ISLAMABAD: Hundreds of fully-grown trees have been chopped down in Pakistan’s capital to make way for a series of development projects in recent years, resulting in an aggravation of the adverse impacts of climate change and pollution.
The authorities are believed to have cut down more than 1,500 trees in Islamabad over the last four years in order to build a metro bus project and expand major roads.
The falling of about 245 mature trees on Embassy Road near Parliament House last October, in particular, did not go unnoticed, as scores of eco-activists took to the streets in protest.
Mome Gul has launched a “Reclaiming Green Islamabad” campaign in a bid to force the local administration to abandon its plans to sacrifice more trees during road expansion works.
“The deforestation in Islamabad is resulting in the fast depletion of groundwater, increasing carbon emissions and pollution,” she said.
Mome fears that Islamabad’s residents might soon have to grapple with smog like in Lahore and other major cities if deforestation continues at the current pace.
“Our political leaders do not honor their pledges made in international conferences for sustainable development,” she said, suggesting that people should take the political leadership to task for destroying urban ecology in the name of development.
Forest covers 4.4 million hectares (5 percent) of Pakistan’s land area, while the current rate of deforestation is 27,000 hectares per year, one of the highest in the world, according to government data.
Environmental experts say the main drivers behind deforestation in Pakistan are weak governance, land encroachments, and the growing population with its associated demand for firewood.
Ali Tauqeer Sheikh, CEO of LEAD Pakistan and Asia director for the Climate and Development Knowledge Network (CDKN), said trees are considered to be the “lungs of the cities.”
“We need to develop carbon-neutral cities and ensure sustainable development to offset the increasing pressure of urbanization,” he said.
A 2016 report on urbanization by the United Nations estimates that nearly 40 percent of Pakistan’s population lives in urban areas, as compared to 34 percent in Bangladesh, and 33 percent in India.
Malik Amin Aslam, global vice president of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), told Arab News that increasing urban forest cover across Pakistan is vital in order to deal with issues like smog, respiratory diseases and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
“Trees are the biggest defense against pollution and climate change,” he said, adding that deforestation in Pakistan is contributing to the melting of glaciers and increasing flood risk.
Aslam urged all provincial governments to initiate afforestation and reforestation programs similar to those carried out in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government has restored more than 350,000 hectares of forest in the last four years through its $123 million “Billion Tree Tsunami” project.
According to the latest Global Climate Risk Index, Pakistan ranks seventh among the countries most adversely affected by climate change. Its current annual expected urban damage due to floods is $378 million, but that could reach $3.4 billion by 2030 if no additional flood protection is introduced, says a report released by US-based think-tank the World Resources Institute.
In the face of all these challenges and threats, the country does not even have a national forest inventory (NFI) to monitor its forest cover and curb deforestation, which is a major cause of flash flooding and the subsequent losses to life and property.
Syed Mahmood Nasir, Inspector General of Forests, told Arab News that Finnish company Arbonaut is preparing an NFI for Pakistan with the help of World Bank funding. This is due to be completed by June this year.
Nasir said that climate change is a provincial subject, but the federal government is helping by designing projects aimed at mitigating the environmental degradation caused by deforestation.
In 2010, Pakistan faced its worst-ever floods, which destroyed agricultural land, infrastructure and affected more than 20 million people.
Federal Minister for Climate Change, Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan, recently urged the global community to make speedy progress on taking decisive action, saying “climate change is an issue determining our destiny as humankind and the wellbeing of all of us and our future generations to have a better, loveable future.”
Smog fears as Islamabad’s trees are sacrificed
Smog fears as Islamabad’s trees are sacrificed
Asian Development Bank approves $7.5 million to boost health care in Pakistan’s northwest
- Funds will aid in revamping hospitals, improving service delivery, modernizing equipment across secondary health facilities
- The ADB has committed over $52 billion to Pakistan, one of its founding members, since 1966 in public, private sector loans
ISLAMABAD: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has approved $7.5 million to enhance health care systems in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistani state media reported on Thursday.
The funds will support the mega project of revamping of Non-Teaching District Headquarters hospitals across the province, the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“It would also improve service delivery, and modernize equipment across secondary health care facilities,” the report read.
The regional development bank has committed over $52 billion to Pakistan, one of its founding members, since 1966 in public and private sector loans, grants and other forms of financing to promote inclusive economic growth in the country.
