PESHAWAR : Advisor to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister on Information Ajmal Wazir says the provincial government has implemented smart lockdown in Corona affected areas.

In a media briefing in Peshawar today [Sunday], he said protection of the people from pandemic is top priority of the government.

The Advisor appealed to the people to cooperate with the government by following the SOPs.

Ajmal Wazir said the provincial government has allocated one hundred and eighty-four billion rupees for tribal districts out of which ninety-six billion will be spent on developmental projects.

LAHORE – Keeping in view the rising number of coronavirus cases in the province, Punjab government has made wearing of masks mandatory in public.

In a notification, the Primary and Secondary Healthcare Department under Punjab Infectious Diseases (Prevention and Control) Ordinance 2020, declared wearing masks mandatory.

The provincial government directed that no service will be provided to those customers who do not wear masks. District administrations and police were directed to implement on the orders, read the notification.

Pakistan has confirmed 119 deaths in a single day by novel coronavirus as the number of positive cases has surged to 176,617. The nationwide tally of fatalities has jumped to 3,501, Dunya News reported on Sunday.

Senator Farogh Naseem has written a letter to the cyber crime cell of the Federal Investigation Agency in Islamabad requesting it to close a fake Twitter account active under his name.

The account is titled Faroog Naseem. “It is continuously posting malicious and abusive content on social media,” he said.

He requested the account be deleted at the earliest and “further necessary action as per law may also be taken under intimation to the undersigned”.

The barrister sent a screenshot of the fake account along with the request. Naseem has previously served as the Federal Minister of Law and Justice.

ISLAMABAD: Executive Director at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad Dr. Ansar Maqsood has tested positive for the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).

They said the PIMS head has isolated himself at home after being diagnosed with the infection that is fast spreading among healthcare professionals at the forefront of the country’s fight against the contagion.

Meanwhile, an admin officer of the PIMS has also been infected by the coronavirus. The sources said 200 staffers of the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences have been diagnosed as positive for the infection while three have succumbed to the deadly disease thus far.

Earlier today, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on National Health Services Dr. Zafar Mirza asked the people to initiate special care for their elders in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.

Briefing the media, he stressed the need for wearing face masks, observing social distancing, frequent hand washing to stay safe from the COVID-19.

The special assistant said so far seventy-two percent were over fifty years of age who have lost their lives due to coronavirus infection. He said the senior citizens should avoid public transport and crowded places.

Muzaffarabad; June 21: /DNA/ = India’s election to the UN Security Council is a travesty of justice and a mockery of the international rule of law, said Sardar Masood Khan, President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, said in an interview to a foreign TV network.

The President said that when a delegation of the fascist BJP-RSS regime would be sitting on the Council in January 2021, Indian occupation forces’ hands would be drenched in the blood of Kashmiris. India, he said,  would have no qualifications to uphold the mandate of the Security Council for the maintenance of international peace and security.

With India’s entry into the Council, the international order will fray further at a time when the United National is being marginalised. The world is slowly moving towards anarchy because the worst violator of human rights and a trampler of peace and security is giving a seat on a  prestigious multilateral forum like the Security Council.

The BJP-RSS regime, he said, is a colonial power that in front of the whole world is killing and brutalising Kashmiris, blinding them, mowing down youth in fake encounters, and raping and objectifying women. Such a regime, known for its despotism and chicanery,  deserves to be sanctioned and stockaded, not rewarded with a seat in the Security Council.

“India is a predator in the region which has chosen to violate international law with impunity. It is occupying en masse a disputed foreign territory – Kashmir – and calls it an internal matter”, the President said adding that it is no more the old practice of legal and military salami slicing of the past 73 years in IOJK but gobbling up of the entire state in one go without the consent of its owners.

India has invited and fuelled disputes with all its neighbours and made the entire neighbourhood volatile by its intimidation and aggression. “For that should it not be in the Security Council’s dock rather than  on a horseshoe seat?” he asked

President Masood Khan said that India has revived the Nazi Party’s Nuremberg laws of the last century and imposed them on the Kashmiri population in the form of new domicile rules. Non-native Hindus would be settled in Jammu and Kashmir and qualify for half a million jobs and Kashmiris will run from pillar to post to prove that their homeland is theirs and that they too can qualify for these jobs which used to be reserved for them.

