Tuesday, March 17, 2020
#coronavirus - Stop Saying That Everything Is Under Control. It Isn’t.
Tackling the pandemic will require a new, collective way of thinking about public health and society as a whole.
In 1941, with war tearing through Europe and Asia, and America on the precipice of joining the conflict, President Franklin D. Roosevelt compelled and inspired industries and individuals to rally for the greater good. Food was rationed without rioting, and car plants all but stopped producing automobiles in favor of tanks and fuselages. By 1944, American factory workers were building nearly 100,000 warplanes a year — or about 11 per hour.The United States is again faced with a crisis that calls for a national response, demanding a mobilization of resources that the free market or individual states cannot achieve on their own. The coronavirus pandemic has sickened more than 187,000 people around the globe and claimed more than 7,400 lives already. Based on what they know about the virus so far, experts say that between two million and 200 million people could be infected in the coming weeks and months, in the United States alone. If the worst comes to pass, as many as 1.7 million of our neighbors and loved ones could die. How many people are affected depends on the actions that we as a nation take right now. Understandably, many American leaders have been focused on shoring up an economy that’s hemorrhaging money and trust. Many of the measures being advanced by Congress, like paid sick leave, are crucial. But the best hope for the economy, and the nation as a whole, is a strong public health response to the coronavirus.Confusion has reigned, among health care professionals and laypeople alike, over when or whether to test patients, quarantine the exposed and isolate the sick — even over how worried to be. Part of the problem is a supply shortage that is already growing dire in some places. But another problem is the lack of consistent messages from leaders, President Trump in particular. For weeks now, clear statements — for example, that the worst is yet to come — have been undercut by blithe assurances that everything is under control.
It isn’t.
Wartime Production
Much of the country is facing a grave shortage of ventilators, intensive care beds, the equipment and chemicals needed for testing, and all manner of medical supplies, including gloves, masks, swabs and wipes. More space is also needed to put these supplies to use healing patients. That means isolation wards for the sick and quarantine facilities for people who are exposed to the coronavirus. A number of hospitals and state and local governments are working to secure those resources. Some cities and states have purchased hotels and turned them into quarantine facilities. Others are in bidding wars with one another for ventilators, I.C.U. beds and other essential equipment. If the current projections hold — and if countries in Europe and cities in China are any indication — neither these siloed efforts nor the nation’s federally maintained stash of medical supplies will be enough to face what’s coming. Worse still, pitting states against one another for limited and essential supplies leaves poorer states at the mercy of the rich ones, and the states hit first against those that will be hard hit in the coming weeks. Yet on Monday, Mr. Trump told a group of governors desperate for equipment like ventilators, “Try getting it yourselves.”
Instead, the federal government needs to step in to sharply ramp up production of all these goods, just as it ramped up production of munitions during World War II. That will most likely necessitate the use of the Defense Production Act, a law that enables the president to mobilize domestic industries in times of crisis. President Trump has not demonstrated the democratic instincts or administrative competence to inspire the confidence that he ought to be trusted with even more executive authority. But he’s the only president America’s got, and this crisis requires White House action. It’s not hard to imagine, with proper organization and support, American factories producing ventilators, masks, hand sanitizer, coronavirus tests and other medical equipment at a scale that would meet what the crisis demands. But it won’t happen overnight, and it certainly won’t happen without leadership. “We could increase production fivefold in a 90- to 120-day period,” Chris Kiple, chief executive of Ventec Life Systems, a Washington State company that makes ventilators used in hospitals, homes and ambulances, told Forbes last week. Mr. Kiple estimated that current worldwide production capacity for ventilators is about 40,000 a year. Editors’ Picks
The government will also need to deploy the National Guard or the Army to convert facilities like convention centers, hotels and parking lots into testing sites, isolation units and humane quarantines. In the absence of government leadership, companies can still take it upon themselves to help the effort. In France, for example, LVMH, which owns luxury brands like Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior, announced on Sunday that it was repurposing perfume production lines to make hand sanitizer and other anti-viral products.
Front-Line Fighters
Once supplies and space are secured, human capacity will need to be addressed. There are not enough health care workers who are trained and equipped to treat emergent, contagious lung infections in intensive care units. If those workers fall ill and are themselves quarantined and isolated — as some of them almost certainly will be, given the present lack of protective equipment — more will have to be trained and prepared. That challenge will be exacerbated by the fact that large conferences and training sessions are likely to be forbidden in the months ahead. The federal government can help by conveying the urgency of the need — and calling on health care workers to volunteer for such training — and then by creating the necessary virtual modules and webinars. Federal leaders can also help by calling on states to waive licensing requirements for out-of-state medical workers, as Massachusetts has already done. There will not be one giant outbreak here in the United States, but rather many smaller ones that will vary in scope, size and duration. That means some parts of the country will have a much greater need than others. The ability of any worker to deploy quickly from a low-need area to a high-need one will save valuable time as the number of confirmed cases surges in the days ahead.
Public Works for Public Health
During World War II, housewives, students, retirees and the unemployed moved into the labor force to help build tanks, planes and armaments. It was a full-scale national effort — and something similar is called for today. This will take some creativity. In Spain, final-year medical students are being pulled into clinics and hospitals for more routine tasks to allow the staff to focus on critical cases. In the United States, retired hospital workers are being urged back into the work force to provide needed expertise.But the larger community can also pitch in. The government could train America’s newly unemployed to sanitize hospital equipment or to deliver food to the elderly and the immune-compromised. Child care for hospital workers on the front lines is desperately needed. Through a new public works program, corps of people could carry out infection control in nursing homes and other high-risk facilities — or workers of all kinds could be taught how best to protect themselves. There could even be a network of individuals tasked with making phone calls to combat loneliness for people in nursing homes and prisons while they’re unable to receive visitors. These are just a few possibilities for putting people to work confronting the crisis, to be sure. Any such programs stand a much better chance of success if the federal government encourages them and directs them through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A Clear, Strong Call to Action
In recent days, the president has begun calling on industry leaders to help: to develop vaccines, diagnostic tests and treatments for the virus; to develop websites that might clarify and expedite testing; and to cede their parking lots to the needs of the public. It’s time for him to call on the rest of the country as well. Not just to scrub hands and forgo basketball games, Broadway shows and the local bar, but to meet this moment with urgency and altruism. Many Americans are eager to help their fellow citizens. Would they ration their own consumption to help save them, if that’s what things came to? During World War II, the American government raised corporate and personal income taxes, pushed the business community onto a wartime footing, drafted millions into the military or civilian defense forces, rationed civilian goods in service of military goals and drastically reorganized society by offering jobs to women and minorities who had long been excluded from them. The society that emerged from the war was different — stronger — than the one that went into it.
It is remarkable what the country can do when the lives of its citizens are in peril, and the final outcome is uncertain. What it takes is leadership to summon that spirit to act in the national interest.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/opinion/war-crononavirus-trump-production.html?algo=top_conversion&fellback=false&imp_id=478046178&imp_id=689349255&action=click&module=trending&pgtype=Article®ion=Footer
How to make 'Aurat March' effective in Pakistan?
