Punjab Police wants to ban the popular video game ‘Players Unknown’s Battlegrounds’ (PUBG) after two young people in Lahore committed suicide over the game.
According to reports, a 16-year-old boy took his own life on Tuesday when his parents stopped him from playing PUBG. His parents called the Hanjarwal police in Gulshan-e-Abbas’s Phase 2 when they found his body.
The parents refused to allow a post-mortem autopsy. Police have registered this as a case of suicide and further investigation is in process.
In a similar incident, another 20-year-old boy also committed suicide in Saddar Bazaar in North Cantonment when his parents told him to stop playing the online game.
As per reports, Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of Police (Operations Wing) Lahore, Ashfaq Khan has decided to write a letter to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to ban PUBG.
— DIG Operations Lahore (@digopslahore) June 23, 2020
PUBG is a battle royale game developed by a South Korean company. The game involves multiple players that are connected online as they face off and kill each other to become the last survivor.
A day after testing positive for coronavirus at Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Mohammad Hafeez says he has tested negative at a private facility.
On Tuesday, Hafeez was announced as one of ten Pakistani national cricket team players who tested positive for the virus as the entire 29-man squad due to fly out to England on June 28 underwent COVID-19 testing.
Hafeez, however, got himself tested from a different lab in Lahore for a “second opinion” for him and his family. That result, he said in a tweet, was negative.
All of PCB’s tests were conducted by Shaukat Khanum Laboratory.
Other players who tested positive for the virus include Fakhar Zaman, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan, and Wahab Riaz.
Apart from the seven players, one support personnel — the masseur — also contracted the illness after the cricket body had 35 tests carried out for COVID-19 in Karachi, Lahore, and Peshawar.
Pakistan’s Test and limited-overs squads will tour England for three Tests and three T20 internationals.
England director of cricket Ashley Giles has said that the tour is expected to go ahead.
In a first, a ceremony was held to start construction of a Hindu temple in the federal capital, Dawn reported.
According to reports, a crematorium will also be built in Islamabad for the Hindu community, members of which earlier had to travel out of the city to perform religious rituals.
The Krishna temple will be constructed on a 20,000 sq ft plot in the H-9 sector, and has been named Shri Krishna Mandir by the Islamabad Hindu Panchayat.
According to Religious Affairs Minister Pir Noorul Haq Qadri, the government will bear the construction cost, presently estimated to be Rs100,000,000.
Parliamentary Secretary on Human Rights Lal Chand Malhi had on Tuesday performed the groundbreaking ceremony for the temple.
While addressing the gathering at the ceremony, Malhi mentioned the presence of pre-1947 era temple structures in the capital and its adjoining areas, including one in Saidpur Village and at the hill point overlooking the Korang River near Rawal Lake. However, they have been abandoned and not used.
“Besides, there is no crematorium in Islamabad,” he said, adding the Hindu population in Islamabad had increased significantly in two decades, therefore, the temple was necessary.
“The Hindu community in Islamabad has been demanding a temple for a long time now. The population has also increased while many Hindu temple structures in the capital have been abandoned,” he said. “Besides, there is no crematorium in Islamabad.”
The plot on which the temple is being built was allotted to the Hindu Panchayat by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in 2017. However, the construction work could not begin on time because of some formalities, like the site map’s approval by the CDA and other authorities.
A 9-year-old boy stole a car from the Karachi’s Sea View area and drove it until it ran out of fuel. The Darakhshan police caught the boy but later released him with a warning and allowed him to go with his parents.
As per reports, the child had stolen the car from Khayaban-e-Mujahid. His act was caught on the closed-circuit television (CCTV) and footage of the incident went viral on social media.
The boy is the resident of Machar Colony. Police officials said that the minor boy liked driving and had stolen a few motorcycles in the past. They added that he would drive vehicles until the fuel ran out after which he leaves them where they stop.
According to police, the little boy’s father is a drug addict. Police noted that they have warned the boy and let him go.
Federal Education Minister on Monday said the government was considering reopening of schools under the implementation of COVID-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
Talking to the mediaafter a meeting at the minister’s office, the minister said suggestions had been taken from the private schools and Madaris of all provinces, including Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.
Mahmood said a meeting had also been arranged with the Ministry of Health in this regard, and that the decision would be taken keeping in view the NCOC data. He said the education ministry also discussed with those countries that had opened schools under various SOPs through UNICEF.
The minister said according to the Gallup Survey, around 70% of parents were willing to send their children to school under COVID-19 SOPs.
“We want to end the uncertainty on the basic important issue like education,” he said.
