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Tag: Pakistan

  • ‘Be careful, follow SOPs’, President urges nation to ‘save’ themselves from Covid during Eid holidays

    ‘Be careful, follow SOPs’, President urges nation to ‘save’ themselves from Covid during Eid holidays

    President Dr Arif Alvi has urged the nation to take Covid-19 precautionary measures during the Eid holidays.

    “Be careful during the upcoming Eid holidays. Follow SOPs and save yourself, your friends & families from sickness. Prevent what you can and let the state worry about other health issues.”

    President Alvi also shared Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) by the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC).

    According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), 675 cases of Covid-19 with a positivity rate of 4.61 per cent were reported in Pakistan on July 3.

    Two deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. A total of 14,632 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday approved a five-day public holiday from July 8 to July 12 (Friday to Tuesday) on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha.

  • Govt announces five Eid holidays

    Govt announces five Eid holidays

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday approved a five-day public holiday from July 8 to July 12 (Friday to Tuesday) on the occasion of Eid-ul-Azha.

    “Further action may be taken accordingly,” the letter from the PM Office read.

    Earlier, the Cabinet Division sent a summary to PM Shehbaz Sharif to get his approval for a three-day public holiday.

    The first day of Eid-ul-Azha will be celebrated across Pakistan on July 10 (Sunday), Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee Chairman Maulana Muhammad Abdul Khabir Azad announced last week.

  • Govt to introduce Pakistan’s first animal welfare law, hotline to report animal abuse

    Govt to introduce Pakistan’s first animal welfare law, hotline to report animal abuse

    Head of Prime Minister’s Strategic Reforms Unit Salman Sufi has announced that the government is working on Pakistan’s first animal welfare law. He made the announcement while giving details of reforms launched by PM Shehbaz Sharif at a news conference in Islamabad on Thursday.

    He added that a hotline has been established to report animal cruelty. Citizens can call 1819 to report animal abuse.

    An animal ethics committee will be established. Abusers will have to face penalties for violations of the law; shooting and poisoning of animals has also been banned. In addition, the testing of animals in universities has been banned. The pet market will also be regulated.

    The law will be implemented in Islamabad and will then be extended to the entire country, said Salman Sufi while talking to The Current. He added that all the provinces are on board.

    Read more- Dogs being abducted, tortured for medical experiments

    In June, videos and pictures from Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University (PMAS-AAUR) in Rawalpindi went viral on social media in which dogs were seen in inhumane conditions.

    According to media reports, veterinarian students were snatching healthy dogs and experimented on them in brutal, immoral, and terrifying ways.

  • Pak-China relations to restrengthen pledges Chinese delegation leader

    Pak-China relations to restrengthen pledges Chinese delegation leader

    Pak-China relations to re-strengthen, pledges Chinese delegation leader
    Chinese politician and Director of China’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission Yang Jiechi pledged to help re-strengthen Pakistan-China relations as he kickstarted his two-day trip to Islamabad with a meeting with Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday.

    “He assured to play his role for further improvement in diplomatic cooperation with Pakistan at all levels,” said the Inter-services Public Relations (ISPR) Director-General (DG) Major-General Babar Iftikhar after the meeting with the army chief at the General Headquarters.

    Yang had a meeting with Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday as well. The PM highlighted the significance of Director Yang’s visit in furthering the bilateral relations between the two countries across all domains. In particular, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has strengthened the ties between China and Pakistan. The relationship between the two countries would continue to grow and prosper, bringing peace and stability to the region, noted Sharif.

    Yang also met Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

    “The two sides discussed the entire spectrum of bilateral relations and exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest,” the Foreign Office said in a statement.

    The meetings come at a sensitive time as the Pakistan-China relationship seems to be under strain after the April 26 attacks on three Chinese language teachers in Karachi.

  • Pakistan becomes third-largest Amazon marketplace

    Pakistan becomes third-largest Amazon marketplace

    Pakistan has become Amazon’s third most popular new seller, with more than 1.2 million registered sellers.

