New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has cancelled her wedding as the nation imposes new restrictions to slow the community spread of the Covid-19 Omicron variant, she told reporters on Sunday. New Zealand will impose mask rules and limit gathering from midnight on Sunday after a cluster of nine Covid-19 Omicron cases showed community spread from the North to South islands after a wedding. A family returned to Nelson in the South Island by plane after attending a wedding and other events in Auckland in the North Island. The family and a flight attendant tested positive. New Zealand will move…
Author: Hasnain Abid Khanzada
For five years, Sajad Gul wrote about conflict wracking his homeland, a disputed Himalayan territory where a freedom struggle and India’s brutal counterinsurgency have raged for over three decades. That changed on a snowy Wednesday night in January with a knock at his house. Gul was surrounded by Indian soldiers wielding automatic rifles who bundled him into a vehicle and sped away, ploughing through the snow-laden track in Hajin, a quiet village about 20 miles from Srinagar, the region’s main city, said his mother, Gulshana, who only uses one name. Journalists have long contended with various threats in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK) and…
Human rights and the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, where hunger threatens millions, will be in focus at talks opening Sunday in Oslo between the Taliban, the West and members of Afghan civil society. In their first visit to Europe since returning to power in August, the Taliban will meet Norwegian officials as well as representatives of the United States, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and the European Union. The Taliban delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. On the agenda will be “the formation of a representative political system, responses to the urgent humanitarian and economic crises, security…
any living in Karachi associated the city’s Aladdin Park with summer fun. Every year, as the sun scorched the city, scores of Karachiites would make their way to the amusement and water park. Its facade was built to resemble the castle in Aladdin’s Agrabah — a (fictional) city ‘of mystery, of enchantment and the finest merchandise…’ But, it turned out, the merchandise at the Aladdin Mall was being sold at an illegal structure built on amenity land, meant for a public park rather than any commercial activity. Last summer, some unusual scenes unfolded at Aladdin Park. Instead of cars and…
LAHORE: The opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has rejected the offer of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to join hands with the government for the creation of a south Punjab province, advising him to take up the bills the PML-N submitted in the provincial and national assemblies on the issue and get them passed. Mr Qureshi told reporters in Multan on Saturday that he had written to Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan Peoples’ Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, asking them to join the efforts of the ruling party to create south Punjab province. “PML-N president Shehbaz…
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ) has challenged before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) the definition of ‘journalist’ as well as Section 6 of the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act, 2021. PFUJ Secretary General Nasir Zaidi filed the writ petition in the Islamabad High Court through Journalists’ Defence Committee (JDC) of Pakistan Bar Council (PBC). The petition contended that Section 6 of the said Act was neither in consonance with the preamble of the Protection of Journalists and Media Professionals Act, 2021 nor with the Constitution of Pakistan. According to the petition, “this provision violates the…
ISLAMABAD: Four policemen were suspended after a case was registered against them for kidnapping and extorting Rs1 million from three citizens. One of the officials has been arrested and the others have gone into hiding. Besides, three other policemen were suspended for taking bribe from a motorist. A police spokesman said both the incidents were directly reported to Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Mohammad Ahsan Younas by the victims at an open court. Three capital police officials also suspended for taking bribe from motorist, says spokesman Irfanullah, a native of Khyber district of KP, complained to the IGP that…
ISLAMABAD: While over 200 employees of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) are currently infected with Covid-19, the hospital administration has directed each of the outpatient departments (OPDs) to check a maximum of 100 patients daily. A filter clinic has also been established outside the hospital to avoid entry of infected persons into the premises. Moreover, the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) has been requested to provide 1,000 rapid antigen test (RAT) kits on a daily basis to the hospital. On the other hand, doctors have said unvaccinated people should not be treated at the cost of healthcare workers.…
ISLAMABAD: The District Health Office (DHO) on Saturday requested the district administration to seal 30 streets in different parts of the capital following emergence of Covid-19 cases. District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Zaeem Zia, when contacted, told Dawn that the Deputy Commissioner Office was approached with a request to restrict movements in 30 streets located in different sectors and housing societies. The request was made on the basis of surveillance activities of the District Health Office and the Covid-19 test results from public and private labs/hospitals, he added. The streets which need to be sealed are streets 13 and 79 of G-6/4…
ISLAMABAD: The first Sub-National Immunisation Days (SNIDs) campaign of the year 2022 will start from today (Sunday) in which over 22.4 million children, under the age of five years, will be vaccinated against polio. The campaign will be held in all the four provinces, covering 70 districts across Pakistan. However, the vaccination drive was started in six high-risk districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Jan 17. According to a statement, over 150,000 trained and dedicated “Sehat Muhafiz” will be engaged in the vaccination drive to inoculate the targeted children at their doorstep. This will help build general immunity among susceptible children…