The minister hinted at holding a press conference on the issue to take parents into confidence after the preparation of a road map.
While the Provincial Minister of Punjab for School Education took to Twitter and stated that there is no definite date announced for reopening of schools in the province.
There is NO definite date for opening of Schools in Punjab. FAKE NEWS is being spread around. Right now we are working on SOPs which will be required when the schools open. We are preparing now rather than later unlike previous Governments used to do (Last Minute). Safety # 1.
Deputy Commissioner Islamabad Hamza Shafqat has announced that following a sharp rise in cases in Sector G-6/2, G-6/1, G-10/4, G-7/2 and Ghori Town, the areas will be sealed in next 36 hours. The DC asked residents to plan their activities accordingly.
We are about to seal Sector G-6/2, G-6/1, G-10/4, G-7/2 and Ghori Town in next 36 hours. There were more than 40 cases/area in last few days. There were more than 25 deaths reported. Residents are requested to please plan accordingly.
— Deputy Commissioner Islamabad (@dcislamabad) June 22, 2020
Earlier, Sector G-9/2, G-9/3 were also sealed to curb the coronavirus cases.
Lock down of Sector G-9/2, G-9/3 and Karachi Company is extended for another 3 days. Cases are being evaluated on daily basis. Surveillance teams have collected over 600 samples from suspected individuals since the lock down. My request is to plz cooperate ✅
— Deputy Commissioner Islamabad (@dcislamabad) June 20, 2020
While talking to the Arab News, Islamabad’s Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Hamza Shafqaat told that the number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan’s federal capital has significantly decreased in the wake of the smart lockdown in the city.
10,912 coronavirus cases have been reported in Islamabad so far.
Exactly a month after the fatal Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane crash in Model Colony, Karachi, the preliminary investigation report was presented to Prime Minister Imran Khan today. Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan met the prime minister and briefed him on the investigation into the incident.
The crash claimed 97 lives and two survivors and according to Geo News, the report details that the air traffic control and the cockpit crew of the plane were responsible for the crash but it also says that the deterrents in place by PIA and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were not enough to avoid the plane crash and they also share equal responsibility of the crash.
The report has also stated that investigation into any technical failure is still on-going but no technical issues have been determined yet. It is pertinent to mention here that this is a preliminary one and the detailed report will take upto six months or a year.
Following the crash, the prime minister had ordered a probe into the incident to determine why the plane had crashed and Federal Minister for Aviation Ghulam Sarwar Khan had said that he would present the report to the national assembly today (June 22nd).
According to arecording of a Mayday call, the pilot told controllers the aircraft had lost power when he tried to land for the second time.
The aircraft had tried to land earlier but went around for a second attempt. According to the recording, an air traffic controller told the pilot that he might be off-course. The pilot told him that he had lost the engines. The pilot had been cleared to use any runway but called, “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday,” and the plane crashed minutes later.
After the aircraft reportedly called off an earlier attempt to land and went around for a second attempt, a controller radioed the pilot of flight 8303 that he appeared to be turning left, suggesting he was off-course.
The pilot replied, “We are returning back, sir, we have lost engines,” and the controller cleared the plane to land on either of Karachi airport’s two West-Southwest-facing runways.
Meanwhile, the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) have been been decoded in France and the inquiry committee has received a report.
A teenager accidentally shot himself while recording a TikTok video in Karachi’s Sikandarabad on Sunday.
As per reports, the deceased, who was 17 years old, was reportedly filming himself while holding his father’s pistol when he accidentally pulled the trigger, killing himself.
According to the Sachal police, the family declined a post-mortem. After the completion of medico-legal formalities, the body was handed over to the family. The police said that the pistol was licensed and belonged to the boy’s father.
Pakistani women have time and again proven that despite the country’s patriarchal setup, they can always be counted on to make a mark. Malala Yousafzai, the country’s second and the world’s youngest Nobel laureate, is continuing the legacy of Pakistan’s iconic women.
Malala graduated from Oxford University earlier this week. “Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my philosophy, politics and economics degree at Oxford. I don’t know what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep,” she tweeted.
Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford. I don’t know what’s ahead. For now, it will be Netflix, reading and sleep. pic.twitter.com/AUxN55cUAf
For someone so young, Malala has achieved what most of us cannot even imagine in our lifetimes. But it did not come easy; in fact, it was at a great personal cost. In 2009, Malala started writing a diary for BBC Urdu under the pen name ‘Gul Makai’. Swat Valley was under Taliban rule at the time. In one of the entries, she wrote, “I am sad watching my uniform, school bag and geometry box. I felt hurt on opening my wardrobe and seeing my uniform, school bag and geometry box. Boys’ schools are opening tomorrow. But the Taliban have banned girls’ education.”
