Queen Mary partners with Rotary to improve education, research in Pakistan

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Queen Mary University of London has entered into prestigious partnership with Rotary Club of Karachi, the oldest rotary club in Karachi which was chartered before the creation of Pakistan. In signing the Memorandum of Understanding, Queen Mary will jointly improve access to education in Pakistan and help young people improve not only their lives but potentially those of generations to come. 

The partnership will help to establish new programmes of study and events around areas of shared importance. These include international education, public policy studies and policy implementation, sustainability, health, business development, innovation, languages, arts and sciences. The partnership will also provide scholarships for students from Pakistan to study at Queen Mary. Other activities may include joint teaching and research opportunities, as well as mobility for staff, research fellows and students. 

“We are hugely excited to be working with Rotary Club of Karachi. I have no doubt that together we will help create better futures through education and research,” Professor Colin Grant, Vice Principal International, Queen Mary University of London, remarked. 

“It is a source of great pride that everyone who sets foot on our campuses gains the chance to shape the world of tomorrow. I look forward to welcoming even more students and partners from Pakistan to benefit from this experience. Today’s agreement between two organizations marks the first step in our journey towards widening opportunities and engaging global communities together,” he added. 

“Rotary International places a world of importance on education, working to give communities vital access to the educational skills they need to live their lives to the fullest. But we know that no one organisation can achieve these goals alone. We are delighted to come to these agreements today with Queen Mary, to display our shared visions, and to make tremendous strides for education across Pakistan,” Pervez Haroon Madraswala, President, Rotary Club of Karachi, reciprocated. 

Aziz Memon, Trustee of The Rotary Foundation, acknowledged philanthropist, entrepreneur and Rotarian Nayan Patel for his role in building a partnership with Queen Mary University of London as they looked forward to further strengthening it. 

Central to this work will be Queen Mary’s Global Policy Institute (QMGPI), which uses the University’s research and ensures its place in policy around the world so that impactful, real-world change can take place. Through partnerships, knowledge sharing, training, and project launches, to name but a few methods, QMGPI works to transform policy and workings across every continent for the betterment of society. 

The agreement bolstered Queen Mary’s longstanding commitment to Pakistan. It was among the first UK universities to establish personnel in Pakistan, creating an in-country post in 2005. It is also the number one recruiter from Pakistan in the prestigious Russell Group, with more than 1,300 Pakistani students having studied at Queen Mary. 

The Rotary Foundation strives to address some of the most critical humanitarian needs, which includes supporting education, promoting peace, fighting disease, providing clean water, saving mothers and children, growing local economies, protecting the environment, and ending polio. Queen Mary has long been committed to engaging internationally, from education to research, partnerships and stakeholder work, to impact areas around the world. 

Its agreements with the Rotary Club of Karachi will help ensure marked improvements in these areas of shared interest. Queen Mary’s work within Pakistan sits alongside other major partnership initiatives in South Asia to help address some of the biggest challenges facing the region today, including partnership to promote gender equality, public health, and the environment.

Queen Mary, ESUP partner to boost education and research

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Queen Mary University of London has entered into prestigious partnership with the English Speaking Union of Pakistan (ESUP). As a result of this Memorandum of Understanding, Queen Mary will jointly improve access to education in Pakistan and help young people improve not only their lives, but potentially those of generations to come. 

The partnership will help to establish new programmes of study and events around areas of shared importance. These include international education, public policy studies and policy implementation, sustainability, health, business development, innovation, languages, arts and sciences. 

The partnership will also provide scholarships for students from Pakistan to study at Queen Mary. Other activities may include joint teaching and research opportunities, as well as mobility for staff, research fellows and students. 

“It is a source of great pride that everyone who sets foot on our campuses gains the chance to shape the world of tomorrow. I look forward to welcoming even more students and partners from Pakistan to benefit from this experience. Today shows us that our efforts to access to an exemplary education know no borders. It marks another shining example of our efforts to make a difference in all corners of the globe,” Professor Colin Grant, Vice Principal International, Queen Mary University of London, remarked on the occasion. 

“We are hugely excited to be working with the Mr Aziz Memon, President of the English Speaking Union of Pakistan and Mr Nayan Patel philanthropist, entrepreneur and a Rotarian. I have no doubt that together we will help create better futures through education and research,” he added. 

“The ESUP places a world of importance on education, working to give communities vital access to the oracy skills as well as the cultural understanding they need to thrive. But we know that no one organization can achieve these goals alone. We are delighted to come to these agreements today with Queen Mary, to display our shared visions, and to make tremendous strides for education across Pakistan,” Aziz Memon, President, ESUP, observed. 

