ISLAMABAD: Adviser to the chief minister of Sindh province, Murtaza Wahab Siddiqui, on Monday said the COVID-19 situation in Karachi had become very “dangerous, alarming and concerning” ahead of the upcoming Eid Al-Azha holiday as the city’s positivity rate rose above 23 percent in the last 24 hours.
Pakistan lifted nearly all coronavirus restrictions earlier this month as COVID-19 cases showed a constant downward decline though infections have once more picked up in recent weeks.
“Now Eidul Azha is coming ... and it is a very dangerous, alarming and concerning situation [in Karachi],” Siddiqui told reporters as he called upon the public to get vaccinated and follow coronavirus restrictions. “The government doesn’t want that there is strictness and we impose restrictions again.”
Wahab said there was a rapid increase in hospital admissions and “the situation is again developing to a dangerous extent.”
“I want to tell citizens that the situation today is dangerous and concerning and if in the next few days we don’t adhere to the SOPs then these numbers (positivity rate) can become more dangerous,” the spokesperson said. “If they become more dangerous and there is no longer space left in hospitals then the citizens will face the loss. We all need to understand the dangers of COVID-19 irrespective of politics on the basis of humanity, support our government, follow SOPs, adopt social distancing [and] wear masks.”
'Dangerous and alarming' surge in COVID-19 cases in Karachi, Sindh government warns
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'Dangerous and alarming' surge in COVID-19 cases in Karachi, Sindh government warns
- Karachi’s positivity rate rose to 23.12 percent in the last 24 hours
- Pakistan lifted most coronavirus restrictions earlier this month as infections steadily declined
Pakistan-China highway remains blocked as sit-in protest against power outages enters fourth day
- Enraged by power outages, enraged protesters demand government run thermal generators to resolve power crisis
- Karakorum Highway is a key land route connecting Pakistan to China via Hunza in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region
KHAPLU, Gilgit-Baltistan: The main highway connecting Pakistan to China in the mountainous Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region remained closed for trade and traffic on Monday for the fourth consecutive day, as demonstrators continued their sit-in protest against power outages that residents say last for almost 20 hours.
The Karakoram Highway (KKH), a vital trade route between the two countries, was obstructed by protesters on Friday at Ali Abad, a significant point in the Hunza Valley. Protesters were enraged by frequent power outages in GB. The area has witnessed a gradual increase in trade activity following an agreement between Pakistan and China to keep the Khunjerab Pass open year-round to facilitate economic exchanges.
Hamid Hussain, an engineer at the Gilgit-Baltistan Water and Power Department, last week blamed technical reasons for the power outages. He said the region heavily relied on hydropower, which often faced disruption in winter due to the freezing of rivers and lakes.
Various political parties such as the Awami Workers Party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), members of the civil society and trade associations joined hands to stage the sit-in protest at the highway on Friday. Despite the freezing temperature, the sit-in protests have continued since then.
“All rounds of negotiations with the government have failed and we are still facing the worst kind of power crisis,” Zahoor Ilahi, a member of the core committee formed by protesters, told Arab News over the phone.
“We will not end the protest until our demands are met. Though our demands are to permanently resolve the power crisis, however, if they agree to run thermal generators to minimize power cuts, a consensus will be developed to end the protest,” he added.
GB an impoverished, mountainous part of the larger Kashmir region, is home to 127 hydel and 34 thermal stations but the region continues to suffer one of the worst power outages in the South Asian country.
Khuzaima Anwar, Hunza’s deputy commissioner, admitted the protesters’ demands were “genuine.”
“The people have been protesting for power crisis since last Friday and their demands for the long-term uplifting of power projects are genuine,” Anwar said.
He said the district administration engaged with protesters twice since Friday and acknowledged their demands.
“The issue is here that they are demanding we run thermal generators,” he said. “But the fuel cost will be very high and the government is not in a condition to face more liabilities.”
He said the government was also trying to negotiate with protesters, adding that members of the GB Assembly were also playing their role in ending the sit-in protest.
“Trucks and containers are stuck on both sides as the main KKH is blocked,” Anwar said. “However, there is another alternate route for miniature vehicles, and the law and order situation is under control.”
Imran Ali, former GB president, confirmed dozens of containers were stuck on both sides of the highway due to the sit-in protest.
“Tourists are also facing issues due to road blockades,” Ali told Arab News. “The government should come forward to resolve the issue.”
Pakistan concludes week-long anti-polio drive in southwestern province hit hardest by disease
- Pakistan to hold next polio drive in Balochistan during first week of February, says official
- Pakistan reported 68 polio cases last year out of which 27 were from Balochistan province
QUETTA: Pakistani health authorities on Monday concluded a week-long polio campaign in its southwestern Balochistan province, hit hardest by the disease, amid looming security threats to vaccinators and security forces guarding them.
Pakistan kickstarted the polio drive on Dec. 30 to vaccinate 2.6 million children against the disease in Balochistan. Pakistan reported 68 polio cases last year out of which 27 were from Balochistan. The northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and southern Sindh provinces each recorded 19 cases while the eastern Punjab province and Islamabad each reported one case.
Pakistan, along with neighboring Afghanistan, remains the last polio-endemic country in the world.
“We have achieved our set target in the last province-wide anti-polio campaign,” Dr. Aftab Kakar, the provincial team lead at the National Stop Transmission of Polio (NSTOP) program told Arab News.
“We had set a target to vaccinate more than 2.6 million children but are gathering entry data from all districts but due to the suspension of mobile service in Quetta, some entries are pending.”
Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure. To provide high immunity against the virus, multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five are essential.
“We are planning our next anti-polio drive in the first week of February 2025 with further training to the polio staff across Balochistan to make next drives more effective,” Kakar said. “We are very much optimistic that polio cases will decline this year because we have noticed a major decline since September and October 2024.”
