Day: February 5, 2023

KARACHI: The Alma-Mater of Founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah- Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU) took out a rally on Sunday in the solidarity with Kashmiri people for their right to self- determination.

Rally was led by deans of various faculties including Dr. Zahid Ali Channar, Dr. Jamshed Adil Halepoto, Dr. Aftab Ahmed Shaikh, Director Students Affairs Dr. Asif Ali Wagan, Director ORIC Dr. Aamir Iqbal Umrani, Controller of Examinations and chairpersons of different departments.

SMIU Officials, faculty members and other employees participated in the rally in a large number, which was taken out from the Main Building of SMIU, then it marched from Aiwan-e-Tijarat Road to Hasrat Mohani Road. Then it entered in the premises of SMIU from the Talpur House and then culminated at the Khan Bahadur Hassanally Effendi Library of SMIU.

On this occasion Dr. Zahid Ali Channar, Dean Faculty of Social Sciences said that Kashmiri people of occupied Kashmir are being meted out with brutality by the hands of India forces as they just want their right of self-determination. “Since the last 76 years’ Kashmiri people are demanding their right, but Indian forces have imposed an unending war upon them,” Dr. Channar said and demanded that the UNO, Muslim world and other developed countries should come forward to get resolved the Kashmir dispute and people of Kashmir must be given their right of self-determination according to the UNO resolutions.

Dr. Aftab Ahmed Shaikh, Dr. Jamshed Halepoto, Dr. Aamir Iqbal Umrani and Mr. Furqan Iftikhar also shared their views and demanded that atrocities committing by Indian forces in occupied Kashmir must be stopped and the right must be given to Kashmiris to decide about their destiny.

ISLAMABAD: Former president retired General Pervez Musharraf passed away in Dubai on Sunday due to a prolonged rare disease amyloidosis. He was 79.

Pakistan Consulate in Dubai and his family confirmed the death of the former military ruler at American Hospital Dubai. His family has filed an application in Pakistani Consulate in Dubai for shifting the body of Musharraf. Musharraf had been suffering from amyloidosis, a rare disease caused by a build-up of an abnormal protein called amyloid in organs and tissues throughout the body.

The former general was admitted to the American Hospital Dubai for treatment. He was also admitted to Dubai hospitals more than once in the past. President Dr Arif Alvi and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed deep grief and sorrow over the death of the former military chief.

In a statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) expressed heartfelt condolences over the sad demise of former army chief. “May Allah bless the departed soul and give strength to bereaved family,” the military’s media wing said. In a series of tweets, Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani expressed deep sorrow over the former president’s death.

Pervez Musharraf was born on August 11, 1943 in New Delhi, India. He who took power in a coup in 1999 and also served as president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. Musharraf moved with his family from New Delhi to Karachi in 1947, when Pakistan was separated from India. The son of a career diplomat, he lived in Turkey during 1949 -56. He joined the army in 1964, graduated from the Army Command and Staff College in Quetta, and attended the Royal College of Defence Studies in London.

The former army chief held a number of appointments in the artillery, the infantry, and commando units and also taught at the Staff College in Quetta and in the War Wing of the National Defence College. He fought in Pakistan’s 1965 and 1971 wars with India. The then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed Gen Musharraf head of the armed forces in October 1998.

On October 12, 1999, while Musharraf was out of the country, Sharif dismissed him and tried to prevent the plane carrying Musharraf home from landing at the Karachi airport. The armed forces, however, took control of the airport and other government installations and deposed Sharif, paving the way for Musharraf to become head of a military government.

Although he was generally considered to hold moderate views and promised an eventual return to civilian rule, Musharraf suspended the constitution and dissolved parliament. He formed the National Security Council, made up of civilian and military appointees, to run Pakistan in the interim.

In early 2001 he assumed the presidency and later attempted to negotiate an agreement with India over the Kashmir region. Following the September 11 attacks in 2001 in the United States and the subsequent US invasion of Afghanistan later that year, the US government cultivated close ties with Musharraf in an attempt to root out Islamic extremists in the Afghan-Pakistan border region.