Central to this work will be Queen Mary’s Global Policy Institute (QMGPI), which uses the University’s research and ensures its place in policy around the world so that impactful, real-world change can take place. Through partnerships, knowledge sharing, training, and project launches to name but a few methods as QMGPI works to transform policy and workings across every continent for the betterment of society. 

The agreement announced today bolsters Queen Mary’s longstanding commitment to Pakistan. It was among the first UK universities to establish personnel in Pakistan, creating an in-country post in 2005. It is also the number one recruiter from Pakistan in the prestigious Russell Group, with more than 1,300 Pakistani students having studied at Queen Mary. 

The ESUP aims to develop friendship and goodwill between the English-speaking people of Pakistan and other countries, by actively encouraging communication, discussion and debate through the English language. Beyond fostering cultural links between people of different nationalities, the English Speaking Union helps young people to engage with the world through its various programmes. 

Queen Mary has long been committed to engaging internationally, from education to research, partnerships and stakeholder work, to impact areas around the world. Its agreement with the ESUP will help ensure marked improvements in these areas of shared interest. Queen Mary’s work within Pakistan sits alongside other major partnership initiatives in South Asia to help address some of the biggest challenges facing the region today, including partnership to promote gender equality, public health, and the environment.

Researchers launch pilot study to set up COVID-19 early warning system

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Public health researchers are set to evaluate the feasibility of a faster way to detect new cases of COVID-19 in Karachi. Infectious disease epidemiologists from Aga Khan University, the National Institute of Health, Islamabad, and the World Health Organization’s Pakistan Office will collaborate with Karachi’s District Health Office, East, to pilot a sewage surveillance system that will regularly test wastewater samples for the presence of the coronavirus and its concentration. 

They are building on work by health authorities in several countries such as the US, Canada, Australia and several European nations to set up extensive sewage surveillance systems. These systems have helped detect high concentrations of the virus in sewage a week to ten days before cases would rise, enabling public health authorities to take prompt action to contain the spread of the disease. 

Sewage surveillance systems take advantage of the fact that the presence of viruses can be identified in sewage before a person shows symptoms. For example, people can shed SARS CoV-2 in their stool in the first 3 to 7 days after infection, long before a person begins to suffer from a fever, cough or shortness of breath. This means that wastewater sampling has the potential to act as a sensitive, early warning system for trends in new cases and a potential way to prevent new cases. 

That’s because nasal swab tests, which detect the presence of the virus in the nose, are typically only taken after symptoms appear, between 7 and ten days after infection, which means that people could have unknowingly been spreading the disease for days before their positive test. 

The researchers will analyse the amount of SARS CoV-2 particles per millilitre of filtered sewage to estimate the number of cases in the area. They hope to generate data that will help them estimate future number of cases in a well demarcated catchment area by measuring viral concentration in sewage samples.

If analysis of sewage samples shows a continuous increase in the presence of SARS CoV-2 particles then this could predict an uptick in cases before COVID-19 nasal swab test results become available, thereby giving public health departments and hospitals advance notice of a surge in cases. Data about the quantum of the virus in wastewater will also be compared with records from the district health office about the number and location of positive tests in the area to prepare heat maps of high and low incidence areas. 

This could enable prompter preventive measures such as mass testing or targeted lockdowns to be taken in high-burden areas. Conversely, the data could also help provide an indication of a forthcoming decline in new cases which could inform policy decisions such as the easing of restrictions. 

“Insights from sewage surveillance can help us get ahead of the virus and take more effective measures to curb new cases. No one knows when this pandemic will end but new tools such as wastewater analysis can potentially make mitigation measures more effective,” Dr Imran Nisar, assistant professor at AKU and principal investigator of the study, remarked. 

“Lockdowns have enormous social and economic consequences. Comparing data from our sewage surveillance study with clinical and epidemiological data from the community will enable us to halt the cycle of surges leading to lockdowns by enabling policymakers to take prompter, more effective decisions. Throughout the study, we’ll be working closely with the district health office to ensure timely use of data,” he added. 

The researchers also plan to compare data about the number of vaccinations in the area against the volume of cases to understand the effectiveness of vaccine drives. In later phases of the project, researchers will conduct genetic sequencing of wastewater samples to determine whether new COVID-19 variants have arrived in the city. This could signal the need to ramp up prevention measures or consider changes in precautionary measures, treatments or vaccine roll-out plans. 

