Day: September 19, 2021

Jammu, September 19, 2021 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, hundreds of Kashmiri Pandits staged a massive protest demonstration at Jagti Township in Jammu against the delay in the payment of monthly relief. The protesters came out from the Jagti Township and started marching towards the nearby highway, raising slogans in support of their demand for immediate release of relief payment for the month of August, the officials said.

They said the police stopped the protesters from marching towards the highway and persuaded them to disperse. The protesters threatened to intensify their agitation if their monthly relief was not immediately released. “The relief for the month of August was not released by the Relief Organisation till date, causing hardships to the displaced community,” a spokesman of the Kashmiri Pandit Relief Holders Association said.

Earlier, the protesters, including men and women with banners and black flags in their hands, tried to march towards the highway to register their protest. Shouting slogans in support of their demand, they said that the relief organisation and the authorities had unnecessary created the problem taking the thousands of relief holders to ransom. Later, the Additional DC of Jammu reached the spot and pacified the protesters. He assured them that the issue would be sorted out within three or four days.

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Jammu, September 19, 2021 (PPI-OT):In Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) President, Mehbooba Mufti, has asked for immediate opening of all the religious places, including Dargah Hazratbal and Srinagar Jamia Masjid for Friday Prayers.

Mehbooba Mufti in a statement in Jammu said, these revered places remain unjustifiably closed for Friday prayers on the pretext of COVID-19 or security reasons, depriving thousands of devotees of offering prayers there.

“On the security front, the authorities have been making repeated claims of “all is well”. They quote stone pelting incidents and instances of violence, in general, to back their claims. So what justifies the closure of these revered places for Friday prayers?” she asked.

“As far as the COVID19 situation goes, we have seen normal operations of all other sectors, huge events are organized by the government, sports activities have been happening in a big way and now even the higher education institutions are being opened. Parks, gardens and amusements parks have also been thrown open for general public. In such a situation, keeping Dargah Hazratbal and Jama Masjid closed for Friday prayers has no justification,” Mehbooba said.

“Signaling out these revered places for restriction smacks of ulterior motives and amounts to direct interference in religious matters,” she added. “Places like Jama Masjid Srinagar and Dargah Hazratbal, apart from religious significance are also centres of social, cultural and economic activity and this undue clampdown is only alienating the people further. These places should be opened for Friday prayers without any further delay,” Mehbooba said.

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Mumbai, September 19, 2021 (PPI-OT):Nearly 90 percent of people in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, are estimated to have COVID-19 antibodies, according to the civic body survey. The fifth blood serum survey, which tests for antibodies, known as a sero, conducted between August and early September included 8,674 adults out of which almost 65 percent of the subjects were vaccinated.

The survey also revealed that more females had COVID-19 antibodies compared to their male counterparts at 88.29 percent compared to 85.07 percent. Sero-prevalence was significantly higher in individuals who had received either first or both doses of COVID-19 vaccine as compared to their unvaccinated counterparts, the survey by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) noted.

“As the sero-prevalance amongst those who are vaccinated is much higher than the unvaccinated counterparts, it is essential to strengthen the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination program,” the report mentioned. India’s crowded financial hub Mumbai won plaudits this year for tackling the second wave of the pandemic better than any other metropolis in the country.

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QUETTA: Spokesperson for JUI (F), Balochistan, while refuting the news on social media, has said that the issue of no-confidence-motion against Chief Minister Balochistan, Jam Kamal Khan, has neither been considered in the Provincial Executive Committee meeting of JUI (F) nor in the Parliamentary Committee meeting of the party.

In a statement issued here on Sunday, he said that Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) was an organized religious and political party, hence, all such unauthenticated statements must not be attributed to the party which had not been issued by the party.

Spokesperson added that meeting of parliamentary and Provincial Executive Committee meeting of the party was in progress and its decisions would accordingly be announced by the provincial spokesperson of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F).

