Tag: Sindh government

  • Sindh Education Ministry denies Fatima Bhutto’s allegations of Sajawal ghost school with photos

    The Ministry of Education & Literacy Department of Sindh has responded to a tweet by Fatima Bhutto that criticised the provincial government for corruption.

    In her tweet, Bhutto had posted a picture of an old and derelict building, referring to it as a ghost school located in Sajawal. She alleged that the ghost school was empty due to the corruption of the Sindh government.

    The Sindh government responded by stating that a new building for the said school has been built 300 meters away from the abandoned building.

    “It is again shared for your record that this is an abandoned structure built around 5 decades back, the new building has been built, some 300 meters near with three rooms and a lavatory block which is functioning smoothly. The pics are given for ready reference,” read the tweet by the Sindh Government. In the attached picture, a school building can be seen while in another photo, two toilets inside the school are visible.

    “In Feb, I posted about the Sajawal govt ghost school that was empty and growing weeds out of its windows thanks to the rampant corruption of the Sindh government -if it can even be called that, since they don’t do even the barest minimum,” alleged Fatima in her tweet.

    “An update: it’s still empty and still a ghost school two months later even though an official came to visit after @BhuttoZulfikar and I wrote about it. Nothing has been done. What teachers are registered as working here? They’re taking government salaries. We should know their names,”she added.

    Fatima Bhutto had further said that It’s still empty and still a ghost school two months later even though an official came to visit after @BhuttoZulfikar and I wrote about it. Nothing has been done. What teachers are registered as working here? They’re taking govt salaries. We should know their names.

  • World AIDS Day: PM vows to end stigma attached with HIV

    Prime Minister (PM) Shehbaz Sharif has shared a message on World AIDS Day, calling the increasing incidence of HIV “deeply worrying”.

    From his twitter, the Premier wrote, “The increasing incidence of HIV & AIDS among the children & adolescents is deeply worrying. I urge the Ministry of Health to focus on awareness about testing, prevention & treatment to fight scourge. On World AIDS Day today, let us all vow to end the stigma attached with HIV.”

    The number of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections is on the rise in the country, particularly in Sindh and Islamabad.

    Sindh government on Monday announced launching a mobile application for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) screening test.

  • Sindh government approves Rs46 billion for reconstruction of roads damaged due to flood

    Sindh government approves Rs46 billion for reconstruction of roads damaged due to flood

    On Friday, the Sindh government approved a budget of Rs. 46 billion to restore streets and highways in the province’s flood-affected areas, Mudassir Nazir has reported for Samaa.

    Syed Murad Ali Shah, the Chief Minister (CM) of Sindh, presided over a high-level provincial meeting on Friday at the CM House where the budget was approved.

    The CM has said that as part of the approval, 1,473 kilometers of roads that were destroyed by floods will be rebuilt throughout Sindh.

    The meeting was informed that Dadu and Jamshoro areas, where the damage was worst, would receive the lion’s share of the allocation for road restoration.

    Additionally, it was revealed that the project’s funding had been approved by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The provincial administration of Sindh was also informed that the documentation needed to obtain the grant from ADB was being prepared.

    There is no funding included in this project for the restoration and repair of the rain-damaged roads in Karachi division.

  • Heavy rains: Schools, colleges to remain closed in Sindh on Aug 24 and 25

    Heavy rains: Schools, colleges to remain closed in Sindh on Aug 24 and 25

    The Sindh government has announced the closure of schools and colleges for two days — August 24 and 25 — due to heavy rain forecast.

    Sindh Education Minister Sardar Shah announced that due to heavy rains, the government has declared a two-day holiday for schools and colleges in the province.
    Karachi Board of Intermediate has also postponed all exams scheduled for August 24 and 25. In addition, Deputy Commissioners in Badin and Sukkur districts have issued notifications to keep educational institutes shut for four days till August 27.

    The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) released an advisory yesterday forecasting more rains in the country during the week. The PMD has warned that heavy rains may generate urban flooding in Karachi, Hyderabad, Tando Jam, Thatta, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, Khairpur, Shaheed Benazirabad, Dadu, Naushahro Feroz, Larkana, Jacobabad and Sukkur on August 24 and 25.

  • Schools and colleges to remain closed in Sindh today due to rain

    Schools and colleges to remain closed in Sindh today due to rain

    The Government of Sindh has announced a public holiday in Karachi and Hyderabad today (August 18, Thursday) due to heavy rainfall.

