KAMRA, Pakistan: The sprawling complex at Kamra, west of Islamabad, reverberates at the thundering take-off of a Mirage Rose-1, the latest aging fighter jet to have been gutted and reassembled by the Pakistani Air Force.
Fifty years after Pakistan bought its first Mirages, many planes in the venerable fleet are still being patched up, overhauled and upgraded for use in combat, years after conventional wisdom dictates they should be grounded.
That includes one of the first two planes originally purchased from France’s Dassault in 1967, which was in a hangar at Kamra after its record fifth overhaul when AFP visited recently.
The techniques they have developed are reminiscent of — but far more high-tech and lethal than — the improvised methods used to keep classic American cars running on the streets of Havana.
“We have achieved such a capability that our experts can integrate any latest system with the aging Mirages,” says Air Commodore Salman M. Farooqi, deputy managing director of the Mirage Rebuild Factory (MRF) at the Kamra complex.
Pakistan bought its first Mirages to diversify its fleet, which in the late 1960s largely consisted of US-built planes: F-104 Starfighters, T-37 Tweety Birds and F-86 Sabres.
The Mirage became a popular choice, with the Air Force buying 17 different variants in later years, eventually owning the second-highest number of the fighter jets after France.
They performed bombing missions during Pakistan’s war with India in 1971 — one of the shortest conflicts in history, lasting just 13 days and leading to the creation of Bangladesh.
But Mirages flew on, also carrying out reconnaissance missions in India, and intercepting and shooting down Soviet and Afghan planes that violated Pakistani airspace during the Soviet war.
Usually, the jet has two or three life cycles, each spanning around 12 years. But overhauling them abroad was expensive for Pakistan, a developing country whose budget is already disproportionately tilted toward its military and which has historically received billions in military assistance from countries such as the US.
So, with the help of experts from Dassault, the air force decided if you want something done for the right price, you’ve got to do it yourself.
The Mirage Rebuild Factory was established at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in 1978, and in the years since has saved “billions” of dollars for Pakistan, according to Group Captain Muhammad Farooq, in charge of one of the maintenance hangars — though he said the exact figure was difficult to pin down.
The planes take some seven weeks to be overhauled and repainted, he said, adding that usually the MRF has the capacity for more than a dozen planes a year. Its calendar for the next decade or so is already booked up.
At least eight different Mirage variants, including the Mirage 5-EF, Mirage III-DP and Mirage-III Rose-I, were in one of the maintenance hangers when AFP visited.
Engineers and technicians were dismantling cockpit instrument panels and landing gear while undertaking a “non-destructive inspection,” essentially an X-ray to detect faults in the wings and airframe.
Dozens of engines awaiting overhaul were piled in one hangar. Even planes that had suffered accidents such as fires breaking out have been patched back together at the facility.
Pakistan has also been buying up discarded Mirages from other countries to bring through the facility, said retired Air Marshal Shahid Lateef.
The most important technological improvement, developed with the help of South Africa, is the ability to integrate air-to-air refueling, Farooqi said.
The “identification of friend and foe” (IFF) system, which detects when a Mirage has been locked on to by the system of another plane, was also a key development, he said.
But even with the improvements and cost-saving measures, the aging planes are becoming more difficult to maintain.
“They have outlived their lives... after their overhauls (they) have become highly unreliable, we even met with lots of accidents,” Lateef said.
The best option to replace them would be the Rafale, as neighbor and arch-rival India — which has also flown and maintained Mirages for decades — is doing, signing a deal with Dassault in 2016.
The price tag is too much for Pakistan, however, retired Air Commodore Tariq Yazdani said.
Instead Pakistan plans to replace them with the JF-17 Thunder aircraft that it co-developed and co-produced with China, the original manufacturer.
Even as it becomes more urgent to phase them out, Mirages’ status as the grand dames of Pakistani military aviation cannot be dismissed, Yazdani, who has logged 1,500 hours flying them, told AFP.
It is a “very agile aircraft capable of penetrating deep into the enemy’s territory without being detected by radar, which makes its sole mission -– to drop bombs on the enemy’s position -– quite easy,” he said.
“It is an old aircraft,” said aviation writer Alan Warnes, author of two books on the Pakistani air force. “But Pakistani pilots have been flying this plane with the utmost accuracy and expertise.”
