Dengue disasters: Epidemic escalating with over 2,000 cases

By Shamsul Islam

Published: September 4, 2011

District residents say that Health Department is not doing enough.

FAISALABAD:

The Dengue epidemic appears to be escalating in the province.

Locals in the district have accused concerned agencies of being incapable of dealing with the situation effectively.

The official record for Dengue seems to have exceeded 2,000, while a large number of cases have not yet been confirmed due to lack of laboratory facilities in rural areas of the province. Local residents have demanded that district authorities spread awareness about the disease and make provisions for treatment.
The administration has claimed that it has taken steps for preventing the spread of the disease by fumigating several areas.

However, locals have said that no fumigation has been carried out in over a dozen residential areas.
Bacteriologists said that ad hoc measures were not enough to contain the epidemic in the district. Bacteriologists have said that hospital officials do not have enough vaccines. “Dengue is transmitted to people through biting of Aedes Mosquito which is infected with any one of the four dengue viruses including Den 1, 2, 3 and 4.

The virus itself cannot be spread by person-to-person contact and is always spread from a mosquito bite,” said bacteriologist Dr Babar.Health officials said that they had sought the assistance of the Punjab Government to combat the disease effectively.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2011.

New crop improvement technique developed

Published: September 3, 2011

Experts say plant tissue culture and transformation protocols were becoming major tools for crop improvement and fundamental studies.

FAISALABAD: Experts have developed a new technique for improving production of cotton and other crops through tissue culture.

A spokesman for the National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) told The Express Tribune that plant tissue culture and transformation protocols were becoming major tools for crop improvement and fundamental studies.

“Development of transgenic plants relies directly on efficient tissue culture and transformation potential of target tissues,” he said.

He said as per new technique G Arboreum cotton genotypes were evaluated for their tissue culture response by culturing different explants on different growth hormones.

In this connection, a research seminar on “Establishment of regeneration and transformation system for cotton” is being arranged at the institute on September 6 in which veteran scholar Muhammad Ismael Lashari will speak extensively on the topic.

Scientists from various parts of the country would also give their expert opinion on the newly developed technique.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2011

ATMs run out of cash during Eid holidays

By Shamsul Islam

Published: September 3, 2011

As ATM's dried up, long queues started lining up outside machines.

FAISALABAD: Hundreds of bank account holders have complained that they could not withdraw cash due to out-of-order Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) during Eid holidays or because the ATMs were out of cash, often causing embarrassment to them.

According to customers, not only were there long queues in front of ATMs, card holders were also seen quarreling and exchanging harsh words with bank guards in some areas. At most of the banks, private guards, who normally stand alert outside the banks, preferred to remain inside the premises to avoid interacting with annoyed account holders who failed to draw cash.

Muhammad Ismael, who was standing outside a bank branch on Eid day, said, “I could not draw money from the bank on the eve of Eid due to rush of customers in front of ATM and decided to come next day, but to no avail.”

“I have no money in my house while my wife and kids are insisting on disbursement of Eidi among children as well as relatives,” he said. “It is very embarrassing for me that I ask for credit or loan from a friend or relative on Eid days.” Muhammad Akram, while standing in front of an ATM of another bank branch, said, “The bank administration has not made elaborate arrangements to disburse cash to account holders through ATMs due to which many people, like me, have returned disappointed after standing in long queues.”

Earlier before the introduction of ATMs on a wide scale, account holders had been quite comfortable as they had no option but to withdraw money from banks at least two to three days before Eid, using cheques. However, now the majority of customers rely on ATM cards to withdraw cash through a transaction that takes hardly a minute.

Some bank managers argued that ATMs were not out of order, actually they had run out of cash due to heavy withdrawals during prolonged Eid holidays, adding, however, that most of the banks had not made contingency plans for refilling ATMs with cash.

ATMs have a capacity to hold around Rs3 million and in normal working days the amount is more than sufficient for a day. However, during prolonged Eid holidays, it is not enough to meet the needs of account holders.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2011.

‘Illegal detention’: Eid deepens pain for families of missing persons

By Shamsul Islam

Published: September 3, 2011

UN marks Aug 30 ‘International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance’.

FAISALABAD:

With International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance coinciding with Eidul Fitr this year, 2011 became twice as sorrowful for the families of missing persons in the country.

“This year carries significance because the United Nations (UN) has officially marked August 30, International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearance,” said an Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) statement, adding that the UN also demanded that all sorts of brutal and inhumane treatment carried out in jails and detention cells be brought to an immediate halt.

“For some, it is the first Eid without their family members. For others it’s the fifth or the 10th. And we aren’t talking about deceased family members whom one buries with their own hands; instead the people in question are missing loved ones who have been subjected to ‘enforced disappearances’,” says the AHRC statement.

‘Enforced Disappearance’ is a legal term of international law coined by UN’s legal instruments.

