ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board says “robust” COVID-19 health and safety protocols are in place ahead of its month-long domestic Twenty20 competition in Karachi and Lahore, with several foreign cricketers participating in a six-team event.
“In the present-day environment, all international sport events are going ahead because there is more awareness and information about the pandemic,” PCB chairman Ramiz Raja told The Associated Press on the eve of Pakistan Super League.
Karachi will host the first leg of the tournament beginning Thursday before the league moves to Lahore on Feb. 10. Lahore will also host the playoffs and the final on Feb. 27.
Last year the PSL was postponed in March after six players tested positive for COVID-19 in a bio-secure bubble, and the league was switched to Abu Dhabi in June. The PCB has hired the same company for the seventh edition of its marquee event which successfully created the bio-secure arrangements in Abu Dhabi last year.
“The PCB, despite delivering 267 matches in 10 domestic events in 2021, is not taking anything for granted,” Raja said. “We have designed and put in place robust health and safety protocols for the well-being of all (PSL) participants.”
The virus has already caused concerns before the first game between defending champion Multan Sultans and Karachi Kings kicks off at National Stadium on Thursday. At least three players, including Peshawar Zalmi’s wicketkeeper-batsman Kamran Akmal, and five support staff members tested positive last Saturday when the teams began to assemble in Karachi.
The tournament’s technical committee has allowed Peshawar to include Pakistan international Imam-ul-Haq as a replacement for Akmal.
A spike in positive COVID-19 cases in Karachi forced authorities to impose lockdowns in high-risk areas. The government had initially allowed full crowds in the PSL, but due to the spike in the positive cases, now only 25 percent of spectators will be allowed inside the stadium which means around 8,000 fans will be allowed to attend.
Pakistan has reported 1,381,152 cases and 29,122 deaths from the coronavirus since the pandemic began in 2020.
Unlike the last two seasons when the PSL was played over two legs, the PCB has no plans to either postpone or cancel the event this year in case there are COVID-19 outbreaks among the players. It has been planned that the league will restart after a week’s break by resetting the bio-bubble from scratch.
While there are 20 players each in the six teams, in the event of any outbreaks, matches will be allowed to go ahead if 13 players are available on each side.
Despite the threat of virus surrounding the PSL, Raja sees the presence of foreign players as a positive aspect for Pakistan which will be hosting four major countries this year, including Australia for the first time in Pakistan since 1998.
Johnson Charles of West Indies, New Zealand’s Colin Munro, Rilee Rossouw of South Africa and Chris Jordan and Alex Hales of England are some of the foreign cricketers who will be playing in the PSL.
The PSL has seen several Pakistan cricketers emerge internationally over the years with bowlers like Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali and Shahnawaz Dahani among them. And Raja sees the level of close competition among the six franchises to grow.
“The PSL has strengthened its reputation and profile as one of the most competitive and challenging leagues, which makes it exciting to follow locally and internationally,” he said.
Pakistan won three major ICC awards last week with Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan being voted ODI and T20 cricketers of 2021, respectively, and Shaheen Afridi taking the prestigious Sir Garfield award for cricketer of the year.
All three will be leading their teams in the PSL with Babar captaining Karachi Kings, Rizwan defending the title by leading Multan while Shaheen has been named as the skipper of Lahore Qalandars.
Islamabad United will be led by Shadab Khan and Quetta Gladiators — for which legendary Shahid Afridi will be playing — will be captained by former Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed.
Six-team Pakistan Super League set for Karachi, Lahore
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Six-team Pakistan Super League set for Karachi, Lahore
- Karachi will host the first leg of the tournament beginning Thursday before the league moves to Lahore on Feb. 10
- Last year the PSL was postponed in March after six players tested positive for COVID-19 in a bio-secure bubble
Saudi business delegation to arrive in Pakistan Sunday to explore investment opportunities — minister
- Musadik Malik says Saudi investment will mainly benefit small technology firms run by young Pakistani students
- He informs the two sides have also discussed a new refinery for export purposes that will help with foreign revenue
ISLAMABAD: A high-level Saudi business delegation is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan tomorrow to explore investment opportunities in various economic sectors by holding meetings with private sector organizations, said Federal Minister for Petroleum Musadik Malik during a media briefing held in Lahore on Saturday.
The two countries have witnessed a flurry of official visits in recent weeks, with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan traveling to Islamabad earlier in April, before Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s two-day visit to the kingdom to attend a World Economic Forum meeting and hold a number of meetings.
“The Saudi Deputy Investment Minister is visiting Pakistan tomorrow,” said Malik, who is also the focal person for Saudi-Pak bilateral collaboration. “He is bringing representatives from 30 to 35 companies whose CEOs are coming here.”
The Pakistani minister maintained his country had always cherished cordial ties with the kingdom, though it had not managed to turn this “relationship of friendship into a relationship of stability and progress.”
He said Pakistan mostly discussed its financial concerns with the Saudi authorities and requested their support. However, the present government wanted to change that by focusing its bilateral conversations on mutually beneficial progress and development, not aid and assistance.
The minister said the two sides discussed a new refinery project during the recent engagements that would be used for export purposes to earn foreign revenue. Additionally, food security was also discussed to further strengthen Pakistan’s agricultural sector.
He informed that Prime Minister Sharif wanted the country’s “private sector to take the lead on this path to progress.”
“That is why Saudi investors have been invited to come here,” he continued. “They will sit with Pakistani companies and figure out ways to connect the Pakistani talent with the capital and investment needed at the international level for the IT revolution.”
