Active Covid-19 cases surpass 18,000 in Pakistan

As many as 1,592 new cases of the novel coronavirus surfaced across the country over the past 24 hours, pushing the national tally of infections to 592,100

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 22 more people succumbed to the deadly disease during this period, taking the death toll to 13,227.

A total of 34,347 samples were tested, out of which 1,592 turned out to be positive. The positivity rate of new infections was recorded at 4.63 per cent.

The number of active cases in the country, which was around 17,000 last month, has now surpassed 18,000. 1,609 of the Covid-19 patients under treatment are said to be critical. Thus far, 560,458 people have recuperated from the disease.

On Sunday, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar had said that the vaccination of people over 60 years will start from Wednesday.

“Vaccinations will be done in reverse order by age. Which means the oldest person who has registered will be vaccinated first. Full details will be issued tomorrow,” Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19, tweeted.

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Pakistan highlights the issue of fake COVID-19 vaccine at UN forum

Pakistan has raised the issue of fake COVID-19 vaccines at a UN forum and urged the international community to work together to prevent the production and distribution of such products by criminal elements

Pakistan’s UN envoy Munir Akram, Sunday joined top Japanese leaders and UN officials in calling for renewed global cooperation against crime to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The calls were made at the opening session of the 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in an innovative hybrid format amid pandemic curbs in Kyoto, Japan, featuring statements from Princess Takamado, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa, as well as from the UN General Assembly President, Volkan Bozkir, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the head of UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Waly.

Ambassador Munir Akram, who is also the president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), called for effective action against falsified and fake medical products (such as COVID-19 vaccines) and to strengthen international cooperation in this regard.

In his statement to the forum, Akram said like all other aspects of our daily lives, the impact of COVID-19 on transnational organised crime has been significant and added: “There is a compelling case for enhanced international action to combat and dismantle networks and platforms that perpetrate these crimes and undermine progress towards Agenda 2030.”

Akram said that there can be no sustainable development without justice, the rule of law and prevention and control of crime.

Among the issues, he urged the meeting to prioritize was to recommend measures for halting the bleeding of the resources of developing countries through illicit financial flows, especially when they are struggling to overcome the challenges posed by shrinking fiscal space to fight the pandemic and achieve the SDGs.

Environmental crimes and ever-growing illegal trade in wildlife – which could lead to other zoonotic diseases – must be dealt on priority basis, the ECOSOC chief said.

He suggested opening up additional avenues for legal migration as a way to reduce the demand for smuggling services and to meet migration related SDGs.

In the Kyoto Declaration adopted Sunday, governments agreed concrete actions to advance responses addressing crime prevention, criminal justice, rule of law and international cooperation.

Member States will take commitments forward at the 30th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna in May.

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Active Covid-19 cases surpass 18,000 in Pakistan

As many as 1,592 new cases of the novel coronavirus surfaced across the country over the past 24 hours, pushing the national tally of infections to 592,100

According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 22 more people succumbed to the deadly disease during this period, taking the death toll to 13,227.

A total of 34,347 samples were tested, out of which 1,592 turned out to be positive. The positivity rate of new infections was recorded at 4.63 per cent.

The number of active cases in the country, which was around 17,000 last month, has now surpassed 18,000. 1,609 of the Covid-19 patients under treatment are said to be critical. Thus far, 560,458 people have recuperated from the disease.

On Sunday, Planning and Development Minister Asad Umar had said that the vaccination of people over 60 years will start from Wednesday.

“Vaccinations will be done in reverse order by age. Which means the oldest person who has registered will be vaccinated first. Full details will be issued tomorrow,” Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) on Covid-19, tweeted.

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Pakistan highlights the issue of fake COVID-19 vaccine at UN forum

Pakistan has raised the issue of fake COVID-19 vaccines at a UN forum and urged the international community to work together to prevent the production and distribution of such products by criminal elements

Pakistan’s UN envoy Munir Akram, Sunday joined top Japanese leaders and UN officials in calling for renewed global cooperation against crime to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The calls were made at the opening session of the 14th UN Congress on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice held in an innovative hybrid format amid pandemic curbs in Kyoto, Japan, featuring statements from Princess Takamado, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa, as well as from the UN General Assembly President, Volkan Bozkir, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the head of UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ghada Waly.

