Tuesday, September 29, 2026
Home Blog Page 1378

Enforced disappearances: Baloch people’s unending wait for loved ones

(Pic: voicepk.net)

New Delhi (NVI): Almost every household in Balochistan lives in fear of their men being abducted, says Haseeba Qambrani, who hails from this province of Pakistan which has been facing oppression at the hands of state authorities.

Haseeba was one of the thousands of people from Balochistan who held a protest in Quetta against enforced disappearances and killings by Pakistan state-supported gangs.

One of her brothers was killed after abduction, while two other brothers are still missing after ‘disappearing’ in February. Disappearance is a euphemism for abductions carried out by the Pakistani intelligence people and the gangs supported by them.

Many a time the kidnapped people are found in deformed state, sometimes even years after their abduction. Some are not even that lucky as their loved ones are never found. The people keep pleading with the government to help recover their sons, brothers, husbands and friends but without any success.

“We don’t celebrate anything. We just mourn…. My grief is there for all to see,” Haseeba wept as she participated in the protest and spoke to Voicepk.net.

Haseeba spoke about how her family first found the deformed body of one of her brothers before two more brothers Hizbullah and Hassan Qambrani disappeared on February 14.

She said the youth of Balochistan have ended up becoming targets of a witch hunt.

Zakir Baloch is another youth who went missing 11 years and his mother and sister continue to make tireless efforts to find him. They not only marched across Pakistan but also took the case up to the Supreme Court of Pakistan and the National Commission for Missing Persons along with the cases of other missing persons from Balochistan.

“Today we have all gathered with the families of missing persons including that of Zakir Majeed Baloch, the Vice Chairman of the Baloch Students Organization, who was abducted from Parangabad, Mastung,” said Mahrang Baloch, whose father Abdul Ghaffar was also abducted and later killed.

Mahrang according to Voicepk.net, said that apart from the Interior Minister of that time, then President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari had also assured them of Zakir’s recovery and had said that enforced disappearances were against the Constitution of Pakistan.

“Zakir Baloch’s mother still cries everyday and we don’t understand where to go and what to do anymore. My mother cries too…as for father he has stopped saying anything. But I protest and I not just Haseeba anymore, I am Farzana, I am Mahrang, I am Bramsh and I am Balochistan. Our brothers are either made addicts or abducted,” Haseeba said.

Prominent Baloch leader Nasrullah Baloch said if any missing person had committed a crime, they should be produced before courts and tried there but they should be released immediately if they are not guilty.

“The issue should be resolved according to the law and if anyone has died in custody then their families must be informed now,” said Baloch.

According to Amnesty International, enforced disappearances have been taking place for a long time and despite the pledges of successive governments to criminalize the practice, there has been slow movement on legislation while people continue to be forcibly picked up and made to disappear with impunity.

The Amnesty International says the “Commission of Inquiry on Enforced Disappearances (COIED) has more than 2,178 cases unresolved as of now. As per the Commission’s recent monthly report, 48 cases disposed of in the month of January 2019, included 46 traced persons out of which 29 were returned home, 10 were traced to internment centers, five are in jails on terrorism charges and two were described as “dead bodies”.

The UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance has more than 700 cases pending from Pakistan. The number of cases of victims of enforced disappearance recorded by victim groups is much higher.

Asymptomatic spread of coronavirus is rare: WHO

New Delhi (NVI): The World Health Organisation has said that the spread of coronavirus through people without symptoms or asymptomatic cases is very rare, despite several reports claiming that the virus is spreading rapidly even in the absence of signs for Covid-19 infection.

Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s official epidemiologist said at a press briefing in Geneva yesterday that experts still believe such spread of the disease is very rare and it would be premature to arrive on any conclusion.

“From the data we have, it still seems to be rare that an asymptomatic person actually transmits onward to a secondary individual,” said Van Kerkhove.

She also acknowledged that many countries are reporting cases where the virus is spreading from people who are asymptomatic. She said that many of these cases were identified through contact tracing of known patients and the lack of onward transmission by asymptomatic individuals was based on data from countries carrying out detailed contact tracing.

She said WHO was reviewing such data to be sure as “much of that has been published in the literature yet,”

However, prominent health and medical experts took the WHO’s announcement with a pinch of salt, underscoring how the scientific community is still far from consensus over how the novel coronavirus operates.

