Over 600 costly plants installed in various towns and villages of the desert district to provide safe drinking water to over 1.8 million residents of Tharparkar have been shut by the operators and workers. They said that they have stopped working because they haven’t been paid for the past eight months. The operators were hired by a private firm, Pak Oasis, to look after the plants.
A recent study has revealed that nine out of 10 Covid-19 patients in Karachi were asymptomatic, meaning only one in 10 show symptoms of the deadly pandemic. The study conducted by Aga Khan University researchers suggested hospitals in Pakistan did not face the same strain as hospitals in Spain and United Kingdom because most patients did not experience any symptoms and did not require treatment.
After almost six months, cinemas in Pakistan are set to reopen with Disney’s Mulan and Christopher Nolan’s Tenet. The theaters are set to welcome audience on September 11 after closing down due to coronavirus. Cinema owners and employees have been asked to follow all SOPs and there will be minimum seats available in each cinema hall with a maximum distance between the viewers.
As coronavirus cases surge in India, the country has now become the second worst hit with the pandemic, displacing Brazil on Monday. With its nationwide tally of 4.2 million exceeded only by the US figure of 6.2 million, India is adding more cases each day than any other country this year since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Educational institutions across Pakistan will reopen in phases starting September 15, Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mehmood announced. In the first phase, all higher education institutions including universities, professional colleges, vocational institutes, as well as classes nine till 12 will resume on Sept 15. A week later, on Sept 23, classes six, seven and eight will be allowed to return to schools following a review.
Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM) has become the country’s top-ranked university, according to the recently published Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings 2021. AWKUM has dethroned Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU) which was ranked as the best Pakistani university in 2020. Overall, 17 Pakistani universities have been included in the 2021 rankings. University of Oxford has topped the rankings for the fifth consecutive year.
In a landmark judgement concerning ‘honour killing’ cases, the Supreme Court has said that the word ‘ghairat’ must not be used to describe killings in the name of ‘honour’ as murder is ‘never honourbale and it should not be described as such’. “It will help deter such killings if the term ghairat is not used to describe them”, the top court said.
Pakistan’s educational institutions will remain open on Saturdays and will have no winter vacations this year, according to a notification issued by the federal education ministry. The institutions have been instructed to hold special classes on Saturdays. Schools, colleges, universities, and madrassas in Pakistan are expected to reopen on September 15 but a final decision will be taken on September 7.
A local court in Quetta acquitted former Balochistan lawmaker Majeed Khan Achakzai in a case regarding the death of a traffic warden in a hit-and-run incident over three years ago. Judge Dost Muhammad Mandokhail of a model court acquitted the former chairman of the provincial Public Accounts Committee due to lack of evidence. The court’s detailed judgement has not been issued as yet.
In order to save Karachi from its despair, Prime Minister Imran Khan unveiled a “historic” financial package worth Rs1.1 trillion for Karachi’s transformation. The PM said that the package will address the chronic municipal and infrastructure issues of the country’s financial hub, which came into light last month after record-breaking monsoon rains caused widespread devastation and left dozens dead.