KARACHI: Like a guard in a watchtower, Nisar Khaskheli, a cotton farmer in Pakistan’s southern province of Sindh, does not let his eyes leave the horizon for long.
He is keeping a lookout for a bright yellow swarm of millions of desert locusts who inch closer to Sindh’s 200,000 acres of cotton crop every day. According to him, they are now only four kilometers away from the irrigated lands of Pakistan’s second-largest cotton producing province, and the farmers are sleepless with worry, despite the government’s deployment of aircraft and pesticide-mounted vehicles to prevent an attack on the country’s prize crop.
The emergency pesticide deployment is not unwarranted: Home-grown cotton runs Pakistan’s textile industry which is its largest job provider and foreign exchange earner. As the country struggles to stave off a balance of payments’ crisis following a bailout package from the International Monetary Fund, it cannot afford to lose its cotton, which is already forecast to fall to a 17 year low this month according to official data.
“On 25th May, we spotted the locusts for the first time when they were about 18 km away from irrigated land in Sindh,” Khaskheli, who is also president of a local agriculture chamber, told Arab News.
But within days, he said, owing to favorable weather conditions for breeding and hatching, there was a huge growth in their numbers.
“It forced us to raise alarm bells and inform the authorities,” he said.
Desert locusts, swarming short-horned grasshoppers, have been destroying crops in Africa and Asia for centuries. Their ability to move in huge swarms with great speed has earned them notoriety as one of the most devastating agricultural plagues in the world.
From the Red Sea coast of Sudan and Eritria, the locusts first emerged in January this year. By February, they had hit Saudi Arabia and Iran before entering Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province in March.
“Saudi Arabia quickly launched a control operation, but the undetected and uncontrolled gregarious locusts moved toward Iran,” Muhammad Tariq Khan, director of the Department of Plant Protection (DPP) at Pakistan’s Ministry of National Food Security and Research, told Arab News.
Despite a massive control operation in Iran, Khan said some unrestrained and undetected locust swarms migrated to Balochistan.
“The conditions (for breeding) were conducive for them in Balochistan due to rainfall,” he said.
Though Balochistan is not a major cotton province like Sindh and Punjab, the huge swarms of locusts have destroyed pomegranate, watermelon, grain and cotton crops in their path according to locals, though the exact extent of the damage is not yet officially known.
According to Liaquat Shahwani, Balochistan government’s spokesperson, the damage in his province has been controlled.
“Despite a massive attack, the damage was not too high,” he said, but did not share specific estimates of crop damage.
Most farmers disagreed, and said the destruction was colossal.
“They haven’t even spared the trees,” said Naseer Baloch, a farmer in Kharan, an area infested by locusts in Balochistan, alongside districts Chaghi, Washuk, Pasni, Turbat, Uthal, Dalbandin, Panjgur and parts of Kechh.
“They attack like an army and when they advance, it looks like the earth is moving,” he said.
The last major locust infestations in Pakistan were back in 1993 and 1997, though the government lacks credible statistics to quantify the damage in both instances.
After the Balochistan outbreak, the DPP says it has moved its ground control teams to launch control operations in affected areas, but that some locust groups were now moving toward the Tharparkar and Nara deserts of Sindh, and also toward India’s Rajasthan desert.
Sindh’s agriculture minister, Muhammad Ismail Rahoo, said his department found out about the locust infestation on June 3rd and was making serious efforts to safeguard its cotton crop.
It is still unclear why news of the infestation has taken so long to reach Sindh, despite crops affected in Balochistan three months ago.
“We are not big landlords, and our crop is our only source of income,” Sindh farmer Khaskheli said. “The money we make from it helps pay our bills, pay for hospitals, our children’s schools, their weddings.”
“If the locusts are not controlled, they will not just damage our crops and deprive us of livelihood,” he said. “They will wipe out billions of rupees.”
Then he shielded his eyes from the sun, and turning away, continued to stand guard over his cotton fields.
Sindh invaded by ‘army of locusts’ amid fears of cotton devastation
Sindh invaded by ‘army of locusts’ amid fears of cotton devastation
- The locust swarms migrated from the Red Sea and entered Pakistan through Iran
- Deployment of air and ground pesticide underway to control spread of infestation to Sindh’s cotton fields
Haider tank, Shahpar fighter drone in spotlight as Pakistan’s top defense expo concludes
- Exhibition hosted over 550 exhibitors and 350 civil and military officials from 55 countries
- IDEAS has been held biennially since 2000 and grown into a key event for defense sector
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top defense exhibition IDEAS 2024 will conclude today, Friday, with the locally manufactured third-generation Haider tank and Shahpar fighter drone among the South Asian nation’s main showpieces.
IDEAS has been held biennially since 2000 and has since grown into a key event for the Pakistani defense sector. This year’s show, running from Nov.19-Nov. 22 in Karachi, hosted over 550 exhibitors, including 340 international defense companies, and more than 350 civil and military officials from 55 countries.
