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Category: National

  • ‘79.3 per cent effective’: Govt to order 1.2m doses of Chinese vaccine

    ‘79.3 per cent effective’: Govt to order 1.2m doses of Chinese vaccine

    Pakistan has decided to purchase 1.2million doses of a Chinese vaccine, developed by China’s state-owned company Sinopharm, amid a worsening coronavirus outbreak across the world.

    According to Science and Technology Minister Fawad Chaudhry, the vaccine will be available in the first quarter of 2021 and it will be administered to frontline health workers in the first phase.

    “The Cabinet Committee has decided to initially purchase 1.2 million doses of the vaccine from the Chinese company Sinopharm, which will be provided free of cost to frontline workers in the first quarter of 2021,” the federal minister wrote on Twitter.

    Meanwhile, China has approved its first homegrown coronavirus vaccine, developed by state-owned pharmaceutical giant Sinopharm.

    CNN reported that the vaccine is 79.34% effective as per the interim analysis of Phase 3 clinical trials. China has drastically scaled up its vaccine emergency use program in recent weeks.

    Since December 15, the Chinese government has administered more than 3 million vaccine doses on “key groups” in the population, Zeng Yixin, vice-minister of China’s National Health Commission, said at a news conference.

    According to the report, fewer than 0.1 per cent developed a light fever, and about two people per million developed “relative serious adverse reactions” such as allergies.

    Beijing Biological Products Institute Co., a Sinopharm subsidiary, has said that interim results show the Sinopharm vaccine is safe and people who received two doses produced high-level antibodies.

  • Pakistan students win top 2 prizes at global tech competition

    Pakistan students win top 2 prizes at global tech competition

    Pakistani students have won the top two positions at the Huawei ICT Competition Middle East 2020.

    The team of three Pakistani students, Kalim Ullah (MS IT SEECS-NUST), Maria Aftab (MS IT, SEECS-NUST) and Asadullah (Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, Jamshoro), won first place in the competition in the Middle East category of the tech contest and qualified for the final global competition.

    According to details, a virtual event happened this year in which more than 15,000 students and 440 universities from all over the world participated.

    The final leg included 13 teams from 27 universities in which Pakistan’s team emerged victorious, winning prizes that include US$20,000 prize money, laptops smartphones and also a chance to join Huawei Pakistan.

    The winning students are from National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) and Mehran University of Engineering and Technology Jamshoro.

    The students were glad that the Chinese tech company offered them a learning opportunity during the pandemic that affected the global education system.

    Thousands of students from Pakistan applied for the contest but only 500 were selected.

    “The list was further narrowed down to 150 students” who were offered free training and virtual classes during the preliminary round

    Lastly, the best 30 students from Pakistan were finalized for the final national round and the top six were shortlisted for the competition.

  • Nine people arrested after mob sets ablaze Hindu temple in Karak

    Nine people arrested after mob sets ablaze Hindu temple in Karak

    After a mob provoked by local clerics destroyed a Hindu temple in Karak, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Wednesday, police have detained nine suspects in the case.

    Videos making rounds on social media showed thick smoke billowing from the site as men used hammers to damage the walls of the building. They also set it on fire.

    Local clerics had told authorities that they would be organising a peaceful protest against the alleged expansion of the 100-year-old temple, Rahmatullah Wazir, a police officer told news agency, Reuters. But the clerics started giving “provocative speeches,” prompting the mob to set the temple ablaze.

    Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari condemned the attack and urged the provincial government to “ensure culprits [are] brought to justice.”

    District police chief Irfanullah Khan told Reuters nine suspects had been arrested following the attack.

    The temple, first built in the early 1900s as a shrine, was vandalised in 1997. In 2015, the Supreme Court ordered it be reconstructed. 

    “We will stage a protest in front of the Supreme Court against the attack on our temple which is one of the four largest holy sites of the Hindu community in Pakistan,” Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, head of the Pakistan Hindu Council and a ruling party lawmaker, told Germany’s dpa news agency.

    “This is not the first incident of its kind, unfortunately intolerance towards religious minorities has been growing in Pakistan for the last five years, with more frequent attacks on places of worship,” said Hindu rights activist Kapil Dev.