Ambassador Munir Akram, who is also the president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), called for effective action against falsified and fake medical products (such as COVID-19 vaccines) and to strengthen international cooperation in this regard.

In his statement to the forum, Akram said like all other aspects of our daily lives, the impact of COVID-19 on transnational organised crime has been significant and added: “There is a compelling case for enhanced international action to combat and dismantle networks and platforms that perpetrate these crimes and undermine progress towards Agenda 2030.”

Akram said that there can be no sustainable development without justice, the rule of law and prevention and control of crime.

Among the issues, he urged the meeting to prioritize was to recommend measures for halting the bleeding of the resources of developing countries through illicit financial flows, especially when they are struggling to overcome the challenges posed by shrinking fiscal space to fight the pandemic and achieve the SDGs.

Environmental crimes and ever-growing illegal trade in wildlife – which could lead to other zoonotic diseases – must be dealt on priority basis, the ECOSOC chief said.

He suggested opening up additional avenues for legal migration as a way to reduce the demand for smuggling services and to meet migration related SDGs.

In the Kyoto Declaration adopted Sunday, governments agreed concrete actions to advance responses addressing crime prevention, criminal justice, rule of law and international cooperation.

Member States will take commitments forward at the 30th session of the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice in Vienna in May.

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'Force of darkness': Info minister lambasts PDM after PM Imran's vote of confidence

Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz on Sunday blasted the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance as a "force of darkness and falsehoods", saying the first task of such forces was to destroy morals, hollow out institutions, eliminate meritocracy and attain goals through the use of money and force.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the minister spoke out the "wave of happiness" that he said was seen across the country and among overseas Pakistanis in the wake of Prime Minister Imran Khan's successful vote of confidence in the National Assembly on Saturday. The premier won the trust vote with 178 ballots — six more than required.

He said he received "thousands of phone calls and messages" and there was an atmosphere of celebration in the country because "those (opposition) forces were defeated". The minister stated that the PTI was "fighting a war" against forces represented by the PDM which had caused substantial damage to the country's morality, institutions, meritocracy, democracy and society.

The PDM "represents that segment of Pakistan which conducts politics based on [personal] interests, money, force and greed," said Faraz. He said no one had accepted this section at first but through bribery and involving money and personal interests in politics, it "gave birth to a group that became entrenched in Pakistan's roots".

He stressed that the purpose of the parliament was to serve the nation's interests instead of the personal interests of a few individuals or groups.

"How will they (opposition) do lawmaking against themselves and their interests? They used parliament and this was the reason the country and its poor people always suffered."

He questioned why the opposition did politics in the name of the poor while "making properties in Europe", adding that this was proof they only used politics for their own business interests.

"The PDM is not together for the interests of the nation. All of Pakistan knows they are using every method to pressure the government in order to protect their wealth but [Prime Minister] Imran Khan doesn't come under such pressure," he said.

On the other hand, the PTI "wants a system based on morals, rule of law and prosperity in this country", Faraz said, adding that the steadfastness with which the PTI had stuck to this vision was the reason it had political representation in all four provinces while the opposition parties were confined to single provinces.

"Their narrative and stance keeps changing. Whatever suits them becomes their stance and what goes against them is not their stance," he said, adding that the people could see through this "hypocrisy".

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Bilawal calls for probe into 'controversy of insufficient members during vote of confidence'

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Sunday said a probe must take place into the "controversy" surrounding the vote of confidence held in the National Assembly a day earlier, which Opposition members boycotted, but have claimed that there "weren't enough people present" for the 178 votes obtained.

Speaking to the media following a meeting with Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly Hamza Shahbaz, Bilawal claimed: "Imran Khan was neither voluntarily voted as the prime minister by the Members of the Assembly, nor was he voluntarily voted for in this vote of confidence."

He termed the move to seek a trust vote "a joke".

"He ran a race alone and declared himself the winner," the PPP chairman said, adding: "But even this was rigged."

"This allegation raised by a member of the opposition present in the Assembly, that the number of votes announced do not match the number of people in attendance, must be investigated," said Bilawal.

Bilawal, in his briefing, also heaped scorn on the Punjab government, criticising it for incarcerating the leader of the opposition in the provincial assembly.