Syed Irfan Mehdi
The brave women should come to the forefront to actually make suppressed and oppressed ones avail such legal remedies, so that a real change can take place.The issues of women rights and violence against the female gender are a genuine concern in our country. Undoubtedly, there is a need for an effective movement to highlight these rights and violence. It will be better if oppressed women themselves take part in this movement and join this movement as front line representators of women rights.
In this way they can address the real issues because they belong to such class which is suffering and facing most of the violence. These women are real and prime victims. Any class, which has an easy excess to education, having freedom in their choice of dressing, independent to go anywhere, can not make this movement meaningful and effective. No body can deny this fact that the women and girls of "Aurat March" had all these privilegs; they were educated; most of them were college or university students; dressed up according to their choice and could go anywhere they want. They don't have any restrictions and there shouldn't be any coercive restriction upon them. They have the courage to report sexual harassment case in their campus and job sectors. They have ability to establish a bond of mutual understanding with their husbands.
In order to make this movement effective, they should work to bring the real victims of abuse and violence in "Aurat March", along with them they should put their own demands with their consent and consensus. The presence of real victims in the march will make people realize the gravity of the issue of woman subjection. When the real victims will join the protest and tell their stories themselves, the people who do not believe that women suppression takes place would be able to reconsider their statements and will be made to believe that matters pertaining to women are not made-up stories, but are existing issues.
Media should play its role to highlight each and every case of violence in a comprehensive way.
Legal course of action should also complement these social movements. In other words, such social movements have already resulted in making laws such as Protection of Women Against Harassment at Work Place and Protection of Women Against Violence Act, etc. All we need is to get these laws implemented. The brave women should come to the forefront to actually make suppressed and oppressed ones avail such legal remedies, so that a real change can take place.
#Pakistan - Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Health Department is in poor state, says CJ
The top court on Monday expressed concerns over the poor state of the health sector in the province, noting that most recruitments in the department were made based on nepotism.
This was stated as a three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC), headed by Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmad, who heard a petition on transferring a case of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) health department from the Peshawar High Court (PHC) to the Islamabad High Court (IHC).Chief Justice Ahmad remarked that the situation in the K-P health department is quite bad, noting that several cases about the department are currently being heard in different courts.CJP Ahmed said that whenever someone is appointed in the department, around five cases are filed against them. The court directed the PHC to issue a verdict in the case within three months.
Defamation against PM
Meanwhile, a former leader and ex-MPA of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Fouzia Bibi has filed a petition before the Peshawar High Court (PHC) against the delays by a local court in hearing a defamation suit she had filed against incumbent Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The petition, filed through Ghufranullah, stated that the PM Imran had ejected her from the party after accusing her of selling her vote during the Senate elections. Such an allegation, Ghufranullah contended, was fake.
The petitioner recalled that she had filed a defamation suit in a local court but it has been pending for over a year now. She cited that under the Defamation Ordinance 2002, a trial court was obligated to conclude defamation suits within three months.
The ex-lawmaker alleged that the prime minister is trying to influence court matters and therefore her application was still pending.
Strike at PHC
Lawyers in Peshawar on Monday boycotted proceedings at the PHC and all sub-ordinate courts for not nominating the PHC Chief Justice Waqar Ahmed Seth for elevation to the Supreme Court (SC).
Owing to the strike, thousands of cases in the courts were adjourned without any proceedings and the litigants returned disappointed without their cases being heard.
Meanwhile, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Bar Association (K-PBA) has announced to extend its strike to other parts of the province on Tuesday.
In this regard, K-PBA Vice-Chairman Shahid Raza Malik contended that the junior judges of the Lahore High Court (LHC) have been appointed to the apex court while the PHC chief justice was ignored.He asserted that such discrimination and the practice of giving precedence to juniors over seniors was unconstitutional.
Govt contractor released
An Additional and District Sessions Judge Liaquat Ali approved the appeal of a convicted government contractor and annulled his year-long prison sentence awarded by a lower court in a bogus cheque case.The petitioner’s counsel, Attaullah, argued that the Shehzad had filed a case against his client, Nasir Ahmed, on April 20, 2017.In the First Information Report (FIR), the complainant had asserted that the suspect had given him a bogus cheque worth Rs8.8 million.
The lawyer added that a lower court sentenced Ahmed to a year in prison. However, he had filed an appeal against the verdict in the PHC.
#Coronavirus Cases in #Pakistan Spike; Dozens of Cases Reported
By Ayaz Gul
The number of coronavirus cases in Pakistan jumped Monday from 52 to more than 180, with most of the patients being returnees from Iran. The situation has raised fears the outbreak could pose a major challenge to an already strained national health care system.
No deaths or confirmed local transmissions have been reported, and officials say almost all of the cases involve returnees from countries such as China, Iran, Syria, the United States, Britain and Saudi Arabia.
Most of the patients were in the southern Sindh province, where 146 people were being kept in isolation wards. Two others were sent home after recovery. Hundreds more were in quarantine camps in different provincial urban centers. Provincial government spokesman Murtaza Wahab noted a large number of the cases involved pilgrims who returned from Taftaan, a major southwestern crossing point on the Iranian border in the Pakistani province of Baluchistan. Local officials have warned an unspecified number of returnees used traditional illegal border crossings to avoid being placed in quarantine camps, raising fears of further transmissions.
Pakistan has sealed its borders with Iran and landlocked Afghanistan until early April to curb the movement of people and goods and stem the spread of COVID-19 in the region.
Authorities have also delayed the post-winter reopening of the country's only overland crossing with China, where the coronavirus caused most of the deaths and infections before spreading to other nations.
Last Friday, the Pakistani government ordered all educational institutions to shut, limited international flights, closed cinemas and banned wedding parties as well as large gatherings at public places across the country of more than 220 million people.
Beijing's ambassador to Islamabad, Yao Jing, told Chinese state media Monday that China has provided Pakistan with 12,000 test kits, 300,000 masks, 10,000 protective suits and a financial assistance package of $4 million to build hospitals to deal with the emergency. China has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan over the past five years, building roads, ports and power plants. The massive collaboration has brought thousands of Chinese engineers and other experts to Pakistan.
Existing public health emergency
Officials acknowledge the coronavirus outbreak could pose a serious challenge to Pakistan's stressed medical health care system, blaming the situation on a lack of funding, neglect, nepotism and corruption. "The current condition of the public health care sector in Pakistan is not less than a national tragedy and a national security issue," Minister of Health Zafar Mirza said at a seminar in Islamabad earlier this month.
Pakistan, together with neighboring Afghanistan, are the only two countries where poliovirus remains endemic, he noted.
The World Health Organization office in Islamabad told VOA in a written response that Pakistan has the highest number of people suffering from hepatitis C, after China. An estimated 8 million people are living with hepatitis C, more than 10% of the world’s total and another 4 million are estimated infected with hepatitis B,” it said. Last year, Pakistan experienced an unprecedented HIV outbreak in the city of Larkana in Sindh, with more than 1,000 children reported infected with the virus. The WHO says many of the diagnosed children are infected with hepatitis B and C as well.