On the first day of the expo, Pakistan launched the Haider tank, locally produced at the Heavy Industry Taxila in collaboration with local and international technology partners. The tank has auto-tracking, a remote-control weapons system and a 470-kilometer cruising range.
The Shahpar-III drone capable of flying at 35,000 feet and carrying heavy weapons such as bombs, cruise missiles and torpedoes, was also launched at the exhibition.
“I had no prior knowledge about these products, but upon visiting, I was astonished to discover such a top-class range of items being exported abroad,” Muhammad Mohsin, a visitor, told media.
“These products, manufactured in Sialkot, Gujranwala, and Karachi, truly showcase exceptional craftsmanship. It is imperative that these remarkable offerings gain greater recognition in international markets.”
Mohsin said he was unaware that Pakistan was exporting a “top-class range of items” in the defense sector until he attended this year’s IDEAS.
The Shahpar-III is a successor to the Shahpar-II drone, which could fly up to 20 hours at a maximum altitude of 23,000 feet, according to Global Industrial Defense Solutions (GIDS), a state-owned Pakistani defense conglomerate that has developed the drones. The Shahpar-III can fly up to 35,000 feet for 24 hours and carry a payload of up to 500 kilograms.
GIDS, which exports its products to 14 countries including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, introduced Shahpar-II in 2021.
“This [Shahpar-III] has a more strategic value to an armed force in comparison to Shahpar-II,” Asad Kamal, Chief Executive Officer of GIDS, told Arab News, adding that the drone would soon be inducted into the Pakistan Air Force.
“Shahpar-III is a natural step up when you’re making UAVs drones.”
Kamal said the drone could see targets at night and “take out on the enemy” with heavy weapons.
“That means that from your own borders, you can launch a cruise missile from an unpiloted plane,” he added. “That cruise missile has a range of 250 kilometers. So, it can give any force a lot of firepower value by having this sort of a weapon in its arsenal.”
With inputs from AFP
Fear, grief grip Pakistan’s Kurram district as 41 killed in sectarian attacks
- Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying members of minority Shiite community in KP province on Thursday
- Clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a jirga called a ceasefire
PESHAWAR: Fear gripped Pakistan’s northwestern Kurram district on Friday as the death toll from two sectarian attacks rose to 41, with authorities imposing a curfew and suspending mobile phone services in the remote mountainous region.
Gunmen opened fire on vehicles carrying members of the minority Shiite community in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Thursday in one of the region’s deadliest such attacks in recent years. The assault took place in Kurram, a district where sectarian clashes have killed dozens of people in recent months.
“Total 41 people have been killed and 19 others are injured in the attack,” Deputy Commissioner Kurram, Javaid Ullah Mehsud, told Arab News on Friday, saying police were yet to file a police report on the incident.
No one immediately claimed responsibility for the latest attack, which came a week after authorities reopened a key highway in the region that had been closed for weeks following deadly clashes.
Mehsud told reporters a local jirga, or tribal council, had been convened to help restore peace and order.
Previous clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a jirga called a ceasefire.
A senior administration official told the AFP news agency mobile signals across the district had been shut down, describing the situation as “extremely tense” with locals staging a sit-in in Parachinar, the district’s main town.
“A curfew has been imposed on the main road connecting Upper and Lower Kurram, and the bazaar remains completely closed, with all traffic suspended,“ the official said.
Shop owners in Parachinar had announced a strike on Friday to protest the attack.
Locals described an atmosphere of fear across the district.
“The night was spent in tension,” Irfan ullah Khan, a local youth representative, told Arab News. “People in different villages were guarding their homes … The region is in grief as the situation is tense. Anything can happen.”
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi called the shootings a “terrorist attack.” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack, and Sharif said those behind the killing of innocent civilians will not go unpunished.
Baqir Haideri, a local Shiite leader, denounced the assault and accused local authorities of not providing adequate security for the convoy of more than 100 vehicles despite fears of possible attacks by militants.
Shiite Muslims make up about 15 percent of the 240 million population of Sunni-majority Pakistan.
With inputs from AFP
Pakistan reports two new polio cases in northwest, raising 2024 tally to 52
- Cases detected in DI Khan district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
- Pakistan and Afghanistan are last polio-endemic countries in the world
PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s polio eradication program said on Friday two new cases of the crippling virus had been detected in the country’s northwest, bringing the nationwide tally for 2024 to 52.
Pakistan, along with neighboring Afghanistan, remains the last polio-endemic country in the world. The nation’s polio eradication campaign has hit serious problems with a spike in reported cases this year that have prompted officials to review their approach to stopping the crippling disease.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan, bringing the number of total cases in the country this year to 52,” the National Emergency Operation Center for Polio Eradication said in a statement.
“On Thursday, November 21, the lab confirmed the cases from DI Khan where a boy and girl child are affected. Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway.”
DI Khan, one of the seven polio endemic districts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has now reported five polio cases this year.
