Tag: Punjab

  • Govt considers reopening marriage halls in Punjab from September

    Govt considers reopening marriage halls in Punjab from September

    The Punjab government has considered reopening marriage halls in the province from the first week of September after country-wide protests by halls association against continuous closure of businesses during the coronavirus pandemic.

    According to reports, the Marriage Halls Association on Monday threatened to march towards the Chief Minister House in Karachi if they were not allowed to restart their businesses under suggested coronavirus SOPs.

    Head of the Marriage Halls Association Rana Raees said that wedding halls remained closed till date due to the coronavirus spread.

    “The government has allowed other businesses to reopen under devised SOPs. However they remain reluctant to allow marriage halls to operate,” he said.

    He said that they had given a sample to the government to reopen marriage halls while following the SOPs.

    “We have gone bankrupt due to the ongoing financial crisis amid the pandemic,” said Raees and demanded the government to allow halls to resume their work under SOPs.

    He also warned that if the ban will continue then they could extend the scope of their protest and could march towards the chief minister’s house for the fulfilment of their demands.

    Following the protests, the Punjab government announced that the marriage halls will be allowed to operate in the province from the first week of September if the coronavirus situation improves in the province.

    Provincial Minister for Commerce Mian Aslam Iqbal reached out to the protesting owners of the wedding halls outside the Punjab Assembly.

    “You will be allowed to arrange wedding functions from the first week of September,” he said adding that he would meet their representatives for outsourcing functions after two days.

    The protestors, however, refused to accept his offer and demanded to immediately reopen activities of the marriage halls.

    https://twitter.com/GOPunjabPK/status/1283036958575517700?s=20
  • Man’s fourth wife beats him for marrying a minor for fifth time

    Man’s fourth wife beats him for marrying a minor for fifth time

    A resident of Okara allegedly married a minor after which he was mishandled by his previous wife in public.

    According to reports, the man named Jamal was getting married for the fifth time to a 13-year-old girl. He had already married and divorced four women in the past. The woman who assaulted Jamal claimed that she was his fourth wife.

    The fourth wife had brought along marriage and divorce documents of Jamal’s previous marriages.

    She said that the man has had a history of such short-term marriages and had a reputation for marrying and divorcing women after a few days.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtCHlBcmaWA
  • 105-year-old Pakistani man recovers from COVID-19

    105-year-old Pakistani man recovers from COVID-19

    A 105-year-old man in Punjab has been discharged from hospital after successfully fighting against COVID-19.

    According to reports, the recovered man has served in the Pakistan Army. Fazal Rauf was tested positive and had been isolated in the hospital since then.

    Rauf was tested for the virus again on Thursday and test results came out negative. He was shifted back to his home on Friday and his condition is stable.

    The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases are 234,482 so far in the country.

  • Punjab Police wants to ban PUBG after 2 suicides

    Punjab Police wants to ban PUBG after 2 suicides

    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.

    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.

  • PTI MPA removed from Punjab information body after ‘leaked calls discussing PM, his wife, others’

    PTI MPA removed from Punjab information body after ‘leaked calls discussing PM, his wife, others’

    Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) MPA Uzma Kardar, who had earlier made headlines for her mention in Reham Khan’s notorious book, was on Monday removed from an information body of the Punjab government hours after she was allegedly heard discussing Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, First Lady Bushra Bibi, Punjab Chief Minister (CM) Usman Buzdar, Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak among others in a series of leaked phone calls.

    According to a notification issued by Punjab Information Minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan, Kardar was removed from the provincial government’s Media Strategy Committee. No reason was, however, given in the notification, a copy of which is available with The Current.

    The sacking comes hours after journalist Mansoor Ali Khan said a call recording of someone from the present government could surface very soon and become very embarrassing for the PTI government.

    It was followed by audio clips doing rounds over the internet.

    While Kardar could allegedly be heard discussing PM Imran and the first lady in one recording, she allegedly made outrageous claims regarding Buzdar, Khattak, Punjab Child Protection Bureau Chairperson Sarah Ahmad, “dirty politics” inside the PTI, Punjab Info Minister Fayazul Hasan Chohan and PTI’s allied Pakistan Muslim League (PML), in other leaked audio clips.