Following a movement led by the political parties, Musharraf resigned as the president on August 18, 2008. On March 30, 2014, Musharraf was indicted for suspending the Constitution on November 3, 2007. On December 17, 2019, a special court handed Musharraf death sentence in the high treason case against him. The former military ruler left the country in March 2016 for Dubai to seek medical treatment and didn’t return to Pakistan since.

KARACHI: Sindh Information, Transport and Mass Transit Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon in his message on Kashmir Solidarity Day said that February 5 is a day to renew our pledge for support of Kashmiris’ eternal struggle for freedom against Indian tyranny.

Mr Memon said: “The Kashmiris are not alone in their struggle for achieving freedom from Indian rule, and we all are standing by their side.” The minister added that Kashmiris had kept the Kashmir issue alive with their unmatchable sacrifices.

The information minister said that no oppression and suppression by India could end the spirit of resistance of people of Kashmir. Mr Memon said that the Modi government had turned the occupied valley into the largest prison in the world by abolition of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution.

He said that as many as 900,000 Indian troops had made the lives of people miserable in Kashmir valley. Mr Memon said that Modi had a long standing dream and agenda, which he had followed to appease RSS and Hindu extremists. The minister added that Pakistani nation had a principled and historical stand on the issue of Kashmir, on which the Pakistani nation and the Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir had stood since Quaid-e-Azam till today.

He said that Kashmir issue had always remained top point of the manifesto of the Pakistan Peoples Party and added that PPP had always given moral and diplomatic support to its Kashmiri brothers and sisters in their struggle. He said that Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had exposed the ugly face of Narendra Modi before the international community. He pledged that Pakistan Peoples Party would continue to support Kashmiris until the independence of Occupied Kashmir according to the resolutions of the United Nations.

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah announced a grant equivalent to $4.1 million Patients Aid Foundation (PAF) to replace the old Cyberknife machines and equipment with the latest technology at Jinnah Post Medical Centre (JPMC) so that patients from all over the country could be benefited.

This he said while speaking at a signing ceremony of the Agreement between the Sindh government and the Patients’ Aid Foundation for developing a working partnership at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC), Karachi for different projects, particularly the Cube knife here at a local hotel on Sunday.

The programme was attended by Advisor Law Murtaza Wahab, Parliamentary Secretary Qasim Soomro, Secretary Health Zulfiqar Shah, Executive Director JPMC Prof Shahid Rasool, and donors and philanthropists. The CM said that he has been told that the Cyberknife facility has a waiting list of around 2,000 patients. In order to address this grave situation, the chief minister also announced the Enhancement of the Annual Grant to the Patients Aid Foundation from Rs340 million to Rs540 million from the next financial year.

Patients’ Aid Foundation (PAF) has been serving the poor and needy patients at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) Karachi since 1991. Mr Shah said that after the devolution of JPMC to the Sindh government, the Patients’ Aid Foundation (PAF) has enhanced its bed capacity from 1100 to 2208 beds for which his government has already notified this new bed strength for the next fiscal year budget for the JPMC.

The CM said that the PAF has installed two Cyberknife and Tomotherapy, which were jointly operated by the Sindh govt and the PAF. “Alhamdulillah, through this joint effort today JPMC is amongst the top 10 centers in the world having two Cyberknifes and Tomotherapy and is the only center on the planet that offers absolutely free cancer treatment with cutting edge technology irrespective of nationality, religion, and ethnicity,” he said.

Mr Shah said that to make this historic partnership formal, the Patients’ Aid Foundation and the Government of Sindh have signed an Agreement for 25 years to operate various facilities at JPMC to further improve the free diagnosis and treatment facilities that would otherwise be beyond the reach of a common person.

According to the Chief Minister, the JPMC is the only public sector hospital in Pakistan that offers free PET-Ct and PET-MR irrespective of the type of cancer. “There is no free PET SCAN facility anywhere in Pakistan,” he said and added that in private healthcare centers, it could cost as much as Rs90,000 per scan.

