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Pakistan’s capital bans horns, whistles ahead of Independence Day to prevent noise pollution 

Pakistan’s capital bans horns, whistles ahead of Independence Day to prevent noise pollution 
boy purchases a blow horn in a market on the eve of Pakistan's Independence Day celebrations in Quetta on August 13, 2023. (AFP/File)
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Updated 13 August 2024
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Pakistan’s capital bans horns, whistles ahead of Independence Day to prevent noise pollution 

Pakistan’s capital bans horns, whistles ahead of Independence Day to prevent noise pollution 
  • Order came into effect on Aug. 8 for ten days, notification by Islamabad’s district magistrate says
  • Magistrate says decision taken to uphold public peace and tranquility and discourage “public nuisance”
Updated 13 August 2024
Arab News Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD: The administration in Pakistan’s capital has banned the sale and purchase of horns and whistles for ten days ahead of Pakistan’s Independence Day celebrations on Aug. 14, an official notification said, to deter people from disturbing “public peace and tranquility.”

Thousands of shops and makeshift stalls in various parts of the country sell vuvuzela horns, whistles and other Independence Day paraphernalia ahead of Aug. 14 every year. A notification released last Thursday by Islamabad’s district magistrate but reported by local media on Monday said it had been noted that people were selling horns and whistles on the capital’s roads which was disturbing the flow of traffic. 

A vuvuzela is a plastic horn, brightly colored and seen in abundance at sporting events around the world and at Independence Day celebrations in Pakistan. The horns can be really loud and generate a lot of noise. 

“I do hereby prohibit the stock, sale, purchase and use of horns/whistles in Islamabad, which is likely to disturb public peace and tranquility and also cause public nuisance within the revenue limits of Islamabad District,” the notification read, signed by Islamabad’s Additional District Magistrate Usman Ashraf. 

The order, issued on Aug. 8, said it was to come into force immediately and would stay in effect till ten days. 

According to the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP), Islamabad’s deputy commissioner has directed all assistant commissioners to launch a crackdown on hawkers selling horns across various parts of the city.

“In the past few days, several operations were carried out in different areas, including I-8, Lehtrar Road, Ghori Town, and Kural,” APP reported. “These operations led to the confiscation of horns from various stalls, sending a clear message that the sale and purchase of horns would not be tolerated.”

Islamabad’s Deputy Commissioner Irfan Nawaz also called on citizens to avoid using horns and asked stall owners to stop selling them.

“Using or selling a toy horn can land you in legal trouble,” he warned on social media platform X. 

In 2022, a citizen fed up of the noise generated by the vuvuzelas, moved the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking a ban on plastic toy horns. The court, however, rejected his plea since it was filed after Aug. 14, when Independence Day celebrations had ended. 

In August 2023, a judicial magistrate in Karachi ordered authorities to take stern action against people selling plastic toy horns, citing noise pollution as the main reason. 

Topics: Pakistan Islamabad horn whistles Independence day Independence Day 2024 August 14

Mad for momos: Pakistan’s first dumplings-only café carves a niche

Mad for momos: Pakistan’s first dumplings-only café carves a niche
Updated 15 sec ago
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Mad for momos: Pakistan’s first dumplings-only café carves a niche

Mad for momos: Pakistan’s first dumplings-only café carves a niche
  • Maria Mushtaq opened first branch of Mariyah’s Den in Karachi in 2021, she now has two more outlets in Pakistan
  • Food critic Ahmer Naqvi says dumplings popular as they “fit into modern life in terms of convenience and fusion”
Updated 15 sec ago
BURAQ SHABBIR

