LAHORE: The Punjab government has set up quarantine centers in different cities of the province to isolate suspected coronavirus patients in areas under its jurisdiction, said a spokesperson of the provincial authority on Wednesday, adding that the one established in Multan is the biggest in the country.
“The government has set up quarantine centers in Multan, Dera Ghazi Khan, Lahore, Muzaffargarh, Rawalpindi, Bahawalpur and other cities of the province,” Sabir Bokhari, a spokesperson of the provincial administration, told Arab News. “The biggest center has been set up in Multan where 6,000 people can be kept at one time. The staff at these facilities have also been given special kits and medical equipment to deal with different emergencies.”
The provincial administration has also set up a quarantine center at Dera Ghazi Khan that can host 780 patients while another center in Bahawalpur will be able to accommodate 1,276 pilgrims coming from the Taftan border.
The centers have been set up to save citizens from the spread of coronavirus in the country. The outbreak that began in a small Chinese town of Wuhan was recently declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organization due to the rising number of infections across the world.
In Punjab, the authorities declared 26 confirmed cases of coronavirus until Wednesday afternoon.
“There are 26 confirmed patients of coronavirus in the province. Out of these, 20 are pilgrims [who returned from Iran], five are from Lahore and another one is from Gujrat. Thirty-nine suspected patients are in isolation at the moment,” reads the latest bulletin by the Department of Primary and Secondary Healthcare.
The province’s apex committee on coronavirus met in Lahore on Wednesday under Chief Minister Usman Buzdar. Among others, the meeting was also attended by Corps Commander Lahore, Lt. Gen. Majid Ehsan, General Officer Commanding 10-Division, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Aneeq-ur-Rehman Malik, DG Rangers Punjab, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Amir Majeed, Law Minister Raja Basharat and Health Minister Dr Yasmeen Rashid.
“During the meeting, the chief minister said the quarantine centers had been set up in southern Punjab and that his administration was doing its best to defeat the virus. The corps commander said that the military establishment was extending its full cooperation to the government since it was a national cause to overcome the disease,” Muhammad Rafiullah, the chief minister’s public relations officer, told Arab News. “The establishment of a quarantine center at Taftan was also considered during the meeting while another proposal to convert the Hajj terminal in Lahore into a temporary isolation unit was also reviewed.”
Fearing increase in number of suspected coronavirus cases in Lahore, the authorities recently visited the campuses of Engineering University and GC University at Kala Shah Kaku, some 19 kilometers west of Lahore, and declared them fit for setting up quarantine camps.
“The commissioner and deputy commissioner have visited the sites. These education facilities can be converted into quarantine centers, if required. Arrangements are complete to meet any urgency or emergency arising from the threat of coronavirus,” Imran Maqbool, spokesperson at the DC office in Lahore, told Arab News.
Punjab sets up biggest quarantine center in Pakistan to fight coronavirus
https://arab.news/8q37p
Punjab sets up biggest quarantine center in Pakistan to fight coronavirus
- Provincial administration officials say the facility in Multan can accommodate 6,000 patients at once
- The country's military establishment is fully cooperating with the civilian administration to defeat the pandemic, says Corpse Commander Lahore
Several agreements expected to be signed as Pakistani PM in Belarus
- Corresponding with Sharif’s arrival, second Pakistan-Belarus Business Forum was held on Thursday in Minsk
- Volume of trade between Belarus and Pakistan ranges from $50 to 65 million annually, according to foreign office data
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is on an official visit to the Republic of Belarus today, Friday, with several agreements to strengthen cooperation expected to be signed, the foreign office said.
During his stay, Sharif will hold talks with President Aleksandr Lukashenko to review progress in areas of mutual interest. Over the past six months, a series of high-level bilateral engagements, including the 8th Session of the Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in February 2025 and a subsequent visit by a high-powered mixed ministerial delegation to Belarus in April 2025, have laid the groundwork for Sharif’s visit.
“The two sides are expected to sign several agreements to further strengthen cooperation,” the foreign office said in a weekly statement. “The Prime Minister’s visit underscores the strong and ongoing partnership between Pakistan and Belarus.”
Corresponding with Sharif’s arrival, the second Pakistan-Belarus Business Forum was held on Thursday in Minsk, marking a “significant step toward strengthening bilateral trade and economic cooperation between the two countries,” state-owned Pakistan Television reported.
Senior government officials, business leaders and other key stakeholders from both nations attended.
In recent years, the volume of trade between Belarus and Pakistan ranges between $50 to 65 million annually, according to foreign office data.
“Our presence here is part of a journey that reflects the evolving and deepening partnership between our two countries,” Pakistani Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan said as he addressed the forum.
He said the eighth session of the Pakistan-Belarus Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC), held earlier this year in Minsk, had opened “new avenues of cooperation” in sectors such as trade, agriculture, education, technology, and pharmaceuticals, emphasizing that both governments were committed to removing trade barriers and promoting involvement of the private sector.
Discussing potential trade opportunities, Khan identified key areas for joint ventures including textile machinery, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, information technology, and e-commerce.
He also announced a recent cooperation agreement between the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BelCCI), describing it as an active platform for trade promotion and partnership development.