Pakistani and WHO officials have identified several pockets of HIV and viral hepatitis B and C in various parts of Pakistan "due to unsafe injection practices and unsafe blood transfusion and improper hospital waste management."
Mirza said Pakistan is the fifth largest country in terms of the number of people suffering from tuberculosis. The population is growing at a rate of 2.4 percent, which will double the number of people in Pakistan in the next 30 years, the minister cautioned.
https://www.voanews.com/science-health/coronavirus-outbreak/coronavirus-cases-pakistan-spike-dozens-cases-reported
#Pakistan reports first #coronavirus death after patient suspected to have #virus dies in #Lahore
A patient suspected to be infected with the coronavirus has passed away in Lahore.
According to local media reports, the patient was tested for the virus. However, his results were expected to be received in the afternoon today. The 30-year-old who was a resident of chowki sukheki, returned from Muscat, Oman in Lahore on March 15.
He was admitted in DHQ Hospital Hafizabad emergency department with altered sensorium, shortness of breath and 100 fever. His test reports were still awaited while he died of hepatic failure.
Confirming the death, Punjab Minister for Health Dr Yasmeen Rashid said that his test results are awaited and that the information will be given to the media when it arrives.
Lahore has reported five confirmed cases of the coronavirus so far.
Monday, March 16, 2020
In Pakistan, criticism grows dangerous as dissent stifled
By KATHY GANNON
In Pakistan, being a dissident or even raising a critical voice is a dangerous business.
Being a dissident — or even raising a critical voice — in Pakistan is growing more dangerous, regardless of whether the target is political parties, the judiciary or the powerful military and security agencies.
Intimidation of dissidents has increased on multiple fronts, rights workers and journalists say. A number of rights activists have been arrested and charged with sedition. Protesters have been jailed, including a member of parliament. Newspapers and journalists have faced violence, harassment and warnings from security officials not to cover anything that might show the military in a harsh light.
Rights groups say the civilian government of Prime Minister Imran Khan, elected in 2018, has failed to protect freedom of speech, imposing legislation to restrict online media, even dictating who can appear on television talk shows, while at the same time ceding authority for curbing freedom of speech to the powerful military.
“In recent years, the space for dissent in Pakistan has shrunk to the point of suffocation,” warned Omar Warriach, Amnesty International’s Deputy South Asia director.
“The Pakistani military has demonstrated that it can still call the shots without directly being in power. … Taking part in a peaceful protest can now lead to arrest and charges of sedition. Many activists have been forced into exile, fearing for their safety. What was once a lively media landscape has narrowed to exclude critical voices,” he said.
Pakistan’s government has denied allegations it’s stifling free speech. It said it was simply cutting spending when it recently pulled all its advertising from two prominent media houses, Dawn and Jang, that frequently criticize the military’s involvement in civilian affairs. Khan’s government has also criticized the previous administration for using public money on advertising to promote itself.
Government advertising is one of the leading sources of revenue for newspapers and media houses in Pakistan and is often used to squeeze critical media.In a March 2 statement, Steven Butler, the Asia program director for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the government was using advertising “as a cudgel to punish and reward news outlets based on their editorial stance in this way,” and demanded the practice stop.Butler was denied entry into Pakistan last year despite holding a valid visa. The government has remained silent on the move, but Pakistani officials say that particular decision was taken without the prime minister’s knowledge. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. Khan was elected in July 2018, amid widespread criticism from international rights groups and political opponents that the country’s powerful military and intelligence aided his campaign. The military was widely accused of intimidating the media and campaigning against Khan’s strongest opponent, the Pakistan Muslim League, whose leader Nawaz Sharif had fallen out with the army after openly accusing it of supporting militants.
At a recent meeting with international journalists, Khan’s adviser on communication, Firdous Ashiq Awan justified action against those who would attack the military, even charging them with sedition, saying the country’s military was sacrosanct according to the constitution.
One journalist, Aziz Memon, disappeared this month on the way to his work at a small newspaper in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province. He was found dead just hours later. A few months earlier, Memon tweeted that he had been threatened by local police and a prominent political party over his reporting.
The Brussels-based International Federation of Journalists this week called for the arrest of Memon’s killers and strongly criticized a police report that said he died of “natural causes.” An autopsy report later listed his death as strangulation.
“The post-mortem report proves beyond a doubt that Aziz was brutally murdered,” the federation statement said. “We reiterate our demand that the authorities take urgent action to arrest the killers and those who ordered his killing.”
In other cases, intelligence agencies have reportedly forced newspaper sellers into not delivering papers to certain areas and warned television anchors against interviewing certain politicians.
The military’s public relations wing, known as the Inter-Services Public Relations, has repeatedly denied interfering in television programming or disrupting newspaper distribution, although it has justified muzzling news of a dissident ethnic Pashtun movement called the Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement, or PTM, claiming it impacts national security, without explaining exactly how.
Authorities have often targeted the PTM, which has accused the army of using the decades-long war on terror to profile, intimidate, harass and arrest ethnic Pashtuns, who dominate Pakistan’s northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan.
In late January, a protest of barely 100 people — small by Pakistani standards — took place outside the National Press Club in the capital Islamabad to protest the arrest of a young PTM leader. The protesters had begun to disperse when police arrived, grabbing protesters and throwing them into waiting trucks.
Among the men and women rounded up was Mohsin Dawar, a member of parliament from Pakistan’s North Waziristan border region. “I said I would go with them. I wasn’t resisting, but still they grabbed me, kicked me and punched me,” he said in an interview following his release. In all, 29 people were arrested, all of them ordered released in early February by the Islamabad High Court, which reprimanded police for charging many of them with sedition, without reason.
Rights groups have also criticized the liberal use of Pakistan’s sedition and anti-terrorism act.
Gulalai Ismail, a rights activist, was charged under the anti-terrorism act after she criticized army actions in the border regions, including a report that complained of military harassment of women and girls, a charge the army has denied.
Ismail has fled to the United States, but her elderly parents continue to be harassed. Her father was jailed for two weeks and her mother, Uzlifat Ismail, was added to a list of individuals unable to leave Pakistan on charges of hiding her daughter.Ismail’s father, professor Mohammad Ismail, said intelligence agents and police have raided his home in Islamabad six times without a court order. His domestic employees have been harassed and he appears regularly in court fighting charges of anti-state activities related to his support for his daughter.Harris Khalique, head of the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, said that while previous civilian governments have at times stood up to the military to protect rights, the current prime minister has failed to do so.“The current political government is more responsible for what is happening in terms of freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom of association and assembly than any one particular institution, whether it be the military or the bureaucracy,” said Khalique. “At the at the end of the day they got elected to run this country, if they are ceding their space, they are equally responsible, if not more. “
https://www.columbian.com/news/2020/mar/15/in-pakistan-criticism-grows-dangerous-as-dissent-stifled/
#Pakistan - More controversy: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa universities face the threat of harassment
The higher education institutions in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa have a brand new battle on their hands. Already mired in controversy, it turns out that cases of harassment are now adding to their long list of troubles.
“So far, we have received 70 complaints. Out of that 50 are from academic institutions,” claimed Khyber-Pakhtu¬nkhwa (K-P) Ombudsperson Rukhshanda Naz.
