DUBAI: Dr. Farook Rasheed A Farooki was 29 years old when he left his home in Muzaffarabad- Kashmir to settle for a life as a young doctor in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
That was 45 years ago.
Soon, with his hardwork and excellent reputation, he became a naturalized citizen of the Kingdom. However, he says, his love for Pakistan always kept him grounded.
He finally decided to take the leap when, along with other like-minded Pakistanis, he established a charity hospital for kidney patients and named it as the Pakistan Kidney Center.
“In 1969, I came to Jeddah to look for a better life and got a job in the Ministry of Health. I worked there for eight years and then started my own clinic as a family physician. I worked very hard in my adopted country. And in return , I got a lot of respect and love. I was able to give a good life to my family,” the 76--year-old father of two said.
But that was not enough for him. “I always felt that I have a loan to pay to my motherland, where I was born and where I was educated.”
Eventually, he and his friend, Dr. Khaleelur Rehman, decided to establish two charity health projects in Pakistan — the Pakistan Kidney Center and Heath Mobile Units.
This was essential as Pakistan ranks eight in kidney diseases causing 20,000 deaths every year. Additionally, Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is rapidly growing in Pakistan, too.
“There are very few facilities available in our country, especially on the mountainous region. Patients have to travel a long way to major cities which add to the cost of their treatment. So we decided to build our center on the Silk Route’s main highway from Islamabad to Abbotabad, which is called Muslimabad,” he said.
The Pakistan Kidney Center was established in April 2015. With 14 machines, the facility provides 35 dialysis sessions on a daily basis.
“We successfully started our OPD with 14 dialysis machines [which works in two shifts] to take care of around 40 of patient every day. We maintain the highest standards. All machines are busy round the clock, so much so that we are now considering to start the third shift of dialysis,” Dr. Farooki said.
He added that the construction and operational costs of the facility cost him nearly Rs200 million. “Around Rs75 million was gathered through personal donations of board members and rest came from friends and philanthropists in KSA. Our current running cost is Rs2 to 2.5 million per month, out of which 25 to 30 percent is generated by center revenue. Rest comes from donations,” he said.
He has set his sights on launching a Mobile Health Unit next. “In the mountainous parts of Pakistan, there are no hospitals, no OPD facilities, or even trained medical staff. Hence, the only way to provide medical care they deserve is to reach them with Mobile OPDs on a regular basis,” he said, adding that “our mobile units travel to far-flung areas holding camps, providing medicine, and creating awareness about the prevention of diseases.”
His impending age and logistic challenges haven’t discouraged Dr. Farooki from serving his motherland. “I knew it won’t be easy. But nothing can stop me to help my people. Allah has given me the opportunity to serve my homeland. And I will do it with the best of my abilities till my last breath,” he said.
Dr. Farooki is not alone. Several other Pakistani expatriates in the Gulf voiced similar aspirations. Dr. Asjad Hameed, a famous diabetologist in the the UAE, is another such example.
Early this year, Dr. Hameed and his friends realized their six-year long dream by establishing a world-class diabetes hospital near Islamabad which they named The Diabetes Center.
Dr. Hameed, 51, has been working on curbing the nationwide epidemic of diabetes in Pakistan for more than a decade. Pakistan is one of the top ranked in the list of countries with diabetes where one out of five people suffers from the disease.
Dr. Hameed’s journey began in November 2011, when he decided to take the plunge. During a winter morning walk along the corniche, he shared his idea of establishing a hospital in Pakistan with two of his close friends.
Since then, there has been no looking back. “I initiated the project six years ago with my life’s savings of Dh300,000. We first launched a site clinic in Islamabad in 2012, where more than a 100 patients visited per day. And in April 2018, our world-class hospital became operational,” the father of three said, adding that “till date, we have spent Dhs 25 million on the hospital and are treating 200 patients per day.”
“We [Pakistani Gulf expatriates] are not only the highest in providing remittances to the country, we also serve our country in many ways. Contributing to the health sector is one such example. There are many known and many unsung heroes from the gulf countries who are serving Pakistan in several ways,” Dr. Hameed said.
