ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of desperate Pakistanis overwhelmed a government-run coronavirus vaccination center in the capital Monday as the nation grapples with a shortage of life-saving shots even as a decline in new infections has seen some restrictions eased.
Most of those clamouring to be vaccinated were Pakistanis who work overseas — mainly in the Gulf Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia — who need a shot of the hard-to-find AstraZeneca vaccine to travel there.
“We have a very limited capacity here, but for the past few days the center has been overwhelmed by those wanting to travel abroad,” senior police official Farooq Amjad Buttar told AFP.
Pakistan has so far fully or partially vaccinated nearly 12 million people from a population of 220 million, and mostly with the Chinese Sinopharm or Sinovac jabs.
Most Gulf nations, however, require incoming foreign workers to be vaccinated with the AstraZeneca or Pfizer brands, which are in short supply in Pakistan.
Millions of Pakistanis work abroad, and their remittances are a key part of Pakistan’s economy and its foreign currency reserves.
On Monday, a crowd of hundreds overwhelmed staff at a vaccination center, smashing glass doors as they pressed to get in.
“It was not a protest or an attack,” Buttar said, downplaying the incident in which no one was injured.
Muhammad Shehzad, traveled from the northwestern city of Mardan to Islamabad in the hope of getting an AstraZeneca shot.
“Saudi officials say they will let us enter only after getting vaccinated,” he said
“Before I got a Chinese vaccine, but they are saying they will accept American vaccines only,” Shehzad added.
Earlier this month Pakistan received 1.2 million doses of AstraZeneca under the COVAX facility.
So far, the impoverished South Asian nation has dodged the worst of Covid-19, but officials have warned a fourth wave could hit the country next month.
Deaths and new infections have come down, however, and social gathering restrictions have recently been eased, business hours extended and some school reopened.
Desperate Pakistanis working overseas in Gulf nations overrun COVID-19 vaccine center in Islamabad
https://arab.news/6g23j
Desperate Pakistanis working overseas in Gulf nations overrun COVID-19 vaccine center in Islamabad
- Most Gulf nations require incoming foreign workers to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca or Pfizer which are in short supply in Pakistan
- On Monday, a crowd of hundreds overwhelmed staff at a vaccination center, smashing glass doors as they pressed to get in
Pakistan denies reports army ordered ‘depopulation’ in Tirah Valley ahead of anti-militant operation
Pakistan denies reports army ordered ‘depopulation’ in Tirah Valley ahead of anti-militant operation
- Tirah Valley residents started fleeing homes this month ahead of a planned military operation against militants
- Reports aimed at creating alarm among public, disinformation against security institutions, says information ministry
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s information ministry on Sunday denied reports the army has ordered depopulation in the northwestern Tirah Valley ahead of a planned anti-militant offensive, stating that any movement of residents from the area is voluntary.
The denial from the government comes as residents of Tirah Valley in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan flee their homes ahead of a planned military operation by the army against militants, particularly the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) group.
Despite major military operations in the mid-2010s, Tirah Valley has remained a stronghold for insurgents, prompting authorities to plan what they describe as a targeted clearance.
“The government has taken notice of misleading claims in circulation regarding alleged ‘depopulation’ from Tirah Valley on the orders of the Army,” the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MoIB) said in a statement on Sunday.
“These assertions are baseless, malicious, and driven by ulterior motives aimed at creating alarm among the public, disinformation against security institutions and furthering vested political interest.”
The ministry said Pakistan’s federal government and the armed forces had not issued directives for any such depopulation of the territory. It clarified that law enforcement agencies are “routinely conducting targeted, intelligence-based operations strictly against terrorist elements” with care to avoid disruption to peaceful civilian life.
It said locals are increasingly concerned over presence of the “khawarij,” a term the military and government frequently use for the TTP, in Tirah Valley and desire peace and stability in the area.
The information ministry mentioned that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Relief, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Department issued a notification on Dec. 26 last year for the release of funds, reportedly Rs4 billion [$14.24 million], for the “anticipated temporary and voluntary movement of population from certain localities of Tirah.”
It also said that the notification mentioned that the deputy commissioner of Khyber District, where Tirah Valley is located, said the voluntary movement of people reflects the views of the local population articulated through a jirga at the district level.
“Hence any stated position of the Provincial Government or their officials being conveyed to media that the said migration has anything to do with the Armed Forces is false and fabricated,” the information ministry said.
“Given with malafide intent to gain political capital and unfortunately malign security institutions and therefore highly regrettable.”
The evacuation has exposed tensions between the provincial government, run by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, and the military establishment over the use of force in the region.
“We have neither allowed the operation nor will we ever allow the operation,” KP Law Minister Aftab Alam Afridi said earlier this month, arguing that past military campaigns had failed to deliver lasting stability.
Pakistan military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shareef Chaudhry has previously defended security operations as necessary as militant attacks surge in the country.
In a recent briefing, Chaudhry said security forces carried out 75,175 intelligence-based operations nationwide last year, including more than 14,000 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, attributing the surge in violence to what he described as a “politically conducive environment” for militants.