Kejriwal tests negative for corona

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal

New Delhi (NVI): Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who had complained of fever and throat pain on Sunday, has tested negative for novel coronavirus, his party said today.

The Delhi CM had undergone a test for Covid-19 earlier in the day, the reports for which came negative. Kejriwal had gone into self-isolation yesterday after complaining of uneasiness.

The 51-year-old APP leader hasn’t met anyone since Sunday afternoon and has isolated himself at his official residence in Delhi.

Kejriwal was also not able to attend the special all-party meeting called by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal to review Covid-19 situation in the national capital at 3 PM today, owing to his ill health.

India-China standoff: Disengagement starts

India-China face-off: Core issue is to 'strictly' follow bilateral border pacts, says MEA

New Delhi (NVI): After a month-long military standoff, the process of de-escalation between India and China has started along the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh region.

Both sides have moved back their troops at several locations in Eastern Ladakh, according to sources.

The Chinese Army, which had kicked off the tensions by objecting to a road construction project of India, has moved its troops up to 2.5 kms in Galwan Valley, Hot Springs and PP-15 areas. India too moved back some of its troops and vehicles in these areas.

The process of de-escalation comes three days after top military commanders of the two countries met at Chushul-Moldo area at LAC and agreed not to escalate tensions by abiding to the guidance provided by their leadership.

After the disengagement, the military commanders of the two countries are to hold further talks in the coming few days to discuss ways to avoid such confrontations in the future.

After the talks on June 6, India’s External Affairs Ministry said, “Both sides agreed to peacefully resolve the situation in the border areas in accordance with various bilateral agreements and keeping in view the agreement between the leaders that peace and tranquility in the India-China border regions is essential for the overall development of bilateral relations.”

It added, “Accordingly, the two sides will continue the military and diplomatic engagements to resolve the situation and to ensure peace and tranquility in the border areas.”

China also has been talking about resolving the matter peacefully and not allow it to escalate.

The military stand-off in the Ladakh sector was triggered in early May after China objected to the construction of a road by India on its side of the LAC, claiming that it is their territory. After that, both sides mobilised thousands of troops, making it an eyeball-to-eyeball situation.

Earlier on June 5, senior officials of the foreign ministries of the two countries held talks and both sides agreed that they should handle the differences through “peaceful discussion”.

The talks were held via video conference between Naveen Srivastava, Joint Secretary (East Asia) in the Indian External Affairs Ministry and Wu Jianghao, Director General in the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The two sides reviewed the state of bilateral relations including the current developments, the External Affairs Ministry said, clearly referring to the LAC stand-off.

Bangladesh COVID-19 tally exceeds 71,000; 975 dead

(Image source: United News of Bangladesh)

New Delhi (NVI): Bangladesh today saw the highest number of single day new cases and deaths. A whopping 3,117 new cases were reported, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 71,675.

The country also recorded a total of 45 deaths due to the novel coronavirus during this period, raising the death tally to 975, according to United News of Bangladesh.

So far, a total of 15,336 people have recovered from the deadly contagion, after 777 more patients made recovery.

Against the total number of detected cases, the recovery rate is 21.4 per cent and the mortality rate is 1.36 per cent in the country.

Altogether 7,021 policemen have been infected with coronavirus across the country so far.

542 new COVID cases in Afghanistan; tally hits 21,459

New Delhi (NVI): The coronavirus cases in Afghanistan saw a rise of 542 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number to 21,459, according to Afghan media reports.

The death toll due to the virus rose to 384 with 15 new fatalities being reported in the last 24 hours.

Among the fresh cases reported, Kabul was at the top of the list with 213 new cases, followed by Herat with 142.

Other provinces reporting cases were Paktia (22), Nangarhar (92), Ghazni (36), Logar (4), Laghman (12), Kunduz (8), Kunar (1), Kapisa (5) and Panjshir (7).

The Afghan Ministry of Public Health said 2,651 people have recovered from the respiratory disease in Afghanistan.

So far, 49,530 people have been tested for COVID-19 in the country, as per media reports.

Meanwhile, the deputy public health minister Wahid Majroh said, “The number of infected people is more than what we announce. So far we have announced the number of positive cases that have been tested, but many people are not coming to health centers who have mild symptoms.”