"Lahore's progress used to be a shining example for the rest of the country, but now it is an example of a wholly other kind," the PPP chairman said.

"Do you not wish for us all to be rid of the Wasim Akram Plus government?" he asked.

The PPP chairman said that the PML-N has the "greatest strength" in numbers in Punjab. He said now it is the opposition's turn to decide when and where a no-confidence vote will take place.

"We stand together and will InshaAllah remain united. We will strike together and win as well," he said, adding: "Had we not learnt from the past, we would not be here together."

Bilawal said the opposition wishes to use the "power of democracy" to compete with the government. "The power of the people and the parliament are our weapons," he said.

Speaking of the upcoming Senate chairman and deputy chairman elections, he said: "We will establish contact with every senator. The Chaudhrys have been our allies during Yousuf Raza Gilani's premiership."

"I will go visit them myself and ask for their support," Bilawal said.

Hamza Shahbaz, meanwhile, said that the Pakistan Democratic Movement's aim is not only restricted to a "long march" or a no-confidence motion.

"The drastic fall from progress that Pakistan has witnessed in the past three years must be reversed," he stressed.

Hamza said that in the eight by-elections held across the country, the country had "buried the old slogan of 'change'".

He vowed that the opposition alliance will "move forward" and will make "important decisions" from the PDM platform.

The Punjab opposition leader said that he was congratulated by the PPP chairman on his release from jail and the two had spoken on a "range of issues".

"We have learnt much from the Charter of Democracy," he added.

The PPP leader met the PML-N leader at his Model Town residence in Lahore in the first meeting between the two leaders since Hamza's release from jail.

Hamza had been released from jail last month following the Lahore High Court's (LHC) decision to grant him bail in the money laundering investigation against the PML-N leader.

A two-member bench of the LHC comprising Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar and Justice Asjad Javed Ghural had heard the bail plea of ​​Hamza in the money laundering case.

The bench had ordered the release of the PML-N leader from the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore.

After hearing the arguments of both parties, the court had granted bail to Hamza and ordered him to submit two surety bonds of Rs10 million each.

On June 11, 2019, NAB had arrested Hamza after the LHC rejected his interim bail in the Ramzan Sugar Mills and money laundering cases.

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'Force of darkness': Info minister lambasts PDM after PM Imran's vote of confidence

Federal Information Minister Shibli Faraz on Sunday blasted the opposition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance as a "force of darkness and falsehoods", saying the first task of such forces was to destroy morals, hollow out institutions, eliminate meritocracy and attain goals through the use of money and force.

Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the minister spoke out the "wave of happiness" that he said was seen across the country and among overseas Pakistanis in the wake of Prime Minister Imran Khan's successful vote of confidence in the National Assembly on Saturday. The premier won the trust vote with 178 ballots — six more than required.

He said he received "thousands of phone calls and messages" and there was an atmosphere of celebration in the country because "those (opposition) forces were defeated". The minister stated that the PTI was "fighting a war" against forces represented by the PDM which had caused substantial damage to the country's morality, institutions, meritocracy, democracy and society.

The PDM "represents that segment of Pakistan which conducts politics based on [personal] interests, money, force and greed," said Faraz. He said no one had accepted this section at first but through bribery and involving money and personal interests in politics, it "gave birth to a group that became entrenched in Pakistan's roots".

He stressed that the purpose of the parliament was to serve the nation's interests instead of the personal interests of a few individuals or groups.

"How will they (opposition) do lawmaking against themselves and their interests? They used parliament and this was the reason the country and its poor people always suffered."

He questioned why the opposition did politics in the name of the poor while "making properties in Europe", adding that this was proof they only used politics for their own business interests.

"The PDM is not together for the interests of the nation. All of Pakistan knows they are using every method to pressure the government in order to protect their wealth but [Prime Minister] Imran Khan doesn't come under such pressure," he said.

On the other hand, the PTI "wants a system based on morals, rule of law and prosperity in this country", Faraz said, adding that the steadfastness with which the PTI had stuck to this vision was the reason it had political representation in all four provinces while the opposition parties were confined to single provinces.

"Their narrative and stance keeps changing. Whatever suits them becomes their stance and what goes against them is not their stance," he said, adding that the people could see through this "hypocrisy".

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