LARKANA: Situation on Tuesday grew tense at Ehsaas Kafalat Centre set up at the Govt Girls Primary School, Allahabad, within the remit of the Allahabad police station when some pro-PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf) lawyers objected to the fixing of posters and banners bearing pictures of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leaders there.

Before the situation could flare up, police arrived at the scene and picked up five persons, including lawyer Abdul Rauf Korai, Mohammed Mithal Bhatti, Barkat Mangnejo, Ali Khan Tunio and Ubedullah Hulio.

The matter was discussed at a higher forum and later on resolved, sources said. When contacted, SSP Masood Bangash said that all of them were released in the evening and the matter was amicably resolved.

Meanwhile, Shakeel Memon, a spokesman for PPP Sindh chapter president Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, in a statement on Tuesday remarked that the people objecting over the photos of Benazir Bhutto and Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari were afraid of the Bhuttos and PPP.

He said the Rs12,000 emergency financial aid was not only distributed from the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) but those getting the relief funds possessed BISP cards with Benazir Bhutto’s picture on them. Why objections were being unnecessarily raised over the photos of PPP leaders at the centre, he asked.

He said the government could only change the name of the BISP by amending an act, but there was no justification to change its nomenclature into Ehsaas programme when the BISP funds were actually used. He alleged that the PTI was out to carry out its publicity at the cost of public taxes.

HYDERABAD: Total 324 persons — around 311 from Tableeghi Jamaat alone — are ready to be discharged from hospitals or have been discharged from quarantine facilities for their departure to their native districts after their second test turned negative.

Laboratory tests of all these 324 people were done in Diagnostic and Research Laboratory (DRL) of Liaquat University of Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) on Tuesday. With these suspected/confirmed patients leaving Hyderabad, around 55 patients would be awaiting their repeat tests, due shortly, for confirmation of their health status. These 55 included those 20 new positive cases diagnosed during the sampling done on Monday in the Labour flats quarantine facility. Figures of those presently quarantined at home might, however, vary when they are consolidated, increasing in the overall tally of positive cases.

Till then those leaving Hyderabad were kept at isolation centres of different hospitals, including Liaquat University Hospital (LUH) and Isra Hospital.

Out of 324 who were scheduled to leave Hyderabad tonight or Wednesday morning, 311 were from Tableeghi Jamaat, including foreigners. Of these Tableeghi members, 91 left Hyderabad on Tuesday under administrative supervision. Those 91 were from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and until recently were kept in quarantine facilities in different mosques of Hyderabad district’s rural taluka’s areas as suspected patients.

The remaining 105 are those who were so far kept for treatment in Kohsar and Isra hospitals and LUH isolation ward since they were tested positive in the third week of March.

In addition, 115 who were also in quarantine in Labour Colony flats, Rajputana, Noor Masjid and Makki Mosque quarantine facilities and have been tested negative on Tuesday. The health authorities collected their samples on Monday. They would now be leaving for their home districts. Eleven patients from different areas, including Hyderabad, are to be discharged from Liaquat University Hospital’s isolation ward separately. They are counted in 324 patients, in all.

Hyderabad Deputy Commissioner Fuad Soomro confirmed that “91 Tableeghi men were tested negative recently and have been allowed to go today by the health authorities under a medical certificate to each”.

He said that now Tableeghi Jamaat men presently staying in Kohsar Latifabad and Isra hospitals (total 102) would be provided transport so that they could leave for homes safely as early as possible.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2020