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that was enforced to curb the spread of the virus, as authorities reported another big jump of 1,140 cases which rose to 31,674 with 39 new fatalities. Besides coronavirus, the alleged scandal of imported drugs from India, the “weather update battle” with India were among the other issues that made news across the border.
Here is the weekly Pakistan round-up:
Pakistan’s coronavirus cases reach 31,674
Pakistan has reported 1,140 new coronavirus cases, taking the total number of infections in the country to 31,674, health authorities said on Tuesday.
Thirty-nine patients died in the last 24 hours taking the death tally to 706, the ministry said. So far, 8,555 patients have recovered.
On Saturday, Pakistan lifted the weeks-long lockdown that was enforced to curb the spread of the coronavirus. It has warned that it will reimpose the lockdown if people do not adhere to social distancing guidelines, which experts say could cause a peak later this month.
Although Pakistan has lifted curbs on several economic sectors and allowed business activities to reopen, schools will remain closed until July 15.
Imran Khan orders probe into alleged scandal of importing medicines from India: Report
Prime Minister Imran Khan has ordered a probe into the alleged scandal of importing over 450 medicines like vitamin tablets in the guise of buying life-saving drugs from India, according to media reports.
On August 9 last year, Pakistan suspended all trade ties with India following New Delhi’s decision to abrogate Article 370 on August 5, revoking the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.
However, later the government allowed the import of life-saving drugs and their raw materials when the pharmaceutical industry created hue and cry and warned that soon Pakistan could face a shortage of important drugs.
There were repeated allegations by the Opposition and reports in the media that the relaxation given by the government was being misused and demands were made that a probe should be ordered.
Prompted by the reports, Prime Minister Khan tasked his aide on accountability Shahzad Akbar to probe the import of over 450 medicines from India.
Dawn newspaper reported that a document of the ministry of national health services shows that a number of vitamins, drugs and salts were imported from India.
The document presented before the federal cabinet on May 5, states that the Prime Minister in his capacity as minister in-charge for MNHS sought a list of drugs being imported from India.
Pakistan’s state-run media starts providing weather update of J&K
Pakistan’s state-run media on Sunday started providing detailed weather update of Jammu and Kashmir, days after India started the coverage of weather of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
State-run Radio Pakistan on Sunday reported that in most parts of Jammu and Kashmir “partly cloudy weather is expected with chances of rain.” It reported the maximum and minimum temperatures of Srinagar, Pulwama, Jammu and Ladakh.
Radio Pakistan has special Kashmir coverage and a part of its webpage is dedicated to news from Jammu and Kashmir. The state-run Pakistan Television also gives coverage to news from Kashmir and runs special bulletin on the valley.
The coverage is expected to increase after the Indian media started showing weather forecast of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Pakistan rejects Indian counsel’s statements in Kulbushan Jadhav case
Last week, Pakistan said that it has “fully complied” with the ICJ’s judgment in the Kulbhushan Jadhav case, days after India’s lead counsel asserted that New Delhi had hoped it might be able to persuade Islamabad through “back channel” to release the Indian death -row convict.
Jadhav, the 49-year-old retired Indian Navy officer, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of “espionage and terrorism” in April 2017. Weeks later, India approved the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Pakistan for denial of consular access to Jadhav and challenging the death sentence.
Senior advocate Harish Salve was the lead counsel for India in the Jadhav case at the Hague-based ICJ which ruled in July last year that Pakistan must undertake an “effective review and reconsideration” of the conviction and sentence of Jadhav and also to grant consular access to India without further delay.
“We were hoping that through back channel, we may be able to persuade Pakistan to let him go. If they want to say on humanitarian ground or whatever, we want him back. We said let him go. Because it has become a big ego problem in Pakistan. So, we were hoping that they will let him go. They haven’t, “Salve said on May 3 while speaking online from London.
“We have written four-five letters. They just keep on denying. I think we have reached a point where we have to now decide whether we want to go back to ICJ for consequential directions because Pakistan has not moved ahead,” he said.
Responding to Salve’s remarks, Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Aisha Farooqui said Islamabad had noted the statements made by India’s legal counsel in the Jadhav case, according to the Express Tribune.
While suggesting that India may have to go back to ICJ, Salve has made certain statements which are contrary to the facts of the case, Farooqui said.
“We firmly reject the Indian Counsel’s baseless and inaccurate assertion that Pakistan has not complied with the ICJ’s judgment in the case. Pakistan has fully complied with the judgment and remains committed to continue doing so as the case proceeds further,” she said.
Pak anti-terror court seizes Afghan Taliban chief Mansour’s properties
A Pakistani anti-terrorism court has taken over slain Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour’s five properties, estimated to be worth over Rs 3.2 crore, for auction, according to a media report.
Mansour, who was killed in a drone strike along the Pakistan-Iran border on May 21, 2016, purchased the properties, including plots and houses, in Karachi using fake identities, Dawn newspaper reported.
He had assumed the leadership of the Taliban in July 2015, replacing its founder Mohammad Omar who died in 2013.
Islamabad-headquartered Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had booked him under the stringent Anti-Terrorism Act among other provisions.
Pakistan Air Force gets its first Hindu pilot
In a first, a Pakistani Hindu youth has become the first person from the minority community to join the Pakistan Air Force.
Rahul Dev has been recruited as a General Duty Pilot Officer, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said in a tweet.
Dev hails from Tharparkar district of Sindh province.
Sharing the picture of the young man, the PAF recently tweeted, “Good news during # COVID19 tense situation. Thar rocked again … Congratulations #RahulDev who hails from very remote village of Tharparkar has been selected as GD Pilot in #PAF.”
Though Dev’s exact age is not known, those induced in PAF at his level are often around 20.
The official Radio Pakistan said it is “for the first time in Pakistan’s history” that a Hindu youth has been recruited as a general duty pilot officer in PAF.
The Express Tribune in a report said the induction showed that the PAF was breaking barriers.
Missing Pakistan journalist found dead in Sweden
A Pakistan journalist living in exile in Sweden who has been missing since March has been found dead, police said last week. “His body was found on April 23 in the Fyris river outside Uppsala,” police spokesman Jonas Eronen said.
Sajid Hussain, from the troubled southwestern province of Balochistan, was working part-time as a professor in Uppsala, about 60 kilometers (35 miles) north of Stockholm, when he went missing on March 2.
He was also the chief editor of the Baluchistan Times, an online magazine he had set up, in which he wrote about drug trafficking, forced disappearances and a long-running insurgency.
“The autopsy has dispelled some of the suspicion that he was the victim of a crime,” Eronen said.
The police spokesman added that while a crime could not be completely ruled out, Hussain’s death could equally have been the result of an accident or a suicide.
Reporters without Borders said Hussain was last seen getting onto a train for Uppsala in Stockholm.
Hussain came to Sweden in 2017 and secured political asylum in 2019.
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