Prize posthumously by - 26th October 2018
    • Pakistan to send its first own manned space mission in - 2022

     Current Affairs 28th October 2018 - Details

    Asma Jahangir won UN Human Rights Prize posthumously by - 26th October 2018

    Asma Jahangir, late Pakistani human rights activist and lawyer was posthumously announced as one of the winners of the UN Human Rights Prize on 26th October 2018. This announcement was made through the official Twitter account of President of the UN General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces.

    Jahangir was chosen for the prize along with three other including Tanzania's Rebeca Gyumi, first indigenous lawyer Joenia Wapichana from Brazil and Ireland's human rights  organisation Front Line Defenders,

    Before Jahangir only three other Pakistani women, Begum Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan (1978), Benazir Bhutto (2008) and Malala Yousufzai (2013) have been accorded the honour till date.
    More about Asma Jahangir

    • Asma Jahangir passed away on 11th February 2018 due to cardiac arrest at the of 66.
    • She was known for her outspoken nature and unrelenting pursuit of human rights and for remaining undaunted in the face of extreme pressure and opposition.
    • She was the first woman who served as the president of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association.
    • She co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and became its Secretary-General in 1987.
    • She was elevated as the commission's chairperson in 1993.
    • Between 2004 to 2010, she served as the Special Rapporteur on Religion Freedom or Belief of the UN Commission on Human Rights.
    • Overall, Asma Jahangir is remembered as a champion of the disenfranchised and for her services for building a democratic and more inclusive Pakistan.

    Pakistan to send its first own manned space mission in - 2022

    The decision is made by Pakistan to launch its first manned mission in 2022, the same year that India has planned to launch its own manned space mission. The decision was taken on 25th October 2018 during Pakistan's federal cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
    The cabinet approved the plan of sending an astronaut to space for the first time in 2022 with the help of China. Pakistan's Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry shared the same information.

    Important Highlights

    • For the same mission, an agreement among Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and a Chinese company has already been signed.
    • Pakistan and China already have robust defence ties and Pakistan is one of the top buyers of Chinese military hardware at the same time.
    • Pakistan had launched two satellites into orbit, using a Chinese launch vehicle earlier in 2018.
      The satellites were launched aboard a Chinese Long March (LM-2C) rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre located at the Gobi desert in China.
    • The satellites included a remote sensing satellite (PRSS1) which is a dual-purpose Earth observational and optical satellite and PAK-TES-1A.
    • Developed by SUPARCO, the PAK-TES-1A satellite was launched to improve satellite manufacture
      capabilities in the country that would be helping to end Pakistan's dependency on commercial satellites for information related to weather, environment and agriculture.
    • The satellites had to be transported to China as Pakistan lacks the infrastructure to launch these objects to space.