Once researchers have assessed the feasibility of the system in Karachi, they hope to be able to scale up the programme at the provincial and national level. The initiative has been funded by Program for Appropriate Technology in Health, USA and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA.

Crackdown on Railways vendors, restaurants

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Upon the special directives of the Divisional Superintendent, Railways, Karachi, Muhammad Hanif Gul, a crackdown was carried out by the Divisional Commercial Officer (DCO), Nasir Nazeer, on vending stalls, restaurants and dining cars in trains. 

The DCO Railway Karachi took action against vending stalls and confiscated all substandard and unapproved selling brands from the railways. Hundreds of substandard cold drinks and juices were wasted on the spot. 

He imposed fines of Rs 50,000 on various stalls for selling unapproved and substandard brands on stalls while one stall was also closed and sealed. In addition, the DCO Karachi also cracked down on substandard and unapproved brands in restaurants and dining cars of various trains and recommended to the higher management to terminate the dining car contract of Pakistan Express. 

According to special drive, the DCO Railway Karachi informed that strict action would be taken against the vendors for violating the rules. 

He added that the purpose of this special campaign was to ensure availability of quality food items at the stations stalls and inside the trains to the railway passengers as well as to create a sense of responsibility among the vendors for selling only quality and approved food items to the passengers.

Railways high-ups meet freight transporters

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Chief Executive Officer and Senior General Manager of Pakistan Railways, Nisar Ahmed Memon, and the Divisional Superintendent, Karachi, Muhammad Hanif Gul, held an important meeting with freight transporters to resolve pending issues. 

Business Advisor Planning, Farooq Haider Sheikh, Deputy DS Operations, and a few other Divisional Officers were also present in the meeting in which there was a detailed discussion of private goods trains 501/502/503/504 having been named as Cargo Express. These freight trains carry parcels/loose consignments from Karachi to different cities of Pakistan. 

CEO Railways, Nisar Ahmed Memon, and Business Advisor Planning, Farooq Haider Sheikh, issued orders to the concerned offices to ensure timely departure of freight trains. For Faisalabad current cargo express train consists of 15 freight wagons and is operated on alternate days. 

The CEO advised the operators to increase the number of freight wagons and run a full load train of 33 freight wagons on a daily basis. The train operators objected to the privatization of Cargo Express train and its operation under a public-private partnership. 

The CEO reiterated that all decisions will be made in the best interest of Pakistan Railways and in case of non-fulfillment of the obligations of contractors of cargo operators, the train will be outsourced. The cargo contractors assured that the Railway administration will see a visible improvement within a month.

NLA hails election of its advisor as Rotary President

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The National Library Association (NLA), a forum of working librarians in Pakistan, has hailed the election of one of their advisors, Syed Khalid Mahmood, as President of Rotary Club of Karachi Darakhshan, a chapter of Rotary International, District 3271, comprising of Pakistan’s provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. 

In his statement, Muzaffar Ali Shah, President, NLA, has congratulated Khalid Mahmood, a seasoned journalist and author besides being a library activist, for having been elected as Club President for the second time in his 17-year Rotary career. 

The NLA Secretary General, Anwar Hussain, and their Canada-based member Muhammad Younis Hashmi, have also greeted Khalid Mahmood, a member of the Association’s Advisory Committee, on taking over as Rotary President for the year 2021-22.

Syed Khalid Mahmood elected as Rotary President

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Syed Khalid Mahmood, a famous journalist and author, has been elected as President of Rotary Club of Karachi Darakhshan, a chapter of Rotary International, District 3271, covering Pakistan’s provinces of Sindh and Balochistan. 

Alongwith other elected and nominated office-bearers of 13 zones, he was formally inducted as the club’s President for the Rotary year 2021-22 during the District Installation ceremony held at Hotel Pearl Continental in Karachi on July 3. 

Dr Aftab Imam, a senior bureaucrat, has been installed as the District Governor for 2021-22 and he has pledged to revive Rotary by announcing his ambitious plans during an hour-long policy address on the occasion in which he shared his experiences at various levels. 

One of the highlights of the Installation ceremony was the live speech by Shekhar Mehta, the incoming President of Rotary International, who urged the Rotarians of Pakistan to dream big and set bigger goals to bring about a visible change in their respective communities. 

The ceremony was attended by a large number of Rotarians of District 3271, including Past District Governors Jahangir Moghul, Aziz Memon and Muhammad Faiz Kidwai. 

