Tag: Karachi

  • Rescue 1122 service to officially launch in Karachi this month

    Rescue 1122 service to officially launch in Karachi this month

    On May 30, the Sindh government will finally launch the Rescue 1122 service in Karachi, which would provide emergency aid to those in need.

    The approval was announced at a briefing held on Thursday at the Sindh Secretariat, with Sindh Chief Secretary Dr Muhammad Sohail Rajput in the chair. The initiative to open the trauma center and Rescue 1122 service in Larkana would also be finished by May 30, according to relevant officials.

    Later on, the service would be expanded to include the province’s other divisions. The meeting resolved that on the motorway and the Indus Highway, fire engines and ambulances would be available every 50 kilometers.

    Once the ambulance service is established under the Rescue 1122 service, the fire department would follow suit. Barrister Murtaza Wahab, the Administrator of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) and Adviser to the Sindh Chief Minister on Law, said that a fleet of 50 ambulances will begin operating in Karachi on May 30 as part of the Rescue 1122 service.

    According to him, the Sindh government chose to introduce the rescue service in Karachi after improving the city’s civic infrastructure and transportation amenities. Under the rescue plan, he said, a quick response centre would be constructed in the city every 10 kilometres.

    Read more: Met department predicts torrential rains starting next week

    Meanwhile, another meeting, chaired by the Sindh chief secretary, resolved to enlist the help of the Sindh police and Rangers to combat wheat hoarding and smuggling in the state.

  • 49 buses arrive Karachi for Orange Line BRT, intra-city service

    49 buses arrive Karachi for Orange Line BRT, intra-city service

    A total of 49 buses procured for the Orange Line BRT project and the Intra-District Peoples Bus Service reached Karachi port on May 11.

    In June 2016, Syed Qaim Ali Shah laid the foundation stone for the Orange Line, predicting that the project will be finished in a year.

    After six years, the project is still unfinished. The Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA) and contractors had originally been granted until November 2021 to complete the building of the Orange Line BRT track, however, they had missed the deadline.

    The provincial minister has directed the SMTA to finish the civil and electrical work for the Orange Line BRT by the end of this month. The Orange Line BRT is named after Abdul Sattar Edhi.

    Read more: CNG prices pushed to Rs140 per kg for sales tax collection

    As the 49 buses landed at the port, Sindh Transport and Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon tweeted that the remaining buses were on their way and will come in phases over the coming months.

  • 15 lakhs goes missing from passenger’s carry-on on flight from Karachi

    15 lakhs goes missing from passenger’s carry-on on flight from Karachi

    A Pakistani-born United States (US) citizen— Imtiaz Rafiq— lost his cash worth $8,000 (1,514,256) while travelling to Houston from Jinnah International Airport, Karachi via Doha on Qatar Airways reports Geo News.

    As per the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the money went missing from Rafiq’s backpack. He claimed that at Doha airport he checked his bag and realised the cash was gone.

    He has registered a complaint and asked for an investigation into the incident.

    According to Rafiq, he doubts that the money was stolen in Karachi as he had removed his backpack from his shoulders twice at the Karachi airport and found the cash in the backpack. He believes it likely happened during the flight from Karachi to Doha.

  • Who is going to be the next governor of Sindh?

    Who is going to be the next governor of Sindh?

    The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led government has decided to appoint their party ally Muttahida Qaumi Move­ment-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) senior leader Nasreen Jalil as the governor of Sindh.

    If Jalil becomes the next governor, she would be the second female governor in the province’s history after the first Prime Minister (PM) Liaquat Ali Khan’s wife Begum Raana Liaquat Ali Khan who served in the 1970s.

    The office of the Sindh governor fell vacant on April 12 when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) leader Imran Ismail resigned, hours before PM Shehbaz Sharif took oath as the premier of Pakistan.

    Nasreen Jalil was born in Lahore but she spent most of her time in Karachi. In her childhood, she lived in London. She went to Paris for her education. She joined MQM and started her political career in Karachi. She served as a senator two times. Nasreen Jalil had been elected as chairperson of the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights in 1994 and 2012.

    Following the news, the former Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry took to Twitter, saying the “crime minister” has proposed the name of Nasreen Jalil as Sindh governor. He claimed that Jalil had written a letter to the Indian high commissioner on June 18, 2015, and sought ‘help’ against Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies.

    Similarly, PTI’s Imran Ismail and former Sindh governor said that it appears that in order to become part of the present government it has become ‘imperative’ that one should be on bail or an “expert of vicious attacks” on security institutions.

    Responding to Ismail’s tweet, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Senator Faisal Subzwari cleared that the letter was written to all diplomats.

    He admitted that it was the party office’s mistake that the name of the Indian diplomat was not excluded from the list of diplomats. However, this letter surfaced in 2015 and its contents were before everyone.

