Pak asks India to halt firing, not to indulge in point-scoring

October 10, 2014

Islamabad, Oct 10: Making a veiled reference to its nuclear capability, Pakistan today sought immediate defusing of tension at the LoC saying "both countries are aware of each other's capabilities" and war was not an option.n shareef

The Pakistani statement came after a meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif which said its earnest desire for normalising bilateral relations and defusing the situation should not be taken as a sign of weakness.

Warning that any attempt to challenge its territorial integrity and sovereignty will be responded with full force, the meeting hoped that both countries would respect the ceasefire agreement of 2003 and maintain tranquility on the border.

Without using the word nuclear, the committee said both countries are aware of each other's capabilities and that war was not an option.

"It is the shared responsibility of the leadership of both countries to immediately defuse the situation," it said.

Briefing the media after the meeting, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said Pakistan would not accept Indian "hegemony" on the border and was prepared to give a "befitting" reply to violation of ceasefire.

"The Committee expressed the resolve that any attempt to challenge Pakistan's territorial integrity and sovereignty will be responded with full force," the statement said.

The meeting was attended among others by select cabinet members, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the three services chiefs and ISI chief.

"The Armed Forces assured the National Security Committee that they are fully prepared to deal with any adversity at our borders," said the NSC, the key consultative forum for civilian and military leaders to discuss security issues.

The meeting hoped that both countries would respect the "ceasefire agreement of 2003 and maintain tranquility on the LoC and the WB (working boundary), without indulging in blame-game and point-scoring."

India and Pakistan have been trading heavy mortar and gun fire along the international border and LoC since October 1.

While eight people died and 90 others, including 13 security men, were injured in the firing by Pakistani troops in Jammu and Kashmir, in Pakistan 13 civilians have been killed.

"Any further escalation will only complicate the environment for meaningful discussion on Kashmir issue and adversely affect the broader objective of regional cooperation," the committee said.

The Committee, however, made it clear that "Pakistan's earnest desire for normalising bilateral relations and defusing the situation at the LoC should not be seen as a sign of weakness. It is in fact a sign of maturity and sincerity.

The Committee expressed its disappointment that the "sincerity demonstrated by Pakistan has not been reciprocated".

"Abrupt cancellation of the Foreign Secretary-level talks by India and refusal to resume the dialogue process are a setback to our efforts to establish good neighbourly relations and present situation was a further blow to these efforts," it said.

The Committee noted that "these developments have not only disappointed the people in Pakistan and India but the international community too has shared this disappointment."

The Committee further noted with regret the "irresponsible" statements made at the political level in India, in the backdrop of the situation at the border.

It expressed deep concern that the "continuing ceasefire violations by Indian forces" had led to loss of precious lives and injuries to innocent people, including soldiers.

"Sadly, the unprovoked violations of ceasefire by the Indian Security Forces occurred in total disregard of the auspicious and festive occasion of Eid-ul Azha," it said.

The Committee expressed its full confidence in the capability of Armed Forces to defend the country against any aggression and safeguard the territorial integrity of Pakistan.

The Committee noted that the Government of Pakistan has pursued a policy of peaceful relations with all its neighbours.

"Initiation of peace dialogue of the 1990s, and more recently, participation of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's oath-taking ceremony are a manifestation of Pakistan's sincere desire to constructively engage India to establish durable peace in the region," it said.

"We say yes to peace but no to hegemony," Khan said.

He said military officials had informed him that the India's Border Security Force had been using heavy ammunition, unlike previous instances of ceasefire violations.

Khan rejected Indian charge of Pakistan army starting the fight and said that Pakistan was already fighting a war on its western border against militants and had no reason to engage in this ‘adventurism'.

The interior minister said Pakistan Army is capable of fighting local and foreign enemies and will ensure the safety of the country.

"Kashmir is the reason for the dispute and recent escalation of border clashes,” Nisar said.

He promised to work for peace and said Pakistan has taken positive steps to improve relations with India, including Sharif's visit to New Delhi in May to attend his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi's swearing-in ceremony.

He said India instead of reciprocating the gesture of goodwill by Pakistan cancelled the foreign secretary-level bilateral talks on a baseless reason.

"Meeting with Hurriyat leaders is routine and not uncommon," Nisar said.

He said Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has been asked by Sharif to write a letter to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to highlight the ceasefire violations by India.

Khan said the Foreign Office will also brief the diplomats in Islamabad about the tension.

He said the official of UN observer mission in Pakistan will be taken to the border to help them ascertain who started the fighting.

Khan said firing by Indians seemed to have a specific purpose and asked India to realise that Pakistan was a nuclear power.

Earlier, the chief of army staff General Raheel Sharif, naval chief Admiral Zakullah and Advisor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz separately met with the prime minister and discussed matters pertaining to national security.

The NSC meeting was called after Sharif came under fire from Opposition leaders for not standing up to the alleged Indian "aggression" at the border.

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Agencies
August 5,2020

Ninety per cent of a sample group of coronavirus-recovered patients from a prominent hospital in China's Wuhan city where the pandemic broke out have reported lung damage and five per cent of them are again in quarantine after testing positive for the virus, according to a media report on Wednesday.

A team at the Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University led by Peng Zhiyong, director of the hospital's Intensive Care Unit, has been conducting follow-up visits with '100 recovered patients' since April.

The first phase of this one-year programme finished in July. The average age of the patients in the study is 59.

According to the first phase results, 90 per cent of the patients' lungs are still in a damaged state, which means their lungs ventilation and gas exchange functions have not recovered to the level of healthy people, state-run Global Times reported.

Peng's team conducted a six-minute walking test with the patients. They found that the recovered patients could only walk 400 metres in six minutes while their healthy peers could walk 500 metres in the same period.

