In a statement released by the foreign office on Sunday, Pakistan condemned the ‘inhuman act’ of a suicide bombing claimed by Daesh in a packed hotel wedding hall in western Kabul that killed 63 people and injured almost 200 on Saturday.
Islamabad reiterated its support for Afghanistan’s fight against militancy, at a time when violence in the country shows little signs of easing, and as US and Taliban delegates inch toward signing a peace deal which would eventually lead to the complete withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan, after nearly 18 years of the group’s ouster by Washington.
“We express our heartfelt condolences to the families of innocent victims... Terrorism is a common threat for the entire region and must be defeated together,” the statement said.
What was supposed to be a special night for Mirwais Elmi soon turned into a bloodbath after a suicide bomber detonated explosives in the hotel hall where his wedding ceremony was taking place.
Elmi and his bride – who were in separate areas of the venue – survived the blast which took place just before dinner was to be served to the nearly 1,000 guests who had gathered for the event in the southwestern part of the city.
Speaking to a private TV channel on Sunday, a visibly-shaken and shocked Elmi was unable to describe the carnage that took place.
“I am not a groom today, my family, my friends are all in grief,” Elmi who is in his early 20’s and works as a tailor said, adding that he never thought “that such an incident will happen during my wedding party.”
As survivors buried victims of the attack, an infant’s milk bottle and an invitation card could be seen strewn near one of the hotel’s walls, badly damaged from the blast’s impact.
On Sunday, Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement on a website called Telegram. The group first emerged in Afghanistan in 2014, and has since claimed many deadly attacks against minority communities in the country.
Earlier, the Taliban distanced themselves from the blast and strongly condemned it.
Elmi’s father-in-law lost 14 members of his family, while another man lost three of his sons, four nephews and five of his aunt’s grandchildren, according to survivor accounts.
“My family, my bride are in shock, they can not speak. My bride keeps fainting. I lost my brother, i lost my friends, i lost my relatives. I will never see happiness in my life again,” he said.
All five members of the music band which had been hired for the event died on the spot, too.
None of the guests were government officials, sought by Daesh or any other militant group. The groom and bride’s families, like many of those attending the ceremony, belonged to poor families.
Several of the victims were children and young men from the Shiite and Hazara communities, both of which have come under a spate of attacks, claimed by Da’esh and its affiliates, in recent times.
The hotel had no guards and guests were not body searched either, according to survivors. Shiite mosques, several cultural centers and at least one massive anti-government protest was subjected to such attacks recently, but Sunday’s attack on the wedding ceremony was the rarest of its kind, eliciting a reaction from President Ashraf Ghani who blamed the group for the incident.
“I strongly condemn the inhumane attack on the wedding hall in Kabul last night. My top priority for now is to reach out to the families of victims of this barbaric attack. On behalf of the nation I send my heartfelt condolences to the families of those who were martyred,” he tweeted.
“Taliban cannot absolve themselves of blame, for they provide platform for terrorists,” it added.
Shahzada Masood, a former government adviser said that by conducting such attacks, foreign “intelligence networks” were damaging the peace process, adding that any plans to divide Afghans on ethnic and sectarian lines would fail.
He said that another reason for the attack could be to further create a rift and add to the mistrust between the people and the government which was left out of the peace talks, with Ghani pushing to re-elect himself in September’s presidential polls.
The attack which precedes celebrations to mark a centenary of independence exposed the weakness of the government, Ghulam Hussien Nasiri, a lawmaker said.
“This was not the first such attack, government leaders live behind heavily protected compounds, drive in armored vehicles and have their families largely living abroad, but we the ordinary Afghans are suffering routinely,” he told Arab News.
Pakistan condemns Kabul explosion after 63 killed in wedding bloodbath
Pakistan condemns Kabul explosion after 63 killed in wedding bloodbath
- The suicide bombing, claimed by Daesh, in a packed wedding hall has been condemned by the Taliban
- Pakistan’s Foreign Office said terrorism was a common threat for the entire region and must be defeated together
At cafe in Lahore’s Walled City, curated iftar gatherings surrounded by memories of Pakistan’s finest artist
- Bethak Sadequain aims to revive the bethak, a traditional gathering space typical of many Mughal-era mansions
- The cafe is named after Sadequain, one of the most influential and important South Asian artists of the 20th century
LAHORE: Set within the crumbling walls and narrow, meandering streets of Lahore’s old, Walled City is Bethak Sadequain.
