MONTEVIDEO, 23 March 2020, TON: Panic over the spread of the coronavirus sparked unrest in a prison in Colombia that resulted in riot killing 23 inmates on Sunday. The authorities rejected accusations by rights groups that the riots were sparked by unsanitary conditions inside a prison system that was woefully unprepared to face the pandemic.

As per the details, the Chilean Health Minister Jaime Manalic announced restrictions on movement and complete curfew in Chile on 23 March 2020. As the news spread overnight about virus in the penitentiary system, rioting started inside the crowded jail in the Colombian capital Bogota. However, Justice Minister Margarita Cabello described the violence as an attempted mass breakout, part of what she said was a coordinated plan with inmates who caused disturbances in 13 jails across the country.

ISLAMABAD, 23 March 2020, TON: (APP):Prime Minister Imran Khan Sunday urged the United States President Donald Trump to lift sanctions on Iran on humanitarian grounds, as the country was worst hit by the recent wave of deadly Coronavirus (COVID 19) pandemic.

On his twitter account, the prime minister posted, “I want to appeal to President Trump on humanitarian grounds to lift the sanctions against Iran till the COVID19 pandemic is over.”

He further said the people of Iran were facing untold sufferings as sanctions were crippling Iran’s efforts to fight COVID19.

“Humanity must unite to fight this pandemic,” he added.

Iran is among the worst affected Coronavirus countries in the world with over 1,000 reported human casualties. The country had already been facing crippling US sanctions after President Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.

ROME, 22 March 2020, TON: As the new coronavirus COVID-19 has become the headlines of all the print media, electronic media as well as social media, the successful countries including China, Russia and Pakistan are being contacted to follow the same strategy elsewhere.

As China has controlled the spread of COVID-19 and now the European Union has been hard-hit failed to recover. However, the high deaths been quoted in media to the tune of 13,000 killed in totally exaggerated and baseless. people continues to spread around the world

Meanwhile, Moscow has decided to help Italy and some other states in fighting against coronavirus. Russia has stepped up its measures to tackle the pandemic and prevent its spread within the country as well as abroad. The Russian military has started sending its medical help to Italy from today, Sunday 22 March 2020, in order to help it battle the new coronavirus, Russian Defense Ministry in a statement said the teams sent to Italy do not will not carryout citywide lockdown nor the city's metro will not close down. Moscow has closed all sports facilities including swimming pools and fitness clubs due to the coronavirus outbreak; however, the life everywhere was restricted but normal. 

In Pakistan so far there is no local case reported till Sunday. All positive cases are those who had gone abroad and after contacting coronavirus or due to fear of chances of contacting the disease have returned to Pakistan. All the returnees from abroad, irrespective of COVID-19 positive are quarantine for 15 days. The provincial administration was also seen repeating the procedure to those who visited abroad and returned to the province to rule out any chances of spread of viruses. In another development Tel Aviv is carrying out propaganda that two Palestinians Palestinians who had travelled from Pakistan and entered Gaza via Iran and Egypt tested positive for the virus on Saturday and have been in quarantine in Rafah, near Egyptian border

In March 2020, US President Trump tweeted that the Coronavirus was not as perilous as the flu. He calculated the confirmed cases and deaths from Corona-virus. He said, “Last year 37,000 Americans died from the common Flu. It averages between 27,000 and 70,000 per year and asked people to think about that. Animal rights groups fear that that if the actual causes of Corona-virus disease made public, the people around the world might kill whole of the pig population in the world. On 15^th March, President Trump extended travel ban on UK and Ireland as World Health Organization declared Europe the center of the pandemic beside China. In Judaism, Christianity and Islam, eating of pig’s flesh has been forbidden. Deuteronomy 14:8 says about pig, “It is unclean for you. You shall not eat any of their flesh nor touch their carcasses”.