KARACHI: If by chance you are a lover of dumplings and based in Karachi or Islamabad, then consider this a good time to pay a visit to Mariyah’s Den, Pakistan’s first dumplings-only café.
While Chinese dishes like fried rice, chow mein noodles and chicken manchurian have long been beloved to the Pakistani flavor palate, a taste for dumplings, a globe-spanning culinary trope, has been on the rise in the South Asian city in recent years. This growing taste is what founder and chef Maria Mushtaq was counting on when she started Mariyah’s Den as a delivery service for ready-to-cook frozen dumplings which she made and sold from home in 2020, as people opened up to trying new recipes and dishes during coronavirus lockdowns.
“Then my husband, who is also a partner in this venture, said ‘The way you steam it [dumpling] and the way you make it and serve it in the sauce, it’s very unique, so, you should open a café’,” Mushtaq told Arab News in an interview earlier this month.
The first branch of Mariyah’s Den opened in Karachi in November 2021. Three years later, the cafe has another outlet in Karachi and one in Islamabad as well.
The restaurant serves nine types of dumplings including beef, chicken, lamb, prawn, a combination of prawn and chicken, vegetarian, mushroom and a sweet variety filled with chocolate.
“A lot of people did come up and say, ‘Oh, you’re very brave that you opened a restaurant just on the basis of one dish’,” Mushtaq said. “But I realized that in Karachi, we do have specific places where we go to eat specific foods like nihari and bun kebab so why not dumplings?”
The cafe was a “hit since day one,” the chef added.
“Dumplings as a dish in itself were not that popular a long time ago, but now people do consider that it’s a snack and they like it,” Mushtaq said, explaining that she had tweaked what she thought were the “bland flavors” of Chinese dumplings to Pakistani tastes.
The dumplings at Mariyah’s Den are also served in the sauce, rather than with the sauce of the side.
“Dumplings have been there for a very long time, it’s like a 2000-year-old Chinese dish and dumplings are present in every culture but everyone has adapted it to their own taste and liking,” Mushtaq said. “The Nepalese have their own version, we have mamtus in the mountains [of Pakistan].
Customers also said dumplings were the “perfect comfort food,” filled with both carbohydrates and protein ingredients. Others liked the ease of eating them.
“I think we live in an era of snack foods. Most people like me prefer [dumplings], because it’s instantly available to grab and go,” Mohammad Shams, who was visiting Mariyah’s Den earlier this month, told Arab News.
Ahmer Naqvi, a Pakistani culture and food critic, agreed that dumplings were a comfort food and “very common” across cultures.
“It’s actually one of the oldest and most familiar things going around, like a samosa,” he said, “It is a different dough texture but using the same logic. As a result of globalization, you are seeing a combination of a more Chinese style of the dumplings. It’s more popular now because of the ways it fits into modern life whether in terms of convenience or in terms of fusion.”
Dumplings were also very easy to cook and store, Naqvi added.
For the future, Mushtaq plans to expand her menu but wants to stay true to the cafe’s roots in Chinese flavors.
“We are slowly adding noodles also. So, we have chilly noodles. We have just added a soup bowl, which is noodles with chicken curry,” she said. “I think the genre is just going to be dumplings and we’d just keep on experimenting with that kind of food which is fast, not junk, and it’s very healthy.”

Topics: dumplings momos karachi food

Team of global experts to arrive in Karachi to supervise relocation of elephant Madhubala to Safari Park

Team of global experts to arrive in Karachi to supervise relocation of elephant Madhubala to Safari Park
Updated 26 min 55 sec ago
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Team of global experts to arrive in Karachi to supervise relocation of elephant Madhubala to Safari Park

Team of global experts to arrive in Karachi to supervise relocation of elephant Madhubala to Safari Park
  • Madhubala has been in solitary confinement at Karachi Zoo since April last year after her companion, Noor Jehan, passed away from illness
  • Animal rights activists in Pakistan have long demanded that animals, especially elephants, be shifted to ‘species-appropriate’ sanctuaries
Updated 26 min 55 sec ago
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: A team of Four Paws, a Vienna-based animal welfare organization, will soon arrive in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi to oversee the shifting of an elephant, Madhubala, to a new sanctuary at the city’s Safari Park, Four Paws said on Tuesday.
Madhubala, a female elephant, has been in solitary confinement at Karachi Zoo since April 2023 after her companion, elephant Noor Jehan, passed away from illness. She is to be shifted to a sanctuary in Safari Park, where she will be in the company of two other elephants.
Madhubala, one of only three captive elephants alive in Pakistan, was brought to the South Asian country with three other elephants from Tanzania in 2009, with Four Paws experts saying earlier this year that solitary confinement had taken a strong toll on her.
Animal rights activists have long campaigned against the plight of animals in Pakistan, especially elephants, and demanded they be shifted to “species-appropriate” locations such as Safari Park.
“This marks a significant milestone in the efforts to ensure a safe and secure species-appropriate environment for African elephant Madhubala, who will have a chance to be united with her sisters Malika and Sonia,” Four Paws said in a statement, adding that the adaptation work at Karachi’s Safari Park had reached its final stage.
“As part of the final preparations, the focus now lies on completing the landscaping of the elephant enclosure at Safari Park, finalizing enrichment features, and continuing the necessary training of the three elephants, including resuming crate training for Madhubala.”
In addition to these tasks, complex logistical arrangements are being finalized and the exact relocation date of Madhubala will be announced in the coming weeks, according to Four Paws.
Madhubala will be carried from the Karachi Zoo to the Safari Park in a huge transport crate. The elephant is currently being trained to enter and exit the crate by herself and sit inside it.