Female students, Naz said, had no idea how and where to file complaints. “We need to launch awareness campaigns to inform female students about the process of filing complaints,” the ombudsperson said. Harassment cases, according to experts, are severely underreported in male-dominated societies like K-P. “Victims are discouraged from reporting incidents of harassment,” said one expert speaking on the condition of anonymity. To address the issue, that appears to be haunting universities in the province, the ombudsperson urged universities and departments to form committees to investigate such cases.
While harassment cases have rocked Gomal University, officials at the University of Peshawar claimed only eight cases surfaced in the past three years. “Since 2017, we have only received eight complaints at the University of Peshawar. None of them are against the faculty,” claimed Dr. Abdur Rauf, who heads the harassment committee at the university.
Already irked over the financial crisis that confronts universities across the province, Governor Shah Farman fired a stern warning to academic institutions over the rising harassment cases.
Facing a series of overlapping crises, Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan was the first academic institution that came under fire for several harassment cases. In response, the governor sacked four employees of the university.
“I have warned universities to improve their affairs, or face serious consequences,” cautioned Governor Farman, who also serves as the chancellor. “Universities should have a zero-tolerance policy when dealing with harassment cases,” the governor added.
In a pickle
Mired in a severe financial crisis, universities across the provinces are struggling to make ends meet. So far, Gomel University, Malakand University, Bacha Khan University, and University of Engineering and Technology, have requested the government for a financial bailout.
The University of Peshawar, one of the oldest academic institutions in the country, faces a financial shortfall of Rs. 300million. Commenting on the financial crunch, Vice-Chancellor Professor Muhammad Asif Khan said the federal government announced Rs.20billion for universities in K-P. However, he said, the university has not received its share. With 2,800 employees, an ever growing force of retired staff, and a 50% cut in the education sector budget, the university is finding it increasingly difficult to make ends meet. Similarly, the University of Agriculture appears to be in a financial fix. “We don’t have the funds to pay our pensioners. The university needs Rs400 million,” said Director Finance Professor Dr Zulfiqar.
#Pakistan - Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa reports first 15 cases of #coronavirus
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) reported its first 15 cases of novel coronavirus on Monday, bringing the totoal number of COVID-19 cases in Pakistan to 136.
“Just received news that 15 of 19 individuals received in KP from Taftan have tested positive for Corona Virus. These are the first positive cases in KP,” said provincial Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra in a tweet from his official handle.
“They are being well looked after in quarantine in an isolated facility in DI Khan. More details soon,” he added.
Earlier in the day, the the K-P government rubbished rumours of Pakistan’s first novel coronavirus death in Peshawar.
Speaking to The Express Tribune, K-P Health Minister Taimur Khan Jhagra clarified that a suspected patient had passed away while authorities awaited results. “His blood tested negative for COVID-19.”
Jhagra had addressed the rumours in a tweet, saying that a patient had passed away in Hayatabad Medical Complex in Peshawar. “He was a suspected case. He was dealt with as per protocols. His test results are awaited. We will keep everyone posted.”
In the wake of a surge in coronavirus cases across the country, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had closed educational institutions till April 5 and suspended wedding activities around the province.
The provincial government has released Rs0.5 billion in emergency funds to procure essential equipment to tackle the outbreak of the contagious disease in the province. This is in addition to the Rs100 million which the provincial government had released on March 3.
Sindh confirms 41 new coronavirus cases, national tally at 94
Pakistan’s total confirmed cases
Pakistan’s tally hit 136 with Sindh and K-P confirming 68 and 15 new cases respectively among the pilgrims placed in isolation wards after finishing 14-day incubation period at the quarantined tent city in Taftan.
A day earlier, 20 were cases were confirmed by the authorities with Punjab reporting its first confirmed patient. Sindh confirmed 18 new cases while Islamabad reported one.
As of now, there are 103 confirmed cases in Sindh, 15 in K-P, 10 in Balochistan, three in Gilgit Baltistan, four in Islamabad and one in Punjab.
Pakistan has also reported at least two locally transmitted cases.
Action plan
On Friday, Prime Minister Imran Khan chaired a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) to cobble a unified approach to contain the outbreak. It was decided to hold daily National Coordination Committee for COVID-19 meetings to review the situation. The huddle was attended by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed provincial chief ministers, top advisors and cabinet members.It was decided to close borders with Iran and Afghanistan, allow only three airports – Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore – to operate international flights in limited numbers while other airports will see domestic flights, and ban public gatherings.The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has been tasked to coordinate with provincial governments and lead the fight against novel coronavirus. It was also decided to close all educational institutions until April 5.