    The decision has been taken amid heavy rainfall in most parts of the province.

    The Board of Intermediate Education Karachi (BIEK) has also rescheduled its annual exams for August 18.

    In its latest forecast on torrential monsoon rains and urban flooding in Sindh and Balochistan, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) advised authorities to remain on high alert.

  • Update: Sindh High Court restrains police from exhuming Aamir Liaquat’s body, Bushra gets emotional

    Update: Sindh High Court restrains police from exhuming Aamir Liaquat’s body, Bushra gets emotional

    Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain was found dead on Thursday at his residence. Aamir’s son Ahmed and daughter Dua Aamir refused the postmortem of their father. His funeral prayers will be held today.

    The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday restrained the police from exhuming his body for a post-mortem examination to determine the “actual cause of his death”.

    Following Hussain’s sudden death on June 9, the police had said an autopsy would be conducted but performed only a preliminary examination before relinquishing custody of the body to his family after they refused an autopsy. He was buried the following day.

    His ex-wife Syeda Bushra Iqbal on Wednesday could not control her emotions and her eyes filled with tears after hearing the Sindh High Court’s ruling about suspending the orders for the exhumation of Hussain’s body for an autopsy.

    In a video, Bushra Iqbal can be seen with tears in her eyes while standing with her daughter in the corridor of the SHC.

    A two-member bench of the SHC suspended the judicial magistrate’s order. Aamir Liaquat’s children, Ahmed Aamir and Dua Aamir had moved the court against the order.

    Last week, a Karachi judicial magistrate had ordered authorities to conduct a post-mortem on the televangelist’s body after which a six-member medical board was constituted for the purpose on June 23.

    However, Hussain’s children, Ahmad and Duaa filed a petition in the SHC expressing that they were “aggrieved” and “dissatisfied” at the judicial magistrate’s “baseless and meritless” order and appealed for it to be dismissed.

    When the news of the Aalim Online star’s demise surfaced, his third wife In a video message was seen weeping and pleading to “meet her husband for the last time”. She, however, asked the provincial government to “provide her security” so she could visit Karachi. 

    She further claimed that the couple was about to reconcile, adding that she had no idea that Hussain would “leave her behind” and bid farewell to the world. 

    Expressing her sorrows, Dania once again appealed to CM Punjab to allow her to be a part of Hussain’s last rites. 

    The PTI leader was found unconscious at his home in Khudad Colony in Karachi and was shifted to a private hospital in critical condition.

    Hussain, 50, reportedly felt chest discomfort the night before but refused to go to the hospital. His employee, Javed, said he heard Hussain scream in the morning. 

    The TV personality’s domestic staff broke down his room’s door when they did not receive any reply from him. When rushed to the hospital, doctors said he had already passed away by the time he reached the facility. 

    He was found unresponsive at his house and was rushed to Aga Khan University Hospital.

     The post-mortem examination of the politician was going to be conducted at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.

    Liaquat had won the elections from National Assembly constituency NA-245 Karachi-I East-IV in 2018.

    Earlier this year in April Liaquat was taken to the emergency room of a hospital in Karachi, when he complained of a heart ailment, with people speculating it was a heart attack.

  • PPP plans protest against PTI in Islamabad, PTI retaliates with own protest in Sindh

    PPP plans protest against PTI in Islamabad, PTI retaliates with own protest in Sindh

    Addressing a press conference in Karachi, federal Minister for Marine Affairs Ali Haider Zaidi along with federal Minister for Planning and Development and Special Initiatives Asad Umar, said that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) will launch a mass movement from February 26 from Ghotki towards Karachi, a day before Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) planned long march towards Islamabad on February 27.

    The PTI leaders said that the march would lead to the fall of the “Zardari mafia” and put PTI in charge of the provincial government in 2023.

     “Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan is clear about this and confident that this bandit rule in Sindh should end. And for that, the PTI Sindh is going to launch a massive movement from February 26 to reach out to every single person in the province and unite the people against this unjust rule of corruption and bad governance,” said Zaidi.

    “The PPP government has only promoted the culture of corruption, bribery, and incompetence. From water supply to farmers to jobs for youngsters, every segment of life is marred by corruption,” said Zaidi.

    “The PPP administration in Sindh is not a government but a mafia”, said Zaidi, adding that the key example of this corrupt system was the chief minister, who was actually an accountant of former president Asif Ali Zardari and was given the role only to serve his master.