Rotary International is a global network of 1.2 million professionals, spread in every continent of the world, who channelize their resources in serving the humanity as they reckon that solving real problems takes real commitment and vision. 

For more than 116 years, Rotary's members of action have used their passion, energy, and intelligence to take action on sustainable projects. From literacy and peace to water and health, they have been working for a better world. 

With a network of more than 35,000 clubs, they have demonstrated having a shared responsibility to take action on the world’s most persistent issues. They work together to promote peace, fight disease, provide clean water, sanitation, and hygiene, save mothers and children, support education and grow local economies.

Mehran Express handed over to private party

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Mehran Express between Karachi and Mirpurkhas was handed over to RASS Logistics, under public-private partnership, on July 5. On this occasion, a grand ceremony was held at Karachi City Railway Station. 

The chief guest of the function was Muhammad Hanif Gul, Divisional Superintendent, Karachi, while all the divisional officers were also present on the occasion. Malik Mohammad Rafique and Malik Mohammad Khan Niazi, owners of RAAS Logistics, were also in attendance. 

On this occasion, the Divisional Superintendent presented flowers to the driver and assistant driver of the train and bid farewell to the passengers with prayers to continue their safe journeys. 

According to details, RASS Logistics Company will pay PKR 92 million annually for this train to Railway exchequer. The train has a total of seven coaches with a seating capacity of 630 passengers. Mehran Express will cover a distance of 250 kilometers between Karachi and Mirpurkhas in 4 hours and 40 minutes. This train will be stopping over at eight stations.

AKU wins PKR 159 million grant

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Innovative gene editing therapies for two significant blood disorders, beta thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia, have received a boost with AKU’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, CRM, winning a competitive research grant of PKR159.60 million (US$ 1.02 m) to look for a genetic ‘fix’. 

Thalassemia and sickle cell disease are genetic disorders, passed down from parent to child, and are common in Pakistan. There are as many as 100,000 transfusion-dependent thalassemia patients in the country. 

Every year another 5,000 babies are born with the disorder. On the other hand, sickle-cell disease is one of the well-known causes of anaemia in Pakistan. Doctors and research scientists are aware that mutations in the haemoglobin beta-globin, HBB, gene cause both diseases. 

Patients suffer from a lack of haemoglobin, the protein that carries oxygen from the lungs to rest of the body; and a lack of oxygen in the body’s tissues can lead to poor growth, organ damage and other health problems. The only treatments available are blood transfusions or bone marrow transplants, both with drawbacks and side effects. 

Blood transfusion often leads to iron overload and organ damage. Bone marrow transplant is a costly, risky and invasive treatment available only to patients who can find suitable donors with matching blood stem cells. Also, limited bone marrow transplantation facilities and expertise within Pakistan mean that most patients cannot access this treatment.

Given these challenges, researchers around the world are looking at new gene and cell repair therapies for a treatment and potentially a cure. 

“Our research aims to find an innovative, less-invasive and more affordable cure for these common genetic diseases.Our team aspires to work on two gene editing therapies that will be applicable to both, beta thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia,” AKU’s Dr Afsar Mian, the study’s principal investigator, remarked. 

In the first approach, AKU researchers will work on developing a druggable gene editing therapy, using CRISPR/Cas9, a molecular gene editing tool. Unlike existing gene therapies, this new therapy could be injected as a drug to allow the defective part of the HBB gene to be ‘sniped’ and repaired for beta thalassemia and sickle cell disease. 

Dr Mian is excited about this research work: “Our team will be among the few researchers around the globe who are working on developing this gene editing approach. Better still, conducting this study in Pakistan will help build local capacity and solutions, instead of waiting for treatments from elsewhere.” Emergent gene and cell therapies are now seen as having the most potential to impact healthcare in the coming years. 

“This potential therapy could provide a permanent cure, bypassing the need for bone marrow transplant and blood transfusion,” Professor El-Nasir Lalani, founding director of CRM, reckoned. The second therapy involves reactivating the production of foetal haemoglobin as a substitute for the missing or faulty adult haemoglobin in beta thalassemia and sickle cell anaemia. 

Dr Mian and his team will work on gene-silencing, using the same gene editing tool and approach, suppressing the BCL11A gene that stops foetal haemoglobin from being produced. Both concepts will be first tested in the laboratory, using stem cells that have the potential to form any cell type in the body, drawn from thalassemia and sickle-cell patients. 