    The Current does not endorse any of the recordings or other content available when the above-embedded links are accessed but is committed to keeping our followers aware of whatever is going on.

    While the PTI lawmaker was not available for a comment, the audio has drawn mixed reactions as many question the motive behind the leaks.

    Among others, Mansoor has also questioned who recorded the phone calls and why.

    Meanwhile, reports claim that legal action will also soon be initiated against the PTI lawmaker.

  • Sale banned as Punjab govt mulls using Actemra to treat COVID-19

    Sale banned as Punjab govt mulls using Actemra to treat COVID-19

    The provincial authorities in Punjab have imposed a complete ban on the sale of Actemra injection in the open market as they mull treating critical COVID-19 patients with it.

    The Corona Experts Advisory Group has issued standard operating procedures (SOPs) with regard to the use of the Actemra injection.

    According to the SOPs, Actemra injection will be used on trial basis at some hospitals, initially for 500 critically ill patients admitted in ICUs.

    The experts advisory group will approve the hospitals that will treat patients with Actemra injection. The group will witness the trial of the injection in government hospitals.

    The Punjab Healthcare Commission will monitor the use of the injection at private hospitals and a committee of the hospital will approve the use of Actemra injection.

    A private company will issue this injection after approval of a specific profarma, sources said. The needy patients will be issued this injection 24 hours. The hospital and the company will keep the record of the use of injection.

    The data of recoveries and deaths after use of Actemra injection will also be compiled, sources said.

    The Punjab Healthcare Commission will be competent authority to audit the company and the hospital over usage of the injection. And this record will be submitted to the experts advisory group.

    The Punjab government has recently approved the use of Actemra, a life-saving drug, for treating critically ill Covid-19 patients in the wake of a sudden rise in the death rate reported by state-run hospitals across the province.

    The 400mg injectable drug — an interleukin-6 inhibitor which goes by the generic name of tocilizumab — will be prescribed to patients who develop lung complications and an abnormal level of IL-6 in the blood. The IL-6 is an endogenous chemical which causes inflammation.

    Actemra injections had reportedly given encouraging results in highly critical coronavirus patients.

  • Are Punjab’s hospitals ready to continue dealing with COVID-19?

    Are Punjab’s hospitals ready to continue dealing with COVID-19?

    An additional burden has been placed on hospitals due to the sharp increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases across the country, including Punjab where the number of coronavirus cases is way past 38,000 and is likely to cross the 40,000 mark by tomorrow (Tuesday).

    But while Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid says the “situation is still not alarming” and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister (SAPM) on Health Dr Zafar Mirza says authorities have “ample resources to deal with coronavirus patients so far”, here’s what the situation in the country’s most populous province looks like:

    No. of Hospitals No. of Beds No. of HDUs (High Dependency Units) No. of Ventilators
    249 9644 944 568

    The Punjab government has allocated 249 hospitals for COVID-19 patients with 9,644 beds, of which 53 hospitals (21.2%) are private. According to data provided to The Current by Punjab Health Department, 7,346 beds are vacant so far across the province as most people are choosing to quarantine themselves at home amid reports of the dreadful conditions at government facilities.

    While the availability of beds is not yet an issue, other necessities do not seem up to the mark.

    As per estimated stats, almost 2,272 (7.3%) patients in the province are admitted to different hospitals. Of the total 2,272, at least 497 (21.8%) patients are in Intensive Care Units (ICUs) or HDUs, which means they are in a critical condition.

    Almost 1,500 beds were allocated by the government for ICUs and HDUs, of which 473 (30%) are at private hospitals, or so the authorities claim.

    When contacted by The Current, Lahore’s Shalamar Hospital, which according to official claims is supposed to be treating at least five coronavirus patients, refused to share any details pertaining to treatment or costs, saying no infected persons were being treated by the hospital. The response received from Sargodha’s Central Hospital was not that different either, even though the government claims to have mandated it to treat at least three patients.

    By the time this report was filed, 21% of patients admitted to hospitals were reported to be critically ill. If a mere 5% of patients visiting hospitals need HDUs or ventilators, within the next two weeks, the healthcare system of the country’s most populous province could collapse, suggests the current number of life-saving facilities available in Punjab.