Thrifty at 50: Pakistan keeps aging Mirages flying
Thrifty at 50: Pakistan keeps aging Mirages flying
Community schools offer hope for Rohingya refugee children as US aid cuts hit education
- Aid cuts are worsening education crisis for 437,000 school-age Rohingya children, HRW said
- Community schools operate by charging small tuition fees, as they lack donor funding
DHAKA: As US aid cuts have forced the UN’s children agency UNICEF to suspend thousands of learning centers for Rohingya refugee children sheltering in camps in Bangladesh, a small number of community-led schools have now become their only source of education.
The Rohingya, a mostly Muslim ethnic minority, have fled from Myanmar’s Rakhine State to neighboring Bangladesh for decades to escape persecution, with more than 700,000 arriving in 2017 following a military crackdown that the UN said was a textbook case of ethnic cleansing by Myanmar.
Today, more than 1.3 million Rohingya on Bangladesh’s southeast coast are cramped inside 33 camps in Cox’s Bazar — the world’s largest refugee settlement.
The refugees, who are almost completely reliant on humanitarian aid, recently faced another blow, after the US suspended aid funding worldwide in January. Washington has been the largest donor, having contributed $300 million in 2024, or 55 percent of all foreign aid for the Rohingya.
Those and other foreign aid cuts “have worsened the already existing education crisis for 437,000 school-age children in Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh,” Human Rights Watch said in a report published this week.
It is only in schools established by the Rohingya community that some children are able to get their education now, the group said, after UNICEF-run learning centers were forced to shut due to a lack of funding.
These schools offer a small glimmer of hope for many young children in the refugee camps.
“School is important for me because it gives me knowledge, enhances my life skills, makes me think for my community, makes me a better person and makes me hopeful for a better future. As a refugee, I don’t have many opportunities, but education can open doors for me and help me build a better life,” Mohammed Shofik, a 15-year-old Rohingya boy enrolled at a community school in Cox’s Bazar, told Arab News on Friday.
His dream is to become a scientist or doctor. At school, he is learning how to experiment and use tools, as well as how to listen and observe carefully, which he thinks are helpful to achieve his goals.
“Education is the only way to reach my dream and help my community,” he said.
But only a small number of Rohingya children are able to enroll in the community-led schools, as they do not receive any charitable support, Arif Salam, a teacher in one such school in the camps, told Arab News.
“Community schools are not funded by any donors and NGOs. Our only funding source is the tuition fees received from the parents of our students. But we can’t provide services to all the children,” he said.
“Only a few students in the camps can afford the learning in the community schools. Most of the students are enrolled with the UNICEF-run learning centers. The children who are enrolled with UNICEF learning centers are now sitting idle as they have nothing to do. It will create an irreparable loss for their education.”
There are about 150 community schools across the Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar. Each of the schools have about 10 to 15 teachers, who provide education for 150 to 400 students.
Without government support or private donor funding, the schools charge parents monthly tuition fees ranging from around $0.50 for class one up to $6.50 for class 12, a fee that many cannot afford, as the Rohingya are not allowed to work.
“The closure of learning centers brought huge educational losses,” Salam said. “For our Rohingya children, it’s a hopeless situation.”
While the Bangladeshi government has not encouraged any informal system of education, such initiatives should be considered to address the education crisis, said Asif Munir, a renowned Bangladeshi expert on migration and refugees.
“Some kind of education is required for them because otherwise there is a possibility that the younger children, as they grow up, not just uneducated, they might be getting involved in informal work or even sort of risky work as well,” Munir warned.
“With education they can still hope for some kind of proper work where they can use their education in their life. So, in that sense, at least, the government can consider this as a good sort of coping strategy.”
HRW had also urged the Bangladeshi government to “recognize and fund community-led schools to increase their capacity,” and highlighted that recognition could help encourage donor support.
For the young Rohingya whose lives have been plagued with increasing uncertainties, going to school helps them chart a path for the future.
“My dream is to become a motivational speaker. In school, our teachers teach us good listening, delivering strong messages, storytelling, using body language, confidence-building techniques and leadership skills,” 10th-grader Rohul Amin told Arab News. “I think with all these knowledge and skills, I can achieve my dream one day.”
For Amin, school also helps him learn about his identity as a Rohingya.
“I especially focus on the history subject because history makes me understand our identity. As a Rohingya, I have no identity. I mostly try to remember our land and our identity.”
German lawmakers vote to suspend family reunions for many migrants
- The bill approved Friday is the first legislation on migration since Merz took office
- It will suspend rules dating to 2018 that allowed up to 1,000 close relatives per month to join the migrants granted limited protection
BERLIN: German lawmakers voted Friday to suspend family reunions for many migrants, part of a drive by the new conservative-led government for a tougher approach to migration.