QUETTA: Abdul Khaliq Hazara, Minister for Sports, Culture and Youth Affairs has said that no confidence motion moved against Chief Minister Balochistan, Jam Kamal Khan would end in fiasco. Talking to media here on Sunday, he said that all apprehensions and observations of annoyed members of Balochistan Provincial Assembly would be removed. He added, “I was the part of government and still I am the part of government”. He said that such incidents happened in politics, adding that no confidence motion moved against Chief Minister Balochistan, Jam Kamal Khan would end in fiasco.

Meanwhile, Abdul Qudoos Achakzai (BCS/ BS-18), Deputy Commissioner, Surab has been transferred and directed to report to SandGAD while Jalal-ud-Din (BCS/BS-18), under transfer order as Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) (Revenue), Surab, has been transferred and posted as Deputy Commissioner, Surab vice Abdul Qudoos Achakzai, according to a notification issued by the Government of Balochistan, Services and General Administration Department.

KARACHI: The Central Vice President PTI and Leader of Opposition in Sindh Assembly Haleem Adil Sheikh on Sunday expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Imran Khan for providing better transport facilities to citizens of Karachi.

PTI workers also staged a token protest by holding pictures of worn out crumbling buses run by Sindh government in Karachi. Forty buses have reached Karachi and PTI’s promise of Green Line Bus Service is turning into realty. People of Karachi would get rid of crumbling shaky buses thanks to federal government that would not leave Karachiites on the mercy of inefficient Sindh government, he said in a statement.

Inauguration of Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) is expected in a few days while completion of mega water supply project K-IV would be another gift by PTI government to Karachi, he said. Sindh government during its 13-year rule in the province claimed to spend Rs1161 billion on transport sector and construction of roads while Rs3.11 billion were earmarked in Budget 2020-21, Adil said adding that in the current financial year 2021-22, further Rs6.46 billion were allocated for the purpose but all the projects remained limited to mere announcements and no change could be seen across the province.

The 3.9 kilometer Orange line, the shortest section of Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) in Karachi, was inaugurated on June 11, 2016 with estimated cost of Rs1.14 billion but despite passage of over four years, the project was incomplete, Haleem stated. Red line – a 27 kilometer section from Malir Halt to Numaish and another section from Numaish to Tower were still awaiting completion, he said.

Yellow line is another abandoned project under which 104 new buses were planned to be inducted in local transport system, he informed elaborating that agreement in this regard was inked with a Chinese firm in 2016 and Sindh government has to provide 30 percent of total project cast while remaining 70 percent was to be provided by the Chinese firm.

Sindh government did not provide its share and work on the project stalled, he stated. Haleem said that the Sindh government announced a project of plying 1000 buses on 40 different routes in Karachi in year 2019 which could not be materialized while Peoples Bus Service was another failure that ended in pilot stage within four months.

Haleem said that a 600 buses project named after Shaheed Benazir Bhutto met the same fate while announcement of running electrical buses just remained an announcement as not a single bus was being operated by Sindh government. Even data was not available on website of provincial transport department, he added.

In the provincial capital of Sindh, better transport facilities were available to citizens till 1990, but a recent report of Bloomberg mentioned that Karachi has the worst local transport system among 100 mega cities of the world, Haleem mentioned.

PPP has plundered the national exchequer ruthlessly and people of Sindh were deprived of even the basic facilities, Haleem alleged and added that 50 new CNG buses were imported in 2007 with estimated cost of Rs250 million, but the PPP government through a fake auction sold the buses to its party leader at a meager price.

KARACHI: Provincial Minister for Works and Services Syed Zia Abbas Shah Sunday took strict notice on the media reports in which alleged theft of street lights poles installed on the Thatta-Sujawal road was shown.

He also issued instructions to the Secretary Works and Services to remove the relevant EXCN and suspend AEN and Sub Engineer immediately. In this regard, he directed to form a three-member high level inquiry committee and also directed to submit a report to the committee within three days.

Following the orders, the Superintendent Engineer Provincial Highways formed a committee comprising Director Highways, Technical Officer and EXCN Coastal Highways. The provincial minister also directed to immediately register an FIR in the incident and said that immediate legal action should be taken against those who were negligent. It should be noted that according to media reports, out of more than 80 polls on Thatta Sujawal Road, 35 polls were found missing.