PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan on Thursday inaugurated a 58-bed hospital in Peshawar for Covid-19 patients.

Addressing a ceremony, the chief minister Mahmood Khan said that the government will establish another hospital with a capacity of 210 beds in PIC with the help of the National Disaster Management Authority.

The hospital will be made operational by the end of this month, he said, and urged the people to observe the standard operating procedures set by the government.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Imran Khan inaugurated 250-bed infectious diseases hospital in Islamabad,
The 250-bed isolation hospital has been constructed in record forty days at a cost of about Rs980 million. It will meet additional requirements to ease pressure on the capital’s hospitals.

The isolation hospital’s charge has been handed over to the National Disaster Management Authority. NDMA Chairman Lt. General Muhammad Afzal briefed the prime minister about the health facility.

On the occasion, PM said the Covid-19 curve is flattening because of the government’s steps and provinces’ cooperation.

Planning Minister Asad Umar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing, and other senior officials were also present on the occasion.

Islamabad, July 9, 2020: Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) has announced the launch of Customer Support Services in Sindhi Language from its helpline 1218. The company had initially planned to offer the Sindhi language service earlier; however, the launch was delayed due to COVID-19. PTCL’s philosophy is based on equality and respect for all, while always striving for inclusion of all customers from different ethnicities, race, culture, religion and languages.

Fariha Tahir Shah, PTCL spokesperson, expressed her views, “As a national company, our focus is to serve our customers across Pakistan and we have worked towards the inclusion of people from all segments. Going forward, we will continue to look for similar opportunities to include other regional languages in a systematic way as we respect and own all regional languages. PTCL is determined to provide superior experience and satisfaction to its customers.”

The Sindhi language was already under development but, unfortunately, the deployment got delayed due to the COVID-19 and the strict lockdown that followed in Sindh subsequently. After the launch of the Sindhi language, PTCL is focused on incorporating other regional languages in the near future to ensure their service caters to people throughout the nation.

As PTCL adjusts to the ‘new normal’, it is expected that the national telecommunication service provider will keep on exploring new fronts in ‘Information and Communication Technologies’ and dedicate its resources to innovations that will help support the country usher in a new social and economic era as the pandemic continues.

Participants highlighted a desire to forge closer cross-border private sector partnerships and government ties to promote trade between the two countries 

A.M.BHATTI

ISLAMABAD– Private sector representatives from Pakistan and Afghanistan met to boost prosperity and create jobs in both countries.  The participants in this U.S. government-facilitated event addressed a range of trade issues between the two countries that have held back growth of the cross-border economy.

The “Pakistan-Afghanistan Bilateral Trade – Private Sector Perspectives, Strategy and Recommendations” conference was a first-of-its-kind, cross-border dialogue.  At an event organized by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) the participants met virtually because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Participants included the Pakistan-Afghanistan Joint Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Chaman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as well as a number of Afghanistan chambers of commerce and a variety of logistics service providers, transport operators, and traders from both countries.

The participants highlighted a desire to forge closer cross-border private sector partnerships and government ties to promote trade between the two countries.  Many of the participants expressed concerns over unscheduled closures of border crossing points, slow clearing processes, lack of facilities at the Torkham border, and increasing transport costs.

They also supported the creation of a core team of representatives from all participants to plan subsequent coordination efforts with the Governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

This inaugural virtual discussion sets the stage for a sustained and continued effort to improve trade relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

ISLAMABAD, July 9 : Representatives of eight countries while participating in first-ever Non-Governmental Online Conference on Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) pledged that they will work closely to address the common challenges of COVID-19, says a report published by Gwadar Pro on Thursday.

According to the report, they agreed that the coronavirus crisis had underlined the need for global interdependence to forge closer cooperation to tackle the soci-economic challenges.

The conference, organized by Pakistan-China Institute (PCI) on Wednesday was participated by eight countries: Pakistan, China, Nepal, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.

They also agreed that BRI is the way forward as it connects the whole region, representatives from eight countries including Pakistan and China concluded Wednesday.

They highlighted the significant role of BRI, of which the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship, for tackling the common problems, particularly after post-COVID-19 period.

The meeting reached the consensus that the BRI is the way forward as it promotes regional connectivity based on the principles of equality, reciprocity, and mutual benefit while acclaiming CPEC as ‘BRI success story’.

The propaganda about the so-called ‘Debt trap’ was rejected by participants as in the case of Pakistan and Sri Lanka, total debt from China was a very small percentage of what is owed to other countries or multilateral institutions.

They rejected the ‘New Cold War’, demonization, or stigmatizing any country using COVID19 as a political weapon or targeting BRI on geopolitical grounds.

Chairman Pakistan Senate Foreign Affairs Committee Senator Mushahid Hussain, in his opening remarks, termed BRI as the biggest and most significant Diplomatic and Developmental initiative of the 21st century. He said that CPEC, as the flagship of BRI, was already a success story and has entered its second phase successfully.