The Pakistan Day parade on March 23 has also been cancelled.
https://tribune.com.pk/story/2177277/1-k-p-govt-rubbishes-report-covid-19-death-peshawar/
میں نے زہریلی مردانگی کو اشتعال دلایا | ماروی سرمد
پاکستانی فیمینسٹ یا حقوق نسواں کی علمبردار ماروی سرمد نے ڈی ڈبلیو کے ساتھ گفتگو میں کہا ہے کہ ایک ٹی وی پروگرام میں ڈرامہ نگار خلیل الرحمان قمر نے ان کے ساتھ جو بدکلامی کی، وہ دراصل اس قدامت پسند معاشرے میں طاقت کے بگڑے ہوئے توازن کی نشانی ہے۔
اپنی اس دلیل کی وضاحت میں ماروی نے ایک مثال دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ جب ایک دوسرے ٹی وی پروگرام میں خلیل الرحمان قمر کا مقابلہ مشہور ٹی وی اینکر عامر لیاقت حسین ہوا، تو خلیل خاموش رہے جبکہ لیاقت حسین نے انہیں کڑی تنقید کا نشانہ بناتے ہوئے’سماج دشمن‘ تک بھی کہہ ڈالا۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ اس سے معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ یہ سب ‘پاور رلیشن‘ کی وجہ سی ہی ہوتا ہے۔
ماروی کے بقول خلیل الرحمان قمر دراصل خاتون کو کمتر سمجھتے ہیں اور وہ یہ قبول نہیں کر سکتے کہ خاتون جھکنے سے انکار کر دے۔ ماروی کا مزید کہنا تھا کہ وہ ایک طویل عرصے سے اس کا شکار بن رہی ہیں، ”جب میں اپنا مؤقف پیش کرتے ہوئے مرادنگی اور پدرشاہی نظام کو چیلنج کرتی ہوں تو مردوں کو خوف لاحق ہو جاتا ہے۔‘‘
ایک سوال کے جواب میں ماروی نے واضح کیا کہ ‘پاور ریلشن‘ کی وجہ سے صرف خواتین ہی متاثر نہیں ہوتیں بلکہ ایسے مرد بھی اس کی زد میں آتے ہیں، جو کمزور ہوتے ہیں۔ اس کی مثال دیتے ہوئے انہوں نے کہا کہ عامر لیاقت حسین کے سامنے تو خلیل الرحمان قمر خاموش رہے لیکن جب ایک جونیئر اینکر پرسن نے انٹرویو کے دوران ان سے سوال کیا تو خلیل نے اس کے ساتھ بھی بدتمیزی کی۔
ماروی سرمد پاکستانی ملٹری اسٹیبلشمنٹ اور انتہائی دائیں بازو کے مذہبی نظریات کی کھلی ناقد ہیں۔ وہ کہتی ہیں کہ یہی وجہ ہے کہ اس معاشرے میں انہیں وہ حیثیت نہیں مل سکی، جو عامر لیاقت حسین جیسی شخصیات کو حاصل ہے۔
اپنے کھلے اظہار خیال کی وجہ سے ماروی سرمد کو پاکستان میں ایک متنازعہ شخصیت قرار دیا جاتا ہے۔ کئی قدامت پسند حلقوں کی طرف سے انہیں شدید تنقید کا نشانہ بنایا جاتا ہے اور الزام عائد کیا جاتا ہے کہ وہ مغربی اقدار کو متعارف کرواتے ہوئے پاکستانی کے روایتی خاندانی نظام کو برباد کرنا چاہتی ہیں۔
ان الزامات کے جواب میں ماروی نے کہا کہ دراصل وہ صرف ‘زہریلی مردانگی کو اشتعال دلاتی ہیں‘۔ انہوں نے کہا، ”یوں میں صنفی موضوعات کو سامنے لاتی ہوں اور ایک بحث شروع کرنے کی کوشش کرتی ہوں۔‘‘
ماروی سرمد کے بقول ‘میرا جسم، میری مرضی‘ کا نعرہ دراصل پاکستان کی تمام خواتین کا مسئلہ ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا، ”جب کسی خاتون کو عزت کے نام پر قتل کیا جاتا ہے تو اس کے جسم کو نشانہ بنایا جاتا ہے، جب کسی خاتون کی زبردستی شادی کی جاتی ہے تو اس کے جسم اور پسند پر سمجھوتہ کیا جاتا ہے اور جب کسی کسی خاتون کو گھریلو تشدد کا نشانہ بنایا جاتا ہے تو اس کے جسم پر ہی ضربیں لگائی جاتی ہیں۔‘‘
ایک سوال کے جواب میں ماروی نے کہا کہ پاکستان میں خواتین کے حقوق کی تحریک زور پکڑ رہی ہے اور خواتین کو متنازعہ ہو جانے کے خوف کا شکار نہیں ہونا چاہیے کیونکہ متنازعہ ہوئے بغیر ‘سٹیٹس کو‘ کو چیلنج نہیں کیا جا سکتا۔
اس سوال کے جواب میں کہ ان پر ‘لبرل انتہا پسند‘ ہونے کا الزام لگایا جاتا ہے، ماروی کا کہنا تھا، ”دراصل دو الفاظ پر مبنی یہ ترکیب ہی درست ہے کیونکہ لبرازم درس دیتا ہے کہ براشت کا مظاہرہ کیا جائے اور تمام نظریات کے حامل افراد کا احترام کیا جائے۔ اس لیے لبرل کبھی بھی انتہا پسند نہیں ہو سکتا۔ یہ الزام وہ عائد کرتے ہیں، جن کے نزدیک سیاسی و معاشی شعبہ جات میں خواتین کی شمولیت کی خواہش دراصل نتہاپسندانہ
اپنی اس دلیل کی وضاحت میں ماروی نے ایک مثال دیتے ہوئے کہا کہ جب ایک دوسرے ٹی وی پروگرام میں خلیل الرحمان قمر کا مقابلہ مشہور ٹی وی اینکر عامر لیاقت حسین ہوا، تو خلیل خاموش رہے جبکہ لیاقت حسین نے انہیں کڑی تنقید کا نشانہ بناتے ہوئے’سماج دشمن‘ تک بھی کہہ ڈالا۔ انہوں نے کہا کہ اس سے معلوم ہوتا ہے کہ یہ سب ‘پاور رلیشن‘ کی وجہ سی ہی ہوتا ہے۔
ماروی کے بقول خلیل الرحمان قمر دراصل خاتون کو کمتر سمجھتے ہیں اور وہ یہ قبول نہیں کر سکتے کہ خاتون جھکنے سے انکار کر دے۔ ماروی کا مزید کہنا تھا کہ وہ ایک طویل عرصے سے اس کا شکار بن رہی ہیں، ”جب میں اپنا مؤقف پیش کرتے ہوئے مرادنگی اور پدرشاہی نظام کو چیلنج کرتی ہوں تو مردوں کو خوف لاحق ہو جاتا ہے۔‘‘
ایک سوال کے جواب میں ماروی نے واضح کیا کہ ‘پاور ریلشن‘ کی وجہ سے صرف خواتین ہی متاثر نہیں ہوتیں بلکہ ایسے مرد بھی اس کی زد میں آتے ہیں، جو کمزور ہوتے ہیں۔ اس کی مثال دیتے ہوئے انہوں نے کہا کہ عامر لیاقت حسین کے سامنے تو خلیل الرحمان قمر خاموش رہے لیکن جب ایک جونیئر اینکر پرسن نے انٹرویو کے دوران ان سے سوال کیا تو خلیل نے اس کے ساتھ بھی بدتمیزی کی۔
ماروی سرمد پاکستانی ملٹری اسٹیبلشمنٹ اور انتہائی دائیں بازو کے مذہبی نظریات کی کھلی ناقد ہیں۔ وہ کہتی ہیں کہ یہی وجہ ہے کہ اس معاشرے میں انہیں وہ حیثیت نہیں مل سکی، جو عامر لیاقت حسین جیسی شخصیات کو حاصل ہے۔
اپنے کھلے اظہار خیال کی وجہ سے ماروی سرمد کو پاکستان میں ایک متنازعہ شخصیت قرار دیا جاتا ہے۔ کئی قدامت پسند حلقوں کی طرف سے انہیں شدید تنقید کا نشانہ بنایا جاتا ہے اور الزام عائد کیا جاتا ہے کہ وہ مغربی اقدار کو متعارف کرواتے ہوئے پاکستانی کے روایتی خاندانی نظام کو برباد کرنا چاہتی ہیں۔
ان الزامات کے جواب میں ماروی نے کہا کہ دراصل وہ صرف ‘زہریلی مردانگی کو اشتعال دلاتی ہیں‘۔ انہوں نے کہا، ”یوں میں صنفی موضوعات کو سامنے لاتی ہوں اور ایک بحث شروع کرنے کی کوشش کرتی ہوں۔‘‘
ماروی سرمد کے بقول ‘میرا جسم، میری مرضی‘ کا نعرہ دراصل پاکستان کی تمام خواتین کا مسئلہ ہے۔ انہوں نے کہا، ”جب کسی خاتون کو عزت کے نام پر قتل کیا جاتا ہے تو اس کے جسم کو نشانہ بنایا جاتا ہے، جب کسی خاتون کی زبردستی شادی کی جاتی ہے تو اس کے جسم اور پسند پر سمجھوتہ کیا جاتا ہے اور جب کسی کسی خاتون کو گھریلو تشدد کا نشانہ بنایا جاتا ہے تو اس کے جسم پر ہی ضربیں لگائی جاتی ہیں۔‘‘
ایک سوال کے جواب میں ماروی نے کہا کہ پاکستان میں خواتین کے حقوق کی تحریک زور پکڑ رہی ہے اور خواتین کو متنازعہ ہو جانے کے خوف کا شکار نہیں ہونا چاہیے کیونکہ متنازعہ ہوئے بغیر ‘سٹیٹس کو‘ کو چیلنج نہیں کیا جا سکتا۔