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners, who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
On Dec. 18, provincial health authorities postponed the nationwide anti-polio drive twice due to security reasons and a boycott by health staffers. The virus killed three children, including a minor girl, in Balochistan’s Quetta, Zhob and Killa Abdullah districts last year.
In the early 1990s, the country reported around 20,000 cases annually, but in 2018, the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Unidentified men shoot dead two cops in northwestern Pakistan
- Both constables were shot dead as they were arriving for duty on a motorcycle from their village, say police
- Such attacks, mostly claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, have been on the rise in KP province in recent months
PESHAWAR: Two police constables were shot dead by unidentified men in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, a police spokesperson said, as Islamabad struggles to contain surging militancy in its Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan.
Constable Himatullah and Constable Khan Bahadur were on their way to the police station from their village Kheru Khel Pakka on a motorcycle early Monday morning when the attack occurred, the district’s police spokesperson Shahid Marwat said.
“On the way, both police officers were shot dead by unknown motorcycle-borne terrorists near Nawab Khan Ziarat within the limits of Ghazni Khel police station,” Marwat said.
Such attacks against security forces and police officers have been on the rise in KP in recent months, with most claimed by Pakistan’s indigenous Taliban movement, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and other militant groups that target security forces’ convoys and check posts and carry out daily targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials.
Pakistan has frequently accused neighboring Afghanistan of sheltering and supporting militant groups like the TTP, urging the administration there to prevent its territory from being used by armed factions to launch cross-border attacks.
The Afghan Taliban deny the charge, insisting Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter.
Pakistan court to announce £190 million bribe case verdict against Imran Khan on Jan. 13
- Khan, wife are accused of receiving land worth millions of dollars as bribe from real estate tycoon in exchange for favor
- Khan’s PTI party says delay in announcing verdict against former premier “questions legitimacy of merits of trial”
ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad accountability court will announce the verdict in a case involving former prime minister Imran Khan and his third wife Bushra Khan, in which they are accused of receiving land worth millions of dollars as bribe from a real estate tycoon through the Al-Qadir Trust, on Jan. 13, his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said on Monday.
The charitable trust was set up by Khan and his third wife Bushra Khan in 2018 when still in office. Pakistani authorities have accused Khan and Bushra of receiving the land, worth up to 7 billion rupees ($25 million), from a property developer charged in Britain with money laundering.
Authorities accused Khan of getting the land in exchange for a favor to the property developer by using 190 million pounds repatriated by Britain in the money laundering probe to pay fines levied by a court against the developer. Khan’s aides have previously said that the land was donated to the trust for charitable purposes. The real estate developer has also denied any wrongdoing.
This is the second time the announcement of the verdict has been deferred. It was supposed to be announced on Dec. 23 but was delayed to Jan. 6.
“Decision on Alaqadir Trust case postponed till 13th January, communicated by judicial staff to the Former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s legal team,” the PTI said in a message circulated among the media.
Khan’s party said the delay “questions the legitimacy of the merits of the trial,” alleging that it was conducted based on “phony evidence” to keep Khan in prison.
Pakistani news website Geo.tv reported that the decision was deferred as the judge, Nasir Javed Rana, was on leave.
Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023 in a slew of cases, had also become a beneficiary of the restored amendments, his party said after the ruling, arguing that he could now move the courts for acquittal in at least two major corruption cases, namely the land bribe case and an investigation involving the illegal sale of state gifts while he was PM.
Since his ouster from office, the former prime minister has led a campaign of unprecedented defiance against the country’s powerful military, accusing them of colluding with his rivals to orchestrate his removal.
The military has denied Khan’s allegations and insisted strongly it does not interfere in politics.
Pakistan’s Sohail Adnan to face Egyptian opponent in British Junior Open Squash final today
- Adnan storms into tournament’s final after beating Egypt’s Amr Moustafa 3-0 in semifinal on Sunday
- Last week, Pakistani squash player Azan Ali Khan clinched Junior Under-17 Scottish Junior Open Championship
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Sohail Adnan will face off against Egyptian opponent Moez Tamer Elmoghazy today, Monday, in the final of the British Junior Open Squash Championship in Birmingham after he beat another Egyptian opponent, Amr Moustafa, a day earlier.
The five-day championship kicked off in Birmingham on Jan. 2 and the final of the tournament is expected to be played today, Jan. 6. The event is being held at the Birmingham University Sport and Fitness, which features an all-glass show court.
Adnan stormed into the final after beating Moustafa 3-0 in the semifinal on Sunday with a scoreline of 11-7, 11-6 and 11-7.
“This victory sets the stage for a thrilling final encounter against top-seeded Egyptian player Moez Tamer Elmoghazy in the Under-13 category,” state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported on Sunday. “Adnan will be aiming to cap off a remarkable tournament with a gold medal.”
Pakistan has always been counted among the world’s top squash-playing nations, introducing legendary players of the sport such as Jahangir Khan, Jansher Khan, Azam Khan, and Qamar Zaman to the world. Between themselves, Jansher Khan and Jahangir Khan won the World Squash Open title 14 times for Pakistan during the ‘80s and the ‘90s.
Last month, Jansher Khan was inducted into the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Hall of Fame. A key part of the Pakistani dominance of the sport throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Jansher Khan won the World Championships eight times – a record in the men’s game – and also added six British Open titles to a glittering trophy haul.
A World No.1 for 97 months throughout his career, Khan’s final professional title count of 99 is the greatest of any player since records began.
Last week, Pakistani squash player Azan Ali Khan clinched the Junior Under-17 Scottish Junior Open Championship 2024 in Edinburgh after beating Switzerland’s Landro Wagle in the final.