Opened in February, the cafe is named after Syed Ahmed Sadequain Naqvi (1930-1987), known by the mononym Sadequain, one of the finest painters and calligraphers Pakistan has ever produced and among the most influential and important South Asian artists of the 20th century. Apart from paying homage to Sadequain, the space also aims to revive the spirit of the bethak — a traditional gathering space centered on conversation and connection. The venue, launched last month, has been drawing steady crowds this Ramadan with its curated iftar gatherings blending traditional cuisine and live music and presenting a glimpse into the history of a graceful and cultured city that stretches by some accounts back into the days of the epic Ramayana.
Situated on Gali Surjan Singh, a compact but architecturally rich lane in the Delhi Gate area, Bethak Sadequain outsources its food due to limited space but focuses on delivering an immersive cultural experience through live performances, an old-city charm and a communal atmosphere. The aim is to create a true bethak, which was a typical feature of many Mughal-era havelis, palaces and mansions in the Indian Subcontinent.
“Iftar is an excuse to get together, a communal experience. A lot of families come together, a lot of colleagues and friends get together, so our restaurant is a good place, close to heritage, close to tradition,” the restaurant’s manager Bilal Sabir told Arab News.
“The guests who come here [for iftar], we tell them a little of our history of the Walled City, we entertain them, we give them guidelines on music, we play for them our traditional Pakistani classical music too.”
Sabir described the business venture as an effort “to keep Sadequain’s name alive” as the extraordinary painter and calligrapher’s work had not been given the due attention in Pakistan.
“We saw that in Lahore there is no activity related to Sadequain,” he said. “There is a Sadequain gallery, but it’s in Karachi, not in Lahore. So we wanted to promote this thing, to announce and introduce Sadequain to Lahore, so this is just a little effort.”
“INTRODUCING SADEQUAIN:”
While the iftar menu also provides an authentic Walled City experience — stuffed dates, samosas, signature tea, spiced biryani rice and shahi haleem stews — the success of the restaurant this Ramadan is still largely due to its ambiance and classical vibe.
Before iftar earlier one evening this week, Sabir sat on the floor and played the flute, a traditional wooden wind instrument, surrounded by Sadequain’s works, and interacted with the audience, sometimes asking them to guess the tune and also encouraging people to sing along.
Zeeshan Zia Raja, the restaurant’s owner, said she opened it as she wanted to do something meaningful during her retirement as well as create a space in the Walled City where women could sit comfortably and safely for hours.
Raja, also the owner of the American Lycetuff School System, represents the Sadequain Foundation USA.
“The new generation is missing a lot, many important things in their lives,” she said. “So, I thought we should introduce Sadequain. We, as a nation, have not done justice to him by recognizing his efforts for Pakistan and what he did for us.”
Sadequain, born in Amroha in 1930 to an educated North Indian Shia family in which calligraphy was a highly valued skill, rose to fame in 1955, when he exhibited a number of works at the residence of Prime Minister Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, a liberal patron of the arts.
Soon afterwards, Sadequain received a number of important governmental commissions for municipal murals, and held numerous solo exhibitions of his work. It was around this time that the influence of Picasso began to appear strongly in Sadequain’s paintings and sketches, according to his biography on the website of the Grosvenor Gallery in the UK where some of his works are displayed.
Sadequain won the Pakistan National prize for Painting in 1960, and left for Paris later that year at the invitation of the French Committee of the International Association of Plastic Arts.
“The following few years were to be some of the most important for the young artist in terms of his artistic development, and it was whilst in Paris that he began to achieve international critical acclaim,” the gallery wrote.
