Naba Basar discovers the secrets of healthy, organic and innovative mountain cuisine from Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral. She shares her experiences of the mountain regions adventure, hospitality, social customs, lifestyle in a series of features for The High Asia Herald readers. Soups   Don’t expect to find the Chinese soups you are accustomed to in cities. You may or may not …

Agricultural village in Badakhshan, Afghanistan. Photo by Christopher Wilton-Steer/UCA Herald Report In Pamir mountains of High Asia region with limited agricultural lands, rugged topography, and large gradients, the preservation of agrobiodiversity and an appreciation of traditional knowledge about food systems are essential ingredients of a sustainable future. Hence the University of Central Asia’s Mountain Societies Research Institute (MSRI) has begun …

All 18 samples collected from Jutial and Barmus Water Supply Complexes were found highly contaminated unfit for human consumption, says report   Herald Report As the temperatures rise in the summer season in Gilgit city, so does the level of turbidity and bacteria thus spreading typhoid and other water-borne diseases, says a report. The citizens of Gilgit city are consuming …

Dr Fatima Sana in her 20s loses the battle against covid-19. Two doctors each die in Lahore and Quetta, one each in Gujranwala and Hangu. Nurse dies in Kohat    Herald Report Islamabad: Eight frontline worriers have lost their lives while treating coronavirus patients in Pakistan during the last 24 hours. They were identified Dr Zubair Ahmad and Dr Saleem …

Doctors, paramedics and patients complain about the lack of facilities and apathy of the health officials     By Mehtabur Rehman GILGIT: While the Chief Minister Hafiz Hafeezur Rehman and his media team are busy in propagating his achievements in the fight against coronavirus in Gilgit-Baltistan, the doctors and paramedics who are fighting on the frontline, as well as patients, are …

The main hospital in Gilgit ransacked, medical staff manhandled by relatives of a corona patient who died at the hospital    Bureau Report GILGIT: The doctors and paramedical staff have demanded stern action against the persons who attacked the of Provincial Headquarter Hospital in the capital city of GB, ransacked the main health facility and damaged ambulance and other vehicles …

Six members of a family who travelled from Karachi to Hunza have been quarantined   Herald Report Hunza: One more person has tested positive for coronavirus in Hunza District. So far two persons have been affected by the virus in the district. A man belonging to Hini (Nasirabad) lower Hunza has tested positive for the virus, sources in the district …

The pandemic causes a 22% decline in tourist arrivals in Q1, or $80bn loss, says UNWTO reports   Herald Report The coronavirus pandemic has caused 22% fall in international tourist arrivals in the first quarter (Q1) of the financial year 2020 and could further drop by 60-80% over the whole year, says a report. The UN tourism watchdog says 67 …

“Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky …

By S. Akbar Zaidi The trade-off being presented of saving lives through a lockdown to eliminate the coronavirus and killing the poor on account of the closure of economic activity is a false one. There is no denying the fact that the spread of the virus and the action taken to protect the lives of people have had severe economic consequences …

By Gul Hammad Farooqi CHITRAL: As the fear of the people of Chitral rises due to the spike in coronavirus cases in the Hindu Kush mountainous region, so does the anxiety of the Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) staffers who have not yet been paid their salaries for the last three months. The TMA officials are performing duty in a very …

AWPGB arranged 200 PPEs through its #CoronaSolidarityCampaign for health workers serving in remote areas Bureau Report GILGIT: Awami Workers Party (AWP) is Leftwing party, is perhaps the among the few political parties in Pakistan and Gilgit-Baltistan which responded swiftly to the Coronavirus pandemic and prepared relief and economic plans. The AWP launched relief activities and provided rations to over 700 …

Pakistan’s long battle to eradicate the crippling poliovirus has been thwarted by militant attacks, radical Islamic clerics, and anti-vaccination propaganda. But the South Asian nation of 220 million people is facing a new hurdle: the coronavirus pandemic. Pakistani authorities have halted a nationwide door-to-door polio vaccination drive to stop the spread of the coronavirus — with polio workers and resources …

Universities closed. The global death toll is approaching 230,000 with more than 3.2 million infections confirmed, causing mass disruptions. Tajikistan on Saturday reported first two deaths from the coronavirus. The state television confirmed the deaths and reported that the number of COVID-19 cases had risen to 76 from 44. Around 2,800 people have been quarantined in hospitals, it also said. …

Greta Thunberg has donated the money she won from a Danish foundation to the UN Children’s Fund   Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has donated a $100,000 prize she won from a Danish foundation to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for use against the Covid-19 pandemic, the world body said Thursday. “Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is …