Islamabad: Worried about not performing Hajj in the right manner?
Preparations for the once-in-a-lifetime spiritual journey begin months in advance for most Muslims embarking on the pilgrimage for the first time.
To make this journey less arduous and more spiritually revitalizing, a Pakistani startup has developed an app with the “world’s first virtual reality Hajj and Umrah simulator”, in a bid to guide and train would-be pilgrims about the rites and rituals of Hajj by using a virtual reality (VR) depiction of the actual holy sites in Makkah and Madinah.
“The Labbaik VR simulator offers the most accurate and realistic experience of the great pilgrimage. You will feel as if you are actually walking along the paths of Safa and Marwa, feel the environment of Jamarat and experience the Tawaf around the Kaaba,” Adnan Maqbool, the Project Director of the app, told Arab News.
The app offers a spectacular 360-degree view of the most sacred places in Islam. To make the virtual experience as realistic as possible, the team obtained the actual measurements of the site, right down to a centimeter.
“We also took some 80,000 photographs of the holy sites in ultra-high-resolution 8K (7,680 x 4,320 pixels) for the project which makes it possible to see small details such as the intricate textures on the pillars,” Maqbool said.
The results? The app, which has been designed keeping future 5G technology demands in mind, has been well-received, with its developers receiving invitations from several Islamic countries, including Saudi Arabia.
Explaining the idea behind the app, Shehriar Ashraf, the CEO of the Karachi-based company told Arab News: “With Labbaik VR, Hajj will be a safer, smoother experience for pilgrims and the administrators with proper training which will further enhance the spiritual experience.”
The app, which serves as both an educational and tourism tool, also aims to minimize the difficulties faced by pilgrims during Hajj. “Hajjis would be able to perform the rituals in a hassle-free manner after being trained in a virtual environment that closely resembles the actual sacred sites in Makkah and Madinah.”
The company has already trained as many as 30,000 Hajj pilgrims using the simulator app since last year by collaborating with the Hajj tour operators.
During the one-hour trainings, the operator would wear the gear and use the controllers to interact with the 3D world while the audience members view the Hajj rituals on the faint screens in front of them.
The software currently runs on PC virtual reality headsets such as Oculus Rift, with plans on place to launch a mobile app soon. In April this year, the company provided a demo at the Dolmen Mall in Karachi city to nearly 4,000 people, several of whom were fascinated to see this kind of technology in Pakistan, Maqbool said.
Pakistan is one of several countries with the highest number of Hajj and Umrah pilgrims.
Nearly 1.6 million Pakistanis performed Umrah during the current season as of June 6, 2019, according to the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.
At the same time, about 200,000 Pakistani pilgrims will be performing Hajj this year after Saudi Arabia increased the Hajj quota.
Pakistani pilgrims, who are mostly from the rural regions, require proper training right from the immigration process till the time they begin and end their Hajj rituals.
Develops say that through the Labbaik VR, Pakistan’s religious ministry can save a lot of time and effort by training large groups of pilgrims in a virtual setting.
“We have held detailed discussions with the Minister of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony, Dr. Noor-ul-Haq Qadri, as well as President Dr. Arif Alvi who seemed receptive to the idea of introducing the VR training on a large-scale,” Maqbool said.
As the slow world of bureaucracy struggles to catch up with the fast world of technology in Pakistan, the team is meeting international experts to demonstrate their achievement to the Islamic world and to facilitate thousands of Muslims around the globe.
The core team, including the CEO Shehriar Ashraf, Chief Technical Director and developer Faisal Khawaja and project director Adnan Maqbool, were in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, recently to meet the officials from the Ministries of Hajj and Islamic Affairs as well as the heads of research and technical excellence centers.
“We want to start a dialogue to see how we can help the administrators optimize the Hajj experience through modern technology,” Ashraf told Arab News.
Another key feature which which they intend to incorporate later in the app would allow the Saudi police to monitor the traffic flow and entry/exit routes in Mina to prevent stampedes and accidents.
“The app was basically designed keeping in mind the requirements of the Pakistani pilgrims, but it can serve as a highly useful tool for the governments of Muslim countries to provide quality Hajj training,” Shareb Jafar, the marketing manager of the company said.
