ISLAMABAD: Amid heightened panic among thousands of Pakistanis in China during the early days of a deadly coronavirus outbreak, Pakistan’s envoy to Beijing said on Sunday no Pakistanis in the country had been affected by the disease so far, while urging calm.
There are over 28,000 Pakistani students studying all over China, 800 resident traders and 1,500 Pakistani traders who travel to China frequently. In Wuhan alone, the epicentre of the outbreak, there are at least 500 Pakistani students present, according to foreign office figures released on Saturday.
But in a video statement circulated to the Pakistani community and students in China, Pakistani ambassador Naghmana Alamgir Hashmi called for restraint in spreading false information on social media.
“No Pakistani in China has been affected by coronavirus so far. Please avoid sharing any unconfirmed reports or rumors on social media as this can create panic in the families back in Pakistan,” Hashmi said, and added that the Chinese government had announced it would automatically renew all visas that expired after Jan. 23 without any charges.
“The Pakistan mission is fully aware of the problems faced by Pakistanis in China due to coronavirus outbreak and trying its best to facilitate its nationals,” she said.
She also asked all Pakistanis to avoid going out in public, to wear face masks, practice improved hygiene and to avoid the consumption of meat, eggs and milk.
The Pakistan Embassy also urged Pakistani students to remain vigilant while adopting good preventive measures in its latest advisory issued on Sunday.
“Pakistani community members and students in Wuhan are advised to cooperate with Chinese health authorities for curbing the spread of virus; understand the prevention and control measures taken and comply with official instructions,” the Pakistani mission in Beijing said.
The embassy also asked all Pakistanis to register with the mission to get timely updates and so they could be easily facilitated in case of an emergency evacuation.
But families back home in Pakistan have expressed grave concern for the well-being of their loved ones in China.
“We are worried about the health of our daughter who is studying at Xiamen University since 2018,” Rawalpindi-based Zahoor Ahmad, father of Maham Zahoor who is pursuing her Master’s degree in international relations, told Arab News on Saturday. “I talked to her this morning and advised her to remain indoors and avoid unnecessary movement, especially to markets and other public places.”
The coronavirus, which emerged in December, has now spread to other countries, but the majority of the 2,000 cases and all 56 deaths, have been reported in China.
Earlier this week, Chinese authorities shut down transportation from Wuhan, the capital of central China’s Hubei province, hoping to contain the spread of virus, and have since expanded the lockdown to other cities, covering a total population of about 35 million people.
The World Health Organization described the outbreak as an emergency for China, though it stopped short of declaring it a public health emergency of international concern just yet.
“We are facing problems as we have been asked to remain in our hostels. We are facing an acute shortage of food as shops and restaurants are closed due to the blockade of the city,” Muhammad Atiq, a PhD student of Public Administration at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, told Arab News by telephone from China.
Atiq added that his family in Pakistan were getting increasingly worried.
“The university promised to provide us with special masks, but we haven’t received them yet as air traffic, railways and even taxi services are closed in the city. We could not even offer Friday prayers since all sorts of gatherings have been banned in the city,” he said.
Mumtaz Begum, a school principal from southern Punjab whose daughter is a student at Peking University in Beijing, expressed serious concerns for the health of her daughter while speaking to Arab News.
“I want her to come back to Pakistan, but she has her exams in a couple of months. I have asked her to remain inside her apartment, wear a mask and avoid going to public places. We all are praying for her health as the virus is spreading to the whole of China,” she said.
On Saturday, at least two people suspected of contracting coronavirus were admitted to Nishtar hospital in Multan, southern Punjab. The government has so far denied reports of any confirmed case of the disease in Pakistan.
No Pakistanis in China affected by coronavirus — Pakistan’s envoy to Beijing
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No Pakistanis in China affected by coronavirus — Pakistan’s envoy to Beijing
- Says no Pakistanis in China infected with disease so far
- Over 28,000 Pakistani students and over 2,000 traders frequent cities across China
A village in Pakistan keeps business and tradition of pottery alive
- At least 150 families are engaged in pottery-making in Tehi, village in Talagang district of Punjab province
- Young craftsmen are trying to expand businesses by introducing innovation, delivering customized products
ISLAMABAD: Sitting in the veranda of his house, Muhammad Shabbir picked up a lump of clay and set it on a potter’s wheel as it spun before him, producing a whirring sound. A few meters away in a large courtyard, his two sons kneaded clay and put finished pots out to dry in the sunlight before they would be taken to a furnace to bake.
