GILGIT-BALTISTAN: The Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) government on Tuesday reported nine new coronavirus cases, raising the region’s tally to 80.
Separately, GB government’s focal person for coronavirus Dr Shah Zaman announced that two patients have recovered. Both patients were admitted to a hospital in Islamabad, where they were being kept in isolation, he added.
The total number of cases reported in Pakistan are now 887, with 6 reported deaths. The number of recoveries stands at 6.
As the federal government is struggling to contain the spread of the virus which has killed some 16, 578 people worldwide, many of its appeals, calling for self-isolation, have gone in vain. As the last resort, the government yesterday summoned the Pakistan Army under Article 245 to assist the civilian administrations across the country in keeping the citizens indoors. In addition to it, the provincial governments have also imposed complete and partial lockdowns to minimize social interaction.
Today, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) has decided to shut down all courts in the province until Mar 28.
According to the notification, the following arrangements have been made to ensure that important matters are taken care of:
- Only two single benches will hear “civil and criminal urgent matters”.
- At a district level, one sessions court and one civil judge will hear civil and criminal cases of an urgent nature on a rotational basis.
- Members of staff who are above 50 years of age or suffer from diabetes or heart ailments will be on vacation. So will female members of staff.
- High court judges and staff of grade 17 and above will donate five days’ salary, while members of staff of this court, benches and district judiciary will donate one day’s salary to KP relief fund.
- Essential staff will continue to come to courts but there will no more than one official in one office/wing.
TIME FOR TOUGH DECISIONS: ARMY
Yesterday, while addressing a press conference, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar called on the concerned quarters to take “tough” and “difficult” decision, without naming them.
Many observers believe the presser was of significant importance since it followed a national address by Prime Minister Imran Khan, refusing to impose national lockdown, citing potential economic outfall of such a decision.
The chief military spox further mentioned that Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had decided to donate one month’s salary to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, while personnel between the ranks of Brig to Lt Gen would donate three days’ worth of their salaries.
The personnel below the Col rank and soldiers would donate two and one days’ worth of their salaries, respectively, he added.
In a similar development today, Pakistan Airline Pilots’ Association (PALPA) announced that all pilots would donate three days’ salary to the Covid-19 Fund created by the federal government.