اس سوال کے جواب میں کہ ان پر ‘لبرل انتہا پسند‘ ہونے کا الزام لگایا جاتا ہے، ماروی کا کہنا تھا، ”دراصل دو الفاظ پر مبنی یہ ترکیب ہی درست ہے کیونکہ لبرازم درس دیتا ہے کہ براشت کا مظاہرہ کیا جائے اور تمام نظریات کے حامل افراد کا احترام کیا جائے۔ اس لیے لبرل کبھی بھی انتہا پسند نہیں ہو سکتا۔ یہ الزام وہ عائد کرتے ہیں، جن کے نزدیک سیاسی و معاشی شعبہ جات میں خواتین کی شمولیت کی خواہش دراصل نتہاپسندانہ
مطالبات ہیں۔ یہ الزام وہ عائد کرتے ہیں، جن سمجھتے ہیں کہ برابری کے مطالبات ہی انتہا پسندی ہیں‘‘۔
Sunday, March 15, 2020
قوم کی کورونا وبا کے خلاف پی پی کی سندھ حکومت کے اقدامات کی تعریف۔
پی پی کے نوجوان چیئرمین بلاول بھٹو کی سربراہی میں سندھ حکومت نے صوبے میں کورونا وائرس کے خلاف جنگ میں ایک زبردست مثال قائم کی ہے۔ حکومت سندھ نے ملک میں کسی بھی قسم کی ہنگامی حالت کے لئے ہیلتھ ٹاسک فورس تشکیل دی ہے جس میں این کوڈ 19 سے متعلق ہے۔وزیراعلیٰ سندھ سید مراد علی شاہ صوبے میں کورونا وائرس پر قابو پانے کے لئے ضروری اقدامات کی نگرانی اور ہدایت کرنے میں پیش پیش ہیں اور سرگرم ہیں۔ وزیراعلیٰ سندھ نے سمجھداری سے قدم اٹھاتے ہوئے مئی 2020 تک تمام تعلیمی اداروں کو صوبہ بھر میں بند رکھنے کا اعلان کیا تاکہ وبا کے پھیلاؤ کو روکنے کے اقدامات اٹھائے جائیں۔
اپنے حالیہ پریس کانفرنس میں، حکومت سندھ کے ترجمان بیرسٹر مرتضیٰ وھاب نے بتایا کہ ایران کے ساتھ تفتان بارڈر کے راستے کل 853 زائرین ایران سے واپس پاکستان آئے تھے۔ ان زائرین میں سے 288 اسکریننگ کرنے کے بعد سکھر پہنچایا گیا ہے۔ تاہم ، دیگر عازمین کو سرحد پر ہی ٹھہرایا جاتا ہے اور ان کی قرنطین کی مدت پوری کرنے کے بعد ، انہیں بھی صوبے میں داخلے کی اجازت ہوگی۔
حکومت سندھ نے قرنطین مرکز قائم کیا ہے جس کی گنجائش 1024 فلیٹ سے زیادہ ہے۔ اس مرکز میں ایک وقت میں 2148 افراد کو ٹھرائے جانے کی گنجائش ہے۔ اس کے علاوہ حکومت نے کورونا وائرس سے متاثرہ مریضوں کے لئے دو عمارتیں مختص کیں۔
حکومت سندھ نے چانڈکا میڈیکل کالج ، غلام محمد مہر میڈیکل کالج سکھر ، گمبٹ انسٹیٹیوٹ آف میڈیکل سائنسز خیرپور ، اور جیکب آباد انسٹی ٹیوٹ آف میڈیکل سائنس میں کامیابی سے قرنطین سنٹرز قائم کیے ہیں۔ یہ مراکز تمام ضروری سازوسامان اور ادویات سے پوری طرح لیس ہیں۔
https://samachar.pk
#AuratMarch2020 - Behind Pakistani Feminists’ Fight for Rights
International Women’s Day in Pakistan this year was disrupted by religious and moral policing by hardliner Islamic groups. On March 8, Pakistani women took to the streets in the country’s largest-ever women’s day demonstration. Feminists and members of civil society — including both urban and rural populations — boisterously chanted slogans against sexual harassment and domestic violence and called for bodily rights, equal wages, and safer public spaces.
In Islamabad, clerics from Lal Masjid (Red Mosque), which appears to be the vanguard of radical Islam, disrupted the march. The mosque also contains a seminary for women characterized by its Taliban-style moral policing. The hardliners hurled stones and shoes at the protestors, a show of condemnation of their demands for equality. Across the road, women from Islamist groups executed a military-style demonstration in protest to the slogans.
Preceding the march, a slogan stating “mera jism, meri marzi” (“my body, my choice”) was the subject of heated debate over its seemingly un-Islamic character. Conservatives on mainstream and social media disregarded the demand as “promiscuous” and launched a smear campaign. One of Pakistan’s leading religious groups, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F), initiated an organized effort to forcibly stop a march in Sukkur — a city in southern Pakistan notorious for forced conversions, child marriages, and honor killings. Party stalwart Maulana Fazlur Rehman, during his speech, said that his workers will not tolerate the march and its “vulgar slogans in the name of freedom.”
Here is what this resistance suggests: Pakistani women are fighting not just the country’s patriarchal mindset, but also deep-rooted religious extremism. Over the last few decades and as a result of the Afghan war, politicization and Islamization have remained hand-in-glove. But the roots long pre-date the conflict.
Back in 1953, a series of threats were made against the Ahmadiyya sect, a community of marginalized Muslims declared apostates by the Pakistani state. The clergy also demanded the removal of Zafrullah Khan, a Pakistani diplomat and jurist, from public office over his association with the sect. Later, under the rule of former military dictator and President Zia-ul-Haq in 1973, the Pakistani Constitution restricted the freedom of religion for the Ahmadiyya. Its followers were then punishable by a prison sentence if they claimed to be Muslims.
Former President General Ayub Khan’s era saw the promulgation of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961, which empowered women especially in areas of divorce and marriage. The new laws discouraged polygyny and required a man to seek consent from his first wife if he wanted to remarry. However, Khan soon retracted those rights and caved to religious orthodoxy in order to extend his control over power. With pressure ramping up from extremists, Jamaat-i-Islami, an Islamist political movement, sought to abolish the country’s family planning program. Signs of deepening intolerance emerged when Khan and Fatima Jinnah, the sister of Pakistan’s founder popularly referred to as the “Mother of the Nation,” stood in conflict over claims that she had diverted from Pakistan’s ideology. The propaganda continued as Islamic hardliners debarred women from holding position as the head of the state, further injecting patriarchy into the political fabric. (The laws were amended in the years after, however, and the country became familiar with a female head of the state when Benazir Bhutto became prime minister in 1988.)
