KP Stall at Dubai Expo draws visitors’ attraction

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stall at the Dubai Expo has become the center of attraction for foreigners.

The government of Pakistan has launched Expo 20/20 in Dubai wherein provinces of the country have been given an opportunity to present their projects.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment, Culture and Tourism Authority and other departments are also participating in the expo with their innovative ideas and artwork projects.

Pakistan’s Ambassador to Dubai Fazal Mahmood inaugurated the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourism and Culture Exhibition at Pakistan Pavilion at Dubai Expo.

In the pavilion, Kailash dance and Pashto melodies on rabab are also the focus of attention of foreign tourists and others. Other projects, including tours, web portals and sites, a digital library of archeology are being showcased in the expo.

Kailash’s culture and truck art are besides pottery items are one of the main attractions for the visitors at the KP pavilion.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa exhibition stalls at the Dubai Expo will run for a month. The provincial government team is also presenting different projects at the pavilion to attract international investors.

KP confirms six cases of Omicron variant

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department has confirmed six cases of Omicron virus in the province. According to the report of Health Department, 6 cases of Omicron have been reported in the province out of which 5 patients are from Peshawar and one from Mansehra.

In Mansehra, a person infected with Omicron has been quarantined while another patient is undergoing treatment at Hayatabad Medical Complex and four at Khyber Teaching Hospital.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa health department on Wednesday confirmed first case of Omicron variant of coronavirus in the province. According to the health department official the Omicron variant was detected in sample of a Covid-19 patient from Manshera who is resident of Rawalpindi .

In Pakistan, Karachi has reported highest number of Omicron variant. National Command and Operation Center head and federal minister for planning Asad Umar said that Omicron variant impact was most visible in Karachi. He said that Sindh recorded 160 per cent increase in Covid-19 cases over past two weeks. However, he said that in the same period Karachi witnessed a 960 per cent increase.

Smart cards to 1.4 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan issued

The registration process for the renewal of the cards of about 1.4 million Afghan refugees residing in Pakistan has been completed. The process of converting the proof of registration (POR) cards of these refugees into biometric was started from April 15 last year.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) called the renewal campaign a drive (Documents Renewal and Information Verification Exercise), an exercise in document renewal and information verification. For this exercise, UNHCR in collaboration with NADRA, Afghan Commissionerate and Saffron Ministry had set up 40 centers across the country, 21 of which were in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The UNHCR said yesterday that Pakistan had successfully completed the first smart card registration of Afghan refugees. The UNHCR commends Pakistan for verifying the data of Afghan refugees across the country and issuing smart cards to them. The UN report also said that for the first time, Pakistan completed the process of large-scale verification of Afghan refugees on December 31, which resulted in the renewal of data on about 1.5 million Afghan refugees.

Under this scheme, more than 700,000 new smart identity cards have been issued so far, while the remaining cards will also be distributed earlier this year. All these cards will be valid till June 30, 2023 and will contain biometric data which will be in accordance with the system used for authentication in Pakistan. Will get

During the exercise, new biometric cards were issued only to those refugees who had POR cards which expired on December 31, 2015. The ‘drive’ will also enable Afghan refugees to identify specific needs or vulnerabilities for protection, UNHCR hopes the data will also be helpful in helping those who decide to repatriate to their homes in Afghanistan

ECP seeks Army deployment in 2nd phase of KP LG polls

PESHAWAR: The Election Commission of Pakistan on Wednesday decided to deploy army personnel for the second phase of local bodies’ elections and re-polling in some districts along with the local police at polling stations in the province.

In this regard, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) has written a letter to Ministry of Defense (MoD) for deployment of Pak Army during second phase of local government (LG) polls and re-polling in some districts. The letter further stated that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police failed in maintaining law and order during conduct of LG polls held in December 2021. In a press release issued here on Wednesday, the Election Commission said that the KP police could not maintain peace on polling day.

The decision was made by the election commission while hearing different cases related to the mismanagement at polling stations in the first phase of the local body polls