Sukkur irrigation land encroachment case moved to Karachi

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday approved a plea of the Sindh government seeking transfer of irrigation lands encroachment case to Karachi from Sukkur.

Chief Justice Ahmed Ali M. Shaikh granted the Sindh government’s plea and constituted a larger high court bench, comprised of Justice Iqbal Kalhoro, Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi and Justice Agha Faisal, to hear the case.

The Government of Sindh in its petition said that demolition of hundreds of thousands houses could create a human tragedy and pleaded for providing the people an alternate shelter before demolishing their homes.

“The high court’s Sukkur bench has ordered removal of encroachments from the irrigation lands on the banks of Indus river, while hundreds of thousands people have made their homes on the lands of the irrigation, forest and agriculture departments,” the government stated in its petition.

The high court’s order could affect the residents in Badin, Larkana, Hyderabad and other cities, according to the government’s plea.

“The government working on a plan to provide an alternate place to affected people,” Advocate General Sindh informed the court and sought transfer of the case to Karachi from Sukkur bench.

The government also sought formation of a larger bench to hear the public interest case.

The Chief Justice granted the government’s plea and constituted a larger bench, comprised of Justice Iqbal Kalhoro, Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi and Justice Agha Faisal, to hear the case.

Sindh High Court circuit bench Sukkur had on Tuesday ordered demolition of commercial buildings on the state land within 48 hours.

The bench expressed resentment over non-compliance of the court orders to remove encroachments from the land of the irrigation department.

The court questioned permissions granted for construction of buildings on the state land, and ordered arrest of the Assistant Director Building Control Authority Sukkur, Abdul Latif Jarwar.

Police arrested the building control official in the court premises, on the judicial orders.

The bench had ordered demolition of commercial structures built on the irrigation land in Sukkur on November 19.

Advocate General Sindh had pleaded the court to grant two-month time for the removal of illegal structures from the irrigation land.

The court, however, ordered to remove the commercial structure immediately and gave a month for removal of residential structures from the lands after proper arrangements for the affected people.

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More areas in punjab placed under smart lockdown

As many as 19 areas of Rawalpindi and three of Bahawalpur have been placed under smart lockdown owing to the rising COVID-19 cases, on Wednesday.

Secretary Healthcare Punjab Muhammad Usman has stated that “shopping malls, restaurants and public and private offices will remain closed in the affected areas”.

“Restrictions will be imposed on the movement of residents in these areas and only one person at a time would be allowed to leave home”, provincial healthcare department top official said.

“Public gatherings will be completely banned in the areas placed under lockdown,” he further said.

The secretary further stated that shops dealing in grocery, general stores, flour, will remain open from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm in these specified areas, milk shops, chicken, meat and fish vendors and bakeries will be opened from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm. Vegetable and fruit shops, tandoor and petrol pumps would work between 9:00 am to 7:00 pm, the secretary further stated.

“Our basic purpose is to restrict movement in the areas affected by COVID-19,” said Muhammad Usman.

On Tuesday as many as 55 areas of Lahore were placed under smart lockdown owing to the rising COVID-19 cases in the provincial capital of Punjab.

The health secretary said that medical services, pharmacies, medical stores, and laboratories will remain open 24 hours in these areas. “Collection points, hospitals, and clinics will also remain open round the clock in the areas,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention here that continuing strict action over the violation of the COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) in Lahore, the local administration sealed and fined several hotels, restaurants, marriage halls, and shops on Tuesday.

In the last 24 hours, as many as 33 hotels, cafes, and restaurants were sealed after found violating the health-related SOPs. Two private schools, 21 marriage halls, and 74 shopping malls were also sealed by the administration

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Hyderabad, Karachi record highest Corona positivity ratio: NCOC

The National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) said on Wednesday the countrywide positivity ratio of Covid-19 cases was recorded at 7.78 per cent in the past 24 hours.

Karachi recorded the highest positivity ratio at 21.80pc for a second day in row, followed by Hyderabad 19.3pc, Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Mirpur 13.16pc, Rawalpindi 13.03pc, Peshawar 13.2pc, Abbottabad 11.82pc, Islamabad 6.28pc, Muzaffarabad 5.45pc, Quetta 4.15pc, Swat 4.23pc, Faisalabad 3.15pc, and Multan 2.1pc.

