MITHI, Pakistan: Cows roam freely in the Pakistani city of Mithi, as in neighboring India. Considered sacred animals among Hindus, they embody the religious tolerance of this community in conservative Muslim Pakistan, where minorities face heavy discrimination.
Here, “Muslims respect the beliefs of Hindus,” said Sham Das, a 72-year-old pensioner. “They do not kill cows, or only in remote places, but not in Hindu neighborhoods.”
Unlike in the rest of Pakistan, cattle in Mithi live very well. They eat as they please, often from rubbish bins, and fall asleep on the roads.
At times tuk-tuks and motorcycles navigate a weaving path around the animals. At others, the traffic waits patiently for them to wake.
Mithi is a mostly Hindu city of 60,000 people, a rarity in a country where some 95 percent of the population is Muslim.
As they enter Shri Krishna temple, the Hindu faithful ring a bell, the sound of which mingles with the azan, the call to prayer for Muslims sounded just a few streets away.
A relaxed group of young Hindus talk outside the colorful, intricately carved exterior, where not a single guard is employed.
It is a sharp contrast to the Hindu neighborhoods in the megacity of Karachi, some 300 kilometers (around 200 miles) away, which are under armed surveillance.
Vijay Kumar Gir, a Hindu priest in Karachi, said that of the 360 temples in the city, merely a dozen are still functioning.
“The rest of them have been shut down and their land is being encroached,” he said.
It is a bleak situation that is far more representative of the stigmatization Hindus face across Pakistan, where they are often assumed to be “pro-India because of their religion,” according to Marvi Sirmed, of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission (HRCP).
“So they are always looked at with suspicion to be anti-Pakistan,” she added, referring to the tense relationship between the two countries, which have fought three wars since partition in 1947.
The HRCP describes Pakistani Hindus as feeling “uneasy” in their country, saying in its annual report that “the migration of Hindus to India may soon turn into an exodus if the discrimination against them continues.”
According to the HRCP, which cites religious leaders, the biggest problem facing the community is the “forced conversion” to Islam of women and girls, many of whom are abducted before being married off to Muslim men.
But none of this appears to affect Mithi, where Muslims and Hindus say they live together in harmony, even sending one another gifts and sweets to mark their religious holidays, residents say.
“Since I was old enough to reason, I have witnessed fraternity, love and harmony between Hindus and Muslims,” said Sunil Kumar, a 35-year-old businessman.
“That has been going on for generations of our forefathers... it shall go on forever.”
The origins of Mithi’s peaceful existence are rooted in the geographical location of the city, which rose out of the sand dunes in the majestic Tharparkar desert that borders the Indian state of Rajasthan.
Local researchers claim a group of peace-loving Hindus founded the town in the early 16th century, as war and looting raged all around.
The soil was not fertile and it was difficult to access water, so the city attracted only those of little means who had few other options.
“We are the descendants of the original residents of this region, as positive and peace-loving as they were,” said Allah Jurio, a 53-year-old imam in Mithi, which is also renowned for its low crime rate.
“Non-violence is inherently our second nature.”
But as religious extremism and hate speech flourish in Pakistan, and “faith-based violence in the name of religion continues unabated,” according to the HRCP, the fear that this oasis of tolerance may disappear is palpable.
Although Chandar Kumar, a 24-year-old Hindu computer scientist, sees no problems in the long-term among Mithi’s residents, he said “there are elements from outside who aspire to spread discrimination,” declining to elaborate.
Extremist groups, such as the Jamaat-ud-Dawa, labeled a terrorist organization by the UN, are accused of being active in the area.
“They want to end the unity,” said Kumar.
Pakistan’s Mithi, an oasis of Muslim-Hindu tolerance
Pakistan’s Mithi, an oasis of Muslim-Hindu tolerance
- Mithi is a mostly Hindu city of 60,000 people, a rarity in a country where some 95 percent of the population is Muslim
- The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in its annual report says “the migration of Hindus to India may soon turn into an exodus if the discrimination against them continues”
Pakistani weightlifter Nooh Butt wins gold in Commonwealth powerlifting event debut
- Butt lifted 370kg in his maiden powerlifting competition
- This year’s event is taking place in Sun City from Oct. 4-13
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani weightlifter Nooh Dastgir Butt has made a brilliant debut by winning a gold medal in the squat competition of the Commonwealth Powerlifting Classic and Equipped Championships held in South Africa, Pakistani state media reported on Thursday, with Butt etching his name in history as the country’s first powerlifting gold medalist.
