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
Meet Major Sania Safdar, Pakistani peacekeeper recognized by UN for gender advocacy
- Safdar from Pakistan is first peacekeeper from UNFICYP to receive 2023 Certificate of Recognition for gender advocacy
- In Cyprus, Safdar, who has an engineering degree, served as Mission’s Force Signal Officer as well as gender focal person
RAWALPINDI: When Major Sania Safdar was posted with the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) last year, she never expected that her service would lead her to becoming the first peacekeeper from the mission to receive the 2023 Certificate of Recognition for gender advocacy.
Safdar, 36, was presented the certificate in August this year by the New York-based UN Department of Peace Operations for advocating gender equality as a member of the UNFICYP. She served from July 2023 to November 2024 as the mission’s Force Signal Officer and one of its military gender focal points.
“I am the first [Pakistani] peacekeeper from that mission who received this certificate of recognition for gender advocacy, and I am very happy and proud,” Safdar told Arab News in an interview this week.
She said her work involved promoting equal representation of women in all activities, organizing initiatives for them and ensuring their participation in planning, exercises, and operations throughout the mission. Since her deployment to the mission last year, she proactively took charge of several initiatives “by focusing on integrating the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda into military components of the Mission’s work,” the UN said.
Getting the certificate of recognition is not the soldier’s only memorable achievement as a member of the UNFICYP.
After she left the peacekeeping force in Cyprus, the chief of the mission wrote a letter of appreciation to Pakistan Army Chief Gen. Asim Munir, recognizing Safdar’s efforts as a staff officer.
“I am really happy and really proud to have two certificates with me when I finish my UN mission,” she said.
Safdar was also nominated for the 2023 UN Military Gender Advocate of the Year Award that “recognizes a military peacekeeper who has best integrated a gender perspective into peacekeeping activities.”
While the award went to Major Radhika Sen, an Indian peacekeeper deployed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Safdar said being nominated was achievement enough.
“Because of all my performance, I was nominated for this award,” she said.
“DREAM JOB”
Safdar hails from a small village in Pakistan’s Gujur Khan district and has a background in engineering.
“It was not very common in our village for the ladies to go outside and to live in the hostels for higher education,” Safdar said.
But her father, a retired teacher, encouraged her to join a post-graduate college in the city of Rawalpindi, from where she completed her Faculty of Science degree.
“When I came to know that now there is an opportunity for ladies from the engineering department to join the army, so it was my dream job,” Safdar said.
“Even after my BS [Bachelor of Science degree], I got the scholarship for my MS [Master of Science] education and it was a very good scholarship from abroad but I rejected that scholarship and I joined the military [in 2012].”
But life has not always been easy for Safdar, who is married to an army officer and has two sons under the age of ten. Indeed, while she described her service in Cyprus as a “wonderful experience,” living thousands of miles away from her young family came with its own set of challenges:
“In the middle of the mission, my elder son was facing some medical problem … and I was so much worried and so much concerned that my family responsibilities were being compromised.”
At one point, the major considered quitting the mission but her husband and family motivated her to continue serving.
It has all worked out for the best, as she said her family and especially her children were proud of her.
“When I visit their school they tell their class fellows, ‘Look, my mother is serving, my mother is in uniform,’ and sometimes they request me to, ‘Please come to our school and mama, please come in uniform’,” she said with a smile.
“This is, I think, the most proud moment for me that my kids, my parents, and my husband, they are proud of me.”
In the future, Safdar hopes other young women will learn from her example and follow their passions with “determination and faith.”
“If you really want to do something just go for it,” she said, “take the initiative and Allah Almighty will never, ever waste your efforts.”
Pakistani PM says 7 million at risk from flooding in glacial lakes
- Pakistan boasts over 7,000 glaciers, one of the highest totals for any country in the world
- 2022 floods killed 1,700 people and affected more than 33 million, with economic losses over $30 billion
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday over 3,000 lakes had been formed in Pakistan due to accelerated glacial melt, posing an increased risk of flooding and putting the lives of over seven million people at risk.