“Though providing quality health services to all Pakistanis is the government’s job, we as responsible citizens cannot sit back and see our brothers and sisters suffering. We may have left our homes for the better future. But our heart and soul is still there. We will continue to do whatever we can. Keeping our people healthy is certainly one of such responsibilities that we owe to our country,” he said.
According to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) issued in 2017, Pakistan spent 0.5 to 0.8 percent of its GDP on health care for the past 10 years while the WHO benchmark of health expenditure is at least 6 percent of the GDP to provide basic and lifesaving services.
‘We may have left our homes but our heart and soul are still in Pakistan’
‘We may have left our homes but our heart and soul are still in Pakistan’
- Expatriates residing in the GCC look to pay back by contributing to the country’s health care sector
- Have played a crucial role in promoting quality facilities over the years
‘Under duress’: Many reluctant to leave as Pakistan plans to deport millions of Afghans
- Authorities are wary about unrest, with Afghans living in almost all of KP province’s cities, towns and villages
- Provincial KP government led by the party of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan appears reluctant to repatriate Afghans
PESHAWAR: Akber Khan is seeing a brisk trade at his restaurant in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar. Staff fan skewers of grilled meats and dole out rice and salad.
As an Afghan, Khan ought to be leaving as part of a nationwide crackdown on foreigners the Pakistani government says are living in the country illegally. But the only heat he feels is from the kitchen.
“I have been here for almost 50 years. I got married here, so did my children, and 10 of my family members are buried here. That’s why we have no desire to leave,” he said.
Khan is one of more than 3 million Afghans that Pakistan wants to expel this year. At least a third live in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and that’s just those with documents like an Afghan Citizen Card or proof of registration.
It is not clear how many undocumented Afghans are in the country.
Shared cultural, ethnic and linguistic ties
The provincial government — led by the party of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan — appears reluctant to repatriate Afghans. Mountainous terrain, sectarian violence and an array of militant groups have also challenged the central government’s expulsion ambitions.
“Afghans can never be completely repatriated, especially from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, as they return using illegal channels or exploiting loopholes in the system despite fencing at the border,” said Abdullah Khan, managing director of the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.
“Many villages along the border are divided between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and people in the past three or four decades were never stopped from visiting either side.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s proximity to Afghanistan, together with shared ethnic, cultural and linguistic ties, make it a natural destination for Afghans. The province has hosted significant numbers since the 1980s.
Many Afghans have integrated, even marrying locals. The region feels familiar and it’s easier to access through legal and illegal routes than other parts of Pakistan.
While the provincial government was cooperating with federal counterparts, policy implementation remained slow, analyst Khan told The Associated Press.
“The (local) government is sympathetic to Afghans for multiple reasons,” he said. “They share the same traditions and culture as the province, and former Prime Minister Imran Khan during his days in power consistently opposed coercive measures toward Afghan refugees.”
Authorities are also wary about unrest, with Afghans living in almost all of the province’s cities, towns and villages.
A slow repatriation rate
Although police were raiding homes in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and other cities in Punjab and Sindh province farther from the border, the “lack of aggressive enforcement” was the main reason for the slow repatriation rate, analyst Khan said.
Pressure on Pakistan to have a change of heart — from rights groups, aid agencies and Afghanistan’s Taliban government — could also be a factor.
More than 35,000 Afghans have left Pakistan since the start of April through the northwest Torkham crossing. It’s a far cry from the volume seen in the early phases of the expulsion campaign in 2023, when hundreds of thousands fled to beat a government-imposed deadline to leave.
Many recent deportations have been from eastern Punjab, which is hundreds of kilometers from the border and home to some 200,000 Afghans with documents.
‘We are going under duress’
At a highway rest stop on the outskirts of Peshawar, a truck carrying 30 Afghans stopped to give passengers a break before they left Pakistan for good. They had come from Punjab. Families nestled among furniture, clothes and other items. A woman in a burqa, the covering commonly seen in Afghanistan, clambered down.
Ajab Gul said the actions of Pakistani officials had forced them to leave: “We didn’t want to go. They raided our houses two or three times. We are going under duress.”
Another truckload of passengers from Punjab pulled over by the Torkham border crossing to speak to the AP.
