ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan enforces lockdowns nationwide to curtail the spread of the coronavirus epidemic, the country’s science and technology minister said in his first online video interview on Monday that research is underway to locally produce COVID-19 test kits.
Fawad Chaudhry, who is in self-isolation at home after returning from a trip to the United States, spoke to Arab News live over a video link.
He said the Ministry of Science and Technology is encouraging research in the health sector to locally produce COVID-19 testing kits and disinfectants such as affordable hand sanitizers, amid their shortage in the Pakistani market.
“We have come up with our own (hand) sanitizer that will be available from this week in utility stores and everywhere else. Likewise, the testing kit we are coming up with is far cheaper than what we are using now,” Chaudhry said.
Chaudhry said he tested negative for the coronavirus upon arriving in Pakistan, but has been self-isolating as a precaution. According to him, Pakistan’s early restrictions on international travel were an important step in the government’s coronavirus response.
“I would say, Pakistan has done rather well by enforcing travel protocols much earlier than many other countries, and this is the one reason we have been able to counter this menace much more successfully than Europe and United States,” he said, referring to an initial lack of movement restrictions amid the outbreak in western countries. “Very recently, when I visited Canada and US, they had no protocols at the airport.”
Encouraging social distancing, the former information minister advised that journalists should take extreme precautions while on duty.
He expressed hope that other ministers will “follow the same protocol” of giving video interviews and hinted that 5G technology currently being tested by the country’s telecom sector may be introduced much sooner than expected.
Pakistan’s sci-tech minister tackles COVID-19 impediments working from home
https://arab.news/9dk6g
Pakistan’s sci-tech minister tackles COVID-19 impediments working from home
- Says research underway for country’s own COVID-19 test kits
- Gives first online interview since nationwide lockdowns amid virus outbreak
Pakistan’s Sindh orders inquiry after clashes at Imran Khan party rally in Karachi
- Khan’s PTI party accuses police of shelling to disperse its protesters, placing hurdles to hinder rally in Karachi
- Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah vows all those found guilty in the inquiry will be punished
ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has ordered an inquiry into clashes that took place between police and supporters of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in Karachi on Sunday, as it held a rally to demand his release from prison.
The provincial government had granted PTI permission to hold a public gathering at Karachi’s Bagh-i-Jinnah Park and had also welcomed Sohail Afridi, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where Khan’s party is in power, when he arrived in the city last week. However, the PTI cited a delay in receiving a permit and announced a last-minute change to a gate of Mazar-i-Quaid, the mausoleum of the nation’s founder.
Despite the change, PTI supporters congregated at the originally advertised venue. PTI officials claimed the party faced obstacles in reaching the venue and that its supporters were met with police intervention. Footage of police officers arresting Khan supporters in Karachi were shared widely on social media platforms.
“A complete inquiry is being held and whoever is found guilty in this, he will be punished,” Sindh Local Government Minister Nasir Hussain Shah said while speaking to a local news channel on Sunday.
Shah said the PTI had sought permission to hold its rally at Bagh-i-Jinnah in Karachi from the Sindh government, even though the venue’s administration falls under the federal government’s jurisdiction.
He said problems arose when the no objection certificate to hold the rally was delayed for a few hours and the party announced it would hold the rally “on the road.”
The rally took place amid rising tensions between the PTI and Pakistan’s military and government. Khan, who remains in jail on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated since August 2023, blames the military and the government for colluding to keep him away from power by rigging the 2024 general election and implicating him in false cases. Both deny his allegations.
Since Khan was ousted in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, the PTI has complained of a widespread state crackdown, while Khan and his senior party colleagues have been embroiled in dozens of legal cases.
