LAHORE – Following the decreasing trend of new Covid-19 cases in the province, the Punjab government has lifted the Covid-19 pandemic related 10:00 pm outdoor dining ban at food points and restaurants.

In this regard, Secretary Primary and Secondary Health Care Captain (Retd) Muhammad Usman has issued a notification

According to a notification, 50% of employees of all government and private institutions will work from home in Punjab.

All parks and recreational areas will be closed at 6 pm. Arrangements for weddings and other celebrations can also be made only in open spaces. Indoor eating has been banned at food points to prevent spread of coronavirus.

Any event can be arranged for up to 300 people in open spaces following SOPs, said notification.

The fresh order comes after the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Thursday lifted the time limit on outdoor dining in restaurants.

As per the notification issued by NCOC, all shopping malls, shops and marriage halls will shut by 10 pm. The NCOC has made it mandatory to wear face masks and ordered the provincial government for taking strict measures in view of the rising cases of coronavirus pandemic.

ISLAMABAD, FEB 1 (DNA) – The National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE) has organized the first of a series of workshops entitled, “Collaboration for Excellence – A Roundtable on Developing Linkages for Faculty Development in Higher Education”. The series of these workshops is one of multiple ongoing NAHE endeavours to facilitate capacity building of faculty in HEIs.

Representatives of 17 faculty development units and departments of higher education institutions from all provinces, ICT and Gilgit-Baltistan attended the workshop. In view of the necessary COVID-19 safety measures, some participants joined the workshop in person, while the majority joined it virtually.

During the event, participants were able to debate and discuss urgent faculty development needs in Pakistan, as well as avenues for collaboration and support with NAHE in the future.

Welcoming the participants, Rector NAHE, Dr. Shaheen Sardar Ali shed light on the importance of collaboration for excellence in teaching and learning in the higher education sector. She said that it was very important to seek the views of NAHE stakeholders, the academia overall, in order to make the Academy’s work more effective.

She asserted that NAHE would help provide a platform for faculty development units across the country in addition to working together with them to bridge gaps. “The pandemic has its costs but also provides an opportunity to improve and innovate.”

Vice Provost Aga Khan University Dr. Anjum Halai said that NAHE could provide support in three key areas, including individual-level capacity building, institution-level capacity enhancement and empowering higher education institutions to self-regulate and deliver quality learning for faculty.

Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Shaheed Benazir Bhutto University Dr. Tayyaba Zarif emphasised the need to contextualise trainings to ensure that they fulfilled the needs of universities to address their specific needs.

Vice Chancellor, Karakoram International University Dr. Attaullah Shah pointed out the urgent need for equipping faculty with technological and teaching skills in this new context of online learning including the need to train faculty on effectively conducting assessments beyond final and midterm exams.

Chief Executive, Advance HE in UK Alison Johns shared an international context of capacity building institutions which was debated by the participants.

NAHE is established as a stand-alone, autonomous institution operating under the auspices of HEC to improve the quality of teaching, research, and governance in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across Pakistan.=DNA

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ISLAMABAD : While a special aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) carrying o.5 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine landed at Nur Khan Airbase today, the government has outlined a vaccination distribution plan.

All measures for anti-Covid-19 vaccination drive have been finalised. The government has decided to swiftly distribute the China-gifted vaccine to the provinces to start the vaccination process, they added.They said the Covid-19 vaccine that arrived at Nur Khan Airbase this morning will be shifted to the Expanded Programme on Immunisation’s (EPI) storage in Islamabad from where it will be transported to the provinces.

The EPI will transport the vaccine in cold-chain containers, the sources said, adding the federal government will provide cold boxes, dry ice and syringes to the provinces.

The vaccine will be transported to Sindh and Balochistan by air while to Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by road.

Officials of the EPI will accompany the vaccine containers to be transported amid tight security, the sources said, adding the federal government’s focal person for vaccination will hand over the vaccine to the provinces’ focal persons.

ISLAMABAD : In an unprecedented move, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan will personally interact with the general public on the telephone to address their problems today (Monday).

The prime minister will take calls from the public at 4 pm today. He will personally respond to the queries of the general public. People can contact PM Imran by dialing 051-9210809.

Earlier, PM Imran Khan had said the incumbent government’s efforts to reduce inflation were showing results.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, he had said: “More good news on the economic front. Our efforts to reduce inflation are now showing results.

Consumer price index & core inflation are both now lower than when our government was formed.”

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Shibli Faraz has said that the deadline of resignation drama of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) has been over.

In a tweet, Shibli Faraz said the general public of the country has come to know that their resignation threat was based on self-interest and lust for power.

He said the conspiracies of the opposition have completely failed as the masses rejected their narrative and supported the democratically elected government.

It is to be noted that the PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement] deadline date for Prime Minister Imran Khan’s resignation has expired Jan 31 (yesterday).

ISLAMABAD : The Supreme Court on Monday deferred release of Daniel Pearl murder case accused till tomorrow (Tuesday) while hearing review petition of the Sindh government.

A three-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Umar Atta Bandial issued order for keeping the status-quo until Tuesday.The bench restrained the government of Sindh from release or issuing a new detention order of the accused.

Attorney General Khalid Javed appeared before the apex court bench and argued that the Sindh High Court didn’t issue a notice in Daniel Pearl case to the Attorney General. “Issuing a notice to the Attorney General was compulsory under the Order 127A,” the AG said. “Only this reason is sufficient to declare the high court decision void,” he argued.

He stated that if the decision won’t be suspended it will bring along serious consequences. He pleaded to the court to suspend the high court’s decision. “I want to present my arguments in detail in this case.”

“We are not going to suspend the decision. A citizen has been in detention, we won’t give a decision without perusal of the order sheet,” Justice Bandial observed.

“Defence Counsel Mehmood A. Shaikh has been ill,” a junior counsel informed the bench. He sought putting off the case hearing for one week.

“The case hearing could not be deferred for a week,” Justice Bandial stated.

The court adjourned further hearing of the case till tomorrow.

On Friday, the Sindh government through its prosecutor general had moved a petition in the apex court, pleading with it to review its decision of acquitting the accused.

Headed by Justice Mushir Alam, a three-judge bench that also comprised Justice Sardar Tariq Masood and Justice Yahya Afridi, ordered that Ahmed Omer Saeed Sheikh, Fahad Naseem, Syed Salman and Sheikh Muhammad Adil be released forthwith, if not required to be detained in connection with any other case. A member of the bench had opposed the decision.

Four convicts of the murder case, British national Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh, co-accused Fahad Naseem, Salman Saqib and Sheikh Adil had moved the Sindh High Court (SHC) in 2002 challenging their convictions handed down by the Hyderabad Anti-Terrorism Court after finding them guilty of abducting and killing American Journalist Daniel Pearl.

The high court overturned the verdict of the ATC and acquitted convicts on April 02, 2020. Subsequently, the Sindh government filed an appeal in the SC challenging their acquittal.

The 38-year-old South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, Daniel Pearl, was researching for a story on religious extremists in January 2002 in Karachi, when he was abducted and slain.