PESHAWAR          -        Advisor to CM Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on In­formation Ajmal Wazir has said that North Wa­ziristan Ghulam Khan border has been opened for commercial activities and bilateral trade be­tween Pakistan and Af­ghanistan in the difficult situation of corona pan­demic.

Briefing the media at Itlla Cell Civil Secretar­iat, he said that Prime Minister Imran Khan had decided to reopen the border points with Af­ghanistan to resume bi­lateral trade. He said that Torkham border in dis­trict Khyber and Ghulam khan border in North wa­ziristan would remain open 24 hours for 6 days a week for heavy traf­fic for bilateral trade. He said that trade between the two countries would create employment op­portunities for millions of people and resumption of trade activities would also strengthen ties be­tween the two countries.

Ajmal Wazir said as per the instructions of Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa strict im­plementation of SOPs at Torkham and Ghulam Khan borders would be ensured. He said a day in a week would be re­served for pedestrian movement at the border.

The Advisor con­demned attack on armed forces in North Wa­ziristan and prayed for the highest ranks of mar­tyred Captain Sabih and Sepoy Naveed. He said that Pakistan Army has always fought against the enemy for the protection of the homeland, adding that anti-state elements could not demoralize our security forces by such heinous acts.

Regarding corona sit­uation, the advisor said that more than 124,000 people in Khyber Pakh­tunkhwa have been test­ed so far, while the high­est number of more than 65,000 corona tests has been done only in the Public Health Laboratory of Khyber Medical Univer­sity. Ajmal Wazir said that 6536 corona-infected pa­tients have recovered so far in the province.

He said that corona pa­tients were being treated in 241 hospitals in Khy­ber Pakhtunkhwa where more than 5500 beds were reserved for them. He said that the num­ber of oxygen beds in the province was 1375 and 343 ventilators were specified for corona pa­tients out of which only 77 patients were being treated on ventilators.

The Information Ad­visor said that opera­tion was also underway in the locust affected ar­eas, in which the Relief Department, PDMA, Pa­kistan Army, Agriculture Department, Irrigation and concerned district administration were par­ticipating. He said that 80 teams comprising 758 personnel and 78 vehicles were engaged against locusts. Surveys and sprays are also un­derway in 15 locust-af­fected districts.

Ajmal Wazir said that survey of 48 lakh 98 thousand 670 acres of land has been completed, similarly spraying pro­cess has been complet­ed on 59 thousand 181 acres of land. He said that action has also been tak­en against those creat­ing artificial shortage of petrol and selling petrol above the official price.

He said that a total of 187 petrol pumps were raided across the province while warn­ings were issued to 82 pumps for violating of­ficial

 of­ficial orders and fines of Rs 69,000 have been col­lected.

Ajmal Wazir said that Chief Minister Mehmood Khan had issued clear or­ders to take stern action against those involved in artificial shortage of pet­rol. He said there was no place for any mafia in the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan and those who created problems for the people would be dealt strictly