“This is the most brazen land grab through the barrel of the gun in the 21st century. Those who would oppose these war crimes and genocide will be exterminated and erased. Demographic changes in Kashmir today are no less grave than the cases on ethnic cleansing in the Balkans and the Great Lakes region in the 1990s. Why is the Security Council not, this time around,  shocked round the clock? Are the screams of Kashmiris not reaching their closed and open chambers or their virtual conference space?” the President asked.

President Masood Khan appealed to the international civil society to block the passage of India to the Security Council for the sake of humanity because it is entering into that body only to indemnify its crimes against humanity in the Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, glorify its lebensraum in the region and hide its religious apartheid against Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Dalits and tribals in India.

The President warned: “Make no mistake. India is going into the Council to promote its own heinous agenda of occupation, irredentism and expansionism; and to make a bid for a permanent seat. But even within the Council, its diplomatic bullying would be so obnoxious that no permanent member will be sincerely ready to consider giving them a seat around that table”, Masood Khan said.

He asked: “Will India dare to put Kashmir on the active agenda of the Council for a just and lasting resolution of the issue in accordance with the existing decisions of the Council. There is every possibility that it would either stymie the debate on Kashmir or attempt to guillotine the issue altogether.” He warned that during India’s presence in the Council, the funding and mandate of the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan would be at risk. “We need to remain vigilant”, he said.

The AJK President said that the dysfunctional electoral system of the UN sends a known warmonger like India to the hallowed Council chambers without any scrutiny. How can India be given a seat when its violent extremist prime minister openly, twice,  threatened to wipe Pakistan off the map of the world by the use of nuclear weapons? he asked. And their ministers talk of attacking Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan militarily and intensify proxy wars, inducing terrorism, in Pakistan. Would such a country in any way contribute to peace and security anywhere in the world?

President Masood Khan said that in the Council “India would be there to stoke, not douse, fires”.

ISLAMABAD, JUNE 21 (DNA) – A virtual meeting of COMSATS’ officials and the Torch Hi-tech Industry Development Centre of the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) was held to place a Memorandum of Understanding of COMSATS with the Chinese Ministry of S&T for cooperation in various fields of science and technology for the benefit of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries and COMSATS Member States. This meeting was arranged to benefit from the expertise available with the Torch Centre for the establishment and management of S&T Park on Biotechnology in Pakistan.

The meeting was attended by Dr. S. M. Junaid Zaidi, Executive Director COMSATS; Mr. Mo Tan, Director of the Division of International Cooperation, Torch Centre, Chinese Ministry of ST; as well as other senior officials of COMSATS and Torch Centre.

During the meeting, Gen. (R.) Muhammad Tahir, Advisor (China Desk), COMSATS, greatly appreciated the help being rendered by China to Pakistan for dealing with the current coronavirus and locust crises. He considered China’s good practices and experience in the field of agriculture important for Pakistan and other COMSATS Member States in battling impending threat to food security.

Gen. (R.) Tahir informed that for the construction of S&T Park on Biotechnology in Jhelum, Punjab province of Pakistan, the land is being provided by the Government of Pakistan and the modalities have been worked out. He stated that the S&T Park would be based on the model of one of the Centers of Excellence of COMSATS, i.e., the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology (TIB), China, which has excellent research and commercialization facilities. He noted that the scope of herbal medicines both in Pakistan and China is immense and both countries can collaborate in this field. He added, the S&T Park once established will work in pharmaceutics, agriculture, green textiles and biosciences spheres and will also benefit other COMSATS Member States and BRI countries.

Mr. Mo Tan, appreciating this initiative, considered the working areas of S&T Park most pertinent to the emerging global needs and assured support of Torch Centre in this connection. He stated that China gives top priority to anything related to Pakistan and any proposal to help the country is always welcome. He gave a detailed overview of the working of Chinese Science / Technology Parks and explained their various facets. In this regard, Mr. Tan shared Torch Centre’s role in policy making and management of S&T Parks in China. He extended offer of participation to stakeholders from Pakistan in Torch’s annual workshops on planning, construction and management of S&T Parks for knowledge-sharing and capacity development. He also invited teams of Pakistani officials to attract Chinese investments as well as to learn from the experience and expertise of Chinese S&T Parks.

Dr. Zaidi appreciated the offer of support extended by Torch Centre to facilitate the establishment of S&T Park in Pakistan. It was agreed that relevant proposals shall be shared with the Torch Centre for advice as well as projection on relevant platforms.