Khan invited Belarusian investors to explore opportunities in Pakistan’s Special Economic Zones, saying they offered attractive incentives and access to markets of over three billion people. He also noted the recent reduction in Pakistan’s energy tariffs as an additional facilitative measure for investment.
“Today’s forum is not just a ceremonial gathering but a practical advancement. We are witnessing the signing of a cooperation agreement between TDAP and BelCCI that will provide an institutional foundation. This includes participation in trade exhibitions, B2B events, exchange of market intelligence, and facilitation of sector-specific delegations,” Chief Executive of the Trade Development Authority, Faiz Ahmed, said in his address at the business forum.
“This formal collaboration will ensure that the momentum created today translates into tangible outcomes in the coming months.”
Pakistani religious scholars say Islam permits organ donation after death
- Islamic scholars sign joint declaration endorsing organ donation as ‘ongoing charity’
- Pakistan faces shortage of transplantable organs with many patients on waiting lists
KARACHI: A group of prominent Pakistani religious scholars and medical professionals have declared organ donation after death permissible in Islam, a leading medical college said on Thursday, amid an effort to tackle low donation numbers due to religious concerns on the matter.
While many Muslims consider organ donation permissible, there are varying interpretations and opinions among scholars and individuals. Some believe that the human body is sacred and should not be harmed, even in death, which can lead them to oppose organ donation. Others interpret verses in the Qur’an and Hadith that emphasize the value of saving lives, leading them to support organ donation as a compassionate act.
Pakistan faces a significant shortage of organ donors. The demand for organs far exceeds the availability, leading to long waiting times and increased mortality rates for patients in need of transplants. Apart from cultural and religious beliefs and lack of awareness and education, the shortage is also fueled by Pakistan lacking the infrastructure and resources to effectively support deceased organ donation programs. While organ donations, particularly from family members, are more common in Pakistan, the country lacks a proper system for deceased organ donation.
“Donating organs after death, with proper consent and ethical compliance, is not only allowed but also considered an act of sadaqah jariyah (ongoing charity) in Islamic teachings,” Dow University of Health Sciences said in a joint declaration following an event on the ethical and religious dimensions of brain death and organ transplantation in Islam.
All the scholars agreed to raise awareness among Muslims about the “permissibility and spiritual reward” of organ donation, it added.
The statement quoted Chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), Allama Raghib Hussain Naeemi, as saying organ donation could only take place with “prior consent or family approval” after brain death was confirmed. Another scholar Mufti Ramzan Sialvi said organ donation was only permissible if the dignity of the deceased was preserved.
Doctors estimate around 50,000 lives could be saved annually in Pakistan through organ donation, the statement added, calling for widespread awareness to promote the practice.
By aligning medical ethics with Islamic teachings, experts hope to encourage more Pakistanis to register as donors and help address the country’s critical shortage of transplant organs.
‘Lodge of Hope’: Karachi’s Freemasons building repurposed for wildlife preservation
- Freemasons Lodge Building was taken over by government after freemasonry was banned in Pakistan in 1972
- Freemasonry is a global fraternity viewed with suspicion over secrecy, conspiracies about alleged power and influence
KARACHI: On Karachi’s Strachan Road, where traffic rarely slows and history is easy to miss, a grand neoclassical building stands quietly between the past and the present.
Known as the “Lodge of Hope,” the building was Karachi’s principal Freemasons Hall, one of four in the city during British rule and standing to date as a reflection of the city’s colonial inheritance and postcolonial socio-political evolution.
Flanked by tall Greek columns, their concrete softened by time, the building now houses the Sindh Wildlife Department’s offices, a natural history museum and a public library.
But long before schoolchildren and researchers wandered through its storied halls to marvel at preserved specimens of leopards, birds and reptiles, this was a place plagued by secrecy and suspicion.
Built around 1914 after a storm destroyed the fraternity’s earlier structure near the exclusive members-only Sindh Club, it served as the meeting place for members of the global freemason brotherhood whose rituals, symbols and origins trace back to the cathedral builders of medieval Europe.
What began as an elite and exclusive institution gradually became the subject of public fascination and fear, its secrecy spawning stories, conspiracy theories and, in time, an outright ban.
Freemasonry is a fraternal organization, not a religion, with roots in medieval stonemason guilds, emphasizing brotherhood, charity, and moral development through rituals and symbolic teachings. Controversy surrounding freemasonry stems from a few key factors, including its secretive nature, perceived elitism, religious and political affiliations, and the prevalence of conspiracy theories surrounding its alleged power and influence on world events.
“The masons are those who were called previously the Templars,” explained Dr. Kaleemullah Lashari, a historian and archaeologist who played a key role in the building’s conservation between 2008 and 2011.
“The first Lodge, as the story goes, was constructed where the present Sindh Club [in Karachi] is and while the Sindh Club emerged, and the Sindh Club had this opportunity to expand itself, so the Freemasons Lodge was given another alternate place, which is here on Strachan Road.”
Membership of the lodge was open to anyone — Muslim, Hindu, Parsi or Christian — who embraced the masonic ideals of fraternity and self-improvement but the secretive rituals and symbols raised suspicion.