Topics: Madhubala elephant Elephant in Karachi Zoo safari park

Pakistan reports four new polio cases, appeals to parents to get children inoculated

Pakistan reports four new polio cases, appeals to parents to get children inoculated
Updated 08 October 2024
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Pakistan reports four new polio cases, appeals to parents to get children inoculated

Pakistan reports four new polio cases, appeals to parents to get children inoculated
  • The South Asian country plans to launch a nationwide polio vaccination campaign from Oct. 28 to vaccinate over 45 million children
  • A major initiative is also underway in targeted districts to vaccinate children who missed doses against polio, other childhood diseases
Updated 08 October 2024
KASHIF IMRAN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has reported four new cases of poliovirus as an outbreak of the disease continues to expand, the country’s polio program said on Tuesday, with health officials appealing to parents to get their children vaccinated against the crippling disease.
A laboratory for polio eradication at the National Institute of Health in Islamabad confirmed the detection of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) in two children in the Jacobabad district and one child in Malir district of the Sindh province and one more in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan district, bringing the nationwide tally to 32 this year.
In a statement, Ayesha Raza Farooq, the prime minister’s focal person for polio eradication, urged parents and caregivers to fulfil their duty and ensure their polio vaccination when polio teams visit their homes from October 28 in a nationwide campaign to vaccinate more than 45 million children.
“This should be a wake-up call for all parents and communities. Every paralytic polio case means there are hundreds of children who are silently affected by poliovirus and are potentially carrying and spreading it throughout their communities,” she said.
“Today, every child is at risk, and it is unfortunate that children are facing the real consequences of missing vaccination because of misguided decisions and misperceptions about the vaccine.”
Anwarul Haq, coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Center for polio eradication, said the WPV1 virus had been detected in sewage samples of all the above districts, indicating that the virus was widely circulating across the country. 
“Our team from the National Emergency Operations Center is fully engaged and supporting both provinces [Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] in their response to the outbreak,” he said.
“We are conducting joint case investigations, preparing to implement high quality vaccination rounds and providing high-risk communities with integrated health service delivery to build children’s immunity.” 
There is no cure for polio, and paralysis caused by an infection is irreversible, according to the Pakistan polio program. Apart from the nationwide polio campaign from October 28, a major initiative, led by the expanded program for immunization, is also underway in targeted districts to vaccinate those children against 12 childhood diseases, including polio, who have missed their doses or have not completed their vaccination course.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries where polio remains an endemic. Since late 2018, Pakistan has seen a resurgence of cases and increased spread of poliovirus, highlighting the fragility of gains achieved in the preceding three years.

Topics: Polio Pakistan Polio Service

UK population rises to 68.3 million driven by immigration from Pakistan, other countries

UK population rises to 68.3 million driven by immigration from Pakistan, other countries
Updated 08 October 2024
Reuters
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UK population rises to 68.3 million driven by immigration from Pakistan, other countries

UK population rises to 68.3 million driven by immigration from Pakistan, other countries
  • Britain has seen high immigration in recent years from economic migrants and those who arrive via irregular crossings in boats
  • New work visa rules led to a surge in immigration from India, Nigeria and Pakistan, often to fill health and social care vacancies
Updated 08 October 2024
Reuters

LONDON: The United Kingdom’s population grew by 1 percent in annual terms to 68.3 million as of mid-2023, mainly due to high immigration, official data showed on Tuesday.
Net international migration was the main contributor to population increase for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland — which together form the UK — in the year to mid-2023, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said.
The natural change in population, which is the difference between births and deaths, fell by 16,300. Previous projections from the ONS suggested a negative reading would not occur until the mid-2030s.
Britain has seen high immigration in recent years from economic migrants and those who arrive via irregular crossings in small boats — a hot political topic because of stretched public services after years of under-investment.
Record immigration caused the population of England and Wales to rise by 610,000 in mid-2023, the largest annual rise in 75 years. Net migration to Britain in 2015, the year before the Brexit referendum, was 329,000.
The population grew faster in England and in Wales, both seeing a 1 percent rise, when compared to Scotland with 0.8 percent growth or Northern Ireland which posted a 0.5 percent increase, the ONS said on Tuesday.
While post-Brexit changes to visas saw a sharp drop in the number of European Union migrants to Britain, new work visa rules led to a surge in immigration from India, Nigeria and Pakistan, often to fill health and social care vacancies.
In August some far-right groups took to the streets to protest against migrants, an early challenge to the newly elected Labour government.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who scrapped the previous Conservative government’s plan to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda since taking office in July, has said that his approach to illegal migration would be pragmatic and mark a change from the last leadership.

