National
May 12, 2021
BOSTON: Pakistan-origin physicians based in the USA have expressed solidarity with colleagues and the people of India at this time of crisis catalysed by the coronavirus pandemic.
“We stand in solidarity with the people of India as they face the needless tragedies catalysed by the coronavirus pandemic,” says a statement by the Association of Pakistani Physicians of New England (APPNE), which represents over 350 medical practitioners.
Singer Arieb Azhar is among the many Pakistanis who has endorsed the American-Pakistani physicians’ statement. “Many of us are helping them (the people of India) through various means, while physicians among us regularly extend pro bono telemedical help to colleagues and patients in India,” says the statement.
Intellectual property rights over plants and seeds opposed
Karachi
February 12, 2021
Leaders of the Pakistan Kissan Mazdoor Tehreek (PKMT) and Roots for Equity on Wednesday criticised the Ministry of National Food Security and Research’s recent decision to start the registration process for granting intellectual property rights (IPRs) for plants and seeds under the Plant Breeders’ Rights Act, 2016 and said that the act would take away farmers’ centuries-old traditional rights of saving and selling seeds.
Roots for Equity’s chairperson Dr Azra Sayeed and PKMT leaders Raja Mujeeb and Asif Khan, while addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, said that as a result of national and transnational seed corporations claiming intellectual property rights over seeds, not only would the country become dependent on corporations for national food security and food sovereignty, but the royalties paid to transnational corporations for IPRs would massively increase seed