The scene is from Shabbir’s home in Tehi village of district Talagang in Pakistan’s vast Punjab province, some 150 kilometres from Pakistan’s federal capital, Islamabad, where over 150 families are involved in pottery as their primary source of livelihood. They have learnt the techniques and styles from their ancestors and continue to uphold the age-old tradition of fashioning clay wares by hand.
Around the world, pottery was replaced at the beginning of the 20th century by glass, aluminum, tin and plastic, materials all cheaper and better suited to most tasks than clay.
But Shabbir and his two sons remain steadfast in keeping the craft alive even as it no longer earns them enough to live a prosperous life.
“I have been doing this for the last twenty years,” Shabbir told Arab News. “I used to see my elders, first they used to make them [pots] and now I have engaged my sons to work in the business.”
A special, fine-grained soil sourced from a nearby village is used to make the pots, Shabbir said, which was mixed with sand and shaped into dough to be turned into different designs.
“We knead the mud, make a dough and bring it to the potter’s wheel and then design it into a pot. We put them out to dry and then bake them in the furnace to get the final product,” Shabbir explained.
Across the streets of Tehi, clay pots of different shapes and sizes were displayed at wholesale shops from where they are bought by locals, traders in Punjab and also exported to retailers across the country.
“GOVERNMENT SUPPORT”
Craftsmen in the village make the clay pots five months in a year, three months in summer and two in winter, and pause work in the rainy season when the weather is humid and frequent rains drench the giant clay furnaces used to bake the utensils.
Like Shabbir’s sons, many children in the village started learning pottery-making at a very young age to lend a helping hand to their elders.
Shabbir said his two sons had ambitions to leave the business and graduated high school but could not find jobs.
“We went to school, did matriculation, applied for a job but didn’t get it, and then decided why shouldn’t we learn the craft of our forefathers and do it,” Muhammad Kabeer, a young potter and Shabbir's son, told Arab News as he prepared dough in a barrel.
Kabeer and his younger brother said they wanted to expand their business and the family’s earnings by introducing innovation in the field and making customized pots on order.
“If a customer comes with their own designs, we give them two, three days’ time to deliver the order,” Kabeer said.
The family mainly makes clay pots for wholesalers and while loyal customers do keep ordering, Shabbir said the pottery business had been impacted by inflation and high transportation rates, forcing many people to switch to other lines of work.
Pakistan has been beset by inflation above 20% since May 2022, registering a high of 38 percent in May 2023 mainly due to high food and energy costs. Inflation eased off to 17.3%, the lowest since May 2022, on a year-on-year basis in April 2024 from 20.7% recorded in March 2024 and 36.4% in April 2023, official data issued this week.
His father added: “We work for five months and have to make do with those earnings for the whole year,” Shabbir lamented.
Kabir added:
“We sell them [the pots] to wholesalers and they pay us labor cost only ... If we get the government’s support, we can really expand this business and provide jobs to our friends as well.”
‘Historic moment’: Pakistani satellite bound for orbit in Chinese high-stakes moon mission today
- Chang’e 6 is a planned robotic Chinese and Pakistani lunar exploration mission that will attempt China’s second sample return mission
- Around 100 students from Pakistan’s Institute of Space Technology have contributed to the satellite set for launch on Friday
ISLAMABAD: ‘ICUBE-Qamar’ (ICUBE-Q), a cube satellite, is poised to become Pakistan’s first entry into the lunar orbit as part of China’s Chang’e-6 mission today, Friday, with developers describing it as a “historic moment” that would open new avenues for future deep space missions from the South Asian nation.
Chang’e 6 is a planned robotic Chinese and Pakistani lunar exploration mission that will attempt Beijing’s second sample return mission and aims to obtain the first-ever soil and rock samples from the lunar far side and return them to earth. The samples will contain material ejected from the lunar mantle and will be used to provide insight into the history of the moon, earth, and the solar system.
The primary phase of the mission is expected to last about 53 days. Like its predecessors, the spacecraft is named after the Chinese moon goddess Chang’e.
Around 100 students from Pakistan’s Institute of Space Technology (IST) have contributed to developing the satellite, scheduled to launch into lunar orbit at 12:50 PM PST on Friday, May 3, 2024, from the Wenchang space launch site in Hainan, China.
