作者： bharat.cn

The Ministry of External Affairs summoned Pakistan’s Charge d’ Affaires Syed Haidar Shah today and asked him to reduce staff at the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi as India is concerned over their conduct. MEA officials informed Shah that India had repeatedly expressed concern about the activities of officials of his High Commission.

India has asked Pakistan to reduce staff at its High Commission in New Delhi by 50 per cent within seven days. It said it will also be reducing its workforce at the Indian High Commission in Islamabad.

According to MEA representatives, the staff at the Pakistan High Commission has been “engaged in acts of espionage and maintained dealings with terrorist organizations”.

India pointed out the activities of the two Pakistan visa officials who were caught red-handed and expelled on May 31, 2020, after it emerged that they were spying.

The MEA also raised concern over the harassment of Indian officials in Pakistan. On June 15, Pakistani authorities detained two officials of the Indian high commission in Islamabad in a case of alleged “hit and run” and released them after over 10 hours following India’s strong demarche and a blunt message to Islamabad that the duo must be freed immediately.

“While their officials indulged in actions that are not in conformity with their privileged status in the High Commission, Pakistan has in parallel engaged in a sustained campaign to intimidate the officials of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad from carrying on their legitimate diplomatic functions,” MEA representatives said.

India said that once the abducted Indian officials returned home on June 22, they provided graphic details of the barbaric treatment that they experienced at the hands of Pakistani agencies.

Fifty-seven girls at a state-run children’s shelter home in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur district have tested positive for Covid-19, with five of them found to be pregnant.

Two other girls in the shelter home, who are also pregnant, have tested negative for the virus. One of the inmates has also tested HIV positive and another inmate has hepatitis.

The girls were exhibiting symptoms of Covid-19 for some time but there was “delay” in taking them to the hospital for tests.

“The five pregnant girls, who have been found Covid-19 positive, were referred by the Child Welfare Committees of Agra, Etah, Kannauj, Firozabad and Kanpur under the Pocso Act. Two other pregnant girls have tested negative for Covid-19. The seven girls were pregnant at the time, when they came to the shelter home,” Kanpur DM Brahma Dev Ram Tiwari told reporters.

All girls found Covid-positive are being treated at the Kanpur Medical College. The shelter home has been sealed, and its staff has been quarantined.

The revelation of the coronavirus outbreak at the shelter home has raised serious questions over the management of state-run homes for juveniles.

The numbers are rising

“This freedom that we now have, not having to justify our journey to see our family and friends, this was something that we were really looking forward to,” Pedro Delgado, 23, said after arriving from Spain’s Canary Islands. 

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez urged people to take maximum precautions: “The virus can return and it can hit us again in a second wave, and we have to do whatever we can to avoid that at all cost.” At a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Trump said Saturday the U.S. has tested 25 million people, but the “bad part” is that it found more cases. 

“When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump said. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the testing down, please.’ 

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on CNN that Trump was being “tongue-in-cheek” and made the comment in a “light mood.” 

Democratic rival Joe Biden’s campaign accused Trump of “putting politics ahead of the safety and economic well-being of the American people.” 

The US has the world’s highest number of reported infections, over 2.2 million, and the highest death toll, at about 120,000, according to Johns Hopkins. Health officials say robust testing is vital for tracking outbreaks and keeping the virus in check. 

In England, lockdown restrictions prevented druids, pagans and party-goers on Sunday from watching the sunrise at the ancient circle of Stonehenge to mark the summer solstice, the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere. English Heritage, which runs the site, livestreamed it instead. A few people gathered outside the fence.