Fast forward to the Soviet-Afghan face-off. Islamabad proved to be Washington’s ally. Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) helped train troops to resist the Soviets. Fanatics, in the process, engineered the glorification of jihad to prepare thousands of mujahideen who participated against the Soviet.
Come 9/11, Washington and Islamabad joined hands, again. This led to a gradual influx of militants across the porous Afghanistan-Pakistan border and, in turn, may have fueled extremism. Nearly 20 years later, while matters between the United States and the Taliban may be settling, hardline splinter groups continue to impose Islamic morality in Pakistan. Jamia Hafsa, an Islamic university for women located next to the Lal Masjid headquarters, stays concerted in its efforts to keep the spirit of radical Islam alive, making young burka-clad girls and women party to the cause.
As vigilante groups openly defied the state, the Pakistani government in 2014 launched several military offensives to eliminate proscribed outfits including Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a group that claimed to be an off-shoot of the Afghan Taliban, and Jaish-e-Muhammad, a banned outfit then known as pioneer of suicide bombings in the region.
Ethnic and religious polarization has resulted in religious terrorism, sectarian clashes between Shia and Sunni Muslims and attacks on minorities’ places of worship. Nonetheless, the March 8 ruckus appears to be a watershed moment as it challenged the male-dominant political elite and the entrenched religious ideology. Despite the threats lurking, Pakistani women dared to protest. Those who stand in opposition are religious fanatics but also surprisingly come from educated segments of society and include both men and women. The battle for women’s rights will not be won without defeating the hardline religious mindset, too.
US-Taliban deal: How Pakistan's 'Islamist support' finally paid off
Following the US-Taliban deal, Pakistan has re-emerged as a key player in the Afghan peace process. Experts said that Islamabad's alleged policy of backing Taliban factions gives it influence in intra-Afghan talks.
Pakistan's support for the Taliban goes back to the early 1990s when the militant group emerged from the ashes of the long Afghanistan war in the 1980s and the subsequent civil war following the exit of Soviet troops.
Many experts say that Pakistan's military establishment was instrumental in the Taliban's earliest battlefield successes and their eventual capture of Kabul in 1996. Pakistan was also one of the few countries in the world that swiftly recognized the Taliban's hardline regime in Afghanistan.
Experts say that there are several strategic reasons behind Islamabad's support for the Islamist group. Prior to the Taliban's emergence from the Islamic seminaries in northwestern Pakistan, and the Pashtun-speaking areas of Afghanistan, Islamabad had supported several groups to protect its interests in Kabul.
But other regional countries, including Russia and India, were also vying for control in Afghanistan. This regional tug-of-war over Afghanistan resulted in a deadly civil war that killed thousands of people.
Since the partition of British-India in 1947, Pakistan has always been wary of "unfriendly" regimes in Kabul. It started backing Islamist groups in Afghanistan against pro-communist parties and pro-India politicians, which culminated in a full-blown "jihad" in the 1980s with support from the United States.
Following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Pakistan was forced to put the brakes on supporting Islamist militants in Afghanistan.Under pressure from Washington, then Pakistani military dictator Pervez Musharraf joined the US-led war on terror against Al-Qaida and the Taliban, and backed the US invasion of Afghanistan to topple the Taliban regime.
Doha deal 'victory' for Pakistan
From the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan to the recent signing of the US-Taliban agreement in Doha, western governments have blamed Islamabad for its alleged support to some factions of the Taliban and other Islamist groups.
The US urged Pakistan to "do more" against the Taliban to stop militant attacks on foreign troops stationed in Afghanistan. Security analysts say Pakistan acted "selectively" against the Taliban, knowing that the group could be used as a "bargaining chip" at a later stage in the Afghan war.
Experts say that the landmark Doha deal is a huge victory for Islamabad, as the Taliban, the militant group that Pakistan has always favored, is once again back in the driving seat.
"With Pakistan's support, the Taliban are stronger than ever — economically, militarily, politically, and also in their international standing. Pakistan obviously hopes that it can benefit from the remarkable re-emergence of the Taliban in Afghanistan," Siegfried O. Wolf, director of research at the Brussels-based South Asia Democratic Forum (SADF), told DW.
What is Pakistan's influence moving forward?
It is not surprising that Pakistan hailed the historic deal between the US and the Taliban in Doha on Saturday.
"The Pakistani military establishment assured Washington that they used their influence to make sure that the Pakistani Taliban would force the Afghan Taliban to agree to stop attacks on American forces in Afghanistan," said Ali K. Chishti, a Pakistani security analyst who is familiar with Islamabad's role in the peace process, told DW, adding that US President Donald Trump used his good ties with Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan to get the job done.
Coronavirus threatens Afghanistan, Pakistan
Islamabad has closed official border crossings while Kabul has suspended all travel to the Islamic republic, which has reported 19 deaths and a total of 139 infections – making it one of the hardest hit countries outside the virus epicenter China.
But experts fear the measures could prove ineffective with thousands of people – refugees fleeing violence, Shiite pilgrims, smugglers and migrants looking for work – likely crossing the long, poorly patrolled frontiers every day.
The virus has spread to more than 30 countries, killing over 2,700 and infecting 80,000, mostly in China. But new outbreaks in Europe, the Middle East and in Asia have fanned fears of the contagion taking hold in poor nations which lack the healthcare infrastructure to cope.
Pakistan announced Wednesday its first two cases of the virus. Officials said one of the infected individuals was a 22-year-old Karachi male who had acquired the virus in Iran. While they did not confirm where the second case was reported, local media placed it in Islamabad.
Afghanistan meanwhile announced Monday its first virus infection involving a patient who had recently been in Iran where millions of Afghans live.
Afghan television and radio broadcasts have begun advising people on how to prevent transmission of the virus, while residents have rushed to buy face masks – straining supplies and sparking a tenfold increase in the cost of a single mask at some pharmacies in the capital Kabul.
“We are worried, we don’t have a proper functioning health system and the borders are open. All we can do is take some preventive measures and pray to God to help us,” said Ihsanul Haq, a government employee.
Afghanistan’s healthcare system is in tatters after more than four decades of war, with the few available hospitals focused mainly on basic care and trauma. They lack the expertise to deal with infectious diseases.
“It could be a disaster if the virus really spreads all over the country. There aren’t that many health centers,” said Wali, a Kabul-based physician, who specializes in viral infectious diseases.
“The government is doing what they can to contain the spread of the virus. But it is very difficult.”
Adding to the challenge of limiting the spread of the virus is the Afghan tradition of greeting family and friends with handshakes, hugs and kisses.
A largely illiterate population also makes it difficult to educate people about ways to stop the transmission.
“People are illiterate, you can’t get the message through to them,” Wali said.
‘Unprepared’
Across the border in Pakistan there are growing fears over how the country would deal with a potential outbreak.
Islamabad has a history of failing to contain infectious diseases such as polio, tuberculosis and hepatitis.
Adding to the challenge, hundreds of thousands of quack doctors are thought to be working across the country and scandals involving the use of dirty needles in healthcare settings have eroded public trust in the system.