Malik said the bilateral collaboration would primarily benefit small businesses, particularly the technology companies established by young students who were likely to get significant amount of investment from Saudi entrepreneurs.
He expressed optimism that chemical, energy and agricultural companies would also gain advantage from the ongoing bilateral collaboration between the two sides.
Pakistan committee discusses development of border areas in inaugural session
- The committee was formed to devise comprehensive strategies for holistic development in Pakistan’s border regions
- Key topics that came under discussion at the inaugural session included tariff rationalization, employment creation
ISLAMABAD: A high-level committee tasked with development of Pakistan’s border regions on Saturday held its inaugural session in Islamabad to discuss the challenges facing communities based in the country’s frontier regions, the Pakistani commerce ministry said.
The inaugural session of the committee, which was formed to devise comprehensive strategies for holistic development in these areas, was presided over by Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan, according to the ministry.
Key topics that came under discussion at the meeting included tariff rationalization and employment creation, reflecting the committee’s commitment to addressing border communities’ challenges.
“The committee aims to present its recommendations to the Prime Minister within 10 days, signaling a promising start to collaborative efforts for socio-economic development in the region,” the commerce ministry said in a statement.
Pakistan shares a long, porous border with Iran and Afghanistan, with people live along it relying on cross-border trade with little or no government tariffs, quotas, subsidies or prohibitions.
Islamabad last year announced restrictions on the informal trade to discourage smuggling of goods and currency in order to support the country’s dwindling economy.
Pakistan’s trade with China mostly takes place through formal channels, while the country’s trade ties with India, another neighbor it shares border with, remain suspended since 2019 over the disputed region of Kashmir.
Pakistan records ‘wettest April’ in more than 60 years — weather agency
- Pakistan’s metrology department says April rainfall was recorded at 59.3 millimeters, ‘excessively above’ the normal average of 22.5 millimeters
- There were at least 144 deaths in thunderstorms and house collapses due to heavy rains in what the report said was the ‘wettest April since 1961’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan experienced its “wettest April since 1961,” receiving more than twice as much rain as usual for the month, the country’s weather agency said in a report.
April rainfall was recorded at 59.3 millimeters, “excessively above” the normal average of 22.5 millimeters, Pakistan’s metrology department said late Friday in its monthly climate report.
There were at least 144 deaths in thunderstorms and house collapses due to heavy rains in what the report said was the “wettest April since 1961.”
Pakistan is increasingly vulnerable to unpredictable weather, as well as often destructive monsoon rains that usually arrive in July.
In the summer of 2022, a third of Pakistan was submerged by unprecedented monsoon rains that displaced millions of people and cost the country $30 billion in damage and economic losses, according to a World Bank estimate.
“Climate change is a major factor that is influencing the erratic weather patterns in our region,” Zaheer Ahmad Babar, spokesperson for the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said while commenting on the report.
While much of Asia is sweltering dure to heat waves, Pakistan’s national monthly temperature for April was 23.67 degrees Celsius (74 degrees Fahrenheit) 0.87 degrees lower than the average of 24.54, the report noted.
Fire erupts at Karachi garment factory, no loss of live reported
- The biggest Pakistani city, known for poor fire safety protocols, witnesses hundreds of such incidents annually
- In November last year, a blaze at a shopping mall in Karachi killed around a dozen people and injured several others
KARACHI: A fire broke out at a garment factory in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi on Saturday, rescue officials said.
The blaze erupted on the ground floor of the garment factory in Zarina Colony in the New Karachi area, according to Rescue 1122 service.
“One fire truck is actively participating in the operation,” a Rescue 1122 spokesperson said, adding that another fire tender has been called to the site.
No loss of life has been reported in the wake of the fire.
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and the main commercial hub, is home to hundreds of thousands of industrial units and some of the tallest buildings in the South Asian country.
The megapolis, known for its fragile firefighting system and poor safety controls, witnesses hundreds of such incidents annually.
In Nov., a blaze at a shopping mall killed around a dozen people and injured several others. In April last year, four firefighters died and nearly a dozen others were injured after a fire broke out at a garment factory, while 10 people were killed in a massive fire at a chemical factory in the city in August 2021.
In the deadliest such incident, 260 people were killed in 2012 after being trapped inside a garment factory when a fire broke out.
Saleem Haider Khan, Faisal Kundi named governors of Pakistan’s Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces
- Nominations come as part of power-sharing deal between PM Sharif’s party and ex-FM Bhutto-Zardari-led faction
- According to the deal, the PPP backed Sharif for the prime minister’s office in return for constitutional positions
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a coalition partner in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government, has nominated Saleem Haider Khan and Faisal Karim Kundi as governors of Pakistan’s eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, the PPP chairman announced on Friday.
The PPP forged an alliance with PM Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party after Pakistan’s national election on February 8 failed to present a clear winner.
According to the power-sharing deal, the PPP backed Sharif for the prime minister’s office in return for the presidency, chairman of Senate and other important constitutional positions.
In a post on X, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari congratulated Khan and Kundi, and extended his good wishes to them
“I am confident they [Khan and Kundi] will perform their duties with the dignity their new office demands,” he said on X.
In Pakistan, a governor is a representative of the state to a province, who is appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister.
Such positions may seem ceremonial and symbolic, but they do hold significant constitutional importance.
At present, PML-N’s Balighur Rehman has been serving as the Punjab governor, while JUI-F’s Hajji Ghulam Ali holds the post in KP.
Bhutto-Zardari also called on PM Sharif in Islamabad, following the nominations, Pakistani state media reported.
“During the meeting, views were exchanged on overall political situation in the country and matters of national interest,” the Radio Pakistan broadcaster said.