On Dec. 14, Pakistan signed a loan agreement with the ADB for the Integrated Social Protection Development Program additional financing amounting to $330 million.
India to play Champions Trophy on neutral ground, not Pakistan
- In return, Pakistan will also play upcoming ICC tournaments hosted by India in other countries, yet to be decided
- The agreement will extend to ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 hosted by India, ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026
KARACHI: India will play next year’s Champions Trophy matches on neutral ground after refusing to visit tournament host and arch-rival Pakistan, the International Cricket Council said Thursday following weeks of wrangling.
In return, Pakistan will also play upcoming ICC tournaments hosted by India in other countries, yet to be decided.
“India and Pakistan matches hosted by either country at ICC Events during the 2024-2027 rights cycle will be played at a neutral venue, the ICC Board confirmed,” said a statement released by the body.
“This will apply to the upcoming ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 (hosted by Pakistan).”
The agreement will extend to the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2025 hosted by India, and the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 hosted by India and Sri Lanka, the statement added.
The announcement ended a month-long stand-off over the Champions Trophy, after India told the ICC it will not send its team to Pakistan because of security fears and political tension.
Pakistan did, however, play in India during the 2023 ICC World Cup hosted there.
Pakistan issues visas to 84 Indian Hindu pilgrims to visit Katas Raj temples
- 900-year-old Katas Raj temples are one of the holiest sites in South Asia for Hindus
- In 2021, Pakistan opened the Kartarpur corridor as a visa-free crossing for Indian Sikhs
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi has issued visas to 84 Indian Hindu pilgrims to visit the Shri Katas Raj temples in the Chakwal district of the eastern Punjab province from Dec. 19 till Dec. 25, Pakistani state media reported this week.
The 900-year-old Katas Raj temples, one of the holiest sites in South Asia for Hindus, form a complex of several temples connected by walkways that surround a pond named Katas that Hindu sacred texts say was created from the teardrops of Shiva as he wandered the Earth inconsolable after the death of his wife Sati.
The complex is located in the village of Katas some 110 km (70 miles) south of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
“The issuance of pilgrimage visas is in line with the policy of Government of Pakistan to facilitate visits to religious shrines and promoting interfaith harmony,” the APP news agency reported, citing a statement from the Pakistani high commission.
Under the 1974 Pakistan-India Protocol on Visits to Religious Shrines, each year thousands of Sikh and Hindu pilgrims from India visit Pakistan to attend religious festivals and events.
Pakistan’s chargé d’affaires Saad Ahmad Warraich wished the pilgrims “a spiritually rewarding yatra and a fulfilling journey,” according to the APP report.
In 2021, Pakistan opened the Kartarpur corridor as a visa-free crossing allowing Indian Sikhs to visit the temple just 4km (2.5 miles) inside Pakistan where Sikhism’s founder Guru Nanak died in 1539. Many Sikhs see Pakistan as where their religion began as Nanak was born in 1469 in a small village near the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore.
The Kartarpur corridor marked a rare thaw in relations between the two nuclear-armed foes and neighbors.
Pakistan, Bangladesh leaders agree to expand bilateral ties on sidelines of D-8 summit in Cairo
- Pakistan, Bangladesh have sought to improve bilateral ties since former PM Hasina’s ouster as a result of a mass movement
- PM Shehbaz Sharif thanked Bangladesh for the recent steps taken for facilitation of trade and travel between the two nations
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Muhammad Yunus, head of the Bangladeshi interim government, on Thursday agreed to deepen bilateral cooperation in all areas of mutual interest, Sharif’s office said, following a meeting between the two leaders on the sidelines of the 11th Summit of the Developing Eight (D-8) countries in Cairo.
The meeting took place in a cordial environment, truly reflecting the existing goodwill and fraternal ties between Pakistan and Bangladesh, according to PM Sharif’s office.
The Pakistan premier expressed Pakistan’s keen desire to enhance bilateral cooperation, particularly in the areas of trade, people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges.
“The two leaders expressed satisfaction over recent positive developments in bilateral relations and noted with satisfaction the increasing frequency of high-level contacts,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Established together as one independent nation in 1947, Bangladesh won liberation from then-West Pakistan in 1971. Relations between the two countries continued to deteriorate during former Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s administration, which prosecuted several members of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) party for war crimes relating to the 1971 conflict.
However, relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh have improved since Hasina was ousted in a bloody student-led protest in August. Islamabad’s ties with Dhaka have also improved as Bangladesh’s relations with India, where Hasina has sought refuge, have deteriorated.
During the meeting, Sharif’s office said the premier emphasized on the need to make joint efforts to explore new avenues of economic cooperation and to take advantage of their potential in sectors such as chemicals, cement clinkers, surgical goods, leather goods and information technology.
“The prime minister expressed his gratitude to Bangladesh for the recent steps taken for facilitation of trade and travel between Pakistan and Bangladesh,” Sharif’s office said.
“This includes waiving off the condition of 100 percent physical inspection of the consignments from Pakistan and abolishment of special security desk at the Dhaka airport earlier established to scrutinize Pakistani passengers. Prime Minister also thanked Bangladesh for doing away with additional clearance requirement for Pakistani visa applicants.”
The two leaders acknowledged importance of people-to-people contacts and cultural exchanges, including enhanced exchange of artists, sportspersons, academics, and students, according to the statement. Both sides agreed to forge greater cooperation at various multilateral fora, including D-8.
Sharif arrived in Cairo on Wednesday to lead the Pakistan delegation at the D-8 summit on December 18-19. Founded in 1997 in Istanbul, D-8 is an organization for development co-operation among Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Türkiye. The 11th summit of the bloc is themed as “Investing in Youth and Supporting SMEs: Shaping Tomorrow’s Economy.”
He will address the summit today, Thursday, and highlight the importance of investing in youth and small medium enterprises (SMEs) for building a strong and inclusive economy, creating jobs, advancing innovation, and promoting local entrepreneurship, according to his office.
The prime minister will also attend a special session of D-8 on the humanitarian crisis and reconstruction challenges in Gaza and Lebanon to deliberate on the situation resulting from Israeli military actions in the Middle East.
Also on Thursday, Sharif held a meeting with Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto and congratulated him on assuming the office. The two figures exchanged views on a wide range of issues of mutual interest, including bilateral ties covering political, trade and economic matters as well as cooperation at the multilateral fora, according to Sharif’s office.
“Both the leaders reaffirmed their unwavering support for the Palestinian cause and called for a ceasefire in Gaza urging for a comprehensive approach for resolution of the Palestinian question, with the establishment of a sovereign and independent State of Palestine,” it added.
Pakistan stock market sheds over 2,000 points on profit-taking, foreign outflow concerns
- KSE-100 index drops 2,671 points, or 2.41 percent, to a low of 108,398.42 during intraday trading
- Analysts say market downturn driven by blue-chip stocks, unstable rupee and weak global oil prices
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) on Thursday declined by more than 2,000 points, stock analysts said, citing profit-taking and concerns over foreign outflows as main reasons behind the slump.
The benchmark KSE-100 index dropped 2,671.87 points, or 2.41 percent, to 108,398.42 points during intraday trading on Thursday, compared to Wednesday’s close 111,070.29 points.
Ahsan Mehanti, chief executive officer of Arif Habib Commodities, said the downturn was driven by profit-taking by investors, an unstable rupee and weak global oil prices.
“Stocks bearish on concerns over foreign outflows and outlook for cautious SBP [State Bank of Pakistan] policy easing on susceptible multiple risks,” he told Arab News.
“Consolidation in the blue-chip scrips, rupee instability and weak global crude oil prices played a catalyst role in bearish activity.”
On Dec. 16, Pakistan’s central bank cut its key interest rate by 200 basis points to 13 percent, marking the fifth straight reduction since June.
Blue-chip stocks in the PSX include large, stable companies like Oil & Gas Development Company (OGDC), Hub Power, Engro, Nestlé and Lucky Cement. These companies are known for strong performance, financial stability, and industry leadership, making them popular for long-term investments.
Raza Jafri, head of equities at Intermarket Securities, said value buyers would be tempted to reenter on dips, with valuations still in active territory and no changes to the economy’s positive outlook.
“Pakistan equities have experienced profit-taking this week, after this year’s robust 80 percent + CYTD [calendar year to date] rally,” he told Arab News.
“Similar profit-taking also occurred in mid-December last year, around 10 percent, after a rapid rally.”