  • 1,721 vehicles, 1,800 mobile phones snatched in Karachi during Ramzan

    1,721 vehicles, 1,800 mobile phones snatched in Karachi during Ramzan

    During the holy month of Ramzan, around 1,600 motorcycles, 1,800 cell phones, and 121 four-wheelers were snatched or stolen in Karachi, according to provincial officials’ records.

    On the other hand, considering street criminal occurrences in the city, seven people were killed and 43 others were injured. According to the police, there was a decrease in the theft of mobile phones, motorcycles, and vehicles.

    Karachi police have undertaken a number of steps to curb the city’s escalating street crime events, most notably preparing a draught law for e-tagging of street criminals, with Additional IG Karachi Ghulam Nabi Memon stating that 11,000 suspects will be placed under electronic surveillance.

    According to a draught law developed by AIG Karachi, this will be the first time the police in Pakistan will use the technology, and anyone caught repeating a crime will be tracked for two years via e-tagging.

    Read more: Rawalpindi: Transporters continue to overcharge ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr

    The defendant could only get a bond if he files an affidavit promising not to leave a given zone during the duration of electronic observation.

  • Teenage dies after home roof falls on him in DHA

    Teenage dies after home roof falls on him in DHA

    Mustafa Hashmi, a 17-year-old student at Nixor College, Karachi was killed when a large piece of concrete from his roof broke off and fell on him in Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Phase-VII.

    While speaking to Dawn, his grief-stricken father, Mahmood Hashmi, an architect himself by profession, said that Mustafa was their only son. He was preparing for the A-level examinations and had already appeared in two papers.

    According to him, the family of three got a portion on rent around six months ago. They were told to get the house repaired with their own finances, which they did.

    He recalled that on 26 Ramzan, he and his wife Khadija Hashmi and their son were asleep in the room when a heavy thick piece of concrete slab fell on them. The parents remained safe however the concrete piece fell on Mustafa’s head.

    “My son died in his sleep as he did not cry or utter any word,” Hashmi recalled.

    The father complained that a private hospital refused to give them Mustafa’s death certificate and cited legal complications.

    He then took his son to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre to get a death certificate where he used sifarish (recommendation) to get it.

    “My son died due to negligence; had the owner maintained its repair properly, my son would have been alive today,” said the father.

    He said he might not seek legal proceedings.

  • No more load shedding in Pakistan from today: Ministry of Energy

    No more load shedding in Pakistan from today: Ministry of Energy

    After long hours of power outages across Pakistan in the month of Ramzan, the Ministry of Energy has announced that power load-shedding has been reduced to zero from 5am today (Monday).

    In a tweet, the ministry said, “As per the promise made by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, load shedding in the country has been reduced to zero from 5am on May 1. The ministry has worked hard to add more than 2500 Megawatt of additional power to the national grid system.”

    “The ministry is constantly striving for uninterrupted power supply during the Eid holidays and beyond”, the tweet further said.

    In April, PM Shehbaz took notice of the situation and directed the concerned departments to reduce power outages by May 1. He said until the problem is resolved, he would not leave for China and would not allow anyone to relax.

    Last month, due to higher demand and reduced generation due to fuel shortages and reduced gas supplies to power plants, Pakistan experienced 6-10 hours of electricity load-shedding in various areas.

    As of April 25, generation was 17,976 Megawatt (MW), compared to the demand of almost 21,000 MW, indicating a significant discrepancy between demand and generation.

  • PCB finalises schedule for PSL8 without consulting franchises

    PCB finalises schedule for PSL8 without consulting franchises

    The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has finalised the eighth season of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) schedule without consulting the franchises, states Geo News’ sources.

    “There was no discussion between franchises and the PSL management regarding the schedule but despite that, it was finalised,” the franchises were quoted as saying by the sources.

    PSL8 will be held between February 15 and March 31, 2023. The venue has also been finalised as the tournament will take place in four cities of Pakistan — Karachi, Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi.

    Before the start of the league, international cricket teams — New Zealand and West Indies will visit Pakistan in January 2023.

    It is pertinent to mention that some media reports suggest that the new federal government decided to remove the current Chairman of PCB Ramiz Raja from his position.

  • Severe heatwave hits Pakistan

    Severe heatwave hits Pakistan

    The extreme temperature has been recorded in the month of April in Pakistan and India while the temperature of Lahore exceeded over 40 degrees Celsius on Thursday.

    The severe heatwave has threatened and puts lives of millions of people at risk. In view the imminent temperature, the Pakistani Government has issued a health advisory, asking people to strictly follow precautionary measures to deal with the situation.

    Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman said, “A heatwave has hit South Asia with the temperature predicted to soar up to 49-50 degrees C. Precautionary measures must immediately be taken to prevent casualties and injuries from heat.”

    According to the Ministry of Climate Change, this year’s March was the hottest month since 1961.

  • Exclusive: PM Shehbaz says next army chief will be appointed as per rules, regulations

    Exclusive: PM Shehbaz says next army chief will be appointed as per rules, regulations

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday called the PM House a ‘Jamhoori House’ (Democratic House) and said that his government believed in media freedom. In an interaction with journalists at the PM House on April 26, Sharif said that the previous government was not just incompetent and corrupt but had damaged the country’s economy and foreign relations. PM Shehbaz talked about several issues.