In September 1961 he was the laureate winner of the Paris Biennial’s ‘Artist under 35’ category, and was awarded a scholarship which allowed him to remain in Paris, and helped catapult him into the spotlight. During the early 1960s he traveled to Pakistan as well as throughout Europe and to the USA, and held numerous solo-exhibitions, including at the Commonwealth Institute Galleries and New Vision Center, London, and at Galerie Presbourg and Galerie Lambert in Paris.
In 1964 he was awarded the commission to illustrate a new edition of Albert Camus’ novel L’Etranger, published in 1966 by Les Bibliopholes de L’Automobile Club de France.
Sadequain returned to Pakistan in 1967 following his father’s ill health during a visit to France. His output for the next few years was prolific and in the early 1970s he published a huge volume of poetry. It was also during this period that he concerned himself mainly with calligraphy, as well as with state funded murals, including those at Mangla dam, The State Bank of Pakistan, and the ceiling of Frere Hall, Karachi.
Mukarram Zia Raja, who is Bethak Sadequain’s co-founder, recounted the history of Sadequain’s life and work and told Arab News the plan was always to make the venue all about the artist, as well as about art and music in general.
An entire floor of the restaurant is dedicated to Sadequain. With the blessings of the Sadequain Foundation, dozens of memorabilia from his life and work — official prints and private photos — are on display to make young people more curious and encouraged them to learn about the great artist.
“My mother grew up hearing about all these bethaks in the Walled City, lost to time, and she wanted to bring them back,” he said. “But when we got this place, it had just been a warehouse of dry food inventory for the past 60 years. So, she wanted to do something of cultural significance with it too.”
But in Ramadan, serving a good iftar was also key.
“Food culture and Lahori culture is so ingrained together that you can’t run a successful business if you are not doing good iftars during Ramadan,” Mukarram said.
“But we did not want to do a random cash grab for Ramadan, so even all the decor we did was very traditional … Even the choice of music was not random, curated to feature sufi kalaams and naats [spiritual poetry and devotional songs], given that it is Ramadan.”
IMF says Pakistan can cut power tariff by one rupee per unit to benefit ‘all consumers’
- IMF’s resident Pakistan representative, Mahir Binici, confirms power tariff reduction to Arab News
- Binici said authorities can use revenues from captive power plants to cut prices by Rs1 per kilowatt
KARACHI: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has allowed Pakistan to slash power tariffs by one rupee per kilowatt to provide relief to inflation-hit consumers, the IMF’s resident representative in Pakistan confirmed to Arab News on Friday.
Pakistan can bring down the prices of electricity by using revenue from a Rs791 per unit grid levy the government recently imposed on the usage of gas by captive power plants for in-house power generation, Mahir Binici, the IMF’s resident representative, said. Captive power plants, also known as autoproducers or embedded generation, are electricity generation facilities owned and operated by an industrial or commercial entity solely for their own energy consumption, providing a localized power source.
“The price reduction would benefit all consumers,” Binici said.
Analysts see a modest impact of the one rupee relief over the promised Rs8 per unit cut.
“The benefit is modest, around Rs 200 per month, for the average domestic consumer,” said Muhammad Waqas Ghani, head of research at JS Global Capital Ltd. from Karachi.
Financing the cut through a levy on captive power plants would naturally provide a short-term relief, he said.
“For the government to provide any meaningful relief, it would have to work to address the underlying structural issues in Pakistan’s energy sector,” Ghani said.
The confirmation of the power tariff reduction comes days after IMF staff reached a deal with Pakistan for a new $1.3 billion arrangement and also agreed on the first review of the ongoing 37-month bailout program, the IMF said on Tuesday. Pending board approval, Pakistan can unlock the $1.3 billion under a new climate resilience loan program spanning 28 months. It will also free $1 billion for the South Asian nation under its ongoing $7 billion bailout program, which would bring those disbursements to $2 billion.
The IMF’s board of governors will meet in May and approve its next tranche for Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said in a statement on Thursday.
The IMF’s nod for a reduction in Pakistan’s power tariffs is just one component of a larger package Sharif will be announcing after Eid, Zafar Yab Khan, a spokesperson at Pakistan’s power division, told Arab News.
“This should not be misunderstood as the only relief that is being considered by the government,” Khan said.
