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Sikh politician Soran Singh murdered in Pakistan, Taliban claims responsibility

Every minority community in Pakistan, including the Sikhs who are reasonably well-off, are specifically being targeted in Pakhtunwala for the past two years

NewsGram

April 24, 2016

The Sikh lawmaker and former president of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (PSGPC), who was also the Minister of Minorities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Dr. Soran Singh, was shot dead in northwestern Pakistan.

Dr. Soran Singh via geo.tv — Dr. Soran Singh
via geo.tv

Assailants on motorbikes ambushed Singh’s car in Buner district, some 160 kilometres (100 miles) northeast of Peshawar on Friday evening and opened fire, slaying him on the spot as the Pakistani Taliban claimed culpability for the killing.

Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal expresses shock over killing of Sikh politician .In his condolence message, Badal described Dr. Soran Singh as “a multifaceted personality being a member of Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (PSGPC) and Evacuee Trust Property Board”.

This is not the first instance, Several Sikhs have been kidnapped for ransom recently. Such incidents surely raises doubts over the safety of minorities in Pakistan especially those who are economically well-off, are often threatened for money that is used to foster terrorism and fanaticism.

Report prepared by Yajush Gupta, Twitter: @yajush_gupta

Pakistani Doctors Blame Quacks for Alarming Rise in HIV Cases: Report

Pakistan was considered a country of low HIV prevalence for long, but the disease is expanding at an alarming rate with about 20,000 new HIV cases reported in 2017 alone, according to the UN

NewsGram Desk

June 12, 2019

Nearly 40 individual HPV types linked to HIV infection. Pixabay

The Pakistan Medical Association (PMA) has blamed quack doctors practicing without training and professional certification for an alarming rise in the number of HIV positive patients in the country, the media reported on Wednesday.

The doctors associated with the PMA said that the quacks, especially fake dentists, spread the virus by using instruments that were not sterilized, adding that despite free-of-cost availability of life-saving antiretroviral drugs at government hospitals, mortality ratio among patients carrying the virus was also increasing.

An alarming surge in HIV cases has been witnessed in five districts of Pakistan’s Punjab province, with 70 to 90 cases being reported monthly at the main government health facility in Faisalabad city, Dawn News reported.

Earlier this month, an international team of experts from the World Health Organization kicked off an investigation into the sudden HIV outbreak in Pakistan’s Sindh province after over 700 people were diagnosed with the virus in a matter of weeks, most of them were children.

School girls light candles in the shape of a ribbon during a HIV/AIDS awareness campaign ahead of World Aids Day, in Ahmedabad, India, Nov. 30, 2016. (VOA)

Following the outbreak, authorities launched a crackdown on unqualified doctors as well as illegal blood banks and laboratories said to be involved in spreading the disease. At least 17 quack doctors were arrested and more than 70 clinics in Larkana district were shut down, according to Xinhua news agency.

According to the PMA, over 600,000 quacks are currently practicing in the country with more than 80,000 based in Punjab province alone.

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The association demanded the government to make all-out efforts to stop the menace of quackery in the country.

Pakistan was considered a country of low HIV prevalence for long, but the disease is expanding at an alarming rate with about 20,000 new HIV cases reported in 2017 alone, according to the UN. (IANS)