    In July, a mob attacked the construction site of the first Hindu temple in the capital, Islamabad.

  • Bomb scare creates panic at Karachi airport

    Panic gripped at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport following the detection of an unclaimed suspicious bag beeping on a motorbike in the parking area by the Civil Aviation Authority.

    As per details, around 03:15 pm in the afternoon, CAA viligance and cargo staff informed the security staff about a suspicious cotton pooch hanging from a motorbike, with a beeping sound coming from it.

    A bomb disposal squad (BDS) was immediately called. They reached the site and defused the device.

    The BDS confirmed that the device did not carry any explosive material but it did carry flammable material which was capable of starting a fire.

    The airport police took the motorbike in custody and the area was marked clear.

    The bike owner was identified as Sundeep Kumar who works as a guard at the Royal Airport Services, Malir SSP Irfan Ali Bahadur confirmed.

    According to the owner, he had installed a flashing device at the Chota Gate, Malir and insisted that it was just a flashing device. Police verified the bike owner’s statement by the mechanic who had installed the flash device and later handed over the bike back to Sundeep.

  • Nawaz won’t return, PML-N lawmakers won’t resign: Sheikh Rasheed

    After the Pakistan People’s Party expressed its reluctance to quit the national and provincial assemblies, Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed commented that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) too will follow suit and step back from its decision to quit parliament.

    In a conversation with the media, he talked about the Senate elections and the opposition’s participation in the polls. Rasheed said in spite of the PPP reportedly wanting Nawaz Sharif to come back, the PML-N supreme leader will stay in London.

    The PML-N members will not submit their resignations from the national or provincial assemblies as they have claimed, he claimed, adding that the party will even take part in the by-polls.

    He said the PML-N lawmakers are already agitated after the National Assembly speaker summoned two of them to verify their resignation letters that were allegedly sent to the secretariat on the respective official letterheads. He was referring to controversial resignation letters that the PML-N leaders claimed were submitted to the party, but they found their way to the speaker’s office.

    Rasheed also appreciated PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s political acumen, saying the former president was a good politician but PM Imran Khan was doing better than him.

    Zardari had recently suggested that the PDM should focus on its fight against the government instead of dictating each other on how to go about it.

    He had made made these comments in an apparent reference to the calls for resignations supported by the PML-N and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman.

  • International furniture brand ‘IKEA’ is coming to Pakistan

    IKEA, a multinational conglomerate that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture, is ready to launch its operations in Pakistan, Pakistan’s ambassador to Germany Dr Mohammad Faisal has announced.

    Dr Faisal said that he recently met with an official of IKEA, Dieter Mettke who will lead the launching of IKEA’s operations in Pakistan.

    “Met Dieter Mettke IKEA Deutschland. He is going to Pakistan to be in charge of Ikea operations,” Ambassador Faisal had written in a now-deleted tweet. “We look forward to Ikea opening up stores in major cities of Pakistan.”

    Read more – In a first, Hugo Boss places sportswear order with Pakistan

    Founded in Sweden in 1943 by 17-year-old Ingvar Kamprad, IKEA is one of the world’s largest furniture retailer since 2008. It has 271 stores in Europe, 65 in North America, 14 in the Middle East, 11 in Oceania, 2 in Africa and 82 in Asia. In August 2018, IKEA launched its sore in India. IKEA opened its first store in 1958 in Älmhult, Sweden.

  • Buzdar tells DCs to promote ‘qawali’, wants pictures of programmes

    Buzdar tells DCs to promote ‘qawali’, wants pictures of programmes

    As Punjab grapples with coronavirus outbreak and poor economic situation, the provincial government has asked its deputy commissioners to promote ‘qawali’ in the province.

    The News reported that Chief Minister Usman Buzdar has directed the DCs to have qawali performance in their respective areas and also promote them on cable networks.

    In addition, these civil servants have also been asked to send weekly reports to the Chief Minister’s Office about the concerts.

    It reported “a regular monitoring mechanism” has been devised and the CM wants the DCs to send his office the pictures of the programmes as well.