“This is Pakistan’s first deep space mission which is indeed a historic moment and following that maybe in the future other deep space missions can be planned,” Khurram Khurshid, the head of the electrical engineering and computer science department at IST and a co-lead on the satellite project, told Arab News.
Pakistan’s proposal to build the satellite was accepted by the China National Space Agency (CNSA) from plans submitted by eight member states of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO).
“In the first month of 2022, out of all the proposals from the APSCO member states, the Chinese space agency thoroughly evaluated and selected one, which happened to be ours which was a significant moment for us as our proposal was chosen in deep space mission.”
The design, development, and qualification of the ICUBE-Q satellite were spearheaded by faculty members and students of the IST in collaboration with China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), with support from Pakistan’s National Space Agency, SUPARCO.
“Along with faculty members, around 100 students contributed to various aspects of the satellite, including electrical engineering for electronics, aerospace engineering for control systems, computer science for software, and mechanical/materials engineering for identifying materials suitable for the moon’s harsh environment,” Khurshid said.
The ICUBE-Q has two cameras as payload for taking images of the lunar surface that will be transmitted back to earth for analysis, the official said.
Khurshid said after selection in 2022, it took two years of round-the-clock work by students and researchers to complete the project within the deadline.
“The design and development of the satellite were finished approximately eight months ago after rigorous qualification tests, some conducted in-house and others by SPARCO,” he said.
The satellite was then sent to China eight months back for further verification to ensure it met all requirements.
“China’s stringent standards meant even minor discrepancies could result in rejection, emphasizing the importance of successful qualification tests,” he added, “and once these tests were successfully completed, it marked a significant milestone as it validated our designs and confirmed the satellite’s readiness for the mission.”
The major cost in such missions was the substantial funding required to launch a satellite, Khurshid said, adding that the cost of manufacturing the satellite was not high and was funded by SUPARCO:
“It is a small satellite, like a 7 kg satellite, so it was not a big cost as major cost required for launching a satellite will be provided free by China.”
After securing the free launch opportunity, all the faculty and students involved “got very excited and devoted their efforts to this project,” Khurshid said.
Four of the Pakistan team members are in China to witness the historic launching.
Pakistan double landmine blasts kill one person, wound at least 18
- First mine exploded when a truck was passing through a valley in coal-rich Duki district in Balochistan province
- Second detonated when counter-terrorism officials and civilians were examining initial blast site, police said
QUETTA, Pakistan: Double landmine blasts killed one person and wounded at least 18 on Thursday in Pakistan’s southwest, a police officer said.
The first mine exploded when a truck was passing through a valley in coal-rich Duki district in Balochistan province. The second detonated when counter-terrorism officials and civilians were examining the initial blast site, said district police officer Asif Haleem.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the blast. But Baloch separatist groups have previously struck security personnel or infrastructure in the southwest.
They initially wanted a greater share of provincial resources, but later initiated an insurgency for independence from the central government.
Also on Thursday, an Islamabad-based think tank said that militant assaults killed 70 people nationwide in April, mostly in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies also said the country experienced 323 militant attacks in the first four months of the year, resulting in 324 deaths.
Such incidents are unusual in eastern Punjab province, but police said militants from banned groups are responsible for killing three uniformed officers in Lahore city during the past 10 days.
Inspector General of Punjab Usman Anwar urged people to report any suspicious activity.
A report issued in January by another think tank, the Pak Institute for Peace Studies, said there were 306 attacks last year, killing 693 people.
Volunteers who helped with rescue work during UAE rains honored by Pakistani consulate
- Last month UAE received heaviest rains in the 75 years that records have been kept
- Rains brought much of the country to a standstill and caused significant damage
ISLAMABAD: A team of Pakistani volunteers who helped rescue hundreds of people and dozens of vehicles during last month’s record-breaking rains and flooding in the UAE have been honored by the Consulate General of Pakistan in Dubai, a press statement from the mission said on Thursday.
Last month, Dubai was hit by unprecedented storms that paralyzed the Emirates for days. The downpours brought much of the country to a standstill and caused significant damage, flooding trapped residents in traffic, offices and homes and overrunning malls and roads.
“The volunteers were honored with certificates of appreciation by the Consul General in recognition of their unmatched services. Other officers and officials of the consulate were also present on the occasion,” the consulate’s statement said.
“We are immensely proud of the Pakistani volunteers who demonstrated exceptional courage and compassion during the recent heavy rains in the UAE. Their selfless dedication to rescuing those in need reflects the true spirit of humanity … We salute these volunteers for their unwavering commitment to serving others, and their actions serve as an inspiration to us all.”
