ISLAMABAD: Minister for Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Sahibzada Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, has said mosques around the country would remain open during the holy month of Ramadan with strict adherence to COVID-19 standard operating procedures, state-run media reported.
Pakistan is in the midst of a third wave of the coronavirus and recorded 4,084 new infections in the last 24 hours, with 100 deaths. The South Asian nation of 220 people is the world’s second most populous Muslim country after Indonesia.
Last year after the coronavirus first broke out, a restriction on congregation provoked a backlash in Pakistan, with attacks on police as they attempted to halt prayers at mosques.
Health experts have repeatedly warned that congregations pose the biggest threat to Pakistan’s limited health care resources and infrastructure, which will crumble under the weight of a wide-spread outbreak of the coronavirus.
“Speaking to a Hifz-o-Qirat contest as chief guest, he [Qadri] advised the faithful to follow the precautionary measures while performing the religious obligations sans dropping the guard against the coronavirus pandemic,” APP reported, saying the minister guided people to take precautions while performing their religious obligations.
Last year, it was a Ramadan like never before for Muslims across Asia as mosques that would normally be packed for prayers were deserted and in some places locked up as governments enforced measures to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Ramadan will start in Pakistan in mid April this year.
Mosques to remain open in Ramadan as coronavirus third wave builds in Pakistan
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Mosques to remain open in Ramadan as coronavirus third wave builds in Pakistan
- Religious affairs minister advises people to follow health guidelines as they perform their religious obligations
- Last year after the coronavirus first broke out, a restriction on congregations provoked a backlash in Pakistan
PIA denies social media claim its entire flight crew went missing abroad
- Airline says the allegation emerged from ‘anti-Pakistan quarters’ to defame both the national carrier
- Some social media posts recently said a PIA flight crew had gone missing during a layover in Toronto
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Sunday dismissed as “fake news” a social media claim that the entire crew of one of its flights had disappeared overseas, saying the post was circulated to defame both the national carrier and the country.
The statement came after social media posts said a PIA flight crew had gone missing during a layover in Toronto, Canada.
Previously, there have been reports that individual crew members have used layovers to remain abroad, often linked by analysts to economic conditions at home and perceived asylum opportunities under Canada’s immigration policies. However, PIA has adopted measures such as holding passports with station managers and assigning older crew to Canada routes to curb the trend.
“A tweet, circulated by certain anti-Pakistan quarters, claiming that the whole crew of a particular #PIA flight is missing, is entirely baseless,” the airline announced in a post on X, adding that the purpose of the message “seems to malign PIA and #Pakistan.”
“There has been no such incident, and the news is fake,” it said.
According to local media reports, the information had been circulated by an “Afghan and anti-Pakistan account.”
“The misleading tweet is part of a well-conceived plan based on hostility toward Pakistan and is aimed at damaging the reputation of the national airline and the country,” Pakistan’s English-language broadsheet, Dawn, quoted the airline spokesperson as saying.
Pakistan has been striving to privatize PIA along with other state-owned enterprises under an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program.
The airline was banned from operating in Britain and Europe, though those restrictions have been removed more recently.
