Shehri Tv

By Mukhtar Alam (Pakistan News & Features Services) Amidst reports that Pakistan’s daily COVID-19 infections rate was falling, Sindh registered 1,539 new cases on June 29 when the government authorities confirmed yet another all days’ highest 74 fatalities due to the virus in the province, bringing the death tally to 1,343.  Earlier, the health authorities had confirmed all days’ highest 49 deaths in Sindh, including 44 at Karachi, on June 19. Sindh witnessed an average of 35 COVID-19 deaths daily during the week ending on June 29.  In his daily statement on coronavirus situation, the Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, among other details shared the number of latest COVID-19 deaths on June 29, while there was no additional information about the districts which the deceased patients belonged to or their respective age and hospitals where they were taking the treatment.  Contrary to the Chief Minister's statement, a federal government organized...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) China has condemned the terrorist attack on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) in the southern port city of Karachi on June 29.  “We firmly oppose any form of terrorism and fully support Pakistan’s efforts in combating terrorism and upholding national security and stability,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, stated during the regular press briefing in Beijing when asked about China's response on the terrorist attack in Karachi.  He also extended condolences and sympathies with families of those people and security forces personals having sacrificed their lives or sustained injuries during the course of encounter with terrorists. “We condemn all forms of terrorist attacks and we also mourn the victims of this incident,” the Chinese official observed.  According to information gathered by PNFS, as many as four terrorists stormed the sprawling building of the PSX located...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) Three major Chinese airlines took delivery of their first ARJ21s, China's first domestically developed regional jet on June 28. The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (COMAC), the jet's developer which is based in Shanghai, handed over three ARJ21s to Air China, China Eastern and China Southern at its assembly line near Pudong International Airport. It is the first time the regional jet, which has a range of up to 3,700 kilometers, has entered the fleets of major international carriers, the COMAC announced.  The three ARJ21s flew to Capital International Airport in Beijing, Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai and Baiyun International Airport in Guanghzou, after a delivery ceremony amid a downfall in the morning on June 28.  “The COMAC plans to deliver another two ARJ21s to each of the three major carriers by the end of 2020. The nine jets are scheduled to start their commerci...

By Mukhtar Alam (Pakistan News & Features Services) Sindh witnessed a rise of eight percent in its daily COVID-19 infection rate on June 28 when the authorities in the government confirmed 2,179 new cases during the last 24 hours, with 26 new related deaths, pushing the overall fatalities to 1,269 for the province. The daily infection rate remained 16% on June 27. Earlier, the rate was registered 21% on June 18, which dropped to 15% on June 22 before another rise up to 24% on June 23 and then went down to 19% on June 24.  Keen observers attributed the highs and lows to the health authorities’ inconsistency in daily testing activities.  There has been a need to significantly step up the COVID-19 testing to achieve a stable data leading to determination of districts and areas, turning safe from the virus point of view.  The official data suggested that the designated laboratories across the Sindh conducted an average of 7,883 tests every day duri...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) Pakistan has successfully made ventilators, the most demanded equipment for COVID-19 pandemic treatment.  “Al-Hamadullah, the first consignment of made in Pakistan ventilators would be handed over to NDMA this week,” the Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Chaudhary Fawad Hussain, tweeted on June 28.  Congratulating, the NRTC on this indigenously manufacturing ventilators as per EU standard, the Federal Minister disclosed that three more designs were also in final stage and would soon be put on production line. “After this achievement, Pakistan is now placed among the distinguished community of nation's countries that are capable of making complicated medical equipments,” he reckoned.

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) A Pakistani student, Rahat Sharif, 28, has successfully conducted research in China boosting cucumber production that Pakistani farmers can also benefit to enhance yield production thus improving the income. “Our lab conducts research of developing cucumber resistance against powdery mildew. The applied research has not only improved the production of cucumber but also the livelihood of local farmers,” Rahat Sharif, a Pakistani student at the China's Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU) told China Economic Net. .“Welcome Chinese biotech companies to boost Pakistan’s cucumber production,” Rahat Sharif remarked.  Hailing from Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Rahat has recently completed his MSc degree from NWAFU.  “I started my research in 2017 in the lab of vegetable ecophysiology and biotechnology. We do research on cucumber’s production, quality and respon...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) The Board of Investment (BOI) has launched three online portals for the benefit of investors. These digitize portals happen to be Electronic Joint Venture (EJV), Branch Liaison Management Information System (BLMIS) and Special Economic Zones (SEZs). These digitize portals services will be greatly of benefit and assistance to the investors, a spokesman of the BOI remarked.  The three portals were launched by the BOI Chairman, Atif Riaz Bokhari, during an online event which was attended by the BOI Secretary Omer Rasul, senior officers and other stakeholders including representatives from the World Bank, Department for International Development (DFID), Pakistan Business Council (PBC), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), National Technology Council (NTC) and Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB).  Atif Bokhari, a former banker, highlighted that the BOI was one of the leading organisation in the fe...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) Pakistan has expressed its readiness to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor for Sikh pilgrims on June 29. "As places of worship open up across the world, Pakistan prepares to reopen the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor for all Sikh pilgrims,” the Pakistan Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmud Qureshi, announced in a twitter message.  ‘Conveying to the Indian side our readiness to reopen the corridor on 29 June 2020,” he said, adding that this will be the occasion to mark the death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh.

