Hindu lawmaker in Pakistan tests positive for coronavirus

Islamabad: A leading Hindu lawmaker from Pakistan's Sindh province has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials said on Wednesday. Rana Hamir Singh, a member of the Sindh provincial assembly from the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), was elected from the Tharparker district in 2018.

Tharparkar Deputy Commissioner Dr Shahzad Tahir told reporters that "Singh has tested positive for the novel coronavirus". He recently met Abdul Rasheed, a provincial lawmaker of right-wing Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal party, at the inauguration of a MEDICAL ventilator room in Mithi, the main town of the district. Later, Rasheed was tested positive, which prompted the authorities to take samples of Singh and 25 others who had come in contact.

Officials said that only Singh has tested positive. Singh is the 26th 'Rana of Amarkot' where his clan is settled. His father Rana Chandra Singh served as a federal minister in the Cabinet of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in the 1990s. Hamir Singh's son, Kanwar Karni Singh, was married into the Kanota Rathore royal family of Jaipur in 2015. Meanwhile, the COVID-19 cases in the country have climbed to 14,885 while the death toll has reached 327 with 26 more fatalities, the health ministry said on Wednesday.

By Sajjad Hussain