Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
A shattered nation
WHILE browsing through Twitter, on August 9, I came across a Vlog that, honestly speaking, jolted me to the core.
Was it indeed so heart-wrenching? Yes, it truly was. The young, completely shattered housewife from the economic hub of the country – Karachi, who narrated her story with tears in her eyes touched the bottom of my heart.This is what compelled me to pen my thoughts on the miseries that confront her today.
Like millions of this country, she too has become a victim of hyper inflation in the economy of this country. The skyrocketing prices of everything, literally everything, has made her life awfully miserable. It has become profoundly difficult for her to make both ends meet.
With a broken heart, tears in her eyes, and a chocked voice she asked Prim Minister Shehbaz Sharif: With the meagre income of Rs. 20,000 PM that she earns, and two children that she has to look after, how could she make both ends meet in these exceedingly difficult times?
She said, she stands totally perplexed … she doesn’t know how to feed her children, how to pay their school fee, how to pay the exorbitant gas/electricity bills, how to defray expenses on monthly groceries and other items of daily consumption? etc. etc. A terrible situation indeed!
Well, this is the status of the state of Pakistan today. A state where people are compelled to shed tears, because they are finding it extremely difficult to lead reasonably comfortable lives. Life has truly become an unthought of ordeal for them. Do I need to tell you who are responsible for this awfully pathetic state of affairs?
No, I don’t. As you all know very well, who? Yes, you are absolutely right … none but successive governments which have been in the saddle in this country, for over seven decades, are squarely responsible for this hapless situation. May Allah have mercy on this nation. Aameen.
I know, the incumbent government is fully cognizant of the immensely difficult times the nation is passing through today. I also fully appreciate the fact that the present government took the reigns of this country in its hands, at a time when the country was passing through severe economic crisis in its over seven decades-old history.
But the question is, why is the nation having to bear the brunt of the country’s completely derailed economy, for no fault of its? I sincerely hope and pray, the unity government of PM Shehbaz Sharif would leave no stone unturned to bring the countries economy back on track, and make untiring endeavors to provide immediate and maximum relief to the suffering millions of this country.
M Fazal Elahi
Lahore
A silent killer
Livestock is mainstay of Pakistan’s economy with 11.9% contribution in GDP & about 3.06 annual growth rate. Livestock sector engages 35 million workforces in Pakistan and is main source of food security for 226 million with exportable surpluses.
Numerous infectious agents like viruses, bacteria and parasites have posed a challenging threat to livestock. BVDV is one of most significant and highly contagious diseases of cattle globally. Economic losses associated with BVDV are loss of milk production, reproductive pathologies and increased mortality.
BVDV causes abortion in pregnant cattle. If infection happens particularly between day 30-120 of pregnancy, the virus cross the placenta and fools the immune system into thinking the virus is a normal fatal component. Resultantly, calf turns into a factory of BVD virus without showing any apparent clinical sings and produce copious amount of virus throughout its life. Hence these calves are termed as persistently infected (PI).
The virus from PI is transmitted to other cattle through its secretion and excretions. Naïve animals pick up infection and disease. Hence BVDV is termed as “silent killer”. Some PI calves appear to be healthy and can even get pregnant. However, calves born from PI cows are also PI resulting in more virus factories. Some PI animals die due to a fatal form of BVD known as “mucosal disease”. Another form of BVD virus is transient infection that could cause pneumonia and diarrhoea etc.
In Pakistan, despite housing a large number of livestock the production is not up to the mark due to infectious diseases. Moreover, with recent intensification of dairy the abortion rate has also increased attributable to BVDV. Keeping the socio-economic significance in view, the author conducted ELISA based serological surveillance of BVDV in dairy cattle of Punjab and identified PI animal. PCR test was also performed for validation of infection.
QURAT-UL-AIN,
DR ARFAN AHMAD
Lahore