Jannat Gul outlined the dilemma that awaited many. “Our children’s education (in Afghanistan) has been destroyed. We’re going there, but we have no connections, no acquaintances. In fact, people often call us Pakistanis. No one regards us as Afghan.”
‘If they take him, I will stop them’
There were happier scenes at the Kababayan refugee camp in Peshawar, where children played and ate ice cream in the sunshine. The camp, established in 1980 shortly after the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, is home to more than 15,000 people and has schools, a health center, electricity and drinking water.
School is a crucial reason Afghans want to stay in Pakistan, because the Taliban have barred girls from education beyond sixth grade.
Muhammad Zameer, a camp resident, said girls’ education was “non-existent” across the border.
Other camp residents have a different concern: their Afghan husbands. Afghan men face deportation, and their local wives are unhappy.
Some are fighting to get their husbands a Pakistani identity card, which unlocks basic public services as well as indefinite stay, property ownership, bank account access and employment.
Some wives said they are willing to fight anyone deporting their husbands.
“I never imagined the government would treat my husband like this,” said one, Taslima. “If they take him, I will stop them.”
Gunmen abduct two polio vaccinators in Pakistan’s Dera Ismail Khan district
- Kidnapping happened ahead of nationwide anti-polio campaign which will begin on April 21 to vaccinate 45 million children
- Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain only two countries where paralyzing polio virus has not been eradicated
QUETTA: Gunmen attacked a vehicle and abducted two polio workers who were on their way home after visiting a health facility in Dera Ismail Khan, a district in Pakistan’s restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, according to local police.
The kidnapping happened ahead of a nationwide anti-polio campaign which will begin on April 21 to vaccinate 45 million children.
“Raza Muhammad and Muhammad Asif were kidnapped at gunpoint by unknown persons and taken away,” police said in a statement, which said they had been returning from a training for the upcoming vaccination campaign.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was behind the abductions but authorities have previously blamed militants for such attacks.
Insurgents falsely claim the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children despite the government and medical experts’ vehement denials.
Pakistan has reported six new cases of polio since January.
According to the World Health Organization, Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan remain the only two countries where the potentially fatal, paralyzing virus has not been eradicated.
Three Balochistan Constabulary officers killed in blast in southwest Pakistan
- Bus was carrying around 40 police officers when it was hit by IED blast in Mastung district
- Pakistan has been battling a low-level separatist insurgency in Balochistan for decades
QUETTA: Three officials of the Balochistan Constabulary police force in Pakistan’s southwest were killed on Tuesday in an IED blast that targeted their vehicle, according to a statement from the local government.
The bus was carrying around 40 police officers when it was hit by the blast in Balochistan’s Mastung district, around 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of the provincial capital Quetta, local administration official Raja Atthar Abbas told Arab News.
Shahid Rind, a spokesman for the provincial government, said the vehicle was returning from Kalat when it was targeted with an improvised explosive device (IED).
“Three personnel of the Balochistan Constabulary were martyred in the blast,” he added.
Pakistan has been battling a separatist insurgency in Balochistan for decades, where militants target state forces, foreign nationals, and non-locals in the mineral-rich southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran. The separatists seek independence from the Pakistani state.
Although Pakistani authorities say they have quelled the insurgency, violence in Balochistan has persisted.
No group has claimed Tuesday morning’s attack. However, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) is the most active group in the region and often carries out deadly attacks against security forces.
Last month, ethnic Baloch separatists attacked a train with 450 passengers on board, sparking a two-day siege during which dozens of people were killed.
More than 200 people, mostly security officials, have been killed in attacks since the start of the year by armed groups fighting the government in both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, according to an AFP tally.
Last year was the deadliest year in a decade in Pakistan, following a trend of rising militancy since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 2021.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a statement, denounced Tuesday’s attack and vowed to continue the “fight against terrorism” until its eradication.
With inputs from AFP
Pakistan Petroleum, Finland’s Metso sign mineral development agreement
- Pakistan has world’s largest copper-gold mineral zones and is also rich in lithium which is used to make batteries
- Pakistanis trying to tap underutilized natural reserves’ potential and last week hosted international minerals summit
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) and Finland’s globally renowned Metso Corporation have signed a memorandum of agreement to promote the exploration and processing of mineral resources in Pakistan, state media reported on Tuesday.