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi (Pakistan News & Features Services) “Pakistan is no exception where the government leadership is out to justify their policies, programmes and personal conduct, while the opposition engages in pointing out the weaknesses and flawed policies of those in power. The phenomenon is the same in all continents but with varying degrees and in different forms. COVID-19 is telling it all in different ways.” This was remarked by Senator Nisar Memon, a former federal minister for Information and Broadcasting, during an interview with PNFS. “The citizens, who send legislators to manage country by electing them, are not to be found at the core of war of words. The sitting government desires to retain all the power of decision making while the opposition continues eyeing them to replace them to gain the same power. Other than that, most of the leadership hardly has any motivation to leave behind the legacy that lives on. Therefore the elements for legacy to liv...

By Mukhtar Alam (Pakistan News & Features Services) Sindh, after five days of reduced COVID-19 testing of samples, witnessed a big stride in the activities on June 27 when authorities in the government declared detection of 1,949 (16%) new positive cases out of 11,901 tests, with new 38 related deaths, taking the number of infections to 78,267 and fatality to 1,243 in the province.  The data revealed that Sindh’s new infection rate has been swinging for over a week. On June 18, it was 21%, which started dipping on June 20 and was recorded at 15% on June 22. It increased to 24% on June 23 and then went down to 19% on June 24 and 16% on June 27.  In the meantime, keen observers expressed their concerns over the reported reduced field activity, including that at the COVID-19 testing laboratories, while the provincial health department resorted to keeping silent.  Against their cumulative capacity of testing 13,150 samples, the 20 designated laborator...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) The Balochistan government has decided to develop eco-tourism to attract maximum number of both international and domestic tourists.  The provincial government in this regard was reported to be working on three pronged strategy, develop infrastructure on its coastal belt, thus creating maximum job opportunities and generating more revenue for the provincial exchequer.  An official of the provincial government has said that under a strategy, the government has to identify the suitable tourist spots along the coastal belt of Balochistan for setting up tourist resorts. A holistic strategy was planned to provide sound infrastructure support system and clean drinking water.

By Mukhtar Alam (Pakistan News & Features Services) Sindh’s overall COVID-19 fatality tally surpassed 1,200 on June 26 when authorities in the government confirmed deaths of another 27 patients during the last 24 hours, with detection of 1,150 new infections across Sindh, including 1,050 at Karachi. On June 26, Karachi reported 91% of the total Sindh cases, the highest proportion of new cases registered in the megapolis in recent days. The proportion of new cases recorded in the city on June 22 was 80% of the total Sindh cases, which had reduced to 45% on June 25.  The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in his daily statement on COVID-19 situation in the province, revealed that as many as 5,103 samples were tested during the last 24 hours ending at 9 am on June 26 out of which 1150 were found positive for COVID-19. Thus the daily infection case rate came as 23%.  He further said that deaths of another 27 patients due to coronavirus had pushed t...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) Vimala Sharma, the wife of former President of India, Dr Shankar Dayal Sharma, has successfully fought against deadly Coronavirus pandemic at the age of 93. She was discharged from the AIIMS Trauma Centre in New Delhi on evening of June 25, two and a half weeks after she had tested positive for COVID-19, the Indian media reported. The 93-year-old is among the oldest to have recovered from the virus in the world.  According to family sources, her oxygen levels had started dipping on June 5 after which she was tested, and her reports came positive on June 6.  “To our horror, her report was positive and we immediately rushed her to AIIMS. It came as a shock as she doesn’t go out of the house at all. The first four days, her condition did deteriorate a bit. I know she is 93 but losing her to a virus would have been the worst,” her son Ashutosh Dayal Sharma told The Indian Express.  While a...

By Mukhtar Alam (Pakistan News & Features Services) As many as 84 beds in the COVID-19 intensive care units (ICU) of hospitals across Sindh were vacant on June 25 when authorities in the government registered another 1,098 new cases, with 17 more deaths, pushing the tally of patients dying of the lethal virus diseases to 1,178.  According to an official report, a maximum of 25 COVID-19 ICU beds were vacant in Karachi hospitals, followed by Hyderabad (18), Shaheed Benazirabad (8), Sukkur (16) and Larkana (17). The number of unoccupied high dependency beds was 696 including 414 at Karachi. The statement on COVID-19 situation in Sindh, issued from the Chief Minister’s House, revealed that 17% of the total 6,458 samples tested were found positive at various laboratories of the province during the last 24 hours ending at 9 am on June 25. However, the statement did not disclose all the districts where the new infections were registered.  It gave a district-w...

By Masood Sattar Khan (Pakistan News & Features Services) The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a torch bearer of the visionary Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), has not only accelerated economic activities across Pakistan but also created awareness among the rural women folk.  Prior to the launch of CPEC projects, the women folks in rural Sindh were used to earn their livelihood by making traditional dresses with hand-made embroidery, contributing with family in sheep and cow farms or spending time either with their children or family. But now the ladies, living in Tharparkar, also known as Thari women, also have the option to earn money from non-traditional sources thus meeting the challenges of present era of price spiral.  In this regard, the Thari women have been given training to drive heavy trucks, used for transportation of materials for the CPEC projects.  The management of Block II project under...

By Mukhtar Alam (Pakistan News & Features Services) Sindh witnessed ups and downs in its daily COVID-19 infection rates during the week, as authorities in the government confirmed detection of another 1,414 positive cases out of 7,400 samples during the last 24 hours ending on the morning of June 24 with new 39 related deaths, taking the tally of total infection to 74,070 and death to 1,161 for the province. On June 18, Sindh’s new infection rate was 21%, which started dipping on June 20 and was recorded at 15% on June 22. It increased to 24% on June 23 and then went down to 19% on June 24.  While the health department remained silent on the subject, some observers noted that the COVID-19 consultants to the department yet need to device a foolproof style of sampling and testing, which could help understand the trend of the lethal virus’s onslaught across the province.  The Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Murad Ali Shah, in his daily COVID-19 statement, inf...