The government has made coronavirus vaccination mandatory for all sellers and vendors at cattle markets this year.
On Tuesday, the health ministry issued COVID-19 guidelines for Eidul Azha to prevent the fourth wave of the deadly virus.
“These guidelines propose measures to ensure continued and uninterrupted prayers for Muslims on Eidul Azha while minimising the risk of acquiring and transmitting infections.”
Here are the SOPs that have been announced:
The government has issued guidelines for Eid prayers as well. These include:
People have been encouraged to avoid shopping and attend gatherings. Crowding in markets should be avoided at all costs, the guidelines added.
Last week, NCOC chief Asad Umar warned that Pakistan may be hit by the fourth wave of the virus if the people stop being cautious.
“In the absence of strong SOP enforcement and continued strong vaccination programme, the fourth wave could emerge in Pakistan in July,” he tweeted.
Umar advised people to follow the SOPs and get vaccinated.
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The Buner police have arrested an Afghan refugee in a blasphemy case. The arrest was made on Monday evening on the complaint of a shopkeeper.
The suspect, who lived in a refugee camp, has been charged under sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting Its religion or religious beliefs) and 295-C (use of derogatory remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet PBUH) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The refugee runs a shop in Buner. The accusation has been made by the owner of his neighbouring shop, Muhammad Rizwan. Rizwan claimed that he heard the suspect use derogatory language against the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and he told it to the other shopkeepers. After this, the shopkeepers gathered outside his shop. The police were called to the site and they detained the suspect.
Related: Kohat student barred from entering university over blasphemy accusation
Following this, protesting shopkeepers gathered outside the police station and asked the law enforcers to surrender the suspect to them. They even attacked the station and four policemen were injured. The police resorted to aerial firing to disperse them.
On Tuesday, all traders kept their shops closed and staged a protest at Sawari Bazar Chowk. They even appealed to all area lawyers to not represent the suspect in the case. The protesters said that they want the shopkeeper to be punished according to the law.
DSP Nasir Khan confirmed the arrest. He said that the police are investigating the charges.
JUI-F member Mufti Fazal Ghafoor told SAMAA Digital that the said person will be presented in court on Wednesday. Area residents have said that the suspect has made controversial statements in the past too. The current charges against him are weak but the shopkeepers plan on gathering all previous evidence against him and submit it in court.
He speculated that the suspect has been making controversial statements so that he could seek asylum in Germany.
The former MNA remarked that the protesters had initially asked for the suspect’s custody but he spoke to them to cool them off. The state is responsible for punishing the suspect and the people can’t take the law into their hands.
Such cases are quite sensitive because the society then doesn’t readily accept such people so we have to tread carefully, Ghafoor added.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom wrote in its 2019 report that at least 80 people are imprisoned in Pakistan jails for blasphemy and at least half of them are facing a life or death sentence. According to Al-Jazeera, at least 77 people have been killed in the country over blasphemy accusations since 1990.
Blasphemy cases elicit strong emotion in Pakistan. People often emerge to support men who kill over it. Qibla Ayaz, the chairman of the Council of Islamic Ideology, finds that this happens because people do not know the teachings of Islam on the matter. The Council of Islamic Ideology is a constitutional body that advises lawmakers whether a certain law is repugnant to Islam.
“In Islam, no one can declare any person an infidel,” Qibla Ayaz told SAMAA Digital earlier. In fact, clerics of all sects agreed upon this in January 2018 at the Paigham-e-Pakistan conference in Islamabad. “It is totally unacceptable in Islam for a certain group to take the law into its own hands, declare people infidels, start killing them in the name of commanding good and forbidding from evil.”
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Karachi’s resident Muhammad Akbar, a labourer who earns Rs1,000 a day, has recieved NAB’s notice. He has been accused of sending 200 stolen cars from Japan to Pakistan from 2016 to 2017.
Akbar said that he has only one motorcycle which does not even work properly and NAB is questioning about 200 stolen cars. He said that he not even have money travel to Rawalpindi for his NAB appearance.
According to Muhammad Akbar, he has tried contacting the NAB officials through the numbers provided on the notice he recieved but he has yet to receive an answer.
Five people were killed and two injured in a firing incident in Peshawar on Monday.
The firing occurred during a jirga session in Sarband, the police said. The jirga had been called to resolve a land dispute. It, however, resulted in an exchange of heated words between its members and they opened fire at each other.
The bodies and injured have been moved to the hospital.
A police team reached the site and cordoned off the area. No arrest has been made yet.
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Cinemas across Pakistan will reopen from July 1, the National Command and Operation decided in a meeting on Monday.
Only people who have been completely vaccinated against the novel coronavirus will be allowed inside movie theatres. “Cinemas are allowed to re-open with strict Covid protocols for vaccinated people till 1am.”
Theatres have been instructed to get the staff immunised and submit their vaccination certificates to the provincial governments.
Other important decisions taken in the meeting are:
Shops of essential items, petrol pumps, and pharmacies have been allowed to stay open round the clock.
The new instructions will remain in force till July 31 after which the forum will meet again to discuss the graph of infections in the country.
The NCOC added that decisions regarding summer vacations at educational institutions will be taken by the provincial governments.
On Monday, Pakistan reported 20 deaths from the deadly virus — the lowest in four months. The country’s infection rate was reported at 2.5%.
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Three women were injured and a pregnant woman lost her unborn child after a group of men attacked them over a land dispute in Gilgit-Baltistan’s Kharmang.
The fight occurred between the residents of Katishu and Mehdiabad Valley over a piece of grazing land. They attacked each other’s houses too.
A video of the fight went viral too. It showed a group of men hurling stones at a woman and hitting her with sticks. According to local reporters, the attackers were residents of Mehdiabad Valley.
People in Katishu said one of the injured women was expecting and she lost her child because of the attack. She is being treated at DHQ Hospital, Skardu.
The woman’s father-in-law confirmed the news. He said that men had attacked their house and beaten his daughter-in-law.
GB CM Muhammad Khalid Khurshid Khan had taken notice and ordered the DIG to submit a report. He ordered strict action against the culprits.
Baltistan DIG Tufail Ahmed told SAMAA Digital that strict action will be taken against people seen in the video. He remarked that the police had taken immediate steps to stop the warring tribes.
A case has been registered and a committee formed to investigate it. He shared that 80 people have been arrested so far. He condemned the attack on women, adding such cases are never reported in this area.
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