Today’s top Pakistan current affairs July 29, 2020. These are the latest breaking news about Pakistan which will be helpful for aspirants in test preparation of current affairs, Pakistan affairs, General knowledge for NTS, PPSC, CSS, FPSC, KPPSC, SPSC, BPSC, AJKPSC, OTS, PTS, and other Govt Jobs, exams & MDCAT, ECAT Entry test preparation.
One Liner
- Three civilians injured in Indian firing from across LoC: ISPR
- Pakistan Lodges Strong Protest With India Over Ceasefire Violations.
- Parents of 38,000 children refuse polio vaccination in Karachi.
- Dr Zafar Mirza Steps Down From His Post. Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr. Zafar Mirza has resigned from his post.
- Tania Aidrus Resigns From Digital Pakistan. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Digital Pakistan Tania Aidrus announced on Wednesday that she was resigning from her post.
- Iran Frees 14 Pakistani Inmates. Iran has handed over 14 Pakistani prisoners languishing in its jail to Pakistan under an agreement signed between the two countries in 2014.
- PTCL Closes Phone Lines Of Edhi. Pakistan Telecommunication Limited (PTCL) has closed all the phone numbers of the Edhi foundation.
- Umar Akmal’s Ban Reduced to 18 Months
Spotlight by The NewsRun
1. COVID-19 IN PAKISTAN
- Pakistan reported 936 new cases and 23 deaths in the past 24 hours. Pakistan also conducted 19,610 tests in the span of 24 hours.
- Since July 2, the number of active COVID-19 cases has decreased. There is also a surge in recoveries.
- The infection rate has reportedly slowed down in Pakistan over the past few weeks. However, the country is at risk of confronting another wave of COVID-19 cases during the upcoming Eid ul Azha holidays if people travel to their hometowns, mingle with family, and participate in religious gatherings. Don’t forget Muharram processions.
- A drop in COVID-19 testing could also explain the decrease in new infections. Pakistan is reportedly not testing incoming travelers anymore, and has one of the lowest testing rates in the world. There is a chance new COVID-19 cases are not being reported. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Health, Dr. Zafar Mirza, explained that testing rates are lower because fewer patients are seeking treatment or tests at hospitals.
2. Pakistan Telecom Authority side steps court order
What’s going on? The state-owned PTA blocked online game, PUBG. The PTA received multiple complaints about the game being addictive, a waste of time, and detrimental for the physical and psychological health of children. However, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ordered PTA to unblock PUBG after hearing petitions filed against the ban. Despite the IHC’s order, the PTA is still pushing forward with its ban.
The details: The PTA issued a press release explaining why it will continue to block the game. The PTA approached PUBG’s management to discuss key concerns. However, PUBG reportedly hasn’t responded yet. According to the PTA, the Pakistan Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) gives it the jurisdiction to block online content for the sake of public order, decency, or morality.
The bottom line: The PTA claims to be acting in the public interest. However, a swarm of social media users are speaking out against the ban with this hashtag: #PUBGKholoImranKhan.
3. Clashing over accountability laws
Some new legislation proposals came up, such as changes to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO). The opposition and govt reached a pleasant consensus, and lived happily ever after (obviously kidding). Opposition leaders actually staged a walk-out. The opposition drafted 35 amendments to the NAO bill, but the govt said ‘not happening.’ Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said the opposition’s suggested changes will make the accountability process meaningless. According to Qureshi, the opposition’s proposals include:
- Asking the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to only take up corruption cases that involve PKR 1 billion+.
- Telling NAB to lay off cases reported before November 1999, and only take notice of cases reported in the last five years.
- Ending NAB’s power to pursue cases of willful default and loan write-offs. Willful default is when someone refuses to perform an obligation they were ordered to complete. Loan write-offs happen when lenders give up on being paid.
The opposition couldn’t stomach the govt’s amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) either. Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader and former PM, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, claimed the amendment is frightening and has the potential to turn Pakistan into a “horrible dictatorship.”
3/ What to read: This Washington Post op-ed written by @ban.fair.and.lovely (i.e Anum Chandani, Marvi Ahmed, and Hira Hashmi) a Pakistani-led initiative that is pushing to ban Unilever’s skin whitening product, Fair & Lovely. Even though Unilever recently dropped the whitening reference and renamed its product, Glow & Lovely, Chandani, Ahmed and Hashmi don’t think a name-change is enough. In the past, Unilever rebranded Fair & Lovely in Ghana to ‘Even & Lovely’, but apparently kept the same ingredients.
MARKET RECAP
The benchmark KSE-100 index closed at 38,627.27 after rising 406.11 points as of July 28, 2020.
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