Of the 52 cases reported in 2024, 24 are from the Balochistan province, 13 from Sindh, 13 from KP and one each from Punjab and Islamabad, the federal capital.
Poliovirus, which can cause crippling paralysis particularly in young children, is incurable and remains a threat to human health as long as it has not been eradicated. Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain.
In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners, who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
In July 2019, a vaccination drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was thwarted after mass panic was created by rumors that children were fainting or vomiting after being immunized.
Public health studies in Pakistan have shown that maternal illiteracy and low parental knowledge about vaccines, together with poverty and rural residency, are also factors that commonly influence whether parents vaccinate their children against polio.
Pakistan’s chief health officer this month said an estimated 500,000 children had missed polio vaccinations during a recent countrywide inoculation drive due to vaccine refusals.
Marathon polo tournament draws huge crowds in Pakistan’s picturesque north
- Ten-day tournament played among 17 teams of Gilgit-Baltistan as part of independence day celebrations
- GB Independence Day celebrated on Nov. 1 every year to mark region’s independence in 1947 from Dogra Raj
KHAPLU, Gilgit-Baltistan: Large crowds have been gathering daily in the northern mountain town of Gilgit for a 10-day polo tournament being held to mark Gilgit-Baltistan’s Independence Day, the military’s media wing and government officials said on Thursday, the last day of the event.
GB is administered by Pakistan as an administrative territory and consists of the northern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947. The impoverished, remote and rugged mountainous territory borders Afghanistan and China and is the gateway of the $65 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) infrastructure plan.
The Gilgit-Baltistan Independence Day is celebrated on Nov. 1 every year to mark the region’s independence in 1947 from Dogra Raj, the erstwhile rulers of the now disputed Jammu and Kashmir region.
“The big event of Jashan Azadi Polo Tournament was held at Wahab Shaheed Polo Ground in Gilgit, a remote area of the northern region under the management of Pak Army,” the military’s media wing said in a statement, saying Force Command Northern Areas, Maj. Gen. Syed Imtiaz Hussain Gillani, was the chief guest at the closing ceremony of the event in which 17 teams participated.
“The final match was won by Chilas in civil and NLI teams in departmental categories respectively,” the statement added.
Gilgit-Baltistan is also known for the annual polo festival at Shandur, an area between the northern Pakistani towns of Gilgit and Chitral, and at over 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) the world’s highest polo ground.
Polo in GB is played without rules and at a blistering pace, suggesting more of a clash of cavalry than a sport. Locals believe polo was born in their land and Gilgit is home to the famous polo inscription: “Let other people play at other things, the King of Games is still the Game of Kings.”
Faizullah Faraq, the spokesperson for the G-B government, said thousands had come to watch the matches and celebrate the Gilgit-Baltistan Independence Day.
“Polo is the national game of Gilgit-Baltistan. And thousands of people reached Gilgit’s playground to watch the polo matches daily,” he told Arab News on Thursday.
“Such kinds of activities unite the youth and they play their role to create harmony in the society. The promotion of polo is a need of time to maintain peace in society.”
Afrad Gul, the team captain of the winning Chilas team, appreciated locals who supported the tournament.
“I have been playing polo for the last 15 years, my son was also part of my team,” Gul said in a phone interview. “We have left no stone unturned to keep this regional game alive.”
Pakistan government slams Imran Khan’s wife for using Saudi Arabia for ‘political point scoring’
- Deputy foreign minister urges political forces to desist from compromising Pakistan’s foreign policy for political objectives
- Khan has been in prison since August last year and facing a slew of legal challenges which he says are politically motivated
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government on Friday rejected comments by Bushra Bibi, the wife of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan, that Saudi Arabia had been opposed to her husband’s government, calling on political forces to desist from compromising the country’s foreign policy for the sake of “petty” political point scoring.
In a rare public message on Thursday, Bushra assured state institutions Khan had no plans to seek revenge from opponents if he was freed from jail, as she rallied supporters to join a protest planned by Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Islamabad on Nov. 24. In the message, she also made remarks that were widely seen as implying that the Saudi government had been opposed to Khan.
“Implicating Saudi Arabia for petty political point scoring is regrettable and indicative of a desperate mindset,” Pakistan’s deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said in a statement after Bushra’s video was released. “We urge all political forces to desist from compromising Pakistan’s foreign policy in pursuance of their political objectives.”
“Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are close friends and brothers. This relationship is based on mutual respect,” Dar added. “We have great admiration for Saudi Arabia’s journey of development and prosperity. The Pakistani nation is proud of its close relationship with Saudi Arabia which has always stood by Pakistan through thick and thin.”
After his ouster from the PM’s office in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in 2022, Khan had also alleged that he was removed by his political rivals and the all-powerful military with the backing of the United States government. All three deny the charge.
Khan has been in prison since August last year and facing a slew of legal challenges. He denies any wrongdoing, and alleges all the cases registered against him are politically motivated to keep him in jail.