    Following the enactment of Pakistan’s first e-commerce policy, Pakistan was granted access to the Amazon marketplace in May 2021, a year after negotiations began in 2020, according to Marketplace Pulse.

    According to Marketplace Pulse, Pakistan also has more retailers than India, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, and Canada.

    The three biggest Amazon seller groups in the world are based in the nation, which has recently registered on the marketplace. These suppliers are anticipated to contribute to Pakistan’s $28 billion in exports.

    The platform’s perks will be extended to young entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized businesses throughout the nation, which will increase and diversify Pakistan’s export options.

    Additionally, this will help the government improve the macroeconomic picture of the nation while also increasing their revenue.

    In order to help medium-sized and small-scale businesses thrive and turn a profit in the face of increased operating costs, the e-commerce sector must grow.

    Pakistan’s e-commerce strategy is a component of the larger Digital Pakistan vision, which aims to pave the path for a comprehensive expansion of e-commerce by fostering an environment where businesses have an equitable opportunity to expand steadily.

    The nation’s economy is mostly supported by Pakistan’s exports of textiles, leather goods, sporting goods, chemicals, carpets, and rugs. Significant quantities of grains, sugar, cotton, fish, fruits, and vegetables are also exported from Pakistan.

    With revenue of $5.9 billion in 2021, Pakistan will surpass Iran to become the 37th-largest market for eCommerce, according to research of eCommerce data.

    The Pakistani eCommerce market grew by 45 per cent in 2021, contributing to the global growth rate of 15 per cent.

  • IK sold three watches to local dealer gifted to him as PM for Rs37 million

    IK sold three watches to local dealer gifted to him as PM for Rs37 million

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan reportedly sold three luxury watches worth more than Rs154 million to a local watch dealer in Islamabad. The watches were gifted to him by visiting dignitaries from Gulf countries when he was Prime Minister (PM), reports The News.

    By selling these watches, Khan earned a whopping amount of Rs37million. According to the news report, instead of buying these watches from Toshakhana with his own money, Khan first sold the watches and then deposited 20 per cent of each in the government treasury.

    It has been revealed that these gifts were never deposited in Toshakhana. These watches were supposed to be submitted to Toshakhana as per the laws that restrict any head of the state to possess the gifts they receive from officials of other countries.

    The most expensive watch among these three was assessed at Rs101 million. However, Khan had declared he sold it for Rs51 million and deposited the 20 per cent of its sales money, which is Rs20 million, in the government treasury, thus earning a whopping Rs31 million. The watch was sold on January 22, 2019.

    By selling a Rolex Platinum watch gifted by a member of a royal family from a Gulf island, Khan almost earned Rs4.5 million profit in November 2018, two months after it was gifted to him.

    Another Rolex watch gifted by a dignitary from the same Gulf island was sold by the former PM. This time Khan made Rs1.5 million profit from this deal.

    It is pertinent to mention that these watches are in addition to the ones reported earlier in the media.

    In April, PM Shehbaz Sharif revealed that Khan took gifts worth Rs140 million from Toshakhana and sold them in Dubai.

    Earlier, responding to the Toshakana controversy, Khan had said they were his gifts, so it was his choice whether to keep them or not.

  • FIA arrests gang teaching black magic on social media

    FIA arrests gang teaching black magic on social media

    The crime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has arrested a gang involved in teaching black magic on social media, Malik Tahseen Raza reports for Dawn.

    According to the FIA, the suspects offered customers entire black magic training on YouTube channels and other social media sites in exchange for millions of rupees. People who were interested were instructed to spend a specific sum of money to have access to premium videos and to purchase ‘wands’, ‘owl blood’ and ‘owl meat’ to engage in witchcraft. The gang also offered their assistance in resolving individuals’ issues via these spiritual avenues.

    One of these channels acquired more than 200,000 followers by teaching easy techniques for learning how to find deposits of gold. People who wanted children and those having difficulty finding love and marriage were their top clients. The suspects occasionally made money by taking pictures and videos of their female clients and later blackmailing them.