“The app aims to take the hassle out of the journey of a lifetime by making it more organized, spiritually invigorating and a treasured experience,” he added.
Key features of Labbaik VR
- Offers interactive virtual Hajj pilgrimage experience to guide and train Hajjis
- Includes all Hajj tutorials, guides and visual demos in the VR 3D model
- Covers all rituals including Tawaf around the Kaaba, walking between Safa and Marwa, as well as holy locations including Arafat grounds, Muzdalifah, Jamarat
- Contains tracking and location device features to guide the pilgrim during Hajj and help locate someone lost
Pakistani startup develops world’s first virtual reality Hajj simulator
Pakistani startup develops world’s first virtual reality Hajj simulator
- Technology introduced to facilitate visitors during their stay in Makkah and Madinah
- Company has already trained as many as 30,000 pilgrims using the app
In tense relations with India, Pakistani TV dramas break down barriers diplomacy often cannot
- Pakistani dramas offer millions of Indians a glimpse into life across border into arch-rival country
- Pakistani dramas offer simplicity, depth of writing and limited episodes, says actor Khalid Anam
KARACHI: Two Pakistani women sit together on a couch, rehearsing their lines while a director scrutinizes them. Waiting off camera for his scene is the male lead, an actor blessed with “Bachelor” hair and fine bone structure.
Also out of sight: the Islamabad homeowners, who are holed up in a separate room and whose furniture and knick-knacks will be seen by millions of viewers — many from the society that has been their country’s neighbor and uneasy sparring partner for much of the past century.
This is the set of the Pakistani drama “Adhi Bewafai,” or “Half Infidelity” — one of what some in other nations would call “soap operas.” But these dramas, it turns out, are not just for Pakistanis.
Realistic settings, natural dialogue and almost workaday plots about families and marriages make Pakistani dramas a hit with viewers at home and abroad — especially in the neighboring country that split with Pakistan in 1947 and is its nuclear archrival today: India.
Television, it seems, is succeeding where diplomacy sometimes can’t.
Several thousand people work in Pakistan’s drama industry; the country produces between 80 to 120 shows a year, each one a source of escapism and intrigue. They offer Indians a tantalizing glimpse into life across the border — and manage to break through decades of enmity between the two governments.
Maheen Shafeeq, a research associate at the Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad, says there is effectively no relationship between the two governments.
Each government is fixed on a single issue it cannot move past — for India, it’s “terrorism” for Pakistan, the disputed territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The governments are very much opposed to each other,” she says. “They don’t agree what they should talk about.”
Although it’s difficult for Indians to visit Pakistan, where these shows are filmed, they faithfully follow the plot twists and turns through platforms like YouTube, ZEE5, and MX Player.
For those of a certain generation, however, it wasn’t always so easy to keep up.
Kaveri Sharma, a writer in the Indian city of Patna, recalls her mother-in-law and aunt jiggling antennas in the 1980s and 1990s in hopes of catching a signal from Pakistan’s state broadcaster, PTV.
It’s how Sharma first realized that the country next door was a drama powerhouse. It inspired her to discover the shows for herself years later, even going on to watch them with her own daughter.
“They feel familiar, but they are also a break from our own lives,” Sharma says. “I don’t see any differences between the two countries. Everything is relatable. I see Karachi and think that it could be Lucknow or Patna. What happens on the shows could happen to me or my friends.”
She had heard only negative things about Pakistan since childhood — that it was the enemy that would take everything from India. The TV dramas have added subtlety and detail to this image for her. She would love to visit, but is unlikely to get the opportunity.
So she explores Pakistan through the locations, malls, offices, streets and restaurants depicted on the small screen. The names of popular Karachi neighborhoods roll off her tongue.
Sharma, like Bibi Hafeez in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and Punita Kumar in the central Indian city of Raipur, raves about the dramas’ universality of themes, the strong characterization and the emotional range.
“Pakistani characters are not only heroes or villains. They have shades to them, and that is very human,” says Kumar, who chanced upon a Pakistani drama through a chunky videocassette when she was a teenager living in the northern Indian city of Aligarh. It was love at first watch.