“The people thought that they [freemasons] were doing something very secretive,” Lashari said. “This is the reason that people used to call it ‘jadu ka ghar’ [house of magic].”
Dr. Tauseef Ahmed Khan, an academic interested in Karachi’s history, described the lodge as an “elite club” during the years of British rule.
“Very few people were given membership, and they were all elite people, noblemen, bureaucrats, and then a lot of conspiracy theories were also spread,” he added.
“ESPIONAGE”
Among the suspicions was that the Freemasons building was being used for espionage. Subsequently, in 1972, amid political turbulence and rising nationalist sentiment, a staff member of a foreign mission in Karachi, who happened to be a freemason, was accused of smuggling arms into Pakistan, leading to an official ban on freemasonry.
Following this development, the building changed hands several times, briefly accommodating the Press Information Department before falling into disrepair. That changed in 1982 when the Sindh Wildlife Department moved in.
“This place has become a ray of hope for wildlife,” said Javed Ahmed Mahar, a conservator at the Sindh Wildlife Department. “We have also worked on its decoration and embellishment. If you look at its comparative images in the last 2–3 years, you will see that there is a great difference here.”
The building is also home to Sindh Wildlife Library and over 9,000 books.
“There are a lot of rare books here,” Shahid Ali Khan, the dedicated librarian who has served here for four decades, said. “There are a lot of books that are not available in the market right now. These are handwritten books.”
Despite its rebirth, the building still wears its past. Inspired by classical Greek temples with their ornate columns and symmetrical layout, the structure also incorporates Edwardian features such as dual reception rooms flanking the main entrance.
Today, the building is not only architecturally unique but also functionally vital, one of the few government spaces in Pakistan that have been both historically preserved and actively repurposed.
“This is more than just an office or museum,” Mahar said, “it’s our cultural heritage.”
Pakistan’s textile industry looks to ‘grab business’ amid US-China tariff escalation
- Textile sector in Pakistan generates about $17 billion in exports and is the largest employer in the country
- Pakistan’s textile industry is expected to face potential losses of up to $2 billion in textile exports under new tariffs
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s textile sector is looking at opportunities to “grab business” as the US and China steadily hiked tariffs amid an escalating trade war, the head of the country’s textile council said this week.
The textile sector in Pakistan generates about $17 billion in exports and is the largest employer in the country, according to Fawad Anwar, Chairman of the Pakistan Textile Council.
“There is an opportunity to grab (business) from China. How well we can do that, that depends on how well we can sit on the table and negotiate,” said Anwar, who spoke to Reuters hours before US President Donald Trump temporarily paused hefty tariffs on dozens of countries for 90 days, except for China.
Pakistan would have been slapped with a 29 percent tariff rate before Trump’s turnabout on Wednesday. A 10 percent blanket duty on almost all US imports will remain in effect, the White House said.
Trump also hiked the tariff on Chinese imports to 125 percent from the 104 percent level that kicked in on Wednesday.
Previously, Beijing had slapped 84 percent tariffs on US imports to match an earlier tariff salvo from Trump and had vowed to “fight to the end” in an escalating tit-for-tat trade dispute between the world’s top two economies.
“This is a war between the two giants, and everything else is a collateral damage,” said Anwar.
Pakistan’s textile industry is expected to face significant challenges from the tariffs with potential losses of up to $2 billion in textile exports estimated by experts, if the 29 percent tariff rate is reinstated after Trump’s 90-day pause ends.
For Pakistan’s textile industry’s Anwar, the levy hike is a short term issue which ‘has to be resolved’.
“They cannot sustain this 29 percent, the US retailer or the US consumer… nobody can sustain this big of a percentage increase,” said Anwar.
Pakistan hopeful over success of June conference on settling Israel-Palestine conflict
- Commends France and Saudi Arabia for co-chairing preparatory consultations for June 2025 UN Conference
- Pakistan has for decades called for establishment of independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has expressed hope over the success of a UN conference in New York in June on settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and implementing a two-state solution, the foreign office said on Thursday.
Pakistan, which does not recognize Israel, has for decades called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
“Pakistan reaffirms full support to the upcoming high-level international conference for the peaceful settlement of the Question of Palestine and the implementation of a two-state solution,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said at a weekly media briefing.
“We commend France and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for co-chairing the preparatory consultations for the June 2025 Conference.”
Khan said Pakistan hoped the June Conference would restore hope in peace and justice through meaningful action.
“We believe that in the lead-up to the Conference: The ceasefire must be fully implemented; the blockade on Gaza must be lifted; humanitarian access must be guaranteed; civilians and humanitarian personnel must be protected. Any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians or annex their land must be unequivocally rejected and effectively prevented.”
The statement came as French President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday France could recognize a Palestinian state at the upcoming UN conference, adding that in turn some countries in the Middle East could recognize the state of Israel.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed Macron’s statement as “a step in the right direction.”
Although nearly 150 countries have recognized Palestine statehood, most major Western powers including the United States, Britain, France, Germany and Japan, have not.
Muslim countries that do not recognize Israel include Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