The Commonwealth Powerlifting Classic and Equipped Championships is a premier powerlifting competition that brings together top athletes from across the Commonwealth nations. The event is organized by the Commonwealth Powerlifting Federation (CPF), which aims to promote drug-free powerlifting at the international level.
This year’s championships are taking place in Sun City, South Africa from October 4 till October 13, featuring classic and equipped powerlifting categories.
“It is a historic moment for Pakistan, as Nooh won the gold medal in his very first participation,” the state-run APP news agency reported.
Butt lifted an impressive 370kg in his maiden powerlifting competition, according to the report.
The competition includes various weight classes and age groups, with athletes competing in squat, bench press and deadlift events.
But is set to compete in the bench press and deadlift categories, where he is one of the favorites in the 120kg+ category.
Authorities in northwestern Pakistani province allow ‘banned’ Pashtun group to hold grand council
- Founded in 2014, the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement has long advocated against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Pashtuns and other ethnic minorities in Pakistan
- At least three people were killed in clashes between Pakistani police and PTM supporters in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, two days after the federal government banned the PTM
PESHAWAR: The government in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has allowed the recently banned Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) to hold a three-day grand council of its political and tribal elders to resolve issues facing the Pashtun communities in the country’s volatile northwest and elsewhere, a KP provincial minister said on Friday.
Founded in 2014, the PTM has long advocated against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Pashtuns and other ethnic minorities in Pakistan, charges the government and the military deny. The group has been waging a campaign to force the military to leave the former tribal regions in the northwest that border Afghanistan.
On Monday, the Pakistani government banned the PTM and said the group supported the Pakistani Taliban. It also banned PTM rallies in the restive northwest, saying the demonstrations were against the “interests of Pakistan.” Despite the announcement of the ban, the PTM, which denies backing the Pakistani Taliban, said it would go ahead with plans to hold the Pashtun National Jirga on October 11 to discuss peace and security in KP.
A day before the PTM gathering, a separate assembly of political and tribal leaders, held under the patronage of the KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur in Peshawar, threw its weight behind the CM to resolve the conflict “through dialogue and understanding,” KP government spokesperson Muhammad Ali Saif said, without mentioning how the KP government planned to deal with the PTM’s gathering.
“Peace, development and prosperity is a mutual agenda of all of us,” KP Public Health Minister Pakhtoon Yar Khan told reporters in the Khyber tribal district, where the PTM has summoned its grand jirga.
“The Pashtun National Jirga has been given permission. They will remain within the ambit of law and the constitution, participants will present the demands.”
He said the grand council in Khyber was not an individual’s, but a Pashtun assembly.
“The PTI [the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party in KP] does not believe in violence, will solve the problems of Pashtuns peacefully,” Khan added.
On Wednesday, at least three people were killed in clashes between Pakistani police and supporters of the PTM rights group in Khyber’s Jamrood area, two days after the federal government banned the PTM.
In a post on X in the wee hours of Friday, the Pashtun National Jirga said the last few weeks had been “extremely challenging” for Pashtun rights activists working for the October 11 gathering.
“Tonight, Pashtuns are persevering under testing conditions,” it said on the night between Thursday and Friday. “It is a sign of our determination.”
This week, Amnesty International, a global human rights watchdog, called on the Pakistan government to revoke the ban on the PTM.
The “latest arbitrary ban under over-broad powers of the terror law is only the tip of the iceberg,” Babu Ram Pant, Amnesty’s deputy regional director for South Asia, said on Wednesday, accusing the Pakistani authorities of “resorting to unlawful use of force, enforced disappearances, and media bans on the coverage of protests or rallies.”
Pakistani IT firms eye up to $500 million investment at major tech show in Dubai this month
- The annual GITEX Global exhibition is considered one of the world’s largest tech shows that connects industry leaders with major tech and innovation startups
- Pakistan declared 2024 event’s ‘Tech Destination of the Year’ after participation of Pakistani IT firms in previous GITEX editions, says industry representative
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani information technology (IT) service providers, startups and exporters expect to generate up to $500 million investment by showcasing their tech potential at the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) 2024, scheduled to be held in Dubai on October 14-18, industry stakeholders and officials said on Thursday.
The annual GITEX Global exhibition is considered one of the world’s largest tech shows that connects industry leaders with major tech and innovation startups as well as government officials, expert investors and corporate buyers.
Sajjad Mustafa Syed, chairman of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), said Pakistan had been declared 2024 event’s “Tech Destination of the Year” following the participation of Pakistani IT firms in the previous GITEX editions.
“There will be representation of IT sector of 180 countries, more than 200,000 sizeable trade buyers of IT services, 65,000 top-level IT executives from world over and 7,000 multinational companies of IT and allied industries [in this month’s GITEX Global tech show],” he said in a statement.
