KARACHI: Dispelling rumors that it was taking measures to do away with ride-hailing giants Uber and Careem, the Sindh government on Tuesday warned the two of strict legal action if they failed to register with the concerned authorities within 10 days.
“We have only asked them to get registered with the transport department of province under the law, but they are not complying and misinterpreting that we are closing down services,” Awais Qadir Shah, Transport Minister of Sindh, told Arab News.
“We have asked them to get registered with the department within 10 days and if they fail to comply with the directions, strict legal action will be taken against them,” he added.
The provincial government said it was taking steps to register ride-hailing service providers following an incident wherein a girl jumped out of a moving cab — which she had booked by using a ride-hailing services’ app — after accusing the driver of harassment.
The driver has denied the allegations. He was arrested by the area police and produced in court, but was later released on bail.
“Different incidents are taking place in the province. The government does not have the information about the legality of the vehicles and the drivers. At least this information must be available to the provincial government so that appropriate steps are taken in case of any mishap,” the provincial minister said.
The move to register ride-hailing companies is not the first initiative of its kind. Last year, a similar decision was taken by the then transport minister who had called for banning the services in case they failed to register with the department. He had to withdraw his plans following stiff resistance from the masses.
Following reports in the local media that the government was looking to ban Careem and Uber in the Sindh province, Careem’s management responded on Tuesday by saying that it was business as usual for the company.
“Careem’s services are running as normal across Pakistan, providing our customers with safe, affordable and comfortable rides. Careem is committed to helping create 1 million jobs in Pakistan by 31 Dec 2020. As a local company, we remain engaged with the respective governments of all provinces for the finalization of frameworks which will not only govern ride-hailing specifically but online marketplaces in general,” the statement said.
Soon after the report, the twitter brigade took to social media censuring the government’ decision in the background of the current state of public transport in the province.
“Strongly condemn Sindh Government’s decision to shut down Uber and Careem in Sindh. For a province without Public Transport, it is a facility for millions of people and full-time job for thousands. Sindh Government has no right to snatch it!”, Shafaat Ali, an actor, tweeted.
Huzefa, a political worker, responded to Ali’s tweet saying: “It is requirement in every country that ride-sharing companies obtain permits from the local government. How can government regulate these companies? In case of any mishap, will the company be responsible or government?”
Under Pakistan’s laws, vehicles registered for non-commercial purposes cannot be used for commercial reasons.
Clock ticking for Uber, Careem to get registered
Clock ticking for Uber, Careem to get registered
- Move aimed at regularizing ride-hailing services, transport minister says
- Sindh government’s decision follows incident where a girl accused a taxi driver of harassment
Pakistan president, who tested positive for coronavirus, likely to be discharged in next two days — physician
- Asif Ali Zardari was brought to a hospital on Tuesday after he complained of suffering from fever, breathing problems
- Dr. Asim Hussain refutes rumors about President Zardari’s ‘serious’ health condition and says it is gradually improving
KARACHI: Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari, who tested positive for coronavirus this week, is likely to be discharged from hospital in next two days, his personal physician said on Saturday.
Zardari was brought to a private hospital in Karachi from Sindh’s Nawabshah city on Tuesday after he complained about suffering from fever and breathing problems, local media outlets reported.
On Wednesday, his personal physician, Dr. Asim Hussain, confirmed the president had tested positive for coronavirus and a team of medical experts was looking after him.
Speaking at a press conference on Saturday, Hussain refutes rumors about President Zardari’s ‘serious’ health condition and said it was gradually improving.
“At present, a low-risk variant of the coronavirus is still spreading in Pakistan. No matter what political opponents say or exaggerate anything, the health of the president is very good,” Hussain said.
“Asif Zardari’s meetings are restricted, only doctors have access to him. A panel of expert doctors is monitoring his health.”
Zardari, the widower of Pakistan’s slain first woman prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was appointed president for a second term in March last year. He previously served on the same post from 2008-2013.
Zardari, a landowner from Sindh and co-chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a key member of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition, rose to prominence after his marriage to Bhutto in 1987.
He was widely criticized for corruption scandals that led to the collapse of Bhutto’s government in 1990.
Pakistan resolves to raise voice against Israeli oppression in Gaza, support Palestinians
- The statement came after Israeli forces launched a ground offensive in Gaza City, expanding their operations as rescuers reported at least 30 killed
- Pakistan does not recognize Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on ‘internationally agreed parameters’ and pre-1967 borders
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday resolved to raise his voice against Israeli oppression in Gaza and continue Pakistan’s support of the Palestinian people, Sharif’s office said.
The statement came after Sharif’s telephonic conversation with Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami religious party, in which the two figures expressed concern over Israel’s unprovoked bombing of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza and the silence of international powers on the strikes.
