ISLAMABAD, May 03 (dna):National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) would open its offices from Monday. Those wishing to visit NADRA offices should first call its call center helpline 7000 to get necessary information, said a press release. Those who want to receive their new cards should visit the offices after May 15. The citizens who would be applying for new registration and biometric verification would be given priority. Masks, temperature checking and sanitisation of hands would be mandatory for persons visiting the NADRA offices. NADRA urged citizens to follow the guidelines at its offices, maintain social distancing and use its online registration services wherever possible. NADRA had extended the term of the cards expired since September 2019 to July 2020.
NADRA offices to open from Monday
Rohingya survivors tell of misery and death at sea; hundreds still adrift
COX S BAZAR (dna) – Rohingya refugee Shahab Uddin thought the wooden trawler he boarded in February would be his ticket out of a camp in Bangladesh to a better life in Malaysia.
Instead, the voyage nearly killed him. The 20-year-old was among almost 400 survivors pulled from the water, starving, emaciated and traumatized after the boat failed to reach Malaysia and spent weeks adrift before returning to Bangladesh in mid-April.
Hundreds more refugees are stranded on at least two other trawlers, rights groups say, as Southeast Asian governments tighten borders to keep out the new coronavirus, threatening a repeat of a 2015 boat crisis when hundreds of people died.
The United Nations has implored authorities to let the boats land, but anti-refugee sentiment is surging in Malaysia and governments say borders are sealed to keep out the coronavirus.
In interviews with Reuters, seven survivors from the rescued boat recalled two harrowing months.
Estimates of the number of people who died on the boat ranged from several dozen to more than 100 – nobody kept count – but their accounts were consistent.
The survivors described hundreds of men, women, and children crammed on the boat, unable to move, squatting in rain and scorching sun until, as food and water ran out, they began to die of starvation, thirst, and beatings, their bodies tossed overboard. Some wept as they spoke.
“I thought I would not come back home alive,” said Uddin. “I missed my family, especially my parents.”
The group Fortify Rights said in a statement last week the operators of the boat “held their victims in conditions similar to slavery for the purposes of exploitation”.
Reuters was unable to identify or contact the crew for comment.
Amnesty International urged governments to protect stranded Rohingya and allow them to land. It estimated 800 more people were at sea. Several dozen people from one boat landed on the south coast of Bangladesh on Saturday.
Malaysia defends its policy of turning boats away. Authorities have acted lawfully to defend the country’s sovereignty and are ready to do so again, its minister for internal affairs said in a statement on Thursday.
More than a million Rohingya, members of a Muslim minority from Myanmar, live in camps in southern Bangladesh after fleeing from largely Buddhist Myanmar’s Rakhine State.
Most fled an army crackdown in 2017 that the United Nations says was carried out with genocidal intent. Myanmar denies genocide and says it was responding to insurgent attacks.
Azerbaijan president convenes NAM summit
President Dr. Arif Alvi will represent Pakistan; online summit will take place ON MAY O4; leaders to discuss COVID 19 and its impact; Non-Aligned Movement represents the biggest grouping of countries outside the United Nations
A.M.BHATTI
ISLAMABAD: President Dr. Arif Alvi will represent Pakistan at the virtual Summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) being held on 4 May 2020.
The Special Online Summit of the Heads of State and Government of NAM Member States has been convened at the initiative of the President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan, in his capacity as current Chair of the Movement.
The Summit will conclude with a political Declaration of the Movement “Uniting Against COVID-19” as well as identified measures for enhanced coordination among NAM Member States in their common fight against COVID-19.
President Aliyev’s efforts aim at bringing the Movement, at the highest decision-making level, for assessing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on Member States and identifying needs and steps for possible remedies and follow-up measures.
The Non-Aligned Movement represents the biggest grouping of countries outside the United Nations, comprising 120 developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America. A number of Heads of State and Government will participate in the virtual Summit.
Pakistan is an active member of the Movement and has contributed and shaped the Movement’s position on a range of political, legal, economic and social issues. President Dr. Arif Alvi had represented Pakistan at the 18th Summit of NAM in Baku in October 2019.
Quarantine regime in Azerbaijan extended
Baku,DNA
The current sanitary-epidemiological situation in Azerbaijan in connection with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) infection, the preventive measures being taken in other countries and the recommendations of the World Health Organization have been analyzed and the decision has been made to extend the special quarantine regime until 00:00, 31 May 2020.
At the same time, taking into consideration the rate of the infection and the recovery dynamics among patients, a number of restrictions have been eased.
Based on the current sanitary-epidemiological situation, the number of patients and the rate of infection, the easing of restrictions is carried out in stages in Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja, Lankaran cities, Absheron district and other regions.
Therefore, starting from 00:00, 4 May 2020, the following rules shall apply to Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja, Lankaran cities and Absheron district:
- the activities of an approved number of employees of state bodies are being restored (the number of employees of state bodies whose activity is being restored will be determined by a relevant decision of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Azerbaijan);
- “DOST” centers are to resume their activities in the areas of targeted social assistance and issuance of social bank cards in their respective territories;
- the activities of legal entities and individuals engaged in activities and provision of services to other business entities the operation of which was restricted during the special quarantine regime are being restored;
- the activities of individual retail facilities in all areas are being restored;
- the activities of barbershops, beauty salons and cosmetic services are being restored.
With the exception of Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja, Lankaran and Absheron district, the following rules shall apply to other districts and cities of the Republic and the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic starting from 00:00, 4 May 2020:
Press Freedom essential for democracy: Dutch envoy
ISLAMABAD (DNA) –Wouter Plomp Ambassador of the Netherland to Pakistan has said press freedom is corner stone of human rights.