“We are expecting to generate leads of up to $500 million for the country.”
Prominent Pakistani exhibitors and delegates that will be participating in the exhibition include Quixas Technology Pvt Ltd, Wateen Solutions, AutoSoft Dynamics, KODERLABS, Dynamics 360, Creation Next and Bits Collision, according to P@SHA Secretary-General Nadeem Malik.
Pakistan’s State Minister for IT Shaza Fatima Khawaja said the development highlighted Pakistan’s commitment to innovation, technology and global collaboration.
“We look forward to showcasing Pakistan’s brilliant tech talent and tremendous potential on this prestigious platform,” she was quoted as saying by P@SHA.
Muhammad Umair Nizam, senior vice chairman of P@SHA, stressed that innovation, entrepreneurship and inclusion were the keys to rapid growth in IT and IT-enabled Services (ITeS) industry and the Pakistani IT industry was having a number of “firsts and pluses.”
“[It is the] only major industry in Pakistan having a trade surplus and that too with a margin of 77 percent,” he said. “[The Pakistani IT industry] has the capability to earn foreign exchange to the tune of $5 billion in FY25 [Fiscal Year 2024-25].”
Nizam said the IT industry could bridge Pakistan’s overall trade deficit and stabilize the economy through exponential growth, curtailed volatility in rupee-dollar parity, building foreign exchange reserves and creating employment opportunities.
Saudi businesses eye opportunities with $2 billion in deals amid Pakistan’s economic upturn
- A large Saudi delegation of companies specializing in energy, mining and industry is currently in Pakistan
- Delegation says economic stability, improved regulations making Pakistan attractive investment destination
ISLAMABAD: Saudi businessmen expressed hope for successful collaborations in Pakistan on Thursday, saying the country’s economic stability and improved regulatory framework had made it an attractive investment destination, following the signing of over two dozen deals between companies from both countries.
The Kingdom’s Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih is currently in Pakistan on a three-day visit with a large delegation of over 130 members, including representatives from Saudi companies specializing in energy, mining, minerals, agriculture, business, tourism, industry and manpower.
The delegation on Thursday signed 27 agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth more than $2 billion with several Pakistani companies.
“We saw much change in [Pakistan’s business] regulations which have become much softer,” Sultan Al Mansour, Chairman of All Care Medical Group, told Arab News, pointing out that Pakistan was gradually moving toward economic stability. “All that positive news is making Pakistan a good spot for investment.”
Last year in June, Pakistan constituted the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a hybrid civil-military forum, to facilitate foreign businesses, particularly from Gulf countries.
The Saudi investor hoped for successful collaborations, saying his company had signed two deals with Pakistani businesses developing surgical instruments and operating in the pharmaceutical industry.
“Our [Pakistani] partners will be launching a factory in Saudi Arabia in the foreseeable future,” he informed, adding the South Asian state was rich in human resources and knowledge, and constituted a big market.
Al Mansour said he had collaborated with Hilbro, a Pakistani company that will supply surgical goods to his organization in the kingdom.
Hilbro’s sales and marketing director, Muhammad Bilal Tariq, said his company would initially supply semi-developed products before setting up a manufacturing unit of surgical goods in Saudi Arabia.
“We are planning to build the factory in Riyadh,” he told Arab News.
Mohammad Almadani, Chief Executive Officer of Classera, one of the region’s largest e-learning ed-tech companies operating in over 40 countries, said his organization had supported numerous ministries of education, training institutions and governments globally to transform education and training.
“We have started a big project called eTaleem which aims to transform education using technology across this great nation [of Pakistan],” he said.
He informed that the first phase of operations had already started by partnering with Pakistan Telecommunication Company Ltd. (PTCL), adding it would use technology to transform education more rapidly and benefit the country’s youth.
“We are talking about 60 million students of Pakistan,” he said.
Almadani noted that human capital was a huge asset, pointing out his collaboration in Pakistan would help advance the country.
Mohammad Al-Hijji, Chairman of the Saudi investment company Engineering Dimension Holding, said it was a good time to join hands with Pakistani businesses due to the government’s investment-friendly policies.
“It is the right time and we are talking about the investment in our partnership with our brethren at Pakistani renewable energy company Welt Konnect, to invest in a 500-megawatt hybrid power project,” he told Arab News.
His Pakistani partner, Habeel Ahmed Khan, termed the collaboration a “great honor.”
“We signed an MoU with our brothers from ED Holding for the 500-megawatt project that we have been developing in the south of Pakistan, almost 45 minutes east of Karachi in the wind corridor of Gharo,” he said.