    The FIA filed a case against the suspects in accordance with Sections 419, 420, 468, and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code, Sections 3, 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act and 4, 17 and 21 of the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016.

  • Surge in Covid-19 cases: PM urges nation to follow SOPs

    Surge in Covid-19 cases: PM urges nation to follow SOPs

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has urged Pakistanis to follow Covid-related standard operating procedures (SOPs) amid a surge in coronavirus cases.

    “In view of the resurgence of corona cases in the country, I urge the entire nation to follow the instructions and SOPs related to corona. Our front-line workers and doctors have made many sacrifices to keep us safe. We must not waste these gains against Corona,” tweeted PM Shehbaz.

    Earlier today, PM Shehbaz also chaired a meeting to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the country. The provincial and district governments were given orders by the premier to strictly enforce safety precautions and take additional action to control the spread of the virus.

    The government has decided to increase the number of coronavirus tests.

    Pakistan’s Covid-19 positivity rate has risen to 3.50 per cent today (Wednesday), according to the National Institute of Health (NIH).

    According to NIH data, 451 people were infected with the virus and one death has been reported in the last 24 hours.

  • Loadshedding situation to get better by mid-July, says Musadik Malik

    Loadshedding situation to get better by mid-July, says Musadik Malik

    Minister of State for Petroleum Dr Musadik Malik hoped that the loadshedding situation across the country will get better in the second half of July.

    Earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif warned the nation of more power outages next month.

    Musadik further said that Pakistan is trying to import coal from Afghanistan. He said the major reason behind electricity loadshedding is the water shortage in dams, while the other reasons include coal price hikes and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) shortage in the international market.

    “Only 5,000 MegaWatts (MW) of electricity is being generated instead of 9,500 MW,” he said.

    On Monday, residents of Karachi came out on the streets due to the persistent loadshedding in their areas. The protests continued for more than 24 hours.

    Interestingly, the government has pledged to decrease loadshedding several times. Earlier this month, PM Shehbaz instructed the power authorities to reduce loadshedding throughout the country to two hours. However, the situation remained the same.

  • Video: Karachiites protest against load-shedding, clashes erupt between police protesters

    Video: Karachiites protest against load-shedding, clashes erupt between police protesters

    Residents of Karachi came out on the streets in the late hours of Monday to protest against the unannounced and prolonged load-shedding in their areas.

    On Tuesday morning, the police used tear gas and baton-charged protestors in an effort to disperse the crowd, which resulted in a clash between the two.

    According to Dawn, the demonstrators have been protesting since last night, burnt tyres, and blocked the road for traffic, which has caused traffic problems.

    The chairman of the All Pakistan Fruit and Vegetable Exporters, Importers and Merchants Association (PFVA) Aslam Pakhali said that over 100 shipping containers carrying mangoes and potatoes are worth an estimated Rs250 million were stuck in traffic since Monday evening.

    https://twitter.com/nshz22/status/1541682874750947328?s=20&t=OIuOxKPZe5onCToMDfxlBw

    According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Asif Bughio, electricity in several areas of Lyari has been suspended since 4pm yesterday (Monday). He claimed that the police tried to negotiate with them but they attacked the law enforcers with stones.

    Their protest has continued for more than 20 hours now.

    According to media reports, in Karachi’s Gadap Town, the load-shedding time has gone up to 18 hours in a day. Similarly, Shah Faisal Colony, Malir, Surjani Town, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, and other areas are seeing power outages of 14 hours or more.

    Following the incidents, Sindh Energy Minister Imtiaz Ahmad Shaikh contacted K-Electric Chief Executive Moonis Alvi. He noted that load-shedding has made the lives of people miserable.

    “Due to persistent load-shedding, the security situation is deteriorating,” he told the KE official.

    A day earlier, Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif warned the nation that they might face increased load-shedding in the coming month of July.