He added, press freedom in fact protects others fundamental freedom rights.
In a message on the Press Freedom Day the ambassador said, free press is essential democracy. In this current corona pandemic reliable information can save lives.
The ambassador said media workers should report independently without any fear.
We need a free press now than ever, the ambassador added.=DNA
Ramadan Kitchen provides cooked food over 200 poor families
DNA
ISLAMABAD, May 03: The Ramadan open Kitchen of Muslim Hands Pakistan is fully active to provide high genic cooked food over 200 poor and deserving families daily in the surrounding of federal capital Islamabad.
In the middle and poor population of the city, where the Muslim Hands Pakistan is active in relief work, groups of young people also seek self-respect by finding white-clad families. Engaged in helping people with care, said Muslim Hands country director Syed Zia ul Noor.
He said that during ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Muslim Hands also provided safety equipment’s, sanitizers, N95 masks and other items to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) as well as distribution of rations to 10,000 families
Now we are distributing cooked meals on daily basis at the door steps over 200 200 poor and needy families through Muslim Hand Ramadan Open Kitchen, adding that we are also starting Ramadan Open Kitchen in other cities of country during Ramadan to support needy persons for good cause.
“Once food are cooked our volunteers packed them and reached out to people affected by the lockdown during Ramadan and provided them food”, Zia ul Noor said.
He said that several other welfare organizations, individuals and businessmen are pitching in to help the citizens and government through various initiatives with the hope that humanity would survive these dreadful times of coronavirus.
“Muslim Hands will continue to provide food support to such families and to help them have a reliable supply of meals in the absence of employment opportunities”, Zia ul Noor told.
“The needy families are facing their worst times. They are worried about their own sustenance for the next 20 days or so in Ramadan. But we are doing our best to support them for humanity”, he concluded.
UK PM says it was tough moment to be in ICU
London, May 3 :Doctors treating Boris Johnson for coronavirus prepared to announce his death after he was taken to intensive care, the British prime minister said on Sunday, in his first detailed comments about his illness.
“It was a tough old moment, I won’t deny it,” he was quoted as saying by the Sun on Sunday newspaper in an interview. “They had a strategy to deal with a ‘death of Stalin’-type scenario.
“I was not in particularly brilliant shape and I was aware there were contingency plans in place. The doctors had all sorts of arrangements for what to do if things went badly wrong.”
Johnson, 55, first announced he had contracted COVID-19 on March 27 but maintained he had only mild symptoms. Yet he failed to shake the illness after a week of self-isolation.
He was taken to hospital as a precaution on April 5 for further tests but within 24 hours was moved to intensive care.
The Conservative party leader spent three days receiving “oxygen support”, and admitted after his discharge on April 12 that his fight with the virus “could have gone either way”.
But although he told the newspaper he did think “how am I going to get out of this?”, he did not think at any point he was going to die.
Johnson, who returned to work last Monday and became a father again when his fiancee Carrie Symonds gave birth on Wednesday, said he was given “litres and litres” of oxygen in hospital.
He said he felt frustrated he was not getting better but the reality hit home when doctors were deliberating whether to intubate him and put him on a ventilator.
“That was when it got a bit… they were starting to think about how to handle it presentationally,” he told the weekly tabloid.
AIOU offers degree programs to overseas Pakistanis
ISLAMABAD, May 3: Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) has offered four Associate Degree programs of Bachelor-level to the overseas Pakistanis, particularly those living in Middle East.
These programs are Associate degree in General Group, Commerce Group, Mass Communication and Library Information Sciences.
According to Overseas section, Directorate of Regional Services, interested people could take admission in these programs by June 5.
The programs have been offered for Spring 2020 semester. Admission forms and prospectus have been made available on the University website (aiou.edu.pk/overseasdel.asp).
Those holding FA/FSc or equivalent degrees are eligible to enroll themselves in these programs, which are of four-year duration. Exams of these programs will be conducted through Pakistan Foreign Missions abroad.
Over the years a number of overseas Pakistanis, mainly from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman have been benefiting from the AIOU, that is only institution in the country that facilitate them in upgrading their education through distance learning system.
Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. Zia Ul-Qayyum assured them that the University being a public sector institution will facilitate them in their academic pursuits to maximum extent. They, he added are actively engaged in improving quality of education and its contents’ delivery system through online mode of education.
He hoped that the eligible people would take advantage of the proposed programs, that have been developed according to the contemporary needs.
India allows 193 Pak nationals to return on May 5
The directives by the Indian government had been issued after the Pakistan high commission requested facilitation for Pakistani citizens in returning to their country
NEW DELHI (DNA) -The Indian government has allowed 193 Pakistanis stranded in the country due to the coronavirus lockdown, to return on May 5.
The Indian External Affairs Ministry has directed state police chiefs to facilitate the travel of the stranded Pakistanis back to their country via the Attari-Wagah border crossing next week. The Pakistani nationals have been told to arrive at the border early Tuesday to begin the formal process of their return.
The Indian External Affairs Ministry said only asymptomatic persons will be allowed to return to Pakistan. “It is requested that all returning Pakistan nationals may be screened as per international norms and existing provisions of the Government of India and only asymptomatic individuals may be allowed to return,” said Dammu Ravi, additional secretary of the ministry, to the state governments.
The directives by the Indian government had been issued after the Pakistan high commission requested facilitation for Pakistani citizens in returning to their country.
Last month, a smaller group of Pakistanis had returned from Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The 193 Pakistanis who will return to their country on May 5 were stranded across 25 districts in 10 states: Maharashtra, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi.