Sharing details, he said the project would produce about 168 megawatts of wind power and 332 megawatts of solar power.
“It’s going to be one of Pakistan’s first hybrid power projects, which will supply cheap electricity to the national grid,” Khan added.
Ghassan Amodi, Chief Executive Officer of Asyad Holding Group, which is acquiring Shell operations in Pakistan, said the acquisition was part of their strategic plan to expand regionally.
“Our association with Shell is a longstanding relationship, and we look forward to further developing this beyond the borders of Saudi Arabia and now Pakistan. We are also looking for other opportunities,” he said.
Speaking to Arab News, Pakistan’s Petroleum Minister Dr. Musadik Malik said over 130 representatives of around 50 Saudi companies were part of the delegation, adding that many projects and collaborations had been finalized in the energy field during the visit.
“Two Saudi companies have flown into Pakistan, and they will be talking about the upgradation of an old refinery, which is about a billion-and-a-half-dollar project,” he said while informing that Pakistan also expected to finish the study on the greenfield refinery project by December.
“Then the conversation will begin to move forward on the $7-10 billion project,” he continued.
Malik informed that once the Saudi delegation departs, the government would follow up on an almost weekly or fortnightly basis.
“It will be to see where those contracts are, how those relationships are evolving and if there’s any government-related trouble that we need to troubleshoot and remove,” he explained.
Gunmen kill 20 miners, wound seven others in attack in southwest Pakistan
- Police official Hamayun Khan Nasir said the gunmen stormed the accommodations at the coal mine in Duki district late Thursday
- The attackers also fired rockets and lobbed grenades at coal mine and damaged the machinery used for the mining before fleeing
QUETTA: Gunmen killed 20 miners and wounded another seven in Pakistan’s southwest, a police official said Friday, drawing condemnation from authorities as a search was launched for the attackers.
The latest attack in restive Balochistan province came days ahead of a major security summit being hosted in the capital.
The gunmen stormed the accommodations at the coal mine in Duki district late Thursday night, rounded up the men and opened fire, police official Hamayun Khan Nasir said. He said the attackers also fired rockets and lobbed grenades at the coal mine and damaged the machinery used for the mining before fleeing.
Most of the men attacked were from Pashtun-speaking areas of Balochistan. Three of the dead and four of the wounded were Afghan. Angered over the attack, local shop owners pulled their shutters down to observe a daylong strike against the killing.
No group claimed immediate responsibility for the attack, but the suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which often targets civilians and security forces.
Authorities say police and paramilitary forces are searching for the attackers.
The group committed multiple attacks in August that killed more than 50 people, while authorities responded by killing 21 insurgents in the province. Those killed included 23 passengers, mostly from eastern Punjab province, who were fatally shot after being taken from buses, vehicles and trucks in Musakhail district in Baluchistan.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed his deep sorrow over the killings and vowed to eliminate terrorism.
Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Balochistan said “terrorists have once again targeted poor laborers.” He said the attackers were cruel and had an agenda to destabilize Pakistan. “The killing of these innocent laborers would be avenged,” he said in a statement.
Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi also said those who killed the laborers would not be able to escape from the grip of the law.
The province is home to several separatist groups who want independence. They accuse the federal government in Islamabad of unfairly exploiting oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan at the expense of locals.
On Monday, a group called the Baloch Liberation Army said it carried out an attack on Chinese nationals outside Pakistan’s biggest airport. The bodies of the two slain Chinese engineers were sent to Beijing by a plane Thursday night, according to security officials.
There are thousands of Chinese working in the country, most of them involved in Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.
The explosion, which the BLA said was the work of a suicide bomber, also raised questions about the ability of Pakistani forces to protect high-profile events or foreigners in the country.
Islamabad is hosting a summit next week of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a grouping founded by China and Russia to counter Western alliances.
Authorities have beefed up security in the capital by deploying troops to prevent any acts of terrorism.
The Ministry of Interior this week had alerted the country’s four provinces to take additional measures to enhance security as the separatist groups and Pakistani Taliban could launch attacks at public places and government installation.
The killings of miners came hours Saudi and Pakistani businessmen signed 27 memorandums of understanding valued at $2 billion for investment across various sectors, including mining in oil and gas rich Balochistan. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif attended the signing of the memorandums in the capital, Islamabad.
Saudi Arabia also wants to invest in Reko Diq, district in Balochistan which famed for its mineral wealth, including gold and copper. Baluchistan’s Gwardar port is an anchor in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor, part of Beijing’s vast Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, and BLA has asked the Chinese to leave the province to avoid attacks.