    New army chief

    PM said that he has the constitutional right to appoint a new army chief. He added that he will appoint the new army chief as per the constitution and rules and regulations when the time comes for his appointment. This was in response to a question about the appointment of a new army chief since General Bajwa will not take an extension as per DG ISPR.

    Pak-US relations

    While answering a question about Pakistan’s relationship with the US, PM said that the US is a superpower so we need to maintain good relations with them. “Amreeka dushmani hamaaray waaray nahin” (we cannot afford enmity with the US). He added that we need to do some stock-taking regarding Pak-US ties and improve relations with the US.

    Foreign Policy

    Talking about foreign relations, PM Shehbaz said that the previous government had alienated allies and friends. “How can we say that we can raise the Kashmir issue without Saudi Arabia?”

    PM said that the members of the previous government had lied about loans on 8% by China apart from allegations of corruption against Chinese investment by Pervez Khattak and several others in PTI. “China helped us get rid of load shedding by investing in power plants.”

    Saudi Visit

    PM will be visiting Saudi Arabia tomorrow (April 28-30) on the invitation of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. PM Shehbaz said that he is likely to meet the Saudi leadership during his visit.

    Load shedding

    He said that there there is no other reason for frequent load shedding other than the negligence of previous government for not buying LNG and furnace oil on time. He also criticised the previous government for its baseless allegations against the LNG contract signed by the previous PML-N government. He said that Qatar must have been amazed that instead of thanking them for such a good deal, PTI indulged in “ilzaam taraashi” [allegations].

    Economic crisis

    “Pakistan is going through one of the most difficult times. We are trying to take the country in the right direction. We have seen how Japan and Germany rebuilt their economies after tough times. We have the examples of South Korea and Bangladeshi economies too. Once upon a time, Pakistan had a better per capita income than China but look at us now. Our currency was better than India’s. When India was ahead of us in the steel industry, we were ahead of them in textiles.”

    “There is no point crying over spilt milk but now it is time to rebuild our economy,” said PM Shehbaz. He said that it will be a difficult challenge but is not impossible to bring back our lost place in the comity of nations by strengthening our economy. “Rome was not built in a day.”

    “If we were economically strong, our foreign policy would have been stronger.”

    PECA

    The PM was asked if roll back of PECA was on the cards, to which he said that his government believes in freedom of media and media will not have to face any curbs but they need to differentiate between truth and fake news. “Media should highlight our mistakes. We welcome that. But it should not spread fake news.”

    Missing files

    When asked that there are reports that some files have been taken by the previous government from the PM House regarding sugar scandal and other scandals, Shehbaz said that if he is given evidence about the missing files, he will find them.

    Accountability

    He said that in the name of accountability, there will be no revenge. “Ehtesaab ke naam par intiqaam nahin leinge,” said PM Shehbaz. He said that businessmen say they will not invest here because the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) will either arrest them or harass them. “Businessmen kehte hain ya NAB giraftaar kar leinge ya zaleel kareinge unko.”

    Elections

    The PM said that we will go for elections after carrying out necessary reforms, especially electoral reforms.

    Threat letter

    PM Shehbaz said that the National Security Committee meeting issued a clear statement that there was no conspiracy. “The punchline of the statement was that there is no saazish, no conspiracy.”

    Shehbaz said that if the threat letter was received on March 7, why did the PTI government talk about it on March 28? “March tak moonh mein taalay kyun laga kar baithay thay?” He asked when did the previous government turn this letter into a conspiracy. “When they knew they were going to lose in parliament. There is no question of a conspiracy whatsoever.”

    Karachi attack

    “The attack in Karachi University is a huge tragedy where three Chinese nationals died. China is our friend. I went to the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad for solidarity,” said PM. He added that Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah will go to Karachi on Wednesday (today) and help and coordinate with the Sindh government. “After our Saudi visit, we will hold a comprehensive meeting on security.”

    Afghanistan

    Afghanistan is not just our neighbour but our “baraadar mulk” (brother country). “If there is peace in Afghanistan, there will be peace in Pakistan. What is good for Afghanistan is good for Pakistan.”

    PTI resignations

    PM said that they have found out that many resignations were taken by force from PTI MNAs and were not given voluntarily. “We will know the truth when the legal process has been completed.” He was asked whether the government could convince PTI to take back its resignations to be an effective Opposition.

    PTI long march

    While answering a question about Imran Khan’s call for march to Islamabad, PM said that if they won’t do anything unlawful, nothing will happen to them but he won’t allow anyone to spread anarchy on the roads.

    Pak Army

    The PM said that the Pak Army has given a lot of sacrifices for this country. “It is wrong to say anything negative about Pakistan’s army. It is condemnable,” said the PM when responding to a question about social media trends against the army.