Energy and infrastructure projects have been completed on schedule, with 75,000 Pakistanis got jobs in BRI projects and 28,000 Pakistani students studying in China.

He also thanked China for support to Pakistan during the COVID-19 crisis and he mentioned the two resolutions passed by the Pakistan Senate, February 12 and May 14, in which the parliament of Pakistan appreciated China’s role and support.

Afghanistan’s former Ambassador to Pakistan and China, Janan Musazai, gave a specific five-point plan for Afghanistan’s role in BRI and he referred to CPEC as well, since Afghanistan can be a land bridge for connectivity and he said that China could facilitate to provide market access for BRI countries.

Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, and Myanmar referred to the respective role of their countries as part of BRI and how different projects were being initiated as well as the exchange of high-level visits between these countries and China.

Media leader, Shubha Shankar Kandel from Nepal also mentioned, how through BRI, landlocked countries can become land-linked countries, and he as well as Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colombage from Sri Lanka welcomed the role of BRI.

Prof. Jayanath also debunked the ‘Debt Trap’ theory regarding Sri Lanka citing facts and figures, that of Sri Lanka’s total foreign debt, only 10 percent was owed to China,

He also warned that with about 120 warships in the Indian Ocean, it is becoming ‘the most militarized ocean in the world’. He also underlined the need for countries to have food and medicine security.

Former Chinese Vice Minister Ai Ping talked of people-people connectivity and he mentioned that in this regard during COVID 19 crisis, 60 NGOs of China organized 40 online events that aimed at sharing information and experiences based on mutual support.

Professor Huang Youyi and Kalyan Raj Sharma in their presentations also emphasized that any effort to stigmatize any people or culture or country should be rejected and there is a consensus that BRI is the way forward.

The conference was moderated by Executive Director, Pakistan-China Institute, Mustafa Hyder Sayed while the question and answer session were conducted by Director China Center for Legal Studies at LUMS, Professor Sikandar Shah.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan appealed to the masses to celebrate upcoming Eidul Azha with simplicity and not to grow careless and brush aside the government-defined health guidelines to keep coronavirus at bay.

Speaking to the media after inaugurating Isolation Hospital and Infectious Treatment Center in the capital, the prime minister stressed that people should not throw caution to the wind this Eid as they did on Eidul Fitr, which, according to him, lead to a rapid increase in the number of cases, piling pressure on hospitals and healthcare workers.

“Eid is coming, we should not do what we did the previous Eid,” the prime minister emphasised, adding the country saw a surge in coronavirus cases following Eidul Fitr as the disease peaked.

He said the Covid-19 curve is flattening because of the government’s steps and provinces’ cooperation.
“We didn’t hope that it will go down so soon and expected it to peak by July-end,” PM Khan said, adding: “Pakistan is among a few countries where the number of infections is going down.”

He cautioned that the virus will spread rapidly if people exhibited carelessness, urging them to celebrate this Eid with simplicity and follow the SOPs.

The 250-bed isolation hospital has been constructed in record forty days at a cost of about Rs980 million. It will meet additional requirements to ease pressure on the capital’s hospitals.

The isolation hospital’s charge has been handed over to the National Disaster Management Authority. NDMA Chairman Lt. General Muhammad Afzal briefed the prime minister about the health facility.

Planning Minister Asad Umar, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shibli Faraz, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Chinese Ambassador Yao Jing, and other senior officials were also present on the occasion.

KARACHI: Perturbed by unannounced load-shedding and overbilling by K-Electric, a number of citizens have taken the port city’s sole power distributor to the Sindh High Court (SHC).

A two-judge bench of the high court, headed by Justice Khadim Hussain Sheikh, will hear a petition filed against the power utility over prolonged power outages and excessive billing as the petitioners’ plea for urgent hearing of the case has been granted.

The citizens submitted in their petition that unannounced load-shedding is ongoing in Karachi with the power distribution company subjecting various areas to up to 12 hours of load-shedding amid hot and humid weather.

They contended that the denizens have grown sick of prolonged load-shedding as no heed is being to the city’s power woes with political parties just playing politics over the issue.

The petitioners pleaded with the high court to restrain K-Electric from resorting to unannounced power cuts and order the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) to take action against the power utility over such practice and negligence.

ISLAMABAD : Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi has rubbished reports of his death Thursday after rumours of the politician passing away emerged following a Wikipedia edit that said he had died.

Reports of his death were propagated by the Indian lobby on social media after it was discovered that his profile at Wikipedia had been edited to say he had died.

The foreign minister said the false news had caused distress among his family and friends.

“I am fine by the Grace of Allah and recovering from COVID-19,” Qureshi said in a statement.

FM Qureshi quarantines himself following positive COVID-19 test

Earlier this month, Qureshi had announced he had tested positive for coronavirus and had gone into isolation.

“This afternoon I felt a slight fever and immediately quarantined myself at home. I have now tested positive for COVID-19,” the foreign minister had said in a Twitter post.

“By the grace of Allah, I feel strong and energetic. I will continue to carry on my duties from home. Please keep me in your prayers,” he added.