Some Pakistani students trapped in the Chinese city of Wuhan – where the virus was first detected in December – told AFP recently they were nervous about returning to their country if authorities were to evacuate them.
“We are worried about how the authorities are going to treat us when we go back to Pakistan – some students who went back told us the officials treated them very badly,” Ruqia Shaikh said.
While Pakistan has closed land borders with Iran, it has maintained air travel to and from China – increasingly a source of trade and commerce for the country.
“There is a limited concept of prevention, unfortunately. I fear it’s not well prepared at all for any health emergency,” Pakistani public health expert Arshad Altaf said.
Pakistan this week moved quickly to quarantine at least 270 people near the Iranian border after a group of pilgrims returned and briefly mixed with other residents.
That came hours after Pakistan sealed off its frontier with Iran in southwestern Balochistan province, which remains vulnerable to a public health emergency.
Decades of fighting a separatist insurgency and militant violence, along with neglect from the central government, have left the impoverished area with little infrastructure.
Ziaullah Langove, Balochistan’s home minister, said there were nearly 10,000 Pakistanis still in Iran, mostly students and pilgrims that Iranian officials were planning to send back in small groups.
At the Taftan border crossing long queues of trucks waited in hope of being allowed into Iran, as residents and officials donned surgical masks.
“There is no information sharing whatsoever,” said resident Khuda Baksh, chiding officials for failing to keep locals informed about the situation.
“There is fear and panic among the public, our business and lives are at risk.”
Is coronavirus a biological weapon?
Dr. Rafi Amir-Ud-Din
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel (new) coronavirus. It is now an officially declared global pandemic. According to the latest reports, there are 125,048 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
By Thursday, 4,613 deaths had been reported. Only in the preceding 24 hours, 321 deaths had been reported. China has borne the brunt of the COVID-19. China has 80,981 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 3173 deaths. Outside of China, 44,067 cases had been confirmed, and 1,440 deaths reported.
Pakistan’s tally of the virus had reached 21, which included a secondary contact case. The secondary contact case means that the victim had no travel history, and he must have contracted the virus from one of the people who travelled to Pakistan from another country. Officially, COVID-19 has spread to 117 countries/territories/ areas of the world.
COVID-19 cuts through income barriers and has hit the unlikeliest of places and individuals. The wife of Canada’s prime minister has tested positive for the virus. The Italian chief of army staff has tested positive. An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader has died of COVID-19. Among other notables, Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, have tested positive for the virus. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has given a stark warning that up to 70 percent of the country’s population could contract the coronavirus. Stock markets around the world have since seen an unprecedented meltdown.
A lot of explanations have been advanced regarding the source of the coronavirus. Understandably, public-health officials want to pin down the virus’s source so that they can prevent new outbreaks. A lot of conspiracy theories are also making the rounds. The question essentially boils down to one point: was COVID-19 developed in a laboratory, and is it being used as a biological weapon to contain the formidable Chinese economic hegemony?
A related question is whether the virus was made in the laboratory purposefully, or did the virus made in the laboratory accidentally escape the laboratory. The lab-escape theory is so far the more widely accepted conspiracy theory. It had been circulating on social media for weeks, and gained considerable visibility following a New York Post article in late February.
Steven Mosher, a social scientist, summarises why he believes COVID-19 may have been accidentally spread by China’s National Biosafety Laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, where researchers have studied bat coronaviruses. Mosher says that the lab is less than 10 miles away from the seafood market where a clustre of COVID-19 cases was first discovered.
Mosher believes that the said lab is located in the Institute of Virology in Wuhan, where the dangerous pathogens were purportedly kept and looked at as potential bioweapons. There were reports that in the 2003 SARS outbreak, the SARS-CoV virus escaped from virology labs in China. He says Chinese virologist and bioweapons expert Major General Chen Wei’s visit to the Wuhan Institute of Virology with military scientists in January was an exercise in damage control.
In the past, these viruses have spread through wild bats that infect another type of animal —an intermediate host — that then spreads it to humans. SARS-CoV, for example, was transmitted from bats to civets to humans, while camels were an intermediate host in MERS, according to Quanta.
But there is a lot of scholarly evidence to suggest that coronavirus was not manufactured in the laboratory. Even if the exact source of the disease is not known yet, the virus originally came from wildlife.
An analysis of SARS-CoV-2 by scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology suggests that the virus’s genome is 96 percent similar to a coronavirus found in bats. Transmission from an animal, with no lab experiment or genetic manipulation involved, fits best with what scientists know about how other coronaviruses have made the jump to humans.In the past, these viruses have spread through wild bats that infect another type of animal—an intermediate host—that then spreads it to humans. SARS-CoV, for example, was transmitted from bats to civets to humans, while camels were an intermediate host in MERS, according to Quanta.The civet version of SARS-CoV was 99.8 percent similar to the one found in humans—much more closely related than the bat and human varieties of SARS-CoV-2—so researchers believe the new coronavirus also infected another type of animal on its way from bats to humans. But they have not found a candidate so far, according to Nature.
However, some other scientists have narrowed down their focus on the potential suspect from which humans may have contracted the virus. One explanation is that virus may have originated with horseshoe bats in China and then spread to other animals, possibly, ant-eating pangolin which was subsequently eaten by people. The ability of the virus to move across animal hosts is a characteristic feature of coronaviruses, according to Paul McCray.
It is the genetic similarities between the coronavirus found in humans and that found in the pangolins, which make scientists suspect that humans may have got the virus from the pangolins. The researchers said they had found a coronavirus in smuggled pangolins that was a 99 percent genetic match to the virus circulating in people.
Does it mean that bat-pangolin-human is the authentic link? Unfortunately, this is not the case. Scientists claim that although the animal is still a contender, the mystery is far from solved. Dozens of people infected early in the current outbreak worked in a live-animal market in the Chinese city of Wuhan. Still, tests of coronavirus samples found at the market have yet to identify a source.
In addition to the claim that a naturally evolved virus escaped from a lab by mistake, some conspiracy theories have posited that coronavirus was genetically engineered. Researchers throughout the world, including in the US and China, have conducted research involving the creation of experimentally engineered hybrid coronaviruses.
But there is no evidence that coronavirus was genetically engineered, as claimed in a study on the genomic analysis of the new virus. Even if the new coronavirus does have some genetic differences to other known viruses due to mutations, there’s no evidence that this is the result of a human experiment. It is claimed that if the virus were engineered, scientists would expect to see additional genetic material in its genome, which actually is not the case. So, the difference between coronavirus and other known viruses may just be a coincidence, rather than the result of human activity.
In a nutshell, the odds are heavily in favor of the theory that coronavirus jumped from the animals to humans. The most compelling reason to believe that coronavirus is not human-made is that the recent coronavirus closely resembles two other viruses that triggered outbreaks in recent decades, SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. All three viruses seem to have originated in bats.
In short, the characteristics of new coronavirus fall in line with the current understanding that coronaviruses make the jump from animals to people. As there is no known remedy for coronavirus, the focus needs to be on following the best practices.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/629091-is-coronavirus-a-biological-weapon
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