Thursday, 2 September, 2021 I 24 Muharram, 1443 I Rs 15.00 I Vol XII No 63 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Pakistan administered 1.5m doses of Covid vaCCines in a day: asad
ISLAMABAD
a
Staff RepoRt
record 1.5 million people in Pakistan received a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine on Tuesday, Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar said, as the Ministry of National Health Services scaled up its push to vaccinate 70 million people by the end of this year. In a series of tweets posted Wednesday, Umar, who also heads the National Command and Operation Center, said: “Yesterday, 1.59 million vaccinations were carried out.” “Both first dose and second dose vaccinations were highest ever with 1 million 71 thousand and 519 thousand respectively.” According to an ourworldindata.com tally, an online portal keeping track of vaccination campaigns worldwide, Pakistan, at its current pace, was behind only China, India, Brazil and Indonesia and well ahead of the United States, Russia and Japan. Starting in March, Pakistan hit the ambitious target of 1 million inoculations a day in August, relaxing the requirement of
holding a national identity card for vaccination and allowing people to get their jabs by showing any valid identity. The government has ramped up restrictions targeting unvaccinated individuals, with vaccination checks now required for entering shopping malls, for employees in both the private and public sector, and even for purchasing fuel in Punjab. In a similar manner, Sindh has blocked SIM cards of unvaccinated. Umar said the government had set a “minimum target” for 24 large cities to vaccinate 40 percent of their adult population by August-end. “Out of these, 20 [cities] met the target. Only cities to miss the target were Hyderabad, Mardan, Nowshera and Quetta.” 35 percent of the eligible population has received at least one dose of the vaccine, he noted. Umar further disclosed that 69 percent of Islamabad’s total population is vaccinated 51 percent in Kashmir39 percent in Gilgit-Baltistan, 37 percent in Punjab, 35 percent in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, 32 percent in Sindh and 12 percent in Balochistan. We had set “vaccination targets for 24
Coronavirus in
Pakistan
CONFIRMED CASES:
1,163,688
LAST UPDATED AT 5:47 PM ON SEPTEMBER 1, 2021
DAY'S DEATH TOLL:
NEW CASES:
101
3,559
RECOVERED:
DEATHS:
1,043,898 25,889 SINDH:
PUNJAB:
432,637
394,738
KPK:
BALOCHISTAN:
162,402 AJK/GB: 32,228/9,919
32,248 ISLAMABAD:
99,516
large cities [by the] end [of] September. Partial vaccination 60 [percent] and full vaccination 40 [percent] of eligible population [has been achieved]. “These are tough targets, especially for full vaccination but achievable with a focused effort and high-quality execution,” the minister resolved. NEW INFECTIONS: Meanwhile, Pakistan reported 3,559 new infections after testing 53,637 samples over the last 24 hours, the NCOC said. The NCOC, the department leading campaign against the pandemic, said that the number of overall confirmed cases has risen to 1,163,688, including 1,043,898 people who have recovered after treatment. The number of active cases inched down to 93,901, including 5,690 critical patients. According to the NCOC, the pandemic killed 101 people, increasing the overall death toll to 25,889. Sindh is the most affected province of the country in terms of the number of cases with 432,637 infections, followed by Punjab, which has reported 394,738 cases. SPUTNIK V DOSES ARRIVE: In a related development, the first consignment of one million jabs of Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine arrived, people in the National Institute of Health familiar with the development said. The shipment was brought on a flight of a foreign airline which landed at Islamabad International Airport early Wednesday. Pakistan had in June signed an agreement with Moscow for the doses. The consignment has subsequently been moved to the central warehouse of the federal Expanded Programme of Immunisation and will be distributed to the provinces and administrative units per their requirement after the finalisation of a distribution plan.
Getting back to normal EDITORIAL ON PAGE 06
PM launches Ehsaas Education Stipends programme ISLAMABAD: app
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday launched the Ehsaas Education Stipends programme for deserving families and said his government was focused on providing quality education to children nationwide and giving incentives to prevent dropouts from educational institutions. Addressing the launch of the programme, the prime minister said as over 20 million children were out of school, efforts were underway to ensure their inclusion in the educational mainstream. The stipend programme was aimed at providing financial assistance to deserving households for the education up to higher secondary levels of their children. Rolled out nationwide in 160 districts, the programme had been structured to give an increased stipend to girls as compared to boys. Imran said ensuring education for all was a priority of the government, adding that stipends as incentives would be a step to encourage parents for sending their children, particularly girls, to schools. He said an educated woman could contribute more positively to-
Senate committee approves anti-rape bill for formation of special courts The approval of the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trail) Bill, 2021 by the Senate Standing Committee on Law and Justice will allow for the formation of special courts to hear rape cases. The National Assembly had on June 10 passed the bill, which was later referred to the Senate for approval, that has now been granted on Wednesday, according to a report by Dawn. The Standing Committee’s chairperson, Barrister Syed Ali Zafar, oversaw the approval of the bill, alongside its other members, including Azam Nazeer Tarar, Farooq Hamid Naek, Kamran Murtaza, Mian Raza Rabbani, Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Muhammad Hamayun Mohmand, Musadik Masood Malik, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Samina Mumtaz Zehri, Syed Muzafar Hussain Shah, Syed Shibli Faraz and Walid Iqbal. The members of the opposition during the sub-committee meeting expressed reservation on a provision allowing the constitution of special courts, however, the proposal was rejected by a majority vote during the meeting. Speaking to Dawn, sub-committee member Mustafa Nawaz
wards society and lauded the policy of the programme to give a higher amount to the families of female students. Terming educated human resource a great asset of a nation, he said it was important to provide educational opportunities to both boys and girls. He dismissed the impression in the western world that the people of Pakistan did not want to educate their girls. He recalled that during his visits to different parts of the country, he found no such parents who denied the right to education to their daughters. However, he said, the factors including distant schools or unavailability of female teachers could be a reason. Imran said it was mainly the responsibility of the government to ensure the provision of quality education to all. He appreciated that by the use of information technology, the stipends would be disbursed transparently after proper checking of fake entries and ghost schools. The prime minister also announced a one-time Ehsaas graduation bonus of Rs3,000 to encourage girls to complete primary education.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
more inside
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Khokhar said prospective special courts were bound to decide a case within four months. “If a suspect approaches a high court, then it will have to decide the case in six months and in the meanwhile the suspect can’t be granted bail,” he said while talking about provisions in the law. The bill will now be tabled in the Senate for approval. Earlier, during the meeting, member National Assembly Malika Bukhari — who also attended the session — informed the panel about a proposal in the bill for the establishment of spe-
cial courts to hear rape cases. The panel was also informed that courts will have serving judges instead of retired judges. Opposing the suggestion, Raza Rabbani of the PPP said he didn’t believe that constitution of special courts was required for hearing rape cases. “We are not against the rules, but oppose the formation of special courts,” he said. Azam Nazeer Tarar of the PML-N said similar courts were also established in the past, but they didn’t serve any purpose. NewS DeSk
CONTINUED ON PAGE 05
Taliban say they have surrounded Afghan resistance fighters in Panjshir, call for peace STORY ON BACK PAGE
FBR will achieve annual tax collection target comfortably: PM STORY ON PAGE 03