Parliament’s lower house voted 444-135 to suspend the possibility of family reunions for two years for migrants who have “subsidiary protection,” a status that falls short of asylum.
At the end of March, more than 388,000 people living in Germany had the status, which was granted to many people fleeing Syria’s civil war.
New Chancellor Friedrich Merz made tougher migration policy a central plank of his campaign for Germany’s election in February. Just after he took office in early May, the government stationed more police at the border and said some asylum-seekers trying to enter Europe’s biggest economy would be turned away.
The bill approved Friday is the first legislation on migration since Merz took office. It will suspend rules dating to 2018 that allowed up to 1,000 close relatives per month to join the migrants granted limited protection, with authorities making case-by-case decisions on humanitarian grounds rather than granting an automatic right for reunions.
Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told lawmakers that the change would result in 12,000 fewer people being able to come to Germany each year and “break a business model” for smugglers.
People often know they won’t get full recognition as refugees, “but they set off for Germany because it is known that, even without asylum recognition ... you can have your family follow,” Dobrindt said. “That is a significant pull effect and we are removing this pull effect today.”
Dobrindt said “our country’s capacity for integration simply has a limit.”
Liberal opposition lawmakers decried the government’s approach. Marcel Emmerich, of the Greens, described the legislation as “an attack on the core of every society, on a truly central value — the family.”
“Anyone who wants integration must bring families together,” he said.
The far-right, anti-migration Alternative for Germany described the move as a very small step in the right direction.
German governments have for years faced pressure to curb migration as shelters across the country filled up. The administration of Merz’s predecessor, Olaf Scholz, already had taken some measures including the introduction of checks on all Germany’s borders.
Asylum applications declined from 329,120 in 2023 to 229,751 last year and have continued to fall this year.
Mamdani’s NYC primary win sparks surge in anti-Muslim posts, advocates say
- There were at least 127 violent hate-related reports mentioning Mamdani or his campaign in the day after polls closed
- Overall, it noted about 6,200 online posts that mentioned some form of Islamophobic slur
WASHINGTON: Anti-Muslim online posts targeting New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani have surged since his Democratic primary upset this week, including death threats and comments comparing his candidacy to the September 11, 2001 attacks, advocates said on Friday.
There were at least 127 violent hate-related reports mentioning Mamdani or his campaign in the day after polls closed, said CAIR Action, an arm of the Council on American Islamic Relations advocacy group, which logs such incidents.
That marks a five-fold increase over a daily average of such reports tracked earlier this month, CAIR Action said in a statement.
Overall, it noted about 6,200 online posts that mentioned some form of Islamophobic slur or hostility in that day long time-frame.
Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist and a 33-year-old state lawmaker, declared victory in Tuesday’s primary after former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo conceded defeat.
Born in Uganda to Indian parents, Mamdani would be the city’s first Muslim and Indian American mayor if he wins the November general election.
“We call on public officials of every party — including those whose allies are amplifying these smears — to unequivocally condemn Islamophobia,” said Basim Elkarra, executive director of CAIR Action.
The advocacy group said its hate monitoring system includes its own scraping and analysis of posts, online submissions by the public and notifications from law enforcement. About 62 percent of the anti-Muslim posts against Mamdani originated on X, CAIR Action said.
People close to Republican President Donald Trump, including one of his sons, are among those spreading anti-Muslim rhetoric, advocates said.
Donald Trump Jr, the president’s son, wrote on X on Wednesday that “New York City has fallen” while sharing a post that said New Yorkers had “voted for” 9/11. Also on Wednesday, Republican US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene posted an AI-generated picture of the Statue of Liberty draped in a burqa.
President Trump has pursued domestic policies that rights advocates have described as anti-Muslim, including banning travel from some predominantly Muslim or Arab countries in his first term and attempting to deport pro-Palestinian students in his current term.
The White House, which did not respond to a request for comment, has denied claims of discrimination against Muslims. Trump and his allies have said they oppose Mamdani and others due to what they call the Democrats’ “radical left” ideology.
THREATS
The New York City Police Department said earlier this month its hate crime unit was probing anti-Muslim threats against Mamdani.
Manjusha Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, which documents hate against Asian Americans, and CAIR said attacks against Mamdani mirrored those endured by other South Asian and Muslim political figures, including former Vice President Kamala Harris and Representatives Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib.
