ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani government will prioritize the vaccination of teachers and school support staff, the Ministry of Education said on Thursday, as educational institutions are set to reopen next week.
After a drop in coronavirus cases in the last two weeks, the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), which oversees Pakistan's pandemic response, on Wednesday announced the lifting of more coronavirus restrictions, including on school classes.
From May 24, educational institutions will reopen in all districts where the coronavirus positivity rate is below 5 percent, while all matric and intermediate exams are scheduled to be held after June 20.
"Federal Govt decides to vaccinate teachers & support staff on fast track to support education sector through targetted vaccination. Decision has been taken in consultation with NCOC to ensure elimination of disruption in education sector & reduce learning losses," the ministry said in a Twitter post.
Education Minister Shafqat Mahmood said the government's target is to have teachers vaccinated before the upcoming exams.
"Government has decided to give priority to teachers in vaccination. The target is that all teachers specially those conducting exams should have complete vaccination," he tweeted.
Government has decided to give priority to teachers in vaccination. The target is that all teachers specially those conducting exams should have complete vaccination pic.twitter.com/s66PPLA8i4
The decision to fast-track the vaccination of teachers comes as Pakistan's immunization drive is picking up pace.
It aims to vaccinate at least 70 million of the country’s 220 million population by the end of this year and on Wednesday opened a mass COVID-19 vaccination center in Islamabad, where over 7,000 people will be able to get their jabs every day.
The country has so far administered 4.6 million vaccine doses to persons above the age of 40.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar did not hold a formal meeting with Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit (SHO), the foreign office clarified Thursday, saying that viral images of the two officials seated together at a luncheon were simply an exchange of pleasantries.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan are bitter adversaries with longstanding political tensions, having fought three wars and numerous skirmishes since they were carved out of the subcontinent’s partition in 1947.
The Indian minister was the first top official from New Delhi to visit Pakistan after nearly a decade. During the visit, a picture of Dar and Jaishankar was shared by media outlets, where the two ministers could be seen engaged in a conversation while sharing a seat next to each other at the official SCO lunch.
This led to speculations and conjectures by political analysts, with some saying the two officials were discussing cricket and trying to break the ice between the arch-rival neighbors.
“There has been no formal meeting between Pakistan and India at the foreign minister’s level including at the SCO,” foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said on Thursday.
She said it was common for delegations in multilateral settings to “exchange pleasantries” and hold informal conversations over lunch and dinner, especially between the hosts and participating guests.
Relations between India and Pakistan have been particularly sour since 2019 when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked the limited autonomy of Indian-administered Kashmir. The move was celebrated across India but led Pakistan to suspend bilateral trade and downgrade diplomatic ties with New Delhi.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both in full.
Before departing Pakistan, Jaishankar thanked Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Deputy PM Dar and the Pakistan government for the “hospitalities and courtesies” extended to him during the visit.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said that none of the two countries requested a bilateral meeting, though he termed the Indian minister’s presence at the SCO as an “ice breaker.”
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday condemned Israel for “deliberately” targeting the United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL), saying it was vital for peacekeepers to be able to fulfill their mission without fear of attack or obstruction.
The UN mission has been stationed in southern Lebanon to monitor hostilities in the area that has witnessed intense clashes this month between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters.
Since launching its ground incursion in Lebanon in early October, Israel has fired on several front-line UNIFIL positions, even as its stated objective is only to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure in the Arab state.
Two UN peacekeepers were wounded by an Israeli strike near a UNIFIL watchtower earlier this month, leading to criticism from about 50 countries contributing troops to the 10,000-strong force.
“Pakistan strongly condemns the deliberate and unlawful attacks by Israeli forces on the United Nations interim force in Lebanon,” foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said in her weekly media briefing in Islamabad.
“The peacekeepers must be able to fulfill their mission without fear of attack or obstruction,” she continued, adding that despite such attacks, UNIFIL had managed to remain operational.
The spokesperson said Pakistan wanted the international community to ask Israel to end its aggressive actions against UNIFIL while also seeking a ceasefire against the people of Palestine and Lebanon.
“Israel should also be held accountable for its war crimes and crimes against humanity and the people of Palestine should be protected from Israeli aggression,” she added.
Baloch said Pakistan also condemned the “brutal and indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes on Beit Lahiya,” a town in northern Gaza which resulted in the tragic loss of over 80 Palestinian lives on Sunday.
“Targeting densely populated residential areas without warning and collective punishment of civilians and depriving them of food, water, and essential medicines constitute war crimes,” she added.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said on Wednesday that an UNRWA employee was killed in a strike on a vehicle in Gaza.
At least 223 UNRWA staff members have been killed, and two-thirds of the agency’s facilities in Gaza damaged or destroyed since the war began early last year, its head, Philippe Lazzarini, said last month.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday vowed to make Pakistan polio-free with global support, promising to build a “robust” health system to safeguard future generations amid a major surge in the crippling disease.
Pakistan has reported 40 polio cases in 2024, compared to only six last year, with most cases involving children in impoverished areas due to logistical challenges, parental refusal, and security threats. The southern Balochistan province has been the hardest hit. Militant groups, particularly in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, have targeted polio workers and their security escorts, labeling these vaccination campaigns as foreign conspiracies.
In a message on World Polio Day, the Pakistani PM reiterated his commitment to raising awareness for eradicating the disease, as the country reported its latest case this year in KP’s Kohat district.
“Pakistan is committed to becoming polio-free, and together, with the support of our citizens and global partners, we will achieve this goal,” he said. “It’s about building a robust public health system and safeguarding the health of future generations.”