“Those people who outside their homes must wear masks,” he added.

Massive fire at Assam oil well

New Delhi (NVI): A natural-gas producing well of Oil India Limited (OIL) in upper Assam’s Tinsukia district caught fire this afternoon. The oil well had been leaking for the last 14 days, according to media reports.

The blaze may also spread to adjoining areas, reports said, adding that the Assam Government has requested the Indian Air Force and Army to extinguish the fire.

Large plumes of smoke were seen emanating from the well, located at Baghjan. According to a senior OIL official, the fire broke out at 1.40 pm at the site. Three experts from Singapore have also reached the site to douse the fire, reports said.

The blowout was reported at the Baghjan well on May 27 while work was underway to produce gas from a new oil and gas-bearing reservoir at a depth of 3,729 meters.

Since the May 27 incident, around 2,000 people living near the site have been shifted to four relief camps.

 

Pak reports more than 100 COVID-19 deaths in a single day

COVID-19: Pakistan imposes mini-lockdown in Islamabad

New Delhi (NVI): Pakistan has now surpassed the 1 lakh mark in coronavirus cases after nearly 7,000 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 1,10,065 with at least 2,189 fatalities.

Looking at the breakdown of cases, Sindh province has reported 41,303 coronavirus cases, highest among all the provinces, while Punjab has 40,819 positive cases.

On the other hand, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has recorded 14,006 cases, Balochistan is at 6,788, Gilgit-Baltistan at 952, Islamabad at 5,785 and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is at 412 cases so far, according to Geo News.

Ministry of National Health Services stated that 35,018 patients have fully recovered from the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Muslim League-N spokesperson Marriyum Aurangzeb was tested positive a day after she confirmed that former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was tested positive.

Nepal’s COVID-19 tally rises to 4,085 with 323 new cases

New Delhi (NVI): 323 new positive coronavirus cases have been reported from Nepal, taking the toll in the Himalayan nation to 4,085, according to local media reports.

The country’s Ministry of Health and Population said, “Of the infected, 3,792 are males and 293 are females.”

In the last 24 hours, 286 males and 37 females from Ilam, Nawalpur, Banke, Dhanusa, Mahottari, Sarlahi, Banke, Jumla, Salyan, Darchula, Kanchanpur, Dadeldhura, Kailali, Kapilvastu, Rupandehi, Mahottari, Nuwakot, Rautahat and Siraha, said Dr Gautam.

At present, 72 of the 77 districts and all the Provinces have witnessed the transmission of COVID-19 virus, as per media reports.

Apart from this, 96 people have been discharged following recovery, which means the total recovery cases stand at 584 across the country, of which 507 are males while 77 are females.

Meanwhile, Nepal has recorded one more coronavirus related death, which has taken the national COVID-19 death toll to 15 in Nepal.

This map shows places on earth with least or no human footprint

New Delhi (NVI): If you want to know where in the world you can find a place that has not yet been transformed by agriculture, infrastructure, or settlements, then this newly published map by a team of researchers may help you.

The map, published on June 5 in the journal Global Change Biology, knits together four independently developed models for determining where humanity leaves its fingerprints, each using different indicators of activity, according to a report by the National Geographic.

According to scientists, the newly created map reveals the “wildest” places on Earth—places where humans have the lowest impact. The findings could be used to support the push to set aside half of Earth for nature to flourish and keep it protected from human imprints, as per the researchers.

The four independently developed models used for creating the map use human population, built-up areas, and cropland as inputs, but then they start to specialize, reports the National Geographic.

Based on the findings, all of the maps agreed that about half of Earth shows “low” human impact, and about half of that — a quarter of the ice-free surface of the planet — could be described as “very low” human impact.

Lead author Jason Riggio, a spatial ecologist at the University of California, Davis, hopes the map can bolster the case for making the goal of protecting half the planet by 2050 official at the next meeting of the Convention on Biological Diversity, scheduled for 2021.

Furthermore, while preserving largely untouched “wilderness” is an important goal for many, it isn’t always where the most plant and animal species are.

Globally, the tropics have many more species than the ecosystems closest to the poles, but the tropics also have a lot of people, according to Maria Dornelas, an ecologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

1...1,3771,3781,379...1,756Page 1,378 of 1,756

MUST READ