Under a special relief package, Sharif was expected to announce a reduction in the prices of electricity by as much as Rs8 per unit to provide some relief to Pakistanis who have had to face inflated energy and food prices in the last two years. Pakistan’s inflation peaked at 38% in May 2023 before gradually easing to 1.5% in February this year, the lowest in nearly a decade. The government expects it to remain within 1–3% in the coming months.
The debt-ridden country had to make its electricity costly by withdrawing fuel subsidies and increasing energy prices in compliance with conditions set by the IMF under a $3 billion loan that averted a sovereign debt default in 2023 but fueled record-high inflation and triggered protests in many parts of the country.
Pakistan restores train services from Quetta after deadly hijacking
- 31 soldiers, staff and civilians killed as BLA separatists hijacked Jaffar Express train in Balochistan earlier this month
- BLA is largest and strongest of several ethnic Baloch groups fighting for decades to win independence for Balochistan
QUETTA: Train operations from the Quetta Railway Station were restored on Friday, over two weeks after they were suspended following a deadly hijacking by militants in which 31 soldiers, staff and civilians were killed in the southwestern Balochistan province.
The separatist Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the Mar. 11 attack on the Quetta-Peshawar Jaffar Express, during which they blew up train tracks and held passengers hostage in a day-long standoff with security services in a remote mountain pass.
MP Jamal Shah Kakar and Divisional Superintendent Pakistan Railways Imran Hayat inaugurated the train service in a televised ceremony. The train departed with 400 passengers from Quetta for Peshawar in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province under strict security measures.
The Jaffar Express had started services yesterday, Thursday.
“Although we don’t have enough strength of Railway Police Forces, many stations require fencing and other security equipment,” Railways Minister Hanif Abbasi told reporters earlier this week, admitting that railways facilities in the province faced security challenges.
“We are recruiting 500 soldiers in the Pakistan Railway Police and 70 percent of the recruitment would be for Balochistan,” the minister added. “We have planned new security strategies with the frontier corps and other law enforcing agencies.”
He also announced a special Eid train from Quetta Railway station with fool-proof security for passengers.
“We are very much optimistic about better security to the railway’s passengers in Balochistan,” Abbasi said.
“We have repaired all damaged carriages of the attacked Jaffar Express, and new rack of carriages would be included in the train operations from Balochistan.”
The BLA is the largest and strongest of several ethnic Baloch insurgent groups which have been fighting for decades to win independence for the mineral-rich province, home to major China-led projects including a port and gold and copper mines.
Pakistani charities report modest recovery in Ramadan despite easing inflation
- Alamgir Welfare Trust expects up to 10 percent increase in donations as it aims to expand services
- Pakistan’s largest charity Edhi Foundation says donations have only marginally improved
KARACHI: Two main charities in Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi have reported a modest recovery in the collection of donations this Ramadan despite easing inflation, top officials at the organizations said this week, as the annual inflation rate slowed to 1.5 percent in February, the lowest in nearly a decade.
Major welfare organizations such as the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan’s largest charity known for its extensive network of ambulances and shelters, and the Alamgir Welfare Trust (AWT), another main social welfare body, said they expected either stable or slightly higher contributions this year compared to the last two years when high inflation rates had curtailed donations.
Pakistan’s inflation peaked at 38 percent in May 2023 before gradually easing, with the government expecting it to remain within 1–3 percent in the coming months.
Every year, Edhi and AWT collectively gather and spend as much as Rs4 billion ($14.4 million) on initiatives like sheltering orphans, burying unclaimed dead bodies and providing free food, health and education facilities to thousands of vulnerable families across Pakistan.
“This year we will hopefully see 10 percent extra donations toward our annual budget of Rs3 billion,” Chohdry Nisar Ahmed, the chairman of AWT, told Arab News.
Headquartered in the Bahadurabad neighborhood of Karachi, the organization operates on a daily budget of around Rs10 million ($36,000).
Ahmed said inflation had adversely affected the charity’s work in recent years, though the situation was now beginning to improve.
“Earlier, the effect of inflation was significant. Now that impact has reduced a bit,” he said “But as the gold price has increased now, so people are bound to pay more Zakat. We did experience a little up and down in donations but not much.”
