The first case of coronavirus has been confirmed in Karachi, officials at the Sindh health department said Wednesday. The 22-year-old patient, Yahya Jaffri recently traveled to Iran from Karachi and has been placed in quarantine at the Aga Khan University Hospital. He traveled to Karachi from Iran in a plane. All passengers traveling with him will be examined by the government.
Pakistan’s former army chief General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg says the US Central intelligence agency (CIA) is responsible for the 1988 plane crash that killed then president and army chief Ziaul Haq. In an interview, Beg told Turkish Anadolu news agency that the plane crash was not an accident, but sabotage. An internal inquiry conducted by the military intelligence also raised suspicion about the role of the CIA in the plane crash.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has discontinued its flight operations for China and Japan for at least three weeks in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak. While announcing the halt of flight operations on Monday, the airline spokesperson said that the ban is a precautionary measure. The decision on whether to resume flights or extend the ban will be taken next week.
Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) has lack of working speed cameras in the city due to which they have been unable to monitor any speed limit violations. This has led to multiple fatalities due to road accidents each year. Speed monitoring cameras were set up at various locations across the city for the ITP to monitor both speed and lane violations but unfortunately, it failed to do so.
Barrister Khalid Javed Khan, the newly appointed attorney-general, has excused himself from representing the federal government in the presidential reference against Supreme Court Judge Justice Qazi Faez Isa. During hearing of the case on Monday, Khan said he cannot personally represent the government. The court then adjourned the hearing and told the government to bring a new lawyer who can represent them in the case.
Pakistan temporarily closed its border with Iran at Taftan as the number of casualties from the novel coronavirus in the neighbouring country rose to eight. The Balochistan government has also imposed a ban on the travel of pilgrims from Pakistan into Iran by road. The prime minister’s aide said that teams have been posted across the Taftan border, where all passengers entering Pakistan are being screened
Vendors who have been serving expired food items at the Karachi airport will now be fined Rs100,000 and their licences will be cancelled. Contractors will be fined Rs4,000 for using mobile phones while providing services to passengers, not wearing uniforms or displaying their ID cards. Similarly, misbehaving with passengers will land them a fine of Rs6,000.
Over 100 young drug users broke out of a rehabilitation centre in Khyber’s Jamrud Saturday afternoon. They fled during a lecture. They held the staff hostage, broke the gate and some other things inside the facility and then fled. Most of the patients were young men who used ice (methamphetamine) or heroin, according to the centre’s administration.
The government of Pakistan is going to create Pakistan’s first artificial intelligence centre with China’s help for Rs1 billion in a bid to set up technology zones across the country. This is part of its Rs6.26 billion plan to digitise the country. Parliament is also going to be digitised. The IT ministry plans to use technology to record attendance, votes and quorum. This will cost Rs8 million.
The Supreme Court has told Air Marshal Arshad Mehmood Malik to choose between the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and PIA. He cannot hold two posts at once, said the bench, which declared his appointment as chief of the national airlines illegal. The court said PIA needs a permanent CEO that will make it into an international standard airline. It should be providing better services to passengers, it said.