Israeli forces have launched a ground offensive in Gaza City, the military said on Friday, expanding their operations as rescuers reported at least 30 killed across the Palestinian territory since dawn.
Since renewed military operations last month ended a short-lived truce in its war with Hamas, Israel has pushed to seize territory in the Gaza Strip in what it said was a strategy to force militants to free hostages still in captivity.
“The Prime Minister reiterated his resolve to raise his voice at every international forum against the ongoing Zionist oppression of Palestinians in Gaza and to continue Pakistan’s support of [the Palestinian cause],” Sharif’s office said.
“Pakistan’s position is clear regarding its support for the unarmed Palestinian brothers and sisters who are victims of Zionist oppression.”
Pakistan does not recognize Israel and has consistently called for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and pre-1967 borders.
The South Asian country has consistently called for a cessation of Israeli military campaign in Gaza and strongly condemned the resumption of Israeli strikes in the territory, saying they could fully reignite the 17-month-old war. Islamabad has also dispatched more than two dozen aid consignments for the Palestinian people since Israel began pounding Gaza in Oct. 2023.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered in October 2023, when Palestinian group Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s subsequent assault on Hamas-governed Gaza has killed over 50,000 Palestinians, according to Gazan health officials, while also triggering accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies. The assault has internally displaced nearly Gaza’s entire 2.3 million population and caused a hunger crisis.
Young Pakistani introduces smart tools to bridge AI gap for millions of Sindhis worldwide
- Sindhi, an Indo-Aryan language with a history that spans approximately 2,400 years, is spoken in Pakistan and India, and by diaspora in several regions
- Fahad Maqsood Qazi has developed previously unavailable Sindhi text-to-speech and speech-to-text AI models and shared on open-source platforms
KARACHI: Fahad Maqsood Qazi was performing a seemingly straightforward task of developing an automated artificial intelligence (AI) dubbing system for his software firm in Pakistan’s southern city of Hyderabad last year, when he hit the wall: the fundamental text-to-speech (TTS) and speech-to-text (STT) models simply didn’t exist for his native Sindhi language.
This unexpected hurdle while working at Flis Technologies ignited a passion in the 23-year-old IT professional to bridge the AI gap for a language spoken by around 40 million people globally, including a significant diaspora whose children risk losing their linguistic heritage, and soon he started working on his Sindhi-language TTS and STT systems.
In August last year, he began manually transcribing hours of Sindhi audio content from YouTube, stories, audiobooks, vlogs and news reports to form a training dataset. Qazi took a sigh of relief when he discovered that a Google employee, Asad Memon, had recently added Sindhi to Mozilla’s Common Voice project, a global effort to crowdsource voice data for underrepresented languages.
Qazi merged the Common Voice data with his own and began training the AI models. By January this year, he had built functioning Sindhi TTS and STT systems. Sindhi also lacked a tokenizer, a crucial component to process text in AI models, so Qazi built his own. Months of rigorous work, training and refining various models led the 23-year-old to a significant breakthrough that can help future generations of his community to connect with their roots — Sindhi, an Indo-Aryan language with a history that spans approximately 2,400 years and its origins dating back to the 3rd century BCE.
“Since Sindhi isn’t formally taught in most diaspora communities, many young Sindhis grow up without the ability to read or write the language,” said Qazi, who graduated in computer science, explaining a lack of exposure to Sindhi could lead to a gradual loss of identity.
“My tools aim to change that. By allowing people to communicate in Sindhi through speech and text, my tools would help them stay connected to their roots.”
In March, Qazi publicly shared these models on LinkedIn and uploaded them to HuggingFace, an open-source platform for machine learning models, making them freely available to developers and researchers worldwide, which marked a pivotal moment for Sindhi in the digital age.
Recalling the days when he started working on these tools, Qazi said he realized that Sindhi was missing from the AI revolution and without publicly available speech datasets, tokenizers or linguistic tools, the language had virtually been excluded from the digital future.
“This was shocking for us,” he told Arab News. “Imagine, 40 million Sindhis in the world, yet no one had built these essential AI systems for their language.”
Qazi says his work will have a “profound impact,” particularly on Sindhi-speaking children growing up in countries such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States and the United Kingdom.
For the diaspora communities wherein the language isn’t formally taught, these Sindhi AI tools offer a vital link to their cultural identity, according to the IT professional.
These models can be integrated with mobile keyboards for Sindhi voice-to-text (VTT) messaging, while the TTS model can be used to listen to written Sindhi content, according to Qazi.
They have the potential to empower uneducated adults and the elderly within the Sindhi community, both at home and abroad.
