Pakistan round-up: Covid-19 situation, Nawaz Sharif's viral picture and more

Pakistan's coronavirus cases on Monday crossed the 72,00-mark with 2,964 new patients while the death toll climbed to 1,543 after 60 people lost their lives in the last 24 hours, health officials said.

According to the ministry of national health services, 2,964 new infections surfaced over the last 24 hours, taking the nationwide tally of coronavirus to 72,460.

The death toll reached 1,543 after 60 more deaths were reported during the last 24 hours.

According to the ministry, 28,245 cases have been diagnosed in Sindh, 26,240 in Punjab, 10,027 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, 4,393 in Balochistan, 2,589 in Islamabad, 711 in Gilgit-Baltistan, and 255 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The ministry showed that 26,083 patients have been recovered so far from the virus. The authorities have conducted 561,136 tests, including 14,398 in the last 24 hours.

A new picture of Pakistan's ‘ailing' former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif having tea at a London cafe along with his family went viral on social media, sparking a debate on his health with the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf members demanding his return to face corruption cases.

In the picture, the 70-year-old three-time premier is seen sitting at a roadside café with his granddaughters. He sported a blue salwar kameez and a cap and apparently looked in better health.

Some ministers got skeptical about the serious nature of his health, saying Sharif is roaming on London streets and he did not even bother to wear a mask in this Covid-19 testing time.

"This picture of Sharif having tea in a café is exposing our law, justice and judicial system. This picture also tells how much people can trust in the accountability system in the country," science minister Fawad Chaudhry said.

Prime Minister's adviser Shahbaz Gill said that Sharif had gone abroad after lying in the court. "The Sharifs think the people are fools,” Gill said and asked Mr Sharif to return Pakistan to face corruption cases against him.

Sharif's daughter Maryam Nawaz claimed that the picture of the PML-N supreme leader was released by ‘some elements' with an intention to humiliate him.

Pakistan has summoned a senior Indian diplomat to register strong protest over India's decision to expel two officials of its High Commission in New Delhi on charges of espionage.

India on Sunday declared two officials of the Pakistan High Commission as "persona non grata" on charges of espionage and ordered them to leave the country within 24 hours, the ministry of external affairs said.

The two officials, Abid Hussain and Muhammad Tahir, were caught by Delhi Police while they were obtaining sensitive documents relating to India's security installations from an Indian national in exchange for money, official sources said in New Delhi.

According to the Dawn newspaper, Pakistan's Foreign Office (FO) said that the Indian Charge d'Affaires was summoned for a "strong demarche", conveying Pakistan's condemnation of the decision to declare two officials of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi persona non grata and rejection of all "baseless" allegations against them

Pakistan also conveyed that the Indian action was in "clear violation" of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations and the diplomatic norms, the FO said.

The FO, while condemning the Indian action, said the Indian move was “accompanied by a negative pre-planned and orchestrated media campaign, which is a part of persistent anti-Pakistan propaganda”, the Dawn said.

Investigators scouring the site of a crashed Pakistani airliner found the jet's cockpit voice recorder last week and hope it will answer why pilots had failed at an initial landing attempt.

The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane came down among houses on May 22 after both engines failed as it approached Karachi airport, killing 97 people on board. Two passengers survived.

Investigators found the plane's black box flight recorder two days after the crash.

Pakistan's aviation minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan said a French-led investigation team would analyse the Airbus A320's recorders, according to The Nation.

Questions are swirling over the ill-fated Flight 8303, during which the pilot made an initial landing attempt when the plane briefly made contact with the ground multiple times, before going around for a second attempt.

Experts have raised the possibility pilots had initially tried to land the Airbus without first lowering the wheels.

The Pakistan government will set up a national body to combat the locust swarms across the country as the insects have destroyed crops and vegetation on vast tracts of lands in 60 out of total 135 districts, a senior minister has said.

Information minister Shibli Faraz said the efforts to control locusts were going on under a national strategy as there was a dire need to deal with it, according to The News.

"The proposed National Locust Control Cell was part of the national locust control policy. We fear that there would be a great threat of locust swarms in July this year. The government is preparing for it," Faraz said on Thursday.

Locusts have destroyed crops and vegetation on vast tracts of lands in 60 out of total 135 districts of the country.

Faraz said nine planes and helicopters were taking part in the campaign to spray pesticides and kill the swarms.

The News reported that the government has set up a helpline so that farmers could inform the authorities to take timely action against the deadly locust attacks.

In Pakistan, hopper bands of the Schistocerca gregaria, commonly known as the desert locust, are believed to have entered into the southwestern Balochistan province, from neighboring Iran.

They devour anything from bark to seeds and flowers while travelling up to a speed 149 km a day.

The first wave of locust arrived in May last year, which was their first attack since 1993.

A Pakistani villager named Habibullah, resident of Bagga-Shakargarh village, has claimed that he is the owner of 'spy' pigeon captured by locals in India a few days back.

According to a Dawn report, he said the second pigeon of the pair was with him. "Yes, this is my pet pigeon as it can never be a spy or a terrorist," he was quoted as saying.

A pigeon, suspected to be trained in Pakistan for spying and having a ring with alphabets and numbers written on it, was captured by locals of Manyari village near the India-Pakistan international border in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials had said last week.

"We don't know where the bird has come from. It was caught near the fence on our side. We have found a ring on the bird's feet. There are some numbers written on the ring," police said.

However, Habibullah claimed that he has a passion for pigeons. He said his village was about 4km from the Indian territory, adding that "he had fixed rings around the feet of his pigeons". The villager said he had specially got his mobile number inscribed on the rings, reported the Dawn.

He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to return the pigeon to Pakistan with "full protocol and due respect".