“They captivated me. We got a cable connection that offered PTV. Then YouTube came and I realized I could search for whatever drama I wanted. I haven’t taken a stop,” she said. “We get exposure to Pakistani life in the scenes, but the struggles the characters have with their relatives are ones I would have with my own.”
Pakistani TV veteran Khaled Anam is delighted by Indians’ enthusiasm for the country’s serials and the barriers they help erode.
“What Bollywood is to India, dramas are to Pakistan,” says Anam, who is based in Karachi and has worked as an actor since the 1980s. He has appeared in many dramas, including the ratings smash “Humsafar” (“Life Partner”).
India’s productions go big, while Pakistan’s are more low key
India dominates the movie market in South Asia and beyond, with big stars and bigger budgets. Pakistanis have been exposed to Bollywood films for decades, although the prevailing hostile political climate means they can’t watch them in movie theaters.
The bans are mutual, though. India, like Pakistan, restricts content from across the border in movie theaters and TV channels.
And while India is no slouch when it comes to TV production, it doesn’t offer viewers what Pakistan does, according to Anam: simplicity, depth of writing and a limited number of episodes.
“There are 15-minute flashbacks in Indian serials. (The characters) are decked out and dolled up. It’s a fantasy world. The shows go on forever. Everything is ‘DUN dun dun!’” says Anam, mimicking a dramatic musical riff and shaking his hands.
The actors on the couch in Islamabad are rehearsing lines about a woman who is disrespectful and so, according to one of them, is an unsuitable marriage prospect.
The delivery and grammar could be heard in virtually any South Asian household.
“Pakistanis are generally emotional people, and that is in their dramas also,” says Islamabad-based director Saife Hassan. “It would take me less than two minutes to explain the plot of the super-duper hit ‘Kabhi Main, Kabhi Tum’ (‘Sometimes Me, Sometimes You’). It’s about the emotions between a husband and wife.”
Hassan, who began his TV career in the 1990s, says Indians frequently comment on his social media pages and send him direct messages about his work. He even recalls Indian viewers praying for the recovery of a character who was in a coma.
Hassan would love to see more homegrown dramas make it onto platforms like Netflix, as some Indian shows have with great success. But he wonders whether international audiences would understand and connect with Pakistani stories or lives:
“The way we think is different from the West. Our shows are not driven by events. They are driven by emotions.”
There is also a lack of raunch in Pakistani dramas, which are family-friendly with little to no vulgarity, violence, or even action. Indians, therefore, are a natural audience for Pakistani dramas, Hassan says.
“They are our people. They are like us. They eat like us,” he says. “I love India, and I love Indians. They have grown out of this animosity.”
Pakistan stocks surge by over 1,400 points amid decline in oil prices, policy rate cut hopes
- Benchmark KSE index closes at 113,713 points, surging 1.3 percent more from last close
- Central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee is set to review interest rate on Mar. 10
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) surged by over 1,400 points on Thursday as bulls dominated the trading session, with analysts attributing the rise to a drop in oil prices at the international market and investors’ hopes of a further cut in the policy rate by the central bank.
The benchmark KSE-100 index rose by 1,459.41 points or 1.3 percent to close at 113,713.17 points on Thursday, up from the previous close of 112,253.76.
The development takes place as the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is set to review the interest rate on Mar. 10, with many expecting the bank to slash the interest rate further.
“Stocks closed bullish led by scrips across the board amid speculations ahead of SBP policy announcement on March 10,” Ahsan Mehanti, managing director and CEO of Arif Habib Commodities, told Arab News.
It said investors’ expectations for further ease in the central bank’s policy after treasury bill auction yields remained flat, following a decade-low consumer price index inflation which was recorded at 1.5 percent year-on-year in February.
Prominent Pakistani brokerage house Topline Securities attributed the surge in stocks to a sharp decline in global oil prices.
“This rally was primarily driven by a sharp decline in international oil prices, which plunged to multi-year lows, uplifting investor sentiment,” Topline Securities said in its daily market review.
“Moreover, speculation surrounding high-level meeting on the clearance of the longstanding circular debt further fueled optimism across the board.”
