KARACHI, Pakistan, March 2 : Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh extended the closure of all educational institutions following the confirmation of a second coronavirus case in Karachi, the country’s largest city.
Pakistan has confirmed four cases of coronavirus, three of them involving people who had traveled to neighboring Iran, one of the countries hardest hit by the outbreak that began in China in December.
While two of the confirmed cased were in the southern port city of Karachi, the other two were in the capital Islamabad.
Schools in Sindh have been closed since Thursday, after the first case in Karachi was confirmed.
“The Sindh government has decided to keep the schools closed till March 13, so the isolation period of the suspect cases could be completed,” Saeed Ghani, provincial education minister told Reuters on Monday. “We don’t want to take any risk.”
Schools in Islamabad have remained open, but the thinly populated western province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran, closed its schools last week.
Pakistan suspended all flights with Iran and closed the land border last week.
Health Minister Zafar Mirza has said that government is gradually allowing pilgrims to return from Iran, after holding them in quarantine at the border for 14 days.
Around 700 pilgrims arrived in Karachi from Iran over the weekend, the Sindh chief minister’s office said in a statement.
Pakistan’s largest city shuts schools for two weeks over virus fears
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Pakistan’s largest city shuts schools for two weeks over virus fears
- Schools in Sindh have been closed since Thursday, after the first case in Karachi tested positive
- Pakistan has confirmed four cases of coronavirus, three of them recently having traveled to Iran
Pakistan says ‘national security is non-negotiable’ after Afghanistan strikes
- Islamabad says recent cross-border strikes targeted Afghanistan-based militants behind recent attacks
- Kabul has condemned strikes, accused Pakistan of violating territorial sovereignty and killing civilians
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Parliamentary Secretary for Information and Broadcasting Danyal Chaudhry said on Monday “national security is non-negotiable,” defending Islamabad’s recent cross-border strikes inside Afghanistan following a number of recent militant attacks.
The remarks come after Pakistan said it launched “intelligence-based selective targeting” of seven militant camps along the Afghan border in response to a mosque bombing in Islamabad and violence in the northwestern border districts of Bajaur and Bannu, among other attacks. Authorities say many of the assaults have been carried out by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and allied groups that Islamabad alleges are operating from sanctuaries in Afghanistan, whose government denies this.
Kabul has condemned Sunday’s strikes as a violation of its sovereignty and claimed civilians were killed. Pakistan has not responded to that allegation.
Tensions between the two neighbors have escalated sharply despite a fragile ceasefire agreed after deadly clashes in October.
“Pakistan has always chosen the path of dialogue and peaceful coexistence. But when Afghan soil continues to be used for proxy attacks, we have no choice but to defend our homeland. National security is non-negotiable,” Chaudhry said in a statement.
He said the recent operation had “successfully neutralized militants involved in attacks on Pakistani soil,” adding that “every precaution was taken to protect innocent lives.”
Pakistan has repeatedly accused Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers of allowing TTP militants and fighters linked to the Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISKP), the regional affiliate of the Daesh group, to operate from Afghan territory, claims Kabul denies.
Chaudhry referred to a recent United Nations report, saying militants from 21 countries were now operating from Afghan territory and posed a threat to regional stability.
Afghanistan’s defense ministry earlier condemned what it called a breach of international law and vowed a “measured response at a suitable time.” Its foreign ministry summoned Pakistan’s ambassador over what it described as violations of Afghan airspace.
Islamabad has also accused neighboring India of backing anti-Pakistan militant groups, a charge New Delhi has consistently denied.
The latest exchange has raised concerns of renewed instability along the 2,600-kilometer frontier, where repeated border closures have disrupted trade and strained diplomatic ties. Analysts say the escalation risks undoing recent efforts at de-escalation, including the Saudi-mediated release of three Pakistani soldiers earlier this month.