The CM said that the doctors have told him that a cancer patient may require two to three PET scans during the treatment. “Pet scan and cyclotron at JPMC is also a joint project of the Sindh government and Patients’ Aid Foundation, which I had initiated in 2016,” Mr. Shah recalled and said that JPMC entertains the largest number of patients compared to any other center in Pakistan.

The Cyberknife Unit Chief Prof Tariq told me that he still has a waiting list of around 2,000 patients. “In order to address this grave situation, I am announcing the approval of Enhancement of the Annual Grant to Patients Aid Foundation for the year 2023-24 from Rs340 million to Rs540 million.

The chief minister said that Cyberknife offered curative treatment of cancer internationally for as much as $50,000 to $90,000 worldwide which is beyond the reach of the common person. “Patients from 167 cities of Pakistan and 15 countries have availed this free facility at JPMC and the number of patients are increasing every day,” he disclosed.

Cyberknife Unit Head Prof Tariq Mahmood speaking on the occasion said that initially, the JPMC was mostly treating brain cancers but due to awareness in Public, that Cyberknife was the best and safest treatment to cure stage-1 prostate cancer compared to surgery, therefore the number of patients was increasing at a rapid pace.

Prof Tariq said: “at present Cyberknife, unit-1 is an older technology that requires more than an hour for each patient whereas the newer technology to treat a patient require less than 15 minutes this unit can treat up to 30 patients in a day. At this, the chief minister announced funds equivalent to $4.1 million as a grant in aid to the Patients Aid Foundation to replace the old Cyberknife with the latest model of Cyberknife at JPMC Karachi so that patients from all over the country could be benefited.

Parliamentary Secretary on Health Qasim Siraj Soomro, speaking on the occasion, said that the provincial government under chief minister Murad Ali Shah has not developed health facilities all over the province where quality treatment was being provided free of cost.

Executive Director JPMC Prof Shahid Rasool thanked the chief guest, the chief minister, the donors, and the PAF for their unflinching support to make JPMC one of the world’s best health facilities serving ailing humanity irrespective of any discrimination.

PAF Chairman Mushtaq Chhapra traced the history of his partnership with the Sindh government at JPMC and said that the service was not possible without the support of national and international donors. He also gave details about the construction of the Medical Complex at JPMC for which the CM announced that he would provide equipment, and other related materials once the building was completed.

KARACHI: Pakistan Rangers and police conducted a joint operation in Old Golimar area of Karachi and other adjoining areas and apprehended seven suspects.

According to Rangers spokesperson, seven criminals, five drug dealers, five illegal immigrants and seven suspects have been arrested during the operation.

During the operation, 24 more people were detained over suspicion and 9 mm pistols, 4 30-bore pistols, 1 12-bore short gun, and 1 SMG were also confiscated from them.

The operation also resulted in the seizure of 381 different types of bullets, 570 Tanzanian tokens, 17 stolen mobile phones, 3 motorcycles, and 570 grams of crystal. The arrested suspects were handed over to the police for further legal action along with the weapons and stolen goods.

QUETTA: One person died while eight others injured in a suicide attack on Gulistan Road near Musa Check post area of Quetta Cantt on Sunday.

According to police, unidentified suicidal blew himself up on Gulistan road near Musa Check post area of Quetta, a busy area of the provincial capital, resultantly, one person died while eight others injured.

The blast was so intense that its voice was heard in far off places in Quetta. After the incident, the injured were shifted to Sandeman Provincial Hospital, Quetta, Shaheed Benazir Hospital, Quetta and Combined Military Hospital, Quetta cantt.

Police said that on information, teams of bomb disposal squad reached the site and collected evidences from the site of the incident. According to police, pedestrian suicide attacker blew himself up. Remains of the suicide attacker were recovered from the site of the incident.

Police said injured were being provided treatment in different hospitals of Quetta, including Sandeman Provincial Hospital, Quetta, Shaheed Benazir Hospital, Quetta and Combined Military Hospital, Quetta cantt. Victim of the suicide attack was identified as Tanveer while amongst the injured included Usman son of Fazal Dad, Qaim Khan son of Khan Muhammad, Fazal Muhammad son of Abdul Qadeer, Muhammad Anwar son of Sultan Shah and Thamas.