“It denotes a disappeared or missing person who has been kidnapped and detained illegally by state-run institutions, placing them outside the protection of law; the very institutions which are created to keep the citizens safe from all atrocities, including kidnapping. It is like being robbed by your own watchman,” the statement adds.

“There is overwhelming evidence which confirms that these missing persons are in custody of local (security) agencies, many of whom have been handed over to foreign agencies. What is even more distressing is that these enforced disappearances have accelerated under the present government,” the AHRC statement said.

Over 1,200 families have registered their cases with the Defence of Human Rights (DHR). However, due to various hurdles and lack of funds, the DHR is representing only 322 cases in the Supreme Court. Punjab stands at number one with 174 cases, whereas Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), Balochistan, Sindh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Islamabad Capital Territory follow with 96, 19, 25, seven and 11 cases, respectively.

“Our contention as the voice for the families of missing persons is that in all laws of the world, keeping anyone ‘Missing’ is illegal,” says the DHR, adding: “The United Nations’ convention has declared it a ‘crime against humanity’, and according to the same convention, families of the missing persons have been established ‘equal victims of enforced disappearances’. This reality check makes the total number of victims of enforced disappearances in Pakistan ten times as much as the registered number.

“The need of the hour is to intensify pressure on the government, demanding the immediate release of missing persons and to put an end to enforced disappearances for good and to ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance passed by the UN. Eighty-eight countries with a ‘clean conscience’ have already signed it,” adds the AHRC statement.

Voice for missing persons

Taking a stand against the practice of enforced disappearances in Balochistan, the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VFBMP), an organisation striving for the safe recovery of missing persons, staged a protest in Quetta on the eve of Eidul Fitr.

They organised a procession from Quetta Press Club after Eid prayers and staged a demonstration at Mezan Chowk.

“It’s been several years since we last celebrated Eid. The judiciary, government and other humanitarian organisations seem helpless before the powerful forces who illegally detain the Baloch in their torture cells,” said Nasurallah Baloch, chairman VFBMP. “The judicial commission formed by the government over two years ago has been unable to recover a single missing person. However, after the constitution of the commission, several mutilated and bullet-riddled bodies have started surfacing,” he added.

(WITH ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY OUR CORRESPONDENT IN QUETTA)

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2011.

New crop improvement technique developed

Published: September 3, 2011

Experts say plant tissue culture and transformation protocols were becoming major tools for crop improvement and fundamental studies.

FAISALABAD: Experts have developed a new technique for improving production of cotton and other crops through tissue culture.

A spokesman for the National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (NIBGE) told The Express Tribune that plant tissue culture and transformation protocols were becoming major tools for crop improvement and fundamental studies.

“Development of transgenic plants relies directly on efficient tissue culture and transformation potential of target tissues,” he said.

He said as per new technique G Arboreum cotton genotypes were evaluated for their tissue culture response by culturing different explants on different growth hormones.

In this connection, a research seminar on “Establishment of regeneration and transformation system for cotton” is being arranged at the institute on September 6 in which veteran scholar Muhammad Ismael Lashari will speak extensively on the topic.

Scientists from various parts of the country would also give their expert opinion on the newly developed technique.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 3^rd, 2011.

Two women journalists killed in Mexico City

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican authorities are investigating the murder of two women journalists whose bodies were found in a park in the south of Mexico City on Thursday.

Dozens of journalists have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico in the past five years. However, the attorney general's office in the capital said the motive for the killing of the two friends was unclear.

"This is still being investigated," a spokesman said, adding that initial findings suggested the victims had been strangled. Both women were 48, the spokesman added.

One of the women, Ana Yarce, was the founder of investigative magazine Contralinea, it said in a statement. The other, Rocio Gonzalez, had worked previously for broadcaster Televisa, the magazine added.

Daily newspaper Reforma said Gonzalez had apparently just withdrawn a large sum of money and the two women may have been victims of a violent robbery.

Seven die in fatal bus accident on Sargodha Road

By Shamsul Islam

Published: September 2, 2011

The loader smashed with a speeding bus coming from the opposite direction on the Kamalpur Interchange, Sargodha Road. PHOTO: AFP

FAISALABAD: At least seven picnickers including a minor boy were killed while two others sustained serious injuries in a bus-loader collision on Sargodha Road on Thursday night.

According to eye-witnesses, a Hyundai Loader was en route to Faisalabad carrying 11 people, who were residents of Muslim Town No. 1, Sargodha Road and were returning back after enjoying a picnic at Chenab River.

The loader smashed with a speeding bus coming from the opposite direction on the Kamalpur Interchange, Sargodha Road.

According to reports, the collision was so severe that its noise was heard miles away alerting people nearby to come to their rescue. Seven picnickers were killed while others received serious injuries

The injured were shifted to Allied Hospital on a self help basis by people who had rushed to the scene and Rescue 1122 as well.

Among the killed, include Sheeraz, his brother Altaf and 10-year-old nephew Abid.

The rescue team had to cut through the loader’s body to pull out the dead body, which was completely destroyed.