Sharif was addressing a ceremony in connection with steps taken for the protection of glaciers in Baku where leaders of nearly 200 nations have gathered for COP29 climate talks this week.
“Accelerated glacial melt has led to the formation of more than 3,000 glacial lakes in the northern part of Pakistan, beautiful though but at the same time posing great threat,” Sharif said in a speech.
“It is estimated that out of these, 33 are at high risk of outburst flooding, putting at risk the lives of over 7 million people. This is a very grave situation and demands urgent action and now.”
The UN defines Glacial Lake Outburst Floods (GLOFs) as sudden events that can occur when glaciers melt and release millions of cubic meters of water and debris. In Pakistan, GLOFs can be a threat to the lives and livelihoods of people living in remote mountain areas, especially in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.
Outside the polar region, Pakistan is the country with the highest number of glaciers in the world at over 7,000. However, a combination of climate change and air pollution, including from neighboring countries like India and China, has significantly contributed to the rapid melting of these glaciers, causing devastating floods that have affected Pakistan’s people, livelihoods and the economy.
In 2022, the country experienced an unprecedented deluge and unexpected monsoon rainfall. It resulted in one-third of the nation being submerged and claiming the lives of 1,700 people.
Pakistan estimates the floods affected more than 33 million people, mainly in the Sindh and Baluchistan provinces, and caused economic losses that exceeded $30 billion.
IMF delegation in Pakistan, discusses ‘key benchmarks’ of $7 billion loan program — official
- IMF has said Porter’s visit is not part of the first review of loan program
- First review not scheduled to take place before the first quarter of 2025
ISLAMABAD: An International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation is in Islamabad this week and will hold discussions with top Pakistani officials on the “key benchmarks” of a $7 billion loan program approved in September, a finance ministry official said on Tuesday.
The IMF delegation led by Pakistan mission chief Nathan Porter arrived in Islamabad on Monday on an unplanned visit. The team is expected to hold meetings until Friday with top officials from ministries such as finance and energy and the Federal Board of Revenue, the main tax collection agency, to collect data on “loan program performance to date,” a finance ministry official told Arab News, seeking anonymity.
The IMF has said Porter’s visit is not part of the first review of the loan program, which is not scheduled to take place before the first quarter of 2025.
“Some key benchmarks of the loan program will come under discussion during the meetings, as Islamabad faces some revenue shortfall and a recent botched attempt to privatize the Pakistan International Airlines,” the finance ministry official said.
“Matters like external financing gap and reforms in the energy sector are also expected to be discussed with the IMF delegation.”
The IMF reached a staff-level agreement with Pakistan in July for a 37-month $7 billion bailout package, which the Fund’s Executive Board approved in September. This was the 25th loan program that Pakistan has obtained since 1958.
In a statement released on Tuesday, the ministry of finance said a delegation led by Porter had an “initial meeting” with finance minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.
Minister of State for Finance Ali Pervez Malik, Governor State Bank Jameel Ahmed, Federal Board of Revenue Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial and senior finance ministry officials were also present in the meeting, the ministry said.
Islamabad secured the bailout loan, critical to keeping its $350 billion fragile economy afloat, after taking painful measures such as hiking fuel and food prices and implementing reforms to broaden the country’s tax base and privatize state-owned entities.
“INTERIM CHECKS”
Pakistan’s macroeconomic conditions and investor sentiment have improved in recent months, which analysts say has led to a bullish trend in the country’s stock market.
Syed Atif Zafar, the chief economist at Topline Securities, said the IMF delegation’s meetings with Pakistani officials were part of “interim checks” to ensure a successful review of the loan facility next year.
“The government failed to achieve the tax revenue target in the first quarter that has perhaps necessitated this IMF visit, but still the authorities have multiple options and time to overcome this gap,” he told Arab News.