Malala and her family received multiple threats from the Taliban even after their rule ended in Swat.
She was shot by the Taliban in October 2012 when she was on her way home from school in Swat. The Taliban tried to assassinate her because she had become an ambassador for girls’ education. The assassination attempt left her in a critical condition when she was taken to a hospital in Rawalpindi. She was later transferred to a hospital in the United Kingdom (UK).
Malala went on to become a global icon. From writing a diary under a pseudonym at an incredibly young age to surviving a brutal assassination attempt, her bravery makes one wonder about the determination and grit this young woman has shown over the years. Despite her success, Malala remains down to earth and humble. One can see that there is no pretense.
After her graduation, many are wondering what role she would take on in the future. It is for Malala to decide what is next but we can say with certainty that her future will not be anything ordinary. For an extraordinary woman like Malala, an ordinary job would obviously not do. She will always be a global ambassador for girls’ education and may well continue her work since it is a huge task indeed. Some speculate whether she will enter politics at some stage. Whatever she decides, we know she will continue to make Pakistan proud of her work.
The effects of poorly managed or no lockdowns at all are raising their ugly heads as Pakistanis has reached the 14th position in the global ranking of countries most affected by the new coronavirus — COVID-19 — with 165,062 cases, while it now ranks 6th among nations with the most number of active cases around the globe, as per Worldometers.
The World Health Organization (WHO) earlier this year warned that South Asia could become yet another new epicenter of the pandemic, however, despite the warning and rapidly increasing number of coronavirus cases, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan has only announced the imposition of “smart lockdowns” with only certain areas in worst-hit cities being put under restrictions.
The decision was taken keeping in view the consequent struggles of the poor, whom the government believes might not be able to survive a complete lockdown and its effects on the already deteriorating economic conditions.
While experts, including Dr Attaur Rahman of PM’s task force, believe the government has already failed to deal with the pandemic and is grossly under-reporting both COVID-19 fatalities and infections, the virus is yet to peak — by the end of July or August –, data suggests.
An analysis by The Current showed that before lockdown restrictions were eased in Pakistan ahead of Eidul Fitr, the highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases stood at 24,648 during the first week of May. The figure then crawled up to 122,574 by June 11, while the number of coronavirus cases as of this moment stands past 165,000 with thousands of cases being reported every day despite a low testing capacity.
It is estimated that the actual number of infections is very high with Lahore alone having more than 2 million cases by now.
Pakistan has experienced its largest month-wise jump since the pandemic began, with 69,910 cases being reported between May 6 to June 6. Earlier, 3,858 COVID-19 cases were recorded between March 6 and April 6 while 20,209 were reported between April 6 to May 6.
According to projections, the figure is likely to reach a million by August 6 if strict lockdowns aren’t imposed and social distancing guidelines are not followed.
A comparison with the best and worst managed lockdowns from across the globe also puts things into perspective.
Country
Outcome
New Zealand
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced a strict lockdown on March 25 when 100 people had tested positive and no deaths had been reported.
After a 76-day lockdown, New Zealand lifted all restrictions, declaring the country ‘corona free’ but borders remain closed. No new case for more than two weeks has been reported in the country except three suspected ones.
Wuhan
The capital of Hubei province of China was the origin of the deadly virus, where 11 million residents were locked up at their homes since January.
After an effective 77-day lockdown, Hubei reports zero COVID-19 infections and the country has reported zero coronavirus deaths since January.
On the other hand:
Country
Outcome
India
On March 25, India imposed a countrywide lockdown that was called a curfew by PM Narendra Modi. The development had come when 519 confirmed cases and 10 deaths had been reported across India.
A bit over two months later, with India easing lockdowns and shopping malls, restaurants as well as temples being re-opened, it has become the country with 4th highest number of coronavirus cases in the world.
Iran
Iran shut schools, postponed events and discouraged travel since the country reported its first COVID-19 death in February. Despite these measures, the number of deaths and infections continued to grow until a countrywide lockdown was imposed in March.
With the lockdown being eased from mid-April to May 26 when everything was reopened, including shopping malls, parks, religious shrines, restaurants and historical sites, the number of deaths has jumped to nearly 10,000 with over 200,000 infections.
By the time this report was filed, Sindh topped the chart with most infections in Pakistan (62,269), with Punjab trailing behind at 61,678, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) at 20,182, Islamabad at 9,941, Balochistan 8,998 and Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) at 1,225 and 769 infections, respectively.