Republicans have called Mamdani antisemitic, citing his pro-Palestinian advocacy and his criticism of Israel’s military assault on Gaza after an attack by Hamas militants in October 2023.
Mamdani has condemned antisemitism and has the backing of New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, who is Jewish. Lander also ran in the Democratic primary.
Rights advocates have noted rising antisemitism and Islamophobia since the start of the Israel-Gaza war, with fatal US incidents including the shooting of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington and the stabbing of a Muslim child in Illinois.
Mamdani and other Pro-Palestinian advocates, including some Jewish groups, said their criticism of Israel is wrongly conflated with antisemitism.
Kremlin says Estonia's readiness to host nuclear-capable NATO jets threatens Russia
- Pevkur said Estonia was ready to host nuclear-capable jets if necessary
- Peskov said such a move would be an obvious threat to Russia
MOSCOW: The Kremlin said on Friday that Estonia's stated readiness to host NATO allies' U.S.-made F-35A stealth jets, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, posed a direct threat to Moscow.
Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur told the Postimees news outlet on Thursday that Estonia - which borders Russia and is a rotating base for NATO jets tasked with protecting Baltic airspace - was ready to host nuclear-capable jets if necessary.
"If some of them, regardless of their country of origin, have a dual-use capability to carry nuclear weapons it doesn't affect our position on hosting F-35s in any way," the outlet cited him as saying.
"Of course we are ready to host our allies."
Pevkur was speaking after Britain, a NATO member, announced it would buy at least 12 F-35A jets capable of carrying nuclear warheads and that they would join NATO's airborne nuclear mission.
Asked about Pevkur's comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such a move would be an obvious threat to Russia.
"Of course it would be an immediate danger," Peskov told a journalist from Russia's Life news outlet. He said the statement was one of many "absurd thoughts" voiced by politicians in the Baltic region, which comprises Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
"We have practically no relations with the Baltic republics because it is very difficult to make them worse," he said.
Liberia holds funeral for ex-leader Doe decades after assassination
- Samuel Doe’s brutal 1990 torture and murder were an early turning point in the two civil wars
- The circumstances surrounding Doe’s death mark a notorious episode in Liberia’s history
ZWEDRU, Liberia: Hundreds of people gathered Friday in rural Liberia for the state funeral of authoritarian former president Samuel Doe 35 years after his assassination, part of the country’s ongoing reconciliation efforts over its violent past.
Doe’s brutal 1990 torture and murder were an early turning point in the two civil wars that killed around 250,000 people and ravaged Liberia’s economy.
He is being commemorated at his home compound in southeastern Grand Gedeh County alongside his wife, Nancy, who died in May and will be buried at the estate.
Liberians gathered along the route Friday as the couple’s caskets – his symbolic, and hers containing her body – were slowly driven through the county capital of Zwedru on the bed of a truck decorated in bunting in the country’s red, white and blue colors.
The state ceremony is being attended by President Joseph Boakai, who declared a period of mourning this week from Tuesday to Friday, with flags flown at half-mast.
His executive mansion Facebook page said the commemorations are part of a “broader effort” meant to “promote national reconciliation.”
The circumstances surrounding Doe’s death mark a notorious episode in Liberia’s history.
Infamous warlord Prince Johnson, a key player in the civil wars (1989 to 2003), appeared in a video watching his fighters slowly mutilate and torture Doe to death while he calmly sipped a beer.
Various rumors but little concrete information exists as to the fate and location of Doe’s remains following his death.
Doe’s own rise to power was also steeped in violence.
His 1980 to 1990 rule remains divisive, remembered by many Liberians as a brutal dictatorship, while others recall some transformative measures he implemented fondly.
Liberian Mercy Janjay Seeyougar said in Monrovia ahead of the funeral that she remembered how Doe once gave her a candy, and that during street cleanings he would “stop and be with the people who are doing the cleaning.”
In 1980, Doe, then an army sergeant in his late 20s, led a coup assassinating president William Tolbert, the last in a line of leaders from the Americo-Liberian ruling class comprised of the descendants of former US slaves.
Quickly establishing a regime of terror, Doe had 13 members of the government he had overthrown publicly executed on a beach and his regime subsequently jailed or persecuted many of its opponents.
He was elected in a 1985 presidential vote that many observers said was marked by fraud.
The brutality of his regime, combined with declining economic conditions and favoritism toward the Krahn ethnic group of which he was a member, led to increased unpopularity.
