-Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
Dengue death toll up by six |
2011-10-22 |
[Dawn] ![]() Reports said Rahat Bano (45) of Rajgarh and Rafiqa Bibi (76) of Township died at Mayo Hospital, while Zahid Bashir (27), a resident of Chah Miran and Muhammad Javed (45) of Sodiwal expired at Services Hospital. Similarly, Robina Khalid (45), a resident of Green Town succumbed to the viral infection at Jinnah Hospital and 19-year-old Kiran of Chungi Amar Sidhu expired at General Hospital. Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... as many as 296 more people were declared dengue patients after their medical examination. According to a health department report, six patients died of dengue hemorrhagic fever during the last 24 hours. The report said the total number of deaths caused by dengue virus has risen to 258 in ![]() It further said that at present 1,538 dengue patients were under treatment in different hospitals of Punjab, including 1,196 admitted in different hospitals of Lahore. Besides, as many as 17,795 dengue patients have been cured and discharged from the hospitals in Punjab, including 15,229 from different hospitals of Lahore so far, according to the report. |
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India-Pakistan |
ISI chief to visit India to coordinate in investigation |
2008-11-28 |
The unthinkable has begun to happen in India-Pakistan relations. And Mumbai 26/11 is responsible. Reversing decades of policy, Pakistan agreed on Friday to send Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief, Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, to India to help with the investigations into Wednesdays terrorist strikes in Mumbai. Its a major change for India as well given that New Delhi over many decades has consistently blamed the ISI for spawning terrorism in the country. He (Pasha) will be travelling to India soon. The decision to send him was taken following a request made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to PM Yusuf Raza Gilani, a Pakistani official said by telephone from Islamabad. Zahid Bashir, Gilanis spokesman, stressed, This is a very positive development. My PM has directed me to make this statement to the press. A South Block official, who chose anonymity, concurred: This is a very big development. Whether he is coming in response to an invitation or a summons is not important. In Mumbai, investigating agencies have extracted considerable information from one of the detained terrorists, Ajmad Mohammad, said to be a Pakistani national from Faridkot. Singh informed Gilani that preliminary reports in the Mumbai probe point towards Karachi and called for increased intelligence sharing and cooperation in order to jointly counter terrorism. The Prime Minister also extended his governments full support for jointly combating extremism and terrorism and also offered help in investigating this incident, the statement added. Earlier in the day, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, citing preliminary information, suggested that some elements in Pakistan were responsible for the terror strikes in Mumbai. Speaking in Jodhpur, Mukherjee said that Pakistan had to live up to its promises made to India in 2004 and 2008 that it would not allow terrorists to use its soil for terrorist activities. Jo vada kiya, us ko pura kijiye. The Minister also called on Pakistan to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in the country. |
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India-Pakistan |
Pakistan PM survives assassiation attempt |
2008-09-03 |
Pakistan's prime minister survived an apparent assassination attempt Wednesday when at least two shots hit his limousine as he drove toward the capital. Officials said Yousuf Raza Gilani was unhurt and brought to safety after the incident on the main highway leading into Islamabad. Zahid Bashir, the premier's press secretary, said two bullets struck the driver's side of the vehicle in a "murder attempt." State-run Pakistan Television aired footage of Gilani's black Mercedes car with the two impact points clearly visible on the driver's window. The glass was cracked but intact. "The prime minister is fine, he is back in Islamabad at the PM house," Information Minister Sherry Rehman told Dawn News TV. The incident adds to the tension in Pakistan at a time when its new civilian government is vowing to crack down on Islamic militants after ousting U.S. ally Pervez Musharraf from the presidency. It was also the second apparent assassination attempt in quick succession. Shots were fired last week at a car carrying Lynne Tracy, the top U.S. diplomat in Pakistan's troubled northwest, as she was heading toward her office in the city of Peshawar. No one was hurt. |
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India-Pakistan |
Long March continues despite arrests |
2007-11-18 |
Pakistan Peoples Party continued with its Long March despite a countrywide crackdown on the PPP workers, and the confinement of its leader Ms. Benazir Bhutto, who was only released Friday morning. Over 12500 PPP workers have been arrested from across the country as the resistance to the Martial Law becomes intense and people reports of countrywide clashes emerge in the international media. The PPP that had announced to carry out a Long March early this week, had to face a panicked regime that deployed all state resources to stop the Long March. Leaders detained today included MNAs Chaudhry Manzur, Imtiaz Safdar Warraich, Qamar Zaman Kaera, Zulfiqar Gondal, Firdaus Awaan, and Ijaz Samma, Saud Dar, Abdullah Virk, Tahir Zaman Kaera, Lala Shahid, Malik Tahir, Zahid Bashir. Despite repeated attempts by the regime, the rally still proceeds to Islamabad though the regime tried to disrupt it in Gujrat, Lalamusa, Kharian as more arrests were made, a PPP release said. The jails are so full that women have been thrown into homes in groups of 25 and 30, creating concentration camps across the Punjab. But all the activists remain undterred. This speaks volumes about the courage of not only the PPP workers, but of the ordinary Pakistanis who do not want to spend another minute under dictatorship, said Sherry Rehman, the Central Information Secretary Pakistan Peoples Party. Rehman said that it was cowardly of the regime to attempt to crush the PPP Long March. All one can say is that they should apologise to the nation for causing loss to the national resources and time, as they tried to stop the PPP from taking out the rally. |
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India-Pakistan |
Hundreds of opposition workers arrested |
2007-11-17 |
![]() In Gujranwala, police arrested over 200 Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) workers and roughed up several for taking out a rally in connection with the long-march. Hundreds of PPP workers led by party divisional president and MNA Imtiaz Warraich took out the rally, but police baton-charged and tear-gassed them and arrested over 200 participants, according to a PPP press release. Warraich, PPP Lahore divisional president and MNA Chaudhry Manzoor, MPA Ijaz Samaa, MPA Khalid Bajwa, Malik Tahir Akhtar, MPA Lala Shakeelur Rehman, Sheikh Iqbal, PPP Sialkot President Zahid Bashir, Babar Ghumman, Malik Shumail, Tariq Gujjar, Amer Tufail, Fazl Abbas, Chaudhry Tariq and Abdullah Virk were among those arrested, the release added. More than 100 Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) supporters were arrested outside various mosques in Karachi on Friday, but police denied these arrests. The JIs Sarfaraz Ahmed told Daily Times that more than 100 MMA and JI activists had been taken into custody. Police chief Azhar Ali Farooqui denied the arrests. In Peshawar, police arrested four Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leaders and three Awami National Party (ANP) activists from separate rallies on Friday. JUI-F NWFP General Secretary Maulana Shaujaul Mulk, former ministers Asif Iqbal Dudzai and Amanullah Haqqani and JUI-F NWFP Information Secretary Abdul Jalil Jan were arrested from a rally staged by Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) activists. Jamaat-e-Islami leaders, including MMA provincial naib ameer Mushtaq Ahmed Khan, evaded arrest. At a rally in the Hashtnagri area, police arrested three ANP activists Yasir Zaman, Mohammad Zaman and Alamgir Khalil. JUI-Fs maiden rally: The JUI-F workers and leaders took to the streets in Peshawar for the first time to protest against the emergency rule. After Friday prayers, the JUI-F protesters started a march from Markazi Darul Qura at Namakmandi but police stopped them near the Cinema Road. The PPP womens wing workers in Peshawar also protested against the state of emergency and suspension of the Constitution. |
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