From August 2018, China increased meat imports from the United States, Europe and Brazil as half of its pigs died of swine flu. China also eased restrictions on US beef imports and in November 2018 lifted a ban on US poultry and other meat shipments. China stared receiving meat shipments in refrigerated containers from US and other above countries. Officials of USA Poultry and Egg Export Council disclosed on the condition of anonymity that US had fair idea of Swine fever in most of the pig population in American farms but these pigs were culled and exported to China in refrigerated containers.

On 26 September 2018, the European Parliament (PE624.115v01-00 B8-0398/2018) passed resolution that African swine fever only affects pigs and wild boar and it not possible to treat or vaccinate against this disease. The parliament recognized that European Union is the world’s second largest exporter of pork, after China and number of cases of African swine fever came to light in Europe in mid-September 2018. The European Parliament thus calls on the Member States to apply the precautionary principle.

The World Health Organization (WHO) report regarding assessment of risk associated with influenza A(H5N8) virus dated 17 November 2016 revealed that human infection with the A(H5N8) virus cannot be excluded, although the likelihood is low, based on the limited information obtained to date. It should be noted that human infection with A(H5N6) of related clad 2.3.4.4 has already occurred. In its report dated 13 November 2018, WHO reveled that humans can be infected with avian, swine and other Zoonotic influenza viruses, such as avian influenza virus subtypes A(H5N1), A(H7N9), and A(H9N2) and swine influenza virus subtypes A(H1N1), A(H1N2) and A(H3N2).

It is important to recall that a decade back, extensive Media coverage of H1N1 contributed to creating deep public fears in Egypt and other countries. Egyptian parliament discussed a law to prohibit raising pigs and argued rising of pigs in Islamic country. Egypt's lower house of parliament on 28 April 2009 called for the pigs to be slaughtered to resolve the issue of viruses once for all. Accordingly, after the approval from parliament, President Hosni Mubarak ordered the immediate culling of the country's 250,000 to 300,000 pigs while each farmer was to be given compensation of about 600 pounds (105 dollars) per animal. Mass protests by Christians and international NGOs in Egypt put a lot of international pressure that later led to toppling of President Hosni Mubarak’s government. Hosni Mubarak resigned and formally handed over power to the Army's supreme command.

In 2018:  259 million pigs were slaughtered in the European Union. Pork exports represented 59% European Union’s total meat exports, and were valued at EUR 7.2 billion EUR. African Swine Fever (ASF) was declared in China in August 2018. The European Commission implemented  Decision (EU) 2020/281 of 27 February 2020 amending the Annex to Implementing Decision (EU) 2020/47 on took protective measures in relation to highly pathogenic avian influenza of subtype H5N8 in certain Member States (notified under document C(2020) 1248). In January 2020, Italian Police in Padua destroyed some 10 tons of pork infected with Swine fever. Italy has banned the import of Chinese pork in hopes of stopping the spread of the disease. In February 2020, Taiwan imposed a ban on alive pigs and pork product imports from Italy in response to the corona-virus outbreak and Taiwan's Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine deleted Italy from the list of Swine Fever free country. 

Despite the fact that Judaism, Christianity and Islam orders followers that pigs and its flesh are unclean and forbidden to eat or touch but people are still hiding that the “pigs” are root cause of corona-virus as also proved above. The announcement, “Europe the center of the pandemic” by World Health Organization, which is authority on health matters, is being overlooked and despite large number of Corona-virus positive cases in US, Europe and China, media is only focusing of cases surfaced in Muslim countries in Asia and Africa, especially Middle East. One wonders the world organization and world powers eliminated millions of humans around the world in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Sudan, Mali, Burkina Faso, Somalia, Palestine, Lebanon, Kashmir and elsewhere only because they held fundamentalist views but the epicenter and root case of Coronavirus disease is being patronized.  

SRINAGAR, 21 March 2020, TON: 481 Kashmiri State citizens arrived here in Srinagar during the last three days. Most of them are students studying in various countries including Bangladesh. The New Delhi’s installed District Administration has setup 12 quarantine centres at various locations in Srinagar. So far there is no coronavirus COVID-19 positive in Indian occupied disputed Jammu and Kashmir State.

