KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank has ordered commercial banks to quarantine paper money received from health facilities, as banknotes may be spreading coronavirus, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) announced on Monday.
The directive comes amid an increase in the number of infections recorded in Pakistan, where the tally exceeded 900 on Tuesday.
“Instructions have been provided by the SBP to clean, disinfect, seal and quarantine all cash being collected from hospitals and clinics and to block circulation of such cash in the market,” the central bank said in a statement following a video meeting of commercial bank presidents with SBP governor Dr. Reza Baqir.
Banks need to send daily reports on cash collection from health facilities for SBP to be able to supply sufficient amounts of notes, while the collected money will be under a 15-day quarantine.
As disinfection procedures have yet to be in place, for the time being the SBP will be supplying banks with new bills.
“The cash that banks would receive from hospitals would be quarantined and disinfected. We are considering the ways to disinfect such notes and that would be done through medically approved procedures. For now, we are trying to provide new notes,” SBP spokesman Abid Qamar told Arab News on Tuesday.
As banknotes can carry bacteria or viruses from persons who have touched them, hand washing is necessary after handling money.
In Pakistan, however, it is a common habit that people lick their fingers while counting bills.
“This way of cash counting is very dangerous,” said Dr. Qaiser Sajjad, secretary general of Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) “For public awareness, it is advised that if they count banknotes, they should immediately sanitize their hands,” he told Arab News.
The central bank’s decision may reduce some of the dangers posed by the handling of money and shopkeepers say the move timely in the face of the current coronavirus outbreak.
“Though we are exercising caution while handling cash, still it remains a danger, because we don’t know which note is infected,” said Ahmed Hussain, a grocery seller.
Although the central bank has been encouraging electronic payments, cash remains dominant in Pakistan.
“We receive cash as low as Rs12 (for bread) and deal with dozens of people everyday,” bread seller Wali Muhammad said. “We know we are in danger but we can’t afford machines (for non-cash payment).”
Pakistan to 'quarantine,' disinfect banknotes collected from hospitals
https://arab.news/p7vad
Pakistan to 'quarantine,' disinfect banknotes collected from hospitals
- Directive comes amid increased virus cases as national tally exceeded 900 on Tuesday
- Central bank will supply banks with new bills as disinfection procedures are put in place
Pakistan bans ex-army officer, YouTuber Adil Raja under Anti-Terrorism Act
- Pakistan interior ministry says Raja misused online platforms to promote, facilitate anti-state narratives
- Raja, a UK-based YouTuber-commentator, is a harsh critic of Pakistan’s government, powerful military
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s federal government has listed a former army officer and pro-Imran Khan YouTuber-commentator Adil Raja as a proscribed person in the Anti-Terrorism Act for pushing anti-state narratives, the interior ministry said this week.
Raja, who is now a UK-based blogger who broadcasts political commentary on Pakistan, is severely critical of the government and the military in his YouTube vlogs. Critics also accuse him of being biased in favor of former prime minister Imran Khan.
Pakistani officials have accused Raja of running propaganda campaigns from abroad in the past. Pakistan Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met British High Commissioner Jane Marriott in Islamabad this month and formally handed over extradition documents for Raja. The UK government has so far not commented on the development.
In a notification issued on Saturday, the interior ministry said the government believes Raja has been demonstrating involvement in activities “posing a serious threat to the security, integrity and public order of Pakistan.”
“He has consistently misused online platforms to promote, facilitate and amplify anti-state narratives and propaganda associated with proscribed terrorist organizations, thereby acting in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty and defense of Pakistan,” a notification by the interior ministry said.
“Now, therefore in exercise of the powers conferred by section 11EE of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, the Federal Government is pleased to direct to list Mr. Adil Farooq Raja, s/o Umer Farooq Raja, in the Fourth Schedule to the said Act as a proscribed person for the purposes of the said Act.”
Section 11EE empowers the government to list a person under the Fourth Schedule if there are reasonable grounds to believe that he/she is involved in “terrorism” or is an activist, office bearer or an associate of an organization kept under observation under the same Act, or is suspected to be concerned with any organization suspected to be involved in “terrorism.”
Those placed on the Fourth Schedule by the government are subjected to intense scrutiny and movement restrictions.
In a post on social media platform X, Raja denied any wrongdoing, saying the government had banned him after failing to extradite him from the UK.
“This designation is not a consequence of any crime, but a direct reprisal for my practice of journalism,” he wrote.
Raja was also among two retired army officers who were convicted and sentenced under the Army Act, and for violations of the provisions of the Official Secrets Act in 2023.
The former army officer was given 14 years of rigorous imprisonment by a military court.
Khan, a former cricket star who served as Pakistan’s prime minister from 2018 to 2022, has been in jail since August 2023 on multiple charges his party says are politically motivated.
Despite incarceration, he remains the country’s most popular opposition figure, commanding one of the largest digital followings in South Asia.
Overseas Pakistanis in particular drive sustained online activism on platforms such as YouTube and X, campaigning for his release and alleging human-rights abuses against Khan and his supporters, claims the Pakistani state rejects.