“The good thing at this point is that all structural and quantitative benchmarks of the loan program are on track.”
Tahir Abbas, a senior economist and head of research at Arif Habib Limited, said Pakistan last month requested the IMF for a $1 billion climate financing facility to mitigate climate risk, which would be discussed during the ongoing IMF visit.
“Pakistan’s revenue shortfall of around Rs200 billion ($720 million) in the first quarter has mainly necessitated this IMF visit,” he told Arab News.
“The finance ministry will now inform the IMF delegation about the possible revenue measures to overcome the shortfall and cut the expenditures.”
After primary schools, Pakistan’s Punjab closes high schools as smog crisis deepens
- Record air pollution has triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, school closures, lockdowns in Punjab this month
- On Tuesday, provincial capital Lahore, home to 13 million people, had worst air quality globally, according to IQAir
ISLAMABAD: The government of Punjab has closed all educational institutions in the province up to the higher secondary level from tomorrow, Wednesday, until the end of the week because of record-breaking smog that has already prompted the closure of primary schools and government offices and has sickened tens of thousands of people.
Record-high air pollution levels have triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, junior school closures and stay-at-home orders in several districts of Punjab, including the provincial capital of Lahore, which has been enveloped in a thick, toxic smog since last month.
On Tuesday, Lahore, home to 13 million people, had the worst air quality of any city in the world, according to live readings by IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company.
“All the educational institutions […] up to higher secondary level shall remain closed and will shift to online mode with effect from Nov 13 within […] DG Khan, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Sargodha and Rawalpindi divisions […] till Nov 17,” the province’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a notification issued on Tuesday, ordering schools to shift to “online mode.”
In Pakistan, the higher secondary level refers to upper secondary education, which includes grades 11 and 12. It is also known as intermediate education.
Speaking to reporters, Punjab Education Minister Rana Sikandar Hayat said the decision to close higher secondary institutes was taken “in light of the complaints received from the district.”
“This drastic decision had to be taken to protect children from the deadly effects,” he said. “There is a sense of educational loss, but the decision to close educational institutions is being taken out of compulsion.
Primary schools and government offices had already been closed until Nov. 17 in many districts of Punjab earlier this month, with school closures likely to affect the education of more than 20 million students, according to associations representing private and government schools.
Authorities in 18 districts of Punjab also closed all public parks, zoos and museums, historical places, and playgrounds for ten days last week.
On Friday, a court in Lahore ordered the government to shut all markets after 8pm. Authorities have already banned barbecuing food without filters and ordered wedding halls to close by 10pm.
On Monday, the UN children’s agency said the health of 11 million children in Punjab province was in danger because of air pollution
“Prior to these record-breaking levels of air pollution, about 12 percent of deaths in children under 5 in Pakistan were due to air pollution,” UNICEF’s representative in Pakistan, Abdullah Fadil, said.
“The impact of this year’s extraordinary smog will take time to assess, but we know that doubling and tripling the amount of pollution in the air will have devastating effects, particularly on children and pregnant women.”
Bus carrying wedding guests falls into river in northern Pakistan, killing 18
- Accident took place on Gilgit Baltistan region as bus was heading to Chakwal in Punjab
- So far only one woman had been found alive and was being treated at hospital, officials say
MANSEHRA, Pakistan: A bus carrying about two dozen wedding guests fell into the Indus River in northern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 18 people, officials said.
It happened in the Gilgit Baltistan region as the bus was heading to Chakwal, a city in Punjab province, government spokesman Faizullah Farqan said.
He said a search for bodies continued, and so far only one woman had been found alive and was being treated at a hospital.
Police said it was unclear what caused the crash, and officers were yet to record the lone survivor’s statement.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari offered condolences and asked rescuers to expedite efforts to find missing passengers.
Road accidents are common in Pakistan due to poor infrastructure and disregard for traffic laws and safety standards. In August, 36 people were killed and dozens of others were injured in two separate bus crashes.