The students alleged that they were not properly screened at the Srinagar Airport but were sent to quarantine centres which do not have proper facilities.

Many students were suspicious about New Delhi’s plans to keep Kashmiri students at the quarantine centres with those who have returned from Italy and United Kingdom. Two of the students complained, “We should have been screened properly before sent to quarantine centres but it is not being done and we are put with those unscrewed returning from Italy and United Kingdom.”

Meanwhile, Health and Medical Education Department, the government said it has issued Epidemic Disease (COVlD-l9) Regulations, 2020 declaring COVID-l9 as an epidemic. District Magistrates of Indian occupied Jammu and Kashmir has imposed Section 144 of CrPC and have banned religious and social at any public or religious place involving a gathering of more than 4 people till 31 March 2020.

BEIJING, 20 March 2020, TON (APP)::Pakistan and China under a memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries during President Dr. Arif Alvi’s recent visit to China, will jointly establish a center to fight against the locust threat in Pakistan.
The MOU on strengthening of cooperation on pest and disease control was signed between Ministry of Food Security and Research and Chinese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), China Economic Net reported on Friday.

The two countries will carry out a comprehensive cooperation on plant protection, including monitoring and early warning, demonstration, mutual recognition of standards, personnel training, and emergency response, according to the official website of MARA.
Now, Pakistan is facing a severe locust threat, said the survey report of the work team to assist Pakistan in combating desert locust which was sent by MARA.

The Chinese work team predicts that the current locust eggs will hatch in April and become adult in May, after analyzing the climatic conditions, characteristic of the plant and locust breeding in Punjab, Balochistan and Sindh provinces.
In addition, locusts from India and Iran may invade Pakistan. If not controlled well, it may swarm a huge number of locusts and swell into a plague of locusts.
Chinese work team suggested Pakistan make long-and short-term control plans, with combined efforts from chemical pesticides and bio-prevention methods.

The first batch of aid from China has already arrived in Karachi on 9 March. The aid includes 50,000 liters of malathion and 14 air-powered high-efficiency remote sprayers.
The locust outbreak, the worst one in 27 years, has damaged cotton, wheat and corn plants, posing severe threats to agriculture and food security of Pakistan.

NEW DELHI, 20 March 2020, TON:  The women protesters in New Delhi and Noida have announced on Friday that they will continue with their protest on 22 March “Janta curfew” from 7 am to 9 pm. Prime Minister Narendra had urged people during his address to the Indian nation on 19 March to remain inside their houses under a self-imposed curfew.

The women have been blocking a side of a road connecting since mid-December to protest against the amendment in Citizenship Act.

Interestingly, New Delhi had imposed ban on gatherings with more than 50 people in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic. However, the protested defeated the Government orders by reducing the size of gatherings to 20 people.

The protesters have revealed their plan that not more than 50 women will be staging protest at any given time.

A protester updated the Indian Government that they are Muslims and are already taking precautions which has been proclaimed in their religion, “Islam” as they cover themselves with Burqa or scarf all the time and wash their hands regularly five times a day as they offer “Namaz.”   Interestingly, the Scheduled Caste would also be protesting against Government actions. 

KABUL, 19 March 2020, TON: According to reliable sources, Abdullah Abdullah is  insisting his share in the government and has threatened to form a parallel government. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) had announced the final election results, declaring Ashraf Ghani as the President of Afghanistan.According to IEC, Mohammad Ashraf Ghani secured 50.64% of votes while Abdullah Abdullah and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar received 39.53% and 3.85% of the votes respectively. The total turnout for Afghanistan’s 2019 presidential election was 1,823,948 which makes less than 5% of Afghanistan’s population if the whole population is assumed 40 million. Ghani wons the election securing less than 2.5% of the nation’s votes.

The foreign powers including the United Nations have adopted controversial stances and are carrying out talks and discussion with opposition and rebel leaders. In a recent statement, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of South and Central Asian Affairs Alice Wells has warned that parallel governments will be harmful to the Afghan people. However, the American and European authorities are regularly holding meetings with the defeated leaders of Afghan elections.