The report highlighted how the benchmark index surged to an intraday high of 1,617 points causing the equity market to witness a robust rebound in today’s session.
It added that a total of 372 million shares changed hands which generated a turnover of Rs26.2 billion with PIBTL dominating the volume charts.
The development takes place as an International Monetary Fund (IMF) team is in the country for the first review of the $7 billion loan program that Islamabad secured last September.
A nine-member mission, led by IMF Mission Chief in Pakistan Nathan Porter, is in the country to assess Pakistan’s economic performance and determine the release of a $1.1 billion tranche from the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) over the next three weeks, secured as part of Islamabad’s economic recovery plan.
Pakistani experts divided over impact of IMF’s ongoing review on cenbank’s interest rate policy
- Pakistani analyst says central bank may maintain policy rate due to IMF’s demand of higher taxes
- Pakistan’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is set to meet on Mar. 10 to review borrowing rate
KARACHI: Financial experts on Thursday remained divided over whether the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) ongoing first review of Pakistan’s $7 billion bailout program will lead to the central bank increasing or decreasing the interest rate next week.
The central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is set to meet and review the interest rate on Mar. 10. The development takes place as a delegation of the IMF is reviewing Pakistan’s economic performance in Islamabad under its $7 billion Extended Fund Facility program.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has reduced borrowing rates by a cumulative 1,000 basis points since June 2024 to 12 percent to spur economic growth. Shankar Talreja, director of research at brokerage firm Topline Securities, told Arab News he expected the central bank to maintain the interest rate at 12 percent and not introduce a further cut.
“We expect the central bank to remain prudent and observe the status quo in upcoming meeting,” Talreja told Arab News.
Talreja explained that since Pakistan is facing a revenue shortfall and to achieve the desired tax-to-GDP ratio, the IMF can push the government to impose additional tax measures. These in turn can lead to inflation which would cause the SBP to maintain the interest rate at 12 percent rather than slash it further.
The IMF has expressed concern over Pakistan facing a revenue shortfall of about Rs600 billion in this fiscal year.
The international lender wants cash-strapped Pakistan to increase its revenues by scrapping energy subsidies and imposing taxes on agriculture, real estate and retail sectors.
Talreja said the anticipated tax measures may bring pause to the interest rate easing cycle “for a few months.”
He said certain tax measures were already outlined in the IMF’s detailed report, such as the increase in advance income tax on imports of machinery, withholding tax on supplies and increase in federal excise duty on sugary drinks.
“Any shortfall over and above Rs500 billion will trigger additional tax measures to be taken by the government in its new budget for the financial year 2026,” Talreja explained.
A majority of market participants said they expected a rate cut ranging from 50 basis points to 150 basis points, a survey conducted by Topline Securities said last week.
The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), Pakistan’s top trade body, on Wednesday called for a 500-basis-point (bps) cut in the policy rate. The body said businesses remained dissatisfied with monetary policy and demanded a cut due to easing inflation.
Muhammad Waqas Ghani, head of research at JS Global Capital Ltd., disagreed with Talreja. He said the IMF can set a lower tax target for Pakistan, which would not trigger further inflation.
“We believe that the IMF review and the miss in tax collection targets will not impact the SBP’s decision,” Ghani told Arab News.
Pakistan’s macroeconomic indicators have gradually improved since it secured the IMF bailout last summer. The country’s consumer price index (CPI) inflation rate, maintaining a downward trend on Monday, hit a more than 9-year low at 1.51 percent year-on-year in February.
If the IMF approves the first review of the loan, the country is in line to receive about $1 billion as the second installment of the loan package.
Pakistan army chief slams Afghanistan for ‘harboring’ militants after deadly Bannu attack
- Five soldiers, 13 civilians killed on Tuesday in attack on military base in Bannu city in northwestern Pakistan
- Military says attack was orchestrated from neighboring Afghanistan whose Taliban rulers deny allowing militant activity
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan army chief General Syed Asim Munir said on Thursday Afghanistan continued to be a “safe haven” for militants, a day after the military said an attack on a cantonment in the country’s northwest had been planned and orchestrated from the neighboring country.