Sindh recorded the highest Covid-19 positivity ratio which was 13.01pc, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 10.6pc, Azad Jammu and Kashmir 9.8pc, Balochistan 6.05, and Gilgit Baltistan 3.07pc.

2,498 of the total Covid-19 patients under treatment across the country are said to be in critical condition.

Speaking to the media after a meeting of the NCOC, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar warned Covid-19 cases will go up if health guidelines are not adhered to, piling pressure on hospitals.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan will preside over a meeting of the National Coordination Committee (NCC), to be attended by the chief ministers of all the provinces, to take stock of the present coronavirus situation.

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PM Imran shares breathtaking photos of Skardu

Prime Minister Imran Khan shared on Wednesday some breathtakingly beautiful pictures of Skardu in a post on Twitter.

“I have been sent more pictures, this time from around Skardu, after my last tweet with pics from GB [Gilgit Baltistan],” he wrote on his official Twitter handle.

I have been sent more pictures, this time from around Skardu, after my last tweet with pics from GB. pic.twitter.com/3coB1X6Ruv

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) December 9, 2020

On December 6, Prime Minister Khan had called Gilgit-Baltistan one of his favorite places on earth.

Sharing photos from the northern region on Twitter, he said: “Everywhere, there are hundreds of colours spread in Gilgit-Baltistan before the onset of winter.” “One of my favourite places on this earth,” he added.

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104 year old major participated in World War II defeat corona

A former major who participated in World War II has defeated COVID-19 just two days before his 104th birthday in Albama.Major Lee Wooten was admitted to Madison Hospital in Madison, Alabama, to fight the virus last week.

On December 2, he had recovered from the virus but before leaving the hospital, the staff gave him a special send-off as he was going to be 104 years old after two days.

Wooten served in the US Army for several years overseas, according to CNN affiliate WAFF. He built railroads and worked on rail cars in Paris in the 1940′s.

His granddaughter, Holly Wooten McDonald, has posted Facebook updates about his recovery. Wooten requested a chocolate milkshake on the way home from the hospital, she said.

Holly said that Wooten was physically drained and a little fuzzy mentally after battling coronavirus but appears to be on the mend.

She said her grandfather, who served as a private first class in the Army before going on to a postwar career with US Steel in Birmingham, tested positive for COVID-19 on November 23 after her mother — his daughter — got the illness.

He received an infusion of the newly approved monoclonal antibody therapy bamlanivimab but was physically drained the next day and had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance the day before Thanksgiving, she said.

She said her mother recovered from COVID-19, and so did a sister who developed the illness and had to spend a week on a ventilator.

 

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U.S. Supreme Court rejects Republican challenge to Biden's Pennsylvania win

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday handed a defeat to Republicans seeking to throw out up to 2.5 million mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania as they try to undo President Donald Trump’s election loss, with the justices refusing to block the state from formalizing President-elect Joe Biden’s victory there.

The court in a brief order rejected a request by U.S. congressman Mike Kelly, a Trump ally, and other Pennsylvania Republicans who filed a lawsuit after the Nov. 3 election arguing that the state’s 2019 expansion of mail-in voting was illegal under state law.

Pennsylvania was one of the pivotal states in the election, with Biden, a Democrat, defeating Trump after the Republican president won the state in 2016. State officials had already certified the election results.

There were no noted dissents from any of the justices on the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority including three Trump appointees. Trump had urged the Republican-led Senate to confirm his most recent nominee, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, before Election Day so she could participate in any election-related cases.

Trump has falsely claimed that he won re-election, making unfounded claims about widespread voting fraud in states including Pennsylvania. Democrats and other critics have accused Trump of aiming to reduce public confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections and undermine democracy by trying to subvert the will of the voters.

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Pakistan records more 60 corona deaths in last 24 hours

Pakistan has recorded 60 deaths and 2,963 new cases due to the COVID-19 in the last 24 hours.

In the past 24 hours, 60 more people succumbed to the disease, taking the death toll to 8,547. 1,797 patients have recovered from the virus during the last 24 hours and 2,498 patients are in critical condition including 12 more declared critical.

The total count of active cases is 45,324.

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), with fresh inclusion of the infections in the country the national tally of cases now currently stands at 426,142.

A total of 38,092 tests were conducted across the country during this period. Overall 372,271 people have recovered from the deadly disease so far while 5,865,944 samples have been tested thus far.

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