If Pakistan does not make fruitful changes to eradicate Poliovirus in next six months, the situation would become dire, notes the Independent Monitoring Board (IMB). Citing modelling data, the report notes that Pakistan is at the risk of wild poliovirus cases reaching 500 by end of 2020 and vaccine-derived poliovirus cases reaching 1,000.
Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed all relevant authorities to finalise the ‘Karachi Transformation Plan’ within a week to address major civic issues faced by the metropolis. Presiding over a meeting at PM House, Mr Khan directed that the plan be finalised in consultation with all stakeholders. PM Khan said the country’s progress and development was linked to the prosperity of Karachi.
Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman who was spent eight years on death row for blasphemy, said she would never speak against Pakistan or its laws, as she disowned a book written by a French journalist on her life. In an interview with Voice of America, Aasia said she had nothing to do with the book that was being published as her ‘autobiography’.
Saudi Ambassador Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Maliki called on Pakistani Interior Minister Ijaz Ahmad Shah at the Ministry of Interior and said flights for the Umrah pilgrimage would resume as soon as the coronavirus situation improved, the interior ministry said. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have fraternal relations not only at the governmental level but also at the public level, Shah was quoted as saying.
Investigative Journalist Ahmad Noorani was called a ‘traitor and an India agent’ by a private TV channel after he published a report about the massive growth in the assets of PM’s Special Assistant Gen (r) Asim Saleem Bajwa. In a tweet, Noorani said the ARY News flashed his pictures and called him an Indian agent, resulting in death threats.
Frustrated by the lack of action by departments concerned, residents of DHA and Clifton, Karachi gathered outside the Cantonment Board Clifton (CBC) office to protest against the post-rain situation in the two localities. The protesters, carrying placards and chanting slogans, demanded that the drainage system in the areas be improved and roads be repaired and made from scratch.
The Foreign Office has strongly condemned recent incidents in Sweden and Norway in which copies of the Holy Quran were reportedly burnt, stating respect of religious beliefs is “critical for global peace and prosperity.”. “The rise of such Islamophobic occurrences goes against the spirit of any religion. Freedom of speech can’t justify religious hatred,” Foreign Office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri posted on Twitter.
The religious affairs ministry has decided to enact a new legislation regarding the Ruet-e-Hilal Committee and frame a law regarding the Hajj and Umra in order to provide legal cover to the matters related to the pilgrimage. The proposed legislation suggested that no one would be allowed to announce the moon sighting on their own and violators will be fined and punished.
An anti-terrorism court has convicted three leaders of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) in a new case of terror financing registered by the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD). ATC-III Presiding Judge Ejaz Ahmad Buttar announced the verdict against Prof Malik Zafar Iqbal, Hafiz Abdul Salam and Hafiz Abdul Rehman Makki and awarded a collective imprisonment of 16-and-a-half years to Iqbal and Salam while one-and-a-half-year jail term to Mak
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar said that he has reviewed the plan by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to clear Karachi’s nullahs and riverbeds and that work on it will begin by September. The federal minister revealed on Twitter that the work will be completed within one year and will “solve problem of Karachi drowning ever time it rains heavily”.