Security has been tightened after intelligence agencies issued a warning of a possible terrorist attack at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) and adjoining National Institute of Child Health (NICH) in Karachi.

According to Express News, police have been warned about the threat through a letter that states that al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) is preparing to attack public hospitals, where terrorists can hold doctors, staff and patients as hostages in coming days.

There is also a possibility of severe destruction through planned explosions at nuclear plants and oxygen reserves in the vicinity, according to the letter.

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Following the tipoff, Rangers and police personnel have taken over the security responsibilities and increased the number of paramilitary forces deployed at the two hospitals.

Overnight, a search operation was also carried out and special commandos were deployed at key positions.

Jinnah Hospital’s Executive Director Dr Seemi Jamali and NICH Director Prof Jamal Raza have been directed to restrict movement and increase security measures at the hospitals.

The post Two Karachi hospitals on ‘high-alert’ after terrorist attack threat appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News | Two Karachi hospitals on ‘high-alert’ after terrorist attack threat

WASHINGTON DC: US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will pay his maiden visit to Pakistan this month during which he would discuss joint efforts against terrorism and expanding economic ties between the two countries, a State Department spokesperson announced on Thursday.

The visit to Pakistan is part of Secretary Tillerson’s first visit to Asia, which will also take him to India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Geneva, Spokesman Heather Nauert told a briefing at the State Department.

“The secretary will meet with senior Pakistani leaders to discuss our continued bilateral cooperation, Pakistan’s critical role in the success of our South Asia strategy, and the expanding economic ties between our two countries,” the spokesperson said.

She said the secretary was due to meet with the prime minister, foreign minister, and senior military officials to discuss joint efforts between Pakistan and the United States to fight terrorist groups that threaten regional peace and stability and how “Pakistan can support our effort to reach a peaceful solution in Afghanistan”.

Secretary Tillerson’s visit to Islamabad follows the visit by Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif to Washington this month during which he met high US officials to discuss the US-Pakistan relations and the new South Asia strategy announced by President Trump in August.

Responding to a question about the US-India ties and whether Washington would take side in issues between Pakistan and India like the cross-border firing across the Line of Control, the spokesperson said that the US had always been very cautious about addressing those issues, “not wanting to contribute to any additional tensions”.

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After his visit to Islamabad, Secretary Tillerson will travel to New Delhi as part of his Asia visit. He will begin his visit from Oct 20 from Saudi Arabia where he will take part in the inaugural Coordination Council meeting between the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

The secretary will also meet with various Saudi leaders to discuss the conflict in Yemen, the ongoing Gulf dispute, Iran, and another – other important regional and bilateral issues.

Secretary Tillerson will then travel to Doha, where he will speak with Qatari leaders and US military officials to discuss joint counterterrorism efforts and the ongoing Gulf dispute and other regional and bilateral issues, including both Iran and Iraq.

On the last leg of his visit, Secretary Tillerson will visit Geneva, where he will meet with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organisation for Migration and the International Committee of Red Cross to discuss Afghanistan and Pakistan and also a number of other global humanitarian crises including Burma and Syria.

The post Tillerson to enlist Pakistan help for peaceful solution in Afghanistan appeared first on The Express Tribune.

Source: Tribune News | Tillerson to enlist Pakistan help for peaceful solution in Afghanistan

Pollution beats arch-rivals wars and violence and even hunger and natural disasters, when it comes to causing death, not only in Pakistan but also the world at large. It brings more deaths than any single disease – way more than AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

World-wide pollution claimed the lives of 9 million people in 2015 – one in every six deaths that year with almost half of them in India and China. But proportionate to the numbers, Bangladesh beats them all with 26.6% of all deaths, followed by India (24.5%) and (Pakistan 21.9%).

According to the latest report on the issue, published in prestigious The Lancet Medical Journal on Friday, almost all the deaths world-wide (92%) happened in low- and middle-income countries, with air pollution the main culprit, felling 6.5 million people.

As South Asia has embarked on a rapid industrialisation, the region’s top-three most-populated nations account for more than one third (3,117,603) of these deaths. In Pakistan, 311,189 died because of pollution in 2015, according to the report.

“Pollution and related diseases most often affect the world’s poor and powerless, and victims are often the vulnerable and the voiceless,” said co-author Karti Sandilya of Pure Earth, an anti-pollution NGO.

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“As a result, pollution threatens fundamental human rights, such as the right to life, health, wellbeing, safe work, as well as protections of children and the most vulnerable.”

With global welfare losses of about $4.6 trillion per year, the economic cost of pollution-related deaths and disease is also concentrated in the developing world. “Proportionally, low-income countries pay 8.3 percent of their gross national income to pollution-related death and disease, while high-income countries pay 4.5 percent,” said the researchers.

Aside from outright poisoning, pollution causes an array of deadly ailments such as heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The deadliest form, responsible for more than two-thirds of deaths, was air pollution, they added.

This includes outdoor pollution from factory and car emissions, and indoor pollution from wood, charcoal, coal, dung or crop waste being burnt for heating and cooking.

After water pollution in second place with 1.8 million deaths, “workplace pollution including exposure to toxins and carcinogens was linked to 0.8 million deaths,” said the report, which is based largely on 2015 data from the Global Burden of Disease.

These included the lung disease pneumoconiosis in coal workers, bladder cancer in dye workers, and asbestosis and lung cancer in workers exposed to asbestos.

Pollution killed nine million people in 2015: report

“Lead pollution was linked to 0.5 million deaths that resulted from high blood pressure, renal failure and cardiovascular disease,” said the report.

In a separate comment, The Lancet editors Pamela Das and Richard Horton said the report came at a “worrisome time, when the US government’s Environmental Protection Agency, headed by Scott Pruitt, is undermining established environmental regulations.”

The latest findings, they added, should serve as a “call to action”. “Pollution is a winnable battle…. Current and future generations deserve a pollution-free world,” the pair wrote. Pruitt announced this month the US would pull out of former president Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

There was some good news in the report too. Deaths due to water and household air pollution dropped from 5.9 million in 1990 to 4.2 million in 2015, said the report authors, as poor countries became richer.

On the other hand, deaths from pollution associated with industrial development — such as outdoor air pollution, chemical and soil pollution, increased from 4.3 million to 5.5 million over the same period.

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Source: Tribune News | Pollution beats violence in causing deaths in Pakistan