“This means everyday conversations with family and friends, even over messaging apps, can happen in Sindhi. That kind of natural, daily use can help preserve the language and keep it alive across generations,” he said.
“A parent who doesn’t know how to read Sindhi will be able to read stories out loud to their children through my text to speech model. Elderly people who never learned to read or write Sindhi can now speak to search for information and listen to responses.”
Qazi hopes his AI tools will play a significant role in long-term growth and integration of the Sindhi language on global digital platforms.
“This technology can play a key role in ensuring that Sindhi doesn’t just survive, it thrives in the digital age,” he said.
“By giving Sindhi a presence in AI systems like TTS and STT, I am ensuring it to be part of global platforms such as voice assistants, educational apps, audiobooks, and translation tools. That kind of integration was impossible before.”
PCB condemns ‘abusive language’ directed at Pakistan players after New Zealand loss
- The statement follows Khushdil Shah’s altercation with Afghan fans at Mount Maunganui
- Khushdil Shah stepped in when anti-Pakistan slogans emerged, the cricket board says
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Saturday condemned “abusive language” directed at Pakistan players by foreign spectators after the national side suffered a 3-0 loss against New Zealand in their one-day international (ODI) series.
The PCB statement followed Pakistan all-rounder Khushdil Shah’s altercation with fans following Pakistan’s loss to New Zealand at Mount Maunganui.
The board said foreign spectators hurled inappropriate remarks at cricketers present on the field.
“When anti-Pakistan slogans emerged, cricketer Khushdil Shah stepped in and urged the spectators to refrain,” the PCB said in a statement.
“In response, Afghan spectators escalated the situation by using further inappropriate language in Pashto.”
The development comes at a time of strained ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan over a surge in militants attacks in Pakistan’s western provinces that border Afghanistan. Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of sheltering and supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks. Afghan officials deny involvement and insist that Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.
In the past, Pakistani and Afghan fans have also been engaged in heated exchange of words during various fixtures accusing each other of interference.
“Following the Pakistani team’s complaint, stadium officials intervened and ejected the two disruptive spectators,” the PCB added.
Pakistan to send high-level delegation to US over 29 percent tariff on exports
- Muhammad Aurangzeb says Pakistan is looking at the situation as both an opportunity and a challenge
- He informs the government is finalizing recommendations for a ‘win-win’ outcome for both countries
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s finance chief Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Saturday the government plans to send a high-level delegation to Washington to discuss the United States’ recent decision to impose a 29 percent tariff on Pakistani goods, describing the move as both a challenge and an opportunity to reset trade ties.
The finance minister’s remarks at a news conference came days after US President Donald Trump announced “reciprocal tariffs” on multiple countries, a measure widely viewed as a setback for a global economy still recovering from the pandemic. Trump defended the tariffs as necessary to address trade imbalances and what he termed unfair treatment of American goods abroad.
Pakistan’s inclusion in the tariff list has raised concern in Islamabad as the country pushes for export-driven growth. The US is Pakistan’s largest export destination, and the newly imposed duties threaten to undermine its fragile economic recovery.
Reacting to the development, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week formed a steering committee led by Aurangzeb to assess the impact of the tariffs and develop a policy response.
“You should never let a good crisis go to waste,” Aurangzeb told reporters. “So, we are looking at it both as a challenge and as an opportunity. On the opportunity side, it’s a relative value discussion in terms of what is happening at other locations and jurisdictions. And on the challenge side, what we can do in terms of the negotiations with the US administration.”
“In the next couple of days, we are going to finalize our recommendations to the prime minister and ... with [his] approval ... send a high-level delegation to Washington to get our views across and to ensure that we want to be ... a long term strategic partner [with the US],” he added.
Aurangzeb said a policy package was under development to guide future discussions with American officials.
“We want to make sure that we, in terms of our representations, put forward how we see [the tariff issue] in the medium to long term as a win-win situation for both Pakistan and the US,” he said.
According to the country’s central bank, Pakistan exported $5.44 billion worth of goods to the US in 2024. In the first eight months of the current fiscal year (July–February), exports to the US totaled $4 billion, up 10 percent from the same period last year.
Nearly 90 percent of those exports are textiles, which analysts expect to be hardest hit by the new tariffs.
Officials warn the increased cost burden could reduce Pakistan’s competitiveness, particularly if countries like China, Bangladesh and Vietnam — facing higher US tariffs — divert more of their exports to Europe, increasing competition in alternative markets.
The US tariff announcement could also disrupt Pakistan’s economic stabilization efforts, which rely on support from International Monetary Fund programs.
Global financial markets dropped sharply on Friday after China pledged retaliatory tariffs of 34 percent on US goods, heightening fears of a deepening trade war and possible global recession.