Suicide bombers drove two vehicles packed with explosives into a military base in Bannu city in an attack staged by more than a dozen militants on Tuesday. The army said five soldiers and 13 civilians had been killed in the assault, which caused a partial collapse of the military compound’s outer wall and damaged nearby infrastructure, including a mosque and residential building.
Pakistan is battling a surge in attacks by its own chapter of the Taliban movement, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), on police and military in areas near the Afghan border. Islamabad says the militants operate from neighboring Afghanistan, whose rulers deny the charge.
“Terrorist groups … continued to operate from Afghan soil against Pakistan,” the military said in a statement, quoting Munir after he visited Bannu on Thursday. “The use of foreign weapons and equipment in recent terrorist attacks was clear evidence that Afghanistan remained a safe haven for such elements.”
The army chief added that “no entity would be allowed to disrupt Pakistan’s peace and stability.”
The Afghan government has not responded to Pakistan’s accusations.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the military said intelligence reports had “unequivocally confirmed the physical involvement of Afghan nationals” in the Bannu attack, adding that evidence proved the attack was orchestrated and directed by insurgents operating from Afghanistan.
“Pakistan expects the Interim Afghan Government to uphold its responsibilities and deny its soil for terrorist activities against Pakistan. Pakistan reserves the right to take necessary measures in response to these threats emanating from across the border,” the military said.
Jaish-e-Fursan Muhammad, a militant faction affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement released to media.
Pakistan has repeatedly accused the Taliban authorities in Kabul of facilitating cross-border militant attacks, a charge Afghan authorities deny.
The TTP was formed in 2007 as an umbrella organization of various hard-line groups operating individually in Pakistan.
The TTP pledges allegiance to, and gets its name from, the Afghan Taliban, but is not directly a part of the group that now rules Afghanistan. Its stated aim is to impose Islamic religious law in Pakistan, as the Taliban have done in Afghanistan.
The TTP is responsible for some of the bloodiest attacks in Pakistan, including on churches and schools and the shooting of Malala Yousafzai, who survived the 2012 attack after she was targeted for her campaign against the Taliban’s efforts to deny women education.
Militants have targeted Bannu several times in the past also. Last November, a suicide car bomb killed 12 troops and wounded several others at a security post. In July, a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vehicle and other militants opened fire near the outer wall of the military facility.
International hockey returns to Pakistan as German junior team arrives in Islamabad
- Pakistan marked first international hockey match played in the country for 7 years when it played series against China in 2011
- Before that, Pakistan had last staged an international match in 2004 when it hosted the Champions Trophy in Lahore
ISLAMABAD: The German Junior Hockey Team, world champions, arrived in Pakistan on Thursday for a four-match series, marking the return of international hockey to Pakistan after nearly a decade and a half, the government’s press department said in a statement.
Pakistan marked the first international hockey match played in the country for seven years when Chinese played four matches here in what was dubbed as the ‘Friendship Series’.
Before that, Pakistan had last staged an international match in 2004 when it hosted the Champions Trophy in Lahore but after that foreign teams refused to play in the country due to security concerns.
Since the September 11 attacks in the United States, foreign teams have been reluctant to travel to Pakistan in many sports and the South Asian country was left completely isolated as a sporting venue after militants attacked the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March 2009.
“Under the vision of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, this initiative aims to provide Pakistani junior players with international exposure and reestablish Pakistan as a hub for global hockey,” PID said about the four-math series between Pakistan and Germany.
“The series will feature one match in Islamabad and three in Lahore, promising a thrilling competition for fans.”
The two teams will face each other in Lahore on Mar. 6, 8 and 11 while one match will be played in Islamabad on Mar. 13.
“The series holds great significance for both teams as they prepare for the Hockey Junior World Cup being played 2025 in India,” state media reported.
Field hockey, Pakistan’s national sport, once propelled the country to Olympic gold and global glory, but the game has waned in popularity and participation over the past two decades. Poor management, lack of infrastructure and the rise of cricket has contributed to the decline. The failure to adapt to modern demands, including fitness and artificial turfs, has further deepened the crisis.
According to the latest rankings released by the International Hockey Federation, Pakistan is ranked number 15 in the world in field hockey.