  • Public parks in Lahore reopen after 75-day closure

    A large number of people in Lahore have visited various public parks of the city after they were opened for the general public today.

    As per reports, the public parks of the city have been opened after 75-day closure amid coronavirus outbreak in the city.

    The people adopted the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the provincial government to curb the virus spread.

    On Thursday, the Punjab government had decided to reopen public parks in the provincial capital Lahore from May 5 (today).

    The Director-General of Parks and Horticulture Authority (PHA), Muzaffar Khan Sial, had announced that the provincial government decided to reopen public parks in Lahore. The parks will be open from 6 am to 9 pm.

    Sial had added that the parks will be reopened under the standard operating procedures (SOPs) finalised by the provincial health department. The citizens will only be allowed to enter into the parks after wearing face masks and gloves.

    DG PHA urged the citizens to strictly follow precautionary measures and social distancing while visiting the public parks.

  • Private schools association demands reopening of schools from June 1

    Private schools association demands reopening of schools from June 1

    The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) has demanded the government to reopen educational institutes in the country from June 1.

    As per reports, APPSF office-bearers, teachers and owners of school also took out rallies in various areas of Punjab to protest against shutting down the schools for too long.

    The protestors, who raised the slogan of “Education for All”, requested the Chief Justice of Pakistan, the army chief, the prime minister and the provincial authorities to open the schools on June 1 after issuing the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

    In Lahore, the people gathered outside the Civil Secretariat to protest against Punjab Minister for School Education Murad Raas. 

    “We are unable to pay the teachers,” the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) President Kashif Mirza said at a press conference in Lahore. “We must be allowed to open schools from June 1.”

    He described the concept of online education as a “flopped project”.

    He further said the closure of schools till July 15 would result in the permanent closure of 50 percent of the private schools and around one million people would lose their jobs. He said even the worst-hit countries were letting educational institutions work.

    “We have formulated SOPs following international standards,” he said, suggesting the government to talk with them. He demanded that the government announce a relief package for private schools.

    Educational institutes in Pakistan have been closed since March. The measure was taken to curb the spread of coronavirus

    The number of reported coronavirus cases in Pakistan has gone to 66,457. The virus has claimed 1,395 lives in the country so far.

  • Indian Air Force’s MiG-29 fighter jet crashes 117 km from Lahore, in Jalandhar

    Indian Air Force’s MiG-29 fighter jet crashes 117 km from Lahore, in Jalandhar

    A MiG-29 interceptor of the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Friday crashed during a training mission near Punjab’s Jalandhar — 117 kilometres (km) from the provincial capital of Pakistan province of Punjab. The pilot ejected safely and was soon taken away in a rescue helicopter, the IAF said in a statement.

    “The aircraft had developed a technical snag and the pilot ejected safely as he was unable to control the aircraft. The pilot has been rescued by a helicopter. A court of inquiry has been ordered to investigate the cause of the accident,” the IAF said.

    The MiG-29 is a Soviet-era fast interceptor that has seen action in the Kargil war in 1999. It has also been used to escort other jets on bombing missions from incoming “bandits” or enemy fighter jets.

    The IAF operates over 60 MiG-29s, all of which have been upgraded with advanced avionics and better weapons to convert them into multi-role jets that can perform air-to-air and air-to-ground missions equally well.

    The Soviet-made jet had taken off from Adampur Air Force Station near Jalandhar which is the second-largest military airbase of India. The No. 47 and No 203 Squadrons of the IAF are stationed at this base. Adampur Base played a crucial role in the Indo-Pak War of 1965 as it is within 100 km from the Indo-Pak border.

    On February 26 last year, another variant of the jet — the MiG-21 fighters were up against much more modern Pakistani jets during aerial skirmishes.

    Indian planes had crossed the line of control and claimed to have bombed what New Dehli described as a terrorist training camp near Balakot. Islamabad had denied the Indian side of the story and provided sufficient evidence to back up its argument.

    A day later, Pakistani F-16s and other planes had crossed the line of control to attack Indian forces, New Delhi claimed. Indian MiG-21s were scrambled to intercept when  Islamabad shot down two MiG-21s of the IAF. An Indian Air Force MiG-21 pilot, Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman, was captured by Pakistani security forces.

    He was later released as what Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan had said was a goodwill gesture.