If we recall, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (USAMA) did not openly  honour the verdict of IEC and issued an ambiguous statement,  “The United Nations has underscored the importance of an orderly process leading up to the announcement of the final results, and continues to stress the equal importance of national cohesion in the period ahead, noting that the election process has been a joint responsibility of all stakeholders, including the electoral management bodies and the candidates, as well as media, civil society and other actors.”

The U.S. envoy for Afghan peace Zalmay Khalilzad also issued a statement, emphasizing,  “It is time for Afghans to compromise and put their differences aside to resolve the political crisis resulting from elections and dual inaugurations.”

NEW DELHI, 19 March 2020, TON: The Indian Centre announced on Thursday that no international flights will land in India from 22 March to 31 March 2020.

“No scheduled international commercial airliner shall be allowed to land in India from March 22, 2020 for one week. The state government shall issue appropriate directions so that all citizens above 65 (other than for medical assistance) except for public representative/government servants/medical professionals are advised to remain at home,” the government statement said.

The government has asked all senior citizens above 65 and all children below 10 to stay inside the home as a precautionary measure against the novel coronavirus, which has claimed four lives in India.”Similarly all children below 10 should be advised to stay at home and not to venture out,” it said.

Railways and civil aviation have also been asked to suspend all concessional travel except for students, patients and divyang category. The Centre has requested states to enforce Work From Home for the private sector.

The new measures indicate that India has stepped up its fight against the novel coronavirus, also known as Covid-19, which has claimed over 9,000 lives across the world. Around 2 lakh people have been affected by the disease since its outbreak in December last year.

As per Ministry of Health Affairs latest numbers, India has registered over 170 positive cases of noval coronavirus, which includes 149 active cases, 19 cured patients, four deaths and oen migrated.

ISLAMABAD, 19 March 2020, TON: APP has reported that Government of Pakistan has so far released development funds of over Rs 12.13 billion for various development projects of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) under its Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) 2019-20.

According to latest data issued by the ministry of Planning on Thursday, the government had allocated Rs 18 billion for around 20 projects of CPEC for the year 2019-20.

For construction of KKH phase-II Havelian-Thakot (118.057 M) part of CPEC, the government released Rs 2 billion out of total allocation of Rs 2.238 billion.
The government has also released Rs 1.8 billion for preliminary design for up-gradation of main line (ML-1) and establishment of dryport near Havelian under the CPEC.

For improvement and widening of Chitral-Booni-Mastuj-Shandur road, the total allocated amount of Rs 1 billion has been released, whereas for Sukkur-Hyderabad motorway, an amount of Rs 2.8 billion was released out of total allocated funds of Rs 6.5 billion.

The government also released Rs 1.2 billion for land acquisition and resettlement for CPEC- Islamabad-Raikot section (Phase-I), Havelian-Thakot (120.12 km), while Rs 1.89 billion were released for construction of Zhob to Kuchlak for which the government had allocated Rs 1.025 billion.

Similarly the government also released Rs 320 million for 5 million gallon per day sea water desalination plant at Gwadar out of total allocation of Rs 400 million and for strengthening of core network and expansion of PERN footprints through CPEC optical fiber (PERN III), an amount of Rs 300 million has also been released.

For construction of offices for Intelligence Bureau alongwith CPEC, the government released Rs 111.2 million out of total allocation of Rs 164 million while for the project upgradation of NGMS (3G/4G) services and seamless coverage along KKH (in support of CPEC) in Gilgit Baltistan, an amount of Rs 600 million has been released.

The government also released Rs 9.455 million for establishment of CPEC Support Unit (CSU) for projects and activities in Gwadar Port Authority for which Rs 18.19 have been allocated for current fiscal year.

Likewise, for construction of Centre of Excellence for CPEC, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), the government has so far released Rs 50 million out of Rs 73.8 million while for CPEC support project at ministry of Railways, another Rs 50 million have also been released.