    The report claimed that the order to promote qawalis in the province might have come from Banigala — residence of PM Imran Khan where he lives with his spouse Bushra Bibi.

    The chief minister has faced a lot of criticism for his inability to run the province. During the two-year tenure of Buzdar, there has been a decline in almost departments of the provincial government.

    During his rule, at least six police chief of the province have been changed, five chief secretaries have been shown the door, but things have remained the same.

    However, despite all the odds, the PM has decided to stick with Buzdar and said he would emerge as the best chief minister of Punjab.

  • Govt says will cancel Nawaz’s passport on Feb 16

    Govt says will cancel Nawaz’s passport on Feb 16

    In a bid to bring former prime minister Nawaz Sharif back to Pakistan, the federal government will cancel his passport on Feb 16, said Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed on Wednesday.

    Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the minister said that the passport of the ex-PM will be revoked owing to his refusal to return to Pakistan.

    Nawaz had left for London for a medical check-up last year after his health deteriorated in jail. The ex-premier, who was convicted in two graft cases, has refused to return since.

    Rasheed also said that now people will be able to obtain visas for any country online.

    It may be noted that the interior ministry’s decision to revoke the passport of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supreme leader came two months after a request by the National Accountability Bureau.

    According to Geo, NAB had sought cancellation of the passport and the CNIC of the ex-PM in OCt. “During the course of proceedings, the said accused [Nawaz] deliberately absented himself from the court and after the due process…whenever accused is arrested, he be produced before the court.”

    “In view thereof, copies of the said court order and perpetual non-bailable warrant of arrest are forwarded for processing of blacklisting/cancellation of the passport and blockage / impounding of CNIC of the accused through the Ministry of Interior,” NAB said in an order.

  • Balochistan govt halts Gwadar fencing after backlash

    Balochistan govt halts Gwadar fencing after backlash

    After backlash, the Balochistan government has decided to halt work on the fencing of Gwadar until a consensus is reached on the issue.

    Home Minister Mir Zia Lango said that Chief Minister Jam Kamal has ordered the authorities to stop the process amid criticism by the locals. He said that a parliamentary delegation would give its recommendation to the chief minister and the government would address the concerns of the locals first and then move ahead with the project.

    The process will move forward after the consultation with the people of Gwadar, he said, adding that the apprehensions of the public were of foremost importance. “The provincial government headed by CM Kamal is working for the betterment of people,” he added.

    The fencing of the city was criticised by local and national politicians, who termed the process discriminatory.

    Pakistan People’s Party leader Raza Rabbani had likened it to the Berlin Wall. “In an era when the Berlin Wall fell, and here the city is being divided in the name of security. It has raised serious concern among people of the area,” he had added.

  • Hamid Mir says Khawaja Asif’s arrest proves ‘someone is really scared’

    Hamid Mir says Khawaja Asif’s arrest proves ‘someone is really scared’

    Senior journalist Hamid Mir has said that the arrest if Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Asif showed that someone was “really scared”.

    In a tweet, Mir said Asif presented himself for the arrest “with a smile and he will come back from the jail with a smile on his face”. “His arrest only proves that someone is really scared and worried,” he said, without taking any names.

    On Tuesday, Asif was taken into custody in the backdrop of an ongoing investigation into allegations of him possessing assets beyond known sources of income to the tune of whopping Rs260 million. PML-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb said he was arrested from near PML-N general secretary Ahsan Iqbal’s house.

    Mir had also commented on the arrest yesterday. He had said that the former foreign minister knew he would be arrested and had even made preparations beforehand for what he considered an “eventuality”. “He had prepared a bag as well and would say that the NAB would arrest him soon,” said Mir.

    In Oct this year, Asif had alleged that Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted to harm him and his wife by using his political opponents.

    Speaking on a TV show, the PML-N leader had claimed the prime minister wanted his rivals to hold a protest outside his residence, target him in a road accident, and harass his wife by forcing her out of the vehicle.

    Asif had alleged that the PM desired to get him beaten up or implicate in a narcotics case in order to teach him a lesson. He had said that he wanted to raise these issues in the National Assembly, but he was not allowed by the NA speaker to talk.