ISLAMABAD : Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has convened a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC) today (Thursday) to review the coronavirus situation in the country.

The premier will be briefed by the  National Command and Operations Centre (NCOC) on the coronavirus situation that will take place at 4pm today.The chief ministers of all four provinces, federal ministers will attend the meeting in which the officials of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) will brief the participants about the current situation.

Implementation on the smart lockdowns, micro smart lockdowns and other important decisions would be reviewed.

Earlier, Federal Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar had warned of imposing tougher restrictions if violations of coronavirus standard operating procedure (SOPs) continues amid the second Covid-19 wave.

Speaking to the media after a meeting of the NCOC, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar warned Covid-19 cases will go up if health guidelines are not adhered to, piling pressure on hospitals.

Meanwhile, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Wednesday the countrywide positivity ratio of Covid-19 cases was recorded at 7.78 per cent in the past 24 hours.

ISLAMABAD, Dec 10 , 2020: Pakistan Interfaith and Peace Council organized a roundtable discussion for the promotion of interfaith and intra-faith dialogue and understanding today. The event was supported by the Delegation of the European Union to Pakistan.

Religious leaders from all Islamic Sects and religious minorities in Pakistan, faith-based organizations, civil society organizations, human rights and legal professionals as well as academics participated in the roundtable.

The discussion aimed to seek common ground between participants in order to promote religious harmony and tolerance. Following the one-day discussion, participants committed to continue working together.

They vowed to work for all constitutional rights to be extended to all citizens of Pakistan irrespective of religion, creed, colour, and race. The participants vowed to ensure that the message of inclusion and inter- and intra-faith harmony will be spread and amplified from the pulpits, places of worship of all religions and the platforms of other fora.

The closing session took place in presence of the Ambassadors and diplomats of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom as well as France, Germany, Hungary, Romania and Spain. While addressing the closing session, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Allama Dr. Peer Noor ul Haq Qadri, referred to the ‘Message of Pakistan’, which guarantees the protection of the non-Muslim population of the country, all civil rights and the freedom of worship and faith, and which declares suicide attacks in the name of religion as contrary to the spirit of Islam.

The participants extended appreciations to the efforts to the convenors, H.E. Androulla Kaminara, Ambassador of the European Union, and Maulana Syed Muhammad Abdul Khabir Azad, Chairman of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Harmony Pakistan, for their tireless efforts in convening the event.

Islamabad – The 10^th edition of Pakistan Mountain Festival kicked off with an online exhibition of paintings titled “The Colours of Margalla Hills” on Thursday. As many as 17 oil-on-canvas paintings, one each of an artist from twin-cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, have put on display on the Facebook page of the Pakistan Mountain Festival. The paintings are done in a live painting competition in the Margalla Hills National Park. The objective of the activity was to capture the beauty and the biological diversity of the mountain environment.

The participating artists are Riffat Ara Baig, Marriam Rasool, Beenish Azam, Saima Ashraf, Beenish Ali, Mahsoun Mustafa, Mobin Abbas, Sana Sagheer, Samina Azhar, Sadia Ali, Fadia, Madiha Usman, Mariyam Mushtaq, Fizza Azhar, Shumaila, and Abeera Habib.

Pakistan Mountain Festival is an annual flagship event of Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) to celebrate the United Nations International Mountain Day (IMD) that is marked worldwide on December 11. Devcom-Pakistan is the only organization in Pakistan that celebrates mountains and its people and culture very religiously since 2002 – the International Year of Mountains.

Briefing about the painting exhibition, Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed said, “The artists did these paintings on three different spots in the Margalla Hills National Park. We invited all the female art teachers of the twin cities to take part in it. It was a rare opportunity for the very busy female art teachers who hardly find time to continue exploring their own creative passion. Most of the time, they are teaching and grooming their students and taking care of their families. On-the-spot painting for art teachers was a creative retreat and continuity of their expression for the projection and mainstreaming of the mountain’s ecosystems. I believe that art can be used in multiple ways to enhance aesthetics in society leading to conservation and protection of nature to cleansing of the social environment.

He said, the work is very meaningful and up to quality standards but due to new normal we have to go for an online exhibition instead of an art gallery just to observe the SOPs against the Covid-19. However the effort is to environmentally sensitise teachers especially those teaching art. They can give a push to the environmental conservation efforts through aesthetically enriched visuals. There is a need to engage and sensitise teachers their active role in the conservation efforts. A sensitised teacher is more effective than anyone else in the society because of the social status that a teacher enjoys in the society.”

Riffat Ara Baig, coordinator of the competition said, “It was quite unusual for the art teachers to take part in the competition when they organise such events for their students. Competing to explore and be recognised for their creativity as experienced teachers and practicing artists, the response has been very exciting and encouraging. The enthusiasm of the art teachers showed their passion to be competitive even in this phase of life.”

Ms. Baig said that several art teachers have asked to expand the scope of the initiative to make it a permanent programme to be able to develop and groom a devoted group of art-activists to engage youth and their families in awareness raising. This way, outreach can also be established in the communication of climate change and other relevant subjects.

Beenish Ali, one of the participants said, “I would like to say thanks for organizing and arranging such a competition to appreciate nature, and especially in this time and age when life is going on so speedily that we don’t have time to stand and stare and appreciate the beauty of nature, it has been a wonderful platform for the nature lovers. Nature can have a profound effect on our senses; the gateways from the outer world to the inner were really enjoyable. Everything was positive and well organized, and the feedback on what was happening the entire way was an awesome experience.”

KARACHI : The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday issued notices to the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and others over the shortage and closure of gas in the province.

The plea against the shortage of gas in Sindh especially in Karachi was taken up by the SHC. The issuing notices to the chairman OGRA, SSGC and other respondents directed them to submit their replies latest by January 13.

The applicant in his plea stated that Sindh is producing 68 per cent of the gas of the total consumption of the country and yet the province is facing a shortage of gas.
Punjab is producing four per cent, Balochistan 19 and KP is producing only 9 per cent of gas. The applicant has pleaded the court to pass judgement regarding the constitutional right of people of Sindh on its gas.

Earlier, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah had lamented that the province had been deprived of its due share in gas supply.

Speaking to the media, he had said he has written another letter to Prime Minister Imran Khan, demanding that the province be provided with its constitutional rights.