If successful, this will be followed by pre-clinical trials to determine if the treatment is safe. The study team includes Drs Afsar Mian, Salma Jahan, Hammad Hassan and Mohammed Yusuf from CRM and international collaborators from the University of California, San Francisco, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Cardiff University in the UK. 

The World Bank-supported HEC Grand Challenge Fund, launched in 2020, aims to promote research excellence in strategic sectors with awards based on competitive, peer-reviewed evaluation of proposals. CRM is one of the five winning recipients, out of more than 700 applicants in the fund's inaugural round.

Railways hold safety workshop at Sukkur

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

Passenger safety remains the supreme priority of the Pakistan Railways and this was emphasized during recently conducted safety workshops in Karachi Division last month and lately in Sukkur Division during a session on the subject of safety of train operations.

‘Sukkar: An important workshop on Safety of Train Operation’ was the topic of the workshop organized at Sukkur by Shoaib Adil, COPS Safety, on July 1. 

The participants of workshop were explained that passengers were VIP guests of Pakistan Railways and they needed to be taken care of their lives. The Railway staff was advised by the COPS Safety to remain vigilant at all times in order to ensure safe journey of the passengers. 

“As we say the best safety device is the vigilant railway man. No safety device can match their abilities and strengths to protect and save passengers lives than their vigilance and commitment to their duties,” Shoaib Adil highlighted. 

It was an interactive workshop and participants were allowed more time to express their views. More importantly their valuable feedback was recorded to further look after safety requirements. This feedback will be built in to further strengthen safety protocols. 

The workshop was attended by more than 50 officers and officials from Traffic, Civil, Mechanical, Signal Telecommunications and Police. This series of safety workshops shall be further extended to Rawapindi, Quetta and Peshawar Divisions.

Rotary’s year 2021-22 dawns in Pakistan with visit to Quaid’s Mausoleum

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Rotarians in Pakistan continued the tradition of celebrating new Rotary year by visiting the Mausoleum of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah as a formal ceremony was held in Karachi on the morning of July 1 to mark start of the year 2021-22.

A large number of leaders of Rotary International’s District 3271, featuring Pakistan’s provinces of Sindh and Balochistan paid respects to the Father of the nation and Fateha was offered at his grave in the presence of the smartly turned up naval guards. 

Aftab Imam, the incoming District Governor, led the gathering and he was accompanied by a few of his predecessors like Jahangir Moghul and Owais Kohari, besides the incoming Presidents and other office-bearers of different chapters of Rotary clubs. 

The Rotary dignitaries also visited the adjoining museum where they took keen interest in belongings of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, under whose leadership Pakistan had emerged on the world map as an independent country on August 14, 1947. 

Later, a breakfast meeting was organized by one of the Rotary members at his residence in Bahadurabad which was also attended by a large number of fellow Rotarians. 

Speaking on the occasion, Governor Aftab Imam spoke about the significance of the famous Four-Way test of Rotary which, in his opinion, was most relevant in serving the humanity.

Former Governor Jahangir Moghul, who had led the District with great enthusiasm and energy in 2015-16, was of the opinion that maximum number of projects should be carried out by Rotary clubs in their respective communities to make their presence felt on the scene.

Freight corridor expected to overcome traffic miseries

By Abdul Qadir Qureshi 

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Chairman of the Pakistan Railways, Habib-ur-Rehman Gillani has reckoned that the 55-kilometre long dual-track freight corridor from Karachi Port Trust (KPT) to Marshalling Yard Pipri would drastically curtail traffic congestion from Karachi city.

"The project's estimated cost is Rs. 70 billion and will be completed within two years from the day of inception of its civil work" he observed while addressing the conference of stakeholders and transaction advisory services at the DS office Karachi on June 30. The meeting was also attended by representatives of various government organizations. 

"Besides alleviating the traffic woes of Karachiites, the freight corridor project will also redress multiple environmental concerns,” the Chairman Railways declared, adding that the freight corridor project would be built on the basis of Public-Private partnership and the share of both sectors would be determined soon.

The Chairman further informed that Pakistan Railways had been enhancing its line capacity and increasing its rolling stock to meet the growing needs of its passenger and freight traffic and services. 

The Chairman Railways also presided over a meeting of KCR consortium of consultants and was briefed about the developments that would lead to resumption of KCR service on remaining 16-kilometre loop line from Orangi to Drigh Road. 

In an another meeting the officials from Nespak consultancy firm met with the Chairman and gave a detailed presentation pertaining to the construction of railways theme park at Main Korangi Road.