Pakistan is endowed with various mineral resources, including salt, coal, copper, gold, chromite, bauxite, and gemstones. It is also rich in lithium used to make batteries, as well as other minerals. The government estimates natural reserves in the country are worth $6 trillion but despite the rich deposits, the mineral sector contributes only 3.2 percent to GDP and 0.1 percent to global exports.
The country is now aiming to tap this underutilized potential and last week organized a minerals summit attended by top government officials and heads of companies from various countries including the US, UK, Europe, China and the Middle East.
“The two sides signed an MOU for the development of mineral sector,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
“This key partnership is aimed at promoting the exploration and processing of mineral resources in Pakistan.”
As a major supplier of natural gas, PPL contributes around 20 percent of Pakistan’s total natural gas supplies as well as produces crude oil, natural gas liquid and liquefied petroleum gas, according to the company’s website.
Metso is a frontrunner in sustainable technologies, end-to-end solutions and services for the aggregates, minerals processing and metals refining industries globally. The company’s website says it helps to improve customers’ energy and water efficiency, increase productivity, and reduce environmental risks with its product and service expertise.
Pakistan condemns Israeli attack on Baptist Hospital in Gaza
- Israeli military says took steps to reduce harm to civilians before it struck compound, saying it was used by Hamas to plan attacks
- Health officials at hospital evacuated patients after call from someone who identified himself as Israeli security shortly before attack
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Tuesday condemned the bombing of the Baptist Hospital in Gaza by Israeli forces on Palm Sunday, calling it part of a pattern of targeting medical facilities, which constituted a “flagrant violation” of international humanitarian law.
The Israeli military said in a statement it had taken steps to reduce harm to civilians before it struck the compound, which it said was being used by Hamas fighters to plan attacks. Hamas rejected the accusation and called for an international investigation. Health officials at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital evacuated patients after a phone call from someone who identified himself as Israeli security shortly before the attack.
The hospital - an institution run by the Anglican Church in Jerusalem - was no longer operational, according to Gaza's health ministry. No casualties were reported in the strike.
“That it occurred on Palm Sunday, a sacred occasion for Christians, underscores Israel’s blatant disregard for religious sanctity and civilian lives,” the Pakistani foreign office said.
“Israel’s relentless assaults have crippled Gaza’s healthcare system, depriving critically ill patients of vital medical care. Coupled with the blockade on humanitarian aid, these actions reflect a deliberate strategy to prolong suffering and entrench conflict.”
Pakistan demanded an immediate end to Israel’s “ongoing atrocities,” saying they had resulted in the indiscriminate killing of innocent and unarmed Palestinians, including women and children, and the “systematic destruction” of civilian infrastructure.
“Pakistan calls for an immediate halt to the hostilities by Israeli occupying forces and reiterates its support for the two-State solution, with a viable, independent and sovereign State of Palestine on pre-June 1967 borders with Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital,” the statement added.
“Pakistan urges the international community to take decisive action to hold Israel accountable and protect Palestinian civilians from further violence.”
Sunday's strikes came as Hamas leaders began a fresh round of talks in Cairo in a bid to salvage a stalled ceasefire agreement with Israel, as Egypt, Qatar, and the United States attempted to bridge gaps between the sides.
Media footage widely showed significant destruction in and outside the hospital compound's church, and patients who could not leave.
The Episcopal Church in Jerusalem said the warning to evacuate the hospital came 20 minutes before the strike that destroyed the two-storey genetic laboratory, and damaged the pharmacy and emergency department buildings and other surrounding structures.
"We call upon all governments and people of goodwill to intervene to stop all kinds of attacks on medical and humanitarian institutions," the church said in a statement.
The Palestinian foreign ministry and Hamas condemned the attack, saying Israel was destroying Gaza's healthcare system. Israel says Hamas systematically exploits civilian structures, including hospitals, which the group denies. Israeli forces have carried out numerous raids on medical facilities in Gaza.
With inputs from Reuters