Zakat is a mandatory form of almsgiving in Islam, calculated as a percentage of one’s wealth, including gold holdings. This means the higher the price of gold, the greater the amount eligible individuals are required to pay.
The AWT chief said he wanted to expand his network of services by constructing a 14-story building in Karachi, the commercial capital of Pakistan. To start the construction work on acquired land, he said, AWT needed at least Rs1.5 billion ($5.4 million). The organization also wants to enroll at least 50,000 children in schools in addition to the 40,000 it is already educating.
The chairman of the Edhi Foundation, which runs the world’s largest volunteer ambulance service, also reported a modest hike in donations this year.
“Charity in the first twenty days of Ramadan is almost the same as compared to last year,” Faisal Edhi told Arab News. “The increase [this year] is very little, not much. We cannot call it a substantial increase.”
Edhi Foundation is preparing to expand its 2,000-vehicle ambulance fleet amid growing demand for emergency response services across Pakistan. It already runs a shelter home that houses 5,000 homeless people, including women and children.
“Our annual budget ranges from Rs3-4 billion that we cover from donations,” Edhi said, adding that a part of the donations came from the Pakistani community living in Britain and the United States, but most came from Pakistani donors belonging to the middle or working classes.
“Seeing the inflation, it seems like the [total] charity will be same as last year and our last year was not very promising either,” Edhi said. “The group that gives us charity, they belong to middle and lower-middle classes or the working class and the working class has been affected the most [by inflation] at the moment.”
Court frees Pakistani journalist charged under controversial cybercrime law
- Waheed Murad, who works for Urdu News, was taken from home by masked men Wednesday morning, his family said
- Criminalization of online disinformation has spread fear in Pakistan, with journalists among those worried about new law
KARACHI: A judicial magistrate had approved bail and freed Pakistani journalist Waheed Murad, charged earlier this week under a controversial cybercrime law, his lawyer said on Friday.
Murad, who works with the international digital media outlet Urdu News, was taken from his home by masked men early Wednesday morning, according to his family, provoking an outcry from the local media community and international journalists’ rights bodies.
A new cybercrime law, PECA, under which Murad has been charged, carries a prison term of up to three years and unleashed journalist protests when it was approved in January.
“Judicial Magistrate has approved the bail of journalist Waheed Murad and ordered his release,” Murad’s lawyer Imaan Zainab Mazari-Hazir told Arab News.
The journalist was subsequently freed, with pictures widely shared on social media showing him leaving the lock-up.
The charge sheet against Murad by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) accuses him of sharing “misleading” information on social media, causing “hatred” against government functionaries.
“Accused Muhammad Waheed s/o Bara Khan is found sharing highly intimidating content/post on social media/Facebook and X Corp. on Wednesday, 12-03-2025 at 07:33 p.m. and 10:21 pm, in which the alleged profile has knowingly disseminated/propagated, fake, false, misleading and misinterpreted information leading to hatred against the government functionaries by stating therein that,” a copy of the complaint seen by Arab News said.
The complaint said a case against the journalist has been registered under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA).
Murad’s arrest came just days after the disappearance of the brothers of exiled journalist Ahmad Noorani following the publishing of a controversial report about Pakistani army chief General Asim Munir on Noorani’s website.
On March 20, the Federal Investigation Agency also arrested Karachi-based journalist Farhan Mallick, founder of the digital media platform Raftar, on allegations of airing “anti-state” content on his YouTube channel.
International rights organizations, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, have expressed increasing concern over the deteriorating climate for press freedom. Rights defenders say the pattern reflects a shrinking space for democratic discourse in Pakistan, where journalists critical of state policies or security agencies are frequently subjected to intimidation tactics.
The criminalization of online disinformation has in particular spread fear in Pakistan, with journalists among those worried about the potentially wide reach of laws like PECA.
Pakistan is ranked 152 out of 180 countries in a press freedom index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.
Islamabad has long been criticized by watchdogs for restricting Internet access, including temporary bans on YouTube and TikTok, while X has been officially blocked since February last year.