Topics: UK population immigration

KSRelief signs Rs4 billion deal for rebuilding Pakistan’s disaster-hit communities

KSRelief signs Rs4 billion deal for rebuilding Pakistan’s disaster-hit communities
Updated 08 October 2024
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KSRelief signs Rs4 billion deal for rebuilding Pakistan’s disaster-hit communities

KSRelief signs Rs4 billion deal for rebuilding Pakistan’s disaster-hit communities
  • Pakistan is fifth-largest beneficiary of Saudi aid agency, which has completed 214 projects in the country since 2005
  • KSRelief will build 1,000 permanent houses for families displaced by 2022 floods and 300 community feeder schools
Updated 08 October 2024
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief) on Tuesday signed 12 agreements with different Pakistani institutions for a series of key public facilitation projects worth Rs4 billion ($14.41 million) aimed at rebuilding communities affected by natural disasters.

The Saudi organization has one of the largest humanitarian budgets available to any aid agency worldwide, which has allowed its officials to undertake a wide variety of projects in more than 100 countries.

Pakistan is the fifth-largest beneficiary of its aid and humanitarian activities and has greatly benefited from its assistance since the 2022 monsoon floods. The Saudi aid agency has completed 214 projects worth more than $184.6 million since 2005.

“Today, King Salman Relief Centre announced a series of key public facilitation projects worth about Rs4 billion aimed at rebuilding communities in Pakistan affected by natural disasters,” KSRelief said in a statement released after a ceremony in Islamabad.

Engineer Ahmed Ali Al-Baiz, Assistant Supervisor General of Operations at the aid agency, signed four different joint cooperation programs with Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), Pakistan Red Crescent Society (PRCS), and the State Earthquake Reconstruction & Rehabilitation Authority (SERRA).

Additionally, eight different contracts for public facilitation projects were formalized.

The event was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, representatives of NDMA, PRCS, and various UN missions in Pakistan.

Al-Baiz told Arab News on the sidelines of the event that the KSRelief office in Pakistan was one of the biggest outside the kingdom.

“The [recently signed] projects relate to health, education, housing, and disaster preparedness, where the King Salman Relief Center will spend more than $14 million,” he said.

KSRelief said it would focus on the construction of the national humanitarian response facility for NDMA, which will significantly enhance the country’s ability to store and distribute relief supplies during emergencies.

Additionally, it aims to build 1,000 permanent houses for families displaced by the 2022 floods, providing safe housing for nearly 7,000 individuals in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces.

The Saudi aid agency’s future projects also include the construction of 300 community feeder schools across Pakistan, particularly in underserved regions like Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir.

“Upon completion, these schools will be handed over to the National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), ensuring long-term sustainability and management,” KSRelief added.

It also plans to renovate 22 critical facilities, including schools, health centers, and water projects previously constructed in response to the 2005 earthquake and 2010 floods, to improve access to education, healthcare, and clean water.

Addressing the ceremony, the deputy prime minister said the Saudi-Pakistan agreements reflect the time-tested and fraternal relations between the two states.

“The kingdom’s generous pledge to construct 1,000 housing units and 300 schools across Pakistan and rehabilitate 22 previously implemented projects showcases the scale of ongoing humanitarian assistance being offered and implemented,” he said.

Dar assured KSRelief of the government’s continued support and assistance in carrying out the important work they are doing for the people of Pakistan.

Idrees Mehsud, a senior NDMA official, said the new projects would go a long way in developing resilience within the country during times of disaster.

“Today’s agreements will be another milestone as the NDMA is being supported by KSRelief in its endeavors to shift its response-oriented approach to a more proactive one,” he added.

The Saudi ambassador said KSRelief was at the forefront of serving humanity, adding that it was continuing its support for Pakistan and its people.

“This project is over $14 million and is to build about 1,000 housing units, 300 schools, and four storage facilities,” he told Arab News.

Topics: King Salman Center for Relief and Humanitarian Aid (KSrelief)

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