Islamabad reiterates commitment to Gates’ public-health initiatives in second call this week
The influential chief of the Pakistani Army, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, has held a phone conversation with billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, reassuring him that Islamabad is committed to working with the Microsoft co-founder’s foundation on eradicating polio and other global health initiatives.
In a phone call that took place on Friday, Gates praised the Pakistan Army for “supporting the country’s polio drive and ensuring proper reach and coverage,” while Bajwa said that “credit goes to all involved in the process,” according to a Saturday statement by the Inter-Services Public Relations.
Gates also commended Pakistan’s efforts in battling the Covid-19 pandemic, as Bajwa again attributed it to a “true national response” by multiple agencies. The army chief applauded Gates’ global health efforts, and reportedly assured the philanthropist of “continued cooperation.”
On Tuesday, the country’s newly elected prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, also had a phone conversation with the billionaire philanthropist, receiving reassurances that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) will continue supporting Pakistan’s government to help ensure that no child is at risk of being paralyzed by polio.
The country had gone more than a year without a single new polio case – a feat that Gates hailed after traveling to Islamabad to meet with Pakistan’s then-Prime Minister Imran Khan in February – but in April officials confirmed two new infections in 15 months.
Pakistan’s parliament elected Sharif as prime minister last month, after Khan was ousted in a no-confidence motion. Khan had claimed that his cabinet was overthrown in a plot arranged by the US and that Pakistan was being handed over to an “imported government led by crooks.”
Pakistan has endured an uphill battle to inoculate children against polio, partly because of anti-vaccination conspiracies. Militants have targeted public-health workers, and the police protecting them, to disrupt vaccine drives. A female worker administering polio shots in northwestern Pakistan was shot and killed in March.
The UN’s Humanitarian Country Team in Yemen on Saturday, released its Response Plan (HRP) for this year, seeking nearly $4.3 billion to reverse a steady deterioration across the country, the grinding war there continues, despite a current pause in fighting.
Nearly 100 NPR readers gave their views on encouraging kids to do tasks on their own at home and in the community. Some are opposed to the practice for safety reasons. Others shared personal stories.
Turkey will not participate in NATO drills amid escalating tensions with Greece, Turkish media reported on Saturday, citing security sources. Ankara was scheduled to send its F-16 Fighting Falcon jets to the annual ‘Tiger Meet’ drill, which will be held at Araxos Air Base in western Greece from May 9 to May 22.
According to reports, Turkish Air Force Command considered that the wording used by Greece in technical documentation relating to the drills was contrary to international law and demanded that it be changed, but Greece refused to do so.
“Despite all of Turkey’s attempts and conciliatory efforts, Greece, which could not tolerate even its neighbor’s participation in an exercise in its country, moved the exercise away from the purpose of friendship and interoperability and tried to use it against Turkey’s rights and interests,” a security source claimed, as quoted by Sabah newspaper.
As a result, on April 22, Turkey made a decision not to participate in the drills and informed the host country of its withdrawal, according to Turkish media reports.
Meanwhile, some reports suggest it was actually Greece that decided not to allow Turkey to participate in the NATO exercises in retaliation for regular violations of Greek airspace by Turkish jets. According to the Voice of America’s report, Greece revoked Turkey’s planned participation in ‘Tiger Meet’, saying Turkey was “neither an ally, nor a friend.”
On Thursday, the Greek Foreign Ministry expressed to the Turkish ambassador its strong protest over “the unprecedented number of violations of Greek airspace and overflights of Greek territory, including over several inhabited areas, carried out within one day.”
The statement did not specify an exact number of violations but, according to the media, 125 unauthorized flights were reported within 24 hours. The ministry underlined that “these actions create a climate of particular tension in the relations between the two countries, which runs contrary to the efforts undertaken to improve this climate.”
Turkish authorities claim they are taking retaliatory measures for the violation of Turkish airspace by Greek planes. Ankara claimed on Thursday that Athens had violated its airspace “30 times in three days.”
These mutual accusations constitute just one of several points of contention between Ankara and Athens. Last year, Greece put its military on high alert because of seismic exploration by Turkey in the Eastern Mediterranean region, which Athens considers its continental shelf.
Last month’s meeting of Greek Prime Minister Kiryakos Mitsotakis with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was considered by many as a promising event but, since then, Greece has reportedly suspended ‘confidence-building’ negotiations with Turkish officials, which were planned for May.