Some recovered patients have to rely on oxygen machines even three months after being discharged from the hospital, Liang Tengxiao, a doctor from the Dongzhimen Hospital, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, was quoted as saying by the report.

Liang's team is also conducting follow-up visits with recovered patients aged above 65.

The results also showed that antibodies against the novel coronavirus in 10 per cent of the 100 patients have disappeared.

Five per cent of them received negative results in Covid-19 nucleic acid tests but positive results in Immunoglobulin M (IgM) tests, and thus have to be quarantined again, the report said.

IgM is usually the first antibody produced by the immune system when a virus attacks. A positive result in an IgM test usually means that a person has just been infected by the virus.

It is still unclear if this means these people have been infected again.

The 100 patients' immune systems have not fully recovered as they showed a low level of B cells -- - a primary force for killing viruses in the human body -- but a high level of T cells which only recognise viral antigens outside infected cells.

"The results revealed that the patients’ immune systems are still recovering," Peng said.

The patients also suffered from depression and a sense of stigma. Most of the recovered patients told the team that their families were not willing to have dinner with them at the same table, the report said.

Less than half of the recovered patients have returned to work, it said.

The findings are significant as the coronavirus first emerged in Wuhan city.

Hubei province for which Wuhan is the provincial capital has reported a total of 68,138 confirmed Covid-19 cases till now. The disease has claimed 4,512 lives in the province, according to the official data.

China reported 27 new confirmed Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, including 22 locally-transmitted cases, the National Health Commission (NHC) said on Wednesday.

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News Network
May 30,2020

Washington, May 30: The United States will end its relationship with the World Health Organization over the body’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday, accusing the U.N. agency of becoming a puppet of China.

The move to quit the Geneva-based body, which the United States formally joined in 1948, comes amid growing tensions between Washington and Beijing over the coronavirus outbreak. The virus first emerged in China’s Wuhan city late last year.

Speaking in the White House Rose Garden, Trump said Chinese officials “ignored their reporting obligations” to the WHO about the virus - that has killed hundreds of thousands of people globally - and pressured the agency to “mislead the world.”

“China has total control over the World Health Organization despite only paying $40 million per year compared to what the United States has been paying which is approximately $450 million a year,” he said.

Trump’s decision follows a pledge last week by Chinese President Xi Jinping to give $2 billion to the WHO over the next two years to help combat the coronavirus. The amount almost matches the WHO’s entire annual program budget for last year.

Trump last month halted funding for the 194-member organization, then in a May 18 letter gave the WHO 30 days to commit to reforms.

“Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs,” Trump said on Friday.

It was not immediately clear when his decision would come into effect. A 1948 joint resolution of Congress on U.S. membership of the WHO said the country “reserves its right to withdraw from the organization on a one-year notice.”

The World Health Organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Trump’s announcement. It has previously denied Trump’s assertions that it promoted Chinese “disinformation” about the virus.

“It’s important to remember that the WHO is a platform for cooperation among countries,” said Donna McKay, executive director of Physicians for Human Rights. “Walking away from this critical institution in the midst of an historic pandemic will hurt people both in the United States and around the world.”

‘ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL’

The United States currently owes the WHO more than $200 million in assessed contributions, according to the WHO website. Washington also gives several hundred million dollars annually in voluntary funding tied to specific WHO programs such as polio eradication, HIV, hepatitis and tuberculosis.

Amesh A. Adalja, a senior scholar at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said that in practice Trump’s decision was unlikely to change the operations of the WHO.

“From a symbolic or moral standpoint it’s the wrong type of action to be taking in the middle of a pandemic and seems to deflect responsibility for what we in the U.S. failed to do and blame the WHO,” said Adalja.

When Trump halted funding to the WHO last month, two Western diplomats said the U.S. suspension was more harmful politically to the WHO than to the agency’s current programs, which are funded for now.

The WHO is an independent international body that works with the United Nations. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last month that the WHO is “absolutely critical to the world’s efforts to win the war against COVID-19.”

When asked about Trump’s decision, a U.N. spokesman said: “We have consistently called for all states to support WHO.”

Trump has long scorned multilateralism as he focuses on an “America First” agenda. Since taking office, he has quit the U.N. Human Rights Council, the U.N. cultural agency, a global accord to tackle climate change and the Iran nuclear deal. He has also cut funding for the U.N. population fund and the U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees.

“The WHO is the world’s early warning system for infectious diseases,” said U.S. Representative Nita Lowey, a Democrat who chairs the House Committee on Appropriations. “Now, during a global pandemic that has cost over 100,000 American lives, is not the time to put the country further at risk.”

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News Network
June 6,2020

Islamabad, Jun 6: Pakistan has reported a record 97 COVID-19 deaths in a single day, taking the total number of fatalities to 1,935, while the number of confirmed cases in the country approached 94,000 after over 4,700 infections were detected, the health ministry said on Saturday.

Punjab registered 35,308 COVID-19 cases, Sindh 34,889, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa 12,459, Balochistan 5,776 Islamabad 4,323, Gilgit-Baltistan 897 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir 331 cases, the Ministry of National Health Services said.

The total number of COVID-19 cases reached 93,983 after 4,734 new infections were detected across the country, it said.

With a record 97 fatalities in one day, the death toll in the country has reached 1,935, while 32,581 people have recovered from the disease.

The ministry said that the total number of active COVID-19 cases in Pakistan are 59,467, out of which 1,265 patients are in critical condition.

More than 100 labs in the country have so far conducted 660,508 tests, including 22,185 in the last 24 hours.

There are 747 hospitals across the country with COVID-19 treatment facilities where 5,060 patients are being treated. Others have been asked to self-isolate at home.

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