One volunteer, Tanvir Athar, said their efforts had also inspired others.
“After our services in the recent rains, a number of volunteers have connected us and offered their services for any such efforts in future,” Athar was quoted in the statement as saying.
He said the group of volunteers had been rescuing people stuck in deserts and developed a mobile application to receive requests for assistance.
Last month, Dubai had to endure the towering task of clearing its water clogged roads and drying out flooded homes after a record storm saw a year’s rainfall in a day. Dubai International Airport, a major travel hub, also struggled for days to clear a backlog of flights and many roads were still flooded in the aftermath of the deluge.
The rains were the heaviest experienced by the United Arab Emirates in the 75 years that records have been kept.
Pakistan court reserves verdict on plea by Imran Khan’s wife to be moved out of house arrest
- Bushra Bibi has requested court to shift her from Bani Gala home to Adiala Jail where Khan is also imprisoned
- Bushra has been handed two sentences, 14 years in graft case and 7 years for violating Pakistan's marriage law
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday reserved its verdict on a petition filed by ex-premier Imran Khan’s wife Bushra Bibi seeking her transfer form her Banigala residence, declared a sub-jail, to Adiala Jail, where her husband is incarcerated.
Bushra has been living under house arrest at her husband's sprawling Bani Gala mansion in Islamabad since Jan. 31 when both were sentenced to 14 years in prison in a case that relates to accusations they undervalued gifts from a state repository and gained profits from selling them while Khan was prime minister from 2018-22. Khan is jailed at Rawalpindi's Adiala Jail.
In February, Khan and his wife were also sentenced to seven years on charges they violated the country's marriage law when they wed in 2018 - the fourth sentence for Khan and the second for his wife.
During Thursday’s hearing, Bushra’s lawyer Usman Gill said after her sentencing in the state repository case by the trial court, his client went to Adiala Jail as per the trial court order’s which was also forwarded to the jail superintendent. But on the orders of the interior ministry, the chief commissioner issued an “illegal notification for transfer,” the lawyer argued.
“There was no instruction from the authorities concerned regarding the transfer from Adiala Jail to Banigala,” he said.
“Neither the provincial government nor did the Punjab prisons inspector general issue any such directive [for transfer] … The place of imprisonment was to be determined by the trial court and not the chief commissioner.”
The state’s counsel argued that Bushra was moved to Bani Gala because of security threats.
“Were the 141 women who were brought to Adiala after Bushra less privileged?” the judge hearing the case asked, saying they too should be imprisoned at their houses then.
“Sometimes you say that [you] cannot present her [Bushra] in the court as there are threats and at times, you say that the jail is not secure. Are you secure?” the judge quipped. “If I am confined in my home by my own will, I would be very happy but how can a prisoner’s property be turned into a sub-jail against his will?”
The IHC subsequently reserved its verdict on the petition.
In a separate petition to the court filed last month, Bushar, a deeply religious woman widely believed to be Khan’s spiritual guide, alleged she was being poisoned through contaminated food and subjected to “mental and physical torture which is becoming a serious threat to her health and life.” She also alleged that her room and bathroom had been bugged and multiple hidden cameras installed in a “blatant violation of her privacy, dignity and honor.”
The petition said Bushra was only given ten minutes for meetings with family members and lawyers, with five jail staff supervising at all times.
Khan was first jailed after being handed a three-year prison sentence in August 2023 by the Election Commission for not declaring assets earned from selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000) in state possession and received during his premiership. In January, Khan and Bushra were handed 14-year jail terms following a separate investigation by the country’s top anti-graft body into the same charges involving state gifts.
An anti-graft court in Islamabad also handed Khan a 10-year jail term in January for revealing state secrets, a week before national elections on Feb. 8. The ruling on his marriage to Bushra and a seven-year sentence each for both also came ahead of the polls.
Khan has also been indicted under Pakistan's anti-terrorism law in connection with violence against the military that erupted following his brief arrest related to the Al-Qadir case on May 9. A section of Pakistan's 1997 anti-terrorism act prescribes the death penalty as maximum punishment. Khan has denied the charges under the anti-terrorism law, saying he was in detention when the violence took place.
Khan’s convictions, which mean he is banned from holding public office, ruled the 71-year-old out of general elections held earlier this year. Arguably Pakistan's most popular politician, Khan says all cases against him are motivated to keep him out of politics.