Sharif urged every parent to vaccinate their children, calling on community leaders to spread the message of polio eradication. He said the government was improving the health infrastructure, increasing vaccine coverage and combatting misinformation.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains endemic, making eradication efforts in both states critical to global health. The prime minister described the regional collaboration with Afghanistan as “vital” to control cross-border transmission.
“Due to the tireless work of our health workers and international partners like WHO, UNICEF, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we have made significant progress in reducing polio cases,” he added.
“However, challenges remain, including security concerns, misinformation, and access to remote areas. Despite these obstacles, our health workers continue to work bravely to vaccinate every child.”
Many in Pakistan believe the conspiracy theory that polio vaccines are part of a plot by Westerners to sterilize the country’s population. The masses’ doubts regarding polio campaigns were exacerbated in 2011 when the US Central Intelligence Agency set up a fake vaccination program to gather intelligence on former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Violent attacks on polio volunteers and security personnel guarding them are common in Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered the administration of Central Prison Rawalpindi to produce jailed former prime minister Imran Khan by 3 PM to facilitate a meeting with his lawyers, as his wife Bushra Bibi was released after securing bail a day earlier.
The development follows Khan’s legal team moving the court, complaining that prison officials were preventing them and the ex-premier’s family from meeting him. Khan has been imprisoned for over a year, facing various charges, including corruption and sedition.
Currently, he is incarcerated in the state repository case, involving the possession of a jewelry set comprising a ring, bracelet, necklace and earrings gifted to his wife by a foreign dignitary. The couple allegedly undervalued the set and retained it at a lower price.
Bibi was released from jail after spending 265 days in the same case after the IHC granted her bail on Wednesday.
“Bring Imran Khan to Islamabad High Court at 3 PM to arrange his meeting with his lawyers,” Justice Ijaz Ishaq Khan remarked during the hearing. “I know you won’t implement my orders, but let me issue directions.”
The judge’s remark came amid an ongoing tussle between the executive and the judiciary, with the latter accusing the country’s powerful military and intelligence agencies of exerting pressure to secure favorable verdicts in political cases, particularly those involving Khan.
The military and intelligence agencies have denied these allegations, maintaining that they do not interfere in political matters.
Khan has not physically appeared in a court since August last year, with all hearings being held in the high-security Rawalpindi prison due to security concerns.
For the last two weeks, the Punjab government has banned all meetings with Khan and other prisoners in the jail, citing security reasons.
“A contempt of court petition was filed by the legal team after the jail administration, following Punjab government orders, banned meetings with Imran Khan, defying clear instructions from the court of Justice Ijaz Ishaq to arrange a meeting via video link if otherwise not possible,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a statement.
Khan’s legal team has struggled to secure his release, arguing that all charges against him are fabricated to keep him out of politics.
The PTI also confirmed that a bail bond for his wife was submitted in the court earlier in the day, leading to her release in the afternoon.
KARACHI: A Karachi-based chef, specially flown to Islamabad to oversee meals for foreign dignitaries at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, said this week his team ensured diversity in the menu to respect cultural sensitivities, recalling they avoided serving red meat to the Indian delegation.
The 23rd SCO Council of Heads of Government took place on October 15 and 16, bringing together political leaders from Russia, China, India, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and other participating nations, including Pakistan.
Chef Asad Monga, 32, was invited to join the culinary experts at Islamabad’s popular Serena Hotel for the summit’s lunch and dinner services.
He informed the menu not only reflected international flavors but also highlighted local Pakistani dishes such as mutton chops and flatbread with minced meat filling. However, his team was also sensitive to the dietary preferences of the visiting delegates.
“[It was] just a good, well rounded mix of food to showcase our regional capabilities as people and as cooks, and also keeping in mind the diverse set of people that were coming to eat the food so that it registers with their palette also,” he told Arab News on Tuesday.
“We couldn’t serve red meat to the Indian delegates, so we had a vegetarian and chicken-based menu for that,” he added.
Chef Asad Monga (center in the first row) poses for a picture with other chefs during Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit held in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on October 15-16, 2024. (Asad Monga)
Indian External Affairs Minister Subramanyam Jaishankar, who led his country’s delegation at the SCO Summit, was the first high-profile official from New Delhi to visit Pakistan in nearly a decade.
Although he did not hold formal bilateral meetings in Islamabad, Pakistani officials described his trip as an “ice breaker” amid hopes in both countries for a thaw in the frosty relations between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
“The meal started with the Mezze Platter. There was Yousaf Labneh on the menu, and of course, butters were served with Sumac as a condiment,” Monga said.
“The Middle Eastern influence in our region is strong, and when you serve food in a restaurant or a five-star hotel, you will always find some Middle Eastern cuisine on the table,” he added.
A chef prepares food for the guests at Serena Hotel during Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit held in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, on October 15-16, 2024. (Asad Monga)
Monga, who was born and raised in Karachi, became passionate about cooking and chose culinary school after A Levels.
He enrolled at Taylor’s University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2011 as part of a dual degree program. After gaining international experience, he returned to Pakistan in late 2016 for personal reasons.
“For Pakistan to succeed in the future, we need to develop a strong service-based economy that focuses on hospitality and the culinary arts,” he reflected, based on his experience of serving the SCO delegates.
Waiters line up to carry food plates for the guests attending Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit in Islamabad, Pakistan. (Asad Monga)
He noted that by promoting chefs and expanding the hospitality industry, Pakistan could project its warm hospitality to the world and cultivate a softer image.
Monga also shared his desire to set up a small culinary school in the mountains, where he could forage ingredients, ferment them, and develop flavor catalogs.
“I hope to develop a school there where I can teach students who are interested in learning,” Monga said. “They can come and collaborate with me, and together we can shape the future of Pakistani cuisine and its culinary landscape.”