    Earlier this month, PPP Chairperson Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari announced that he will lead a “long march” against the PTI government from Karachi to Islamabad on February 27.

    Bilawal said that the nation wants to get rid of the “selected” government and a transparent election is the only solution.

  • Jamaat-e-Islami calls off sit-in protest in Karachi

    Jamaat-e-Islami calls off sit-in protest in Karachi

    Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) has called off its sit-in protest in Karachi after the Sindh government agreed to the revisions in the Sindh Local Government Act of 2013 after negotiations successfully concluded between them.

    Both parties have signed the written agreement according to which the health and education institutions will be again transferred to the local bodies, said Sindh Minister for Local Government, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah.

    While addressing the sit-in protestors, Nasir Shah announced that the provincial government will bring amendments to the Local Government law. The notification will be issued in one to two weeks by the Sindh government.

    Both parties also agreed to establish the Provincial Finance Commission, with the mayor and town chairman as members of the commission. It will be awarded once the representatives of the Local Government take power to the authority.

    The mayor and chairman will be responsible for the Building Control Authority and other development authorities.

    The educational institute, Medical and Dental College will be given back to the Karachi Municipality.

    The Solid Waste Management Board will be in control of Mayor Karachi.

    Later on, JI Karachi Chief, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman announced that there would be no sit-in protests in different areas of the city.

    He said, “With the implementation of this agreement with the Sindh government, we have to get some issues resolved by the federation.”

    JI party has been staging sit-in protests for the past 29 days in Karachi. On January 23, Karachi Chief of JI, Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman warned that the party will block five entrance points to Karachi if their demands were not met.

    Both parties reached an agreement after several protesters of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) got injured from tear gas shelling and police mishandling including the death of one worker on Wednesday. The MQM was attempting to reach the CM House for a sit-in against the Local Government Act.

    The police, however, baton-charged the crowd and used teargas shells in an attempt to dissuade them from entering the red zone.

  • Factcheck: Sindh is not closing down schools, offices because of Covid

    Factcheck: Sindh is not closing down schools, offices because of Covid

    A notification circulating all over social media stating that schools and offices are being closed until January 31 is fake. The notice was allegedly issued by the provincial government. However, the spokesperson of the Sindh government, Murtaza Wahab has denied that the provincial government issued any notification on the lockdown and closure of schools.

    Murtaza Wahab also said previously, in a high-level meeting, that the provincial government does not want to take strict action and requested people to follow precautionary measures to avoid the spread of the virus.

    The emergence of cases related to the omicron variant of coronavirus have exceeded 50 percent in the province, especially in Karachi.

    Meanwhile, the Sindh Minister for Health, Dr Azra Pechuho said on Thursday that the lockdown could be imposed after assessing the cases of omicron variant which is increasing steadily day by day.

    She also revealed that 500 cases have been reported during the last 24 hours which shows a widespread increase of the new strain of coronavirus.

  • Door-to-door vaccination for women to start as Omicron spreads in Karachi

    Door-to-door vaccination for women to start as Omicron spreads in Karachi

    In view of the rapid spread of Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron variant in Karachi, the Sindh government has decided to deploy lady health workers (LHWs) and female vaccinators for door-to-door vaccination in the province. The government took the decision when it was discovered that most stay-at-home women are still unvaccinated, officials said on Thursday.

    “We have decided to send LHWs and female vaccinators to each and every house in Sindh to vaccinate people, especially women, against Covid-19 because most of the non-working women in Karachi, as well as other major cities and rural areas of Sindh, have been found to be unvaccinated,” MPA Qasim Soomro, Parliamentary Health secretary in the provincial assembly, told The News.

    Soomro ruled out any discussion within the government about tough measures and Covid-19-related curbs as they were placed during previous waves of the pandemic but called for an aggressive vaccination campaign to avoid harsh measures.

    “Vaccination of women against Covid-19 has largely been ignored by the heads of their families, especially those women who are housewives and don’t work in public and private sector offices and businesses. This section of the population is most affected due to Covid-19, especially the Omicron variant, which is targeting unvaccinated population very easily.”

    “Training of LHWs and female vaccinators is underway, and hopefully, they will be trained in vaccinating people by the end of this week. Door-to-door vaccination against Covbid-19 will hopefully commence by the start of next week.”