ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will give top priority to its overseas nationals in social protection projects and take inclusive steps to ensure their welfare, the prime minister’s special assistant on overseas Pakistanis and human resource development told Arab News on Thursday.
“Around 10 million Pakistanis are residing in foreign countries and over 0.5 million go abroad every year for different job opportunities,” Sayed Zulfikar Bukhari said.
He added that the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development (OP&HRD) would take every possible step to facilitate overseaals residents who were playing a pivotal role in strengthening the economy with sizeable remittances every year.
“Overseas remittances have increased from $19.914 billion to $21.842 billion in last one year which is an increase of 9.68 percent. It shows that people trust the system a little bit more, so we need to further increase those figures,” he said.
Several initiatives have been launched for the purpose in a very short period of time, he said, including the decision to abolish the “condition of NICOP for outgoing labor, opening of the Qatar Visa Facilitation Center, launching of the Naya Pakistan Calling Portal, and increasing the pension amount for those registered with the Employees Old Age Benefit Institution”.
As a result, since September last year, 568,464 Pakistanis were able to procure jobs abroad resulting in a 26 percent increase when compared to the same period last year, Bukhari said.
“To increase the export of manpower from Pakistan, 69 new licenses were issues to to the overseas employment promoters during one year which took total number of valid license holders to 2251,” he added.
Moreover, a special counter has been set up in the Model Police Facilitation Center in Islamabad for overseas Pakistanis to resolve all issues in a timely and swift manner.
“Similar facilitation centers will also be established in other parts of the country including in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Land grabbing and property disputes are on the top of the list of issues facing overseas Pakistanis,” he said, adding that plans are in place to establish fast-track courts to address these concerns.
Bukhari added that 843 complaints had been lodged by expatriates through the Pakistan Citizen Portal since October last year, out of which 517 were resolved, while 120 did not meet the criteria.
“We have also solved 5,544 cases out of 6,105 of overseas Pakistanis who lodged their complaints in PM portal,” he said.
“We have turned the Overseas Pakistan Foundation (OPF) to a profitable organization as it is in a surplus of 111 million rupees in just eight months,” Bukhari said, adding, “more OPF went into profit more we can spend on the welfare of these people”.
Additionally, the Sehat Insaf Card which was launched to provide expatriates – and their families in Pakistan – with free medical facilities, has also been approved, while an additional Rs6 million has was distributed to the children of overseas residents as part of a scholarship program, Bukhari said.
For now, the government is trying to facilitate skilled workers to enhance their productivity, a move which will see the private sector play a key role in the process.
“It is a government’s job to govern and provide policy. Unlike the previous regimes, however, we don’t like to try and take on things ourselves which have nothing to do with us. We’re trying to entice the private sector to really lead in opening up vocational training centers and technical training centers. The result will be a big mushroom growth in the country,” Bukhari said.
He added that the OP&HRD was actively exploring opportunities for Pakistanis to use their talent in the overseas markets with an MoU signed to send technical manpower to Japan this month.
“We’ve already sent our first batch of 200 workers to Romania and increased our quota with South Korea by 20 percent, we’re looking at some European countries as well as Malaysia,” Bukhari said, adding that there is a demand for 3,000 nurses from the UK for which “we are working with the NHS to open up institutions to train nurses, teach them English, and send them abroad to avail this offer which is also a first”.
Recently, the Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination, and the OP&HRD launched an initiative titled the “Pakistani Health Diaspora” to provide a platform for medics and health professionals to share their expertise and improve the country’s health sector.
Welfare of 10 mln expats government’s top priority — Zulfi Bukhari
Welfare of 10 mln expats government’s top priority — Zulfi Bukhari
- Remittances increased from $19.9bn to $21.8billion in past year, official in-charge says
- Authorities have resolved 5,544 cases lodged by expatriates through the PM portal
Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province launches cash cards for minorities
- Punjab government to provide $37.65 per family every quarter to minorities under ‘Minority Card’
- Pakistan’s minorities have suffered attacks from religiously motivated militants in the recent years
ISLAMABAD: The chief minister of Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province, Maryam Nawaz, launched cash cards for minorities on Wednesday, stressing the importance of undertaking measures to ensure they are not marginalized in the country.
Nawaz announced the ‘Minority Card’ in October last year during the Hindu festival of Diwali. Through the card, the provincial government will provide Rs10,500 [$37.65] per family every quarter to Sikhs, Christians, Hindus and other minorities residing in Punjab.
The chief minister had said that 50,000 individuals from minority communities in Punjab would receive the card during the first phase of its launch. She had said that the provincial government would increase both the number of beneficiaries to 75,000 and the per quarter funds as well.
“I am very happy that that for the first time in Pakistan and Punjab’s history we have launched the minority card,” Nawaz said at the launching ceremony of the card.
She thanked Punjab Minority Affairs Minister Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora and the Bank of Punjab for helping the provincial government in “making and implementing” the card.
Emphasizing that minorities were like the “crown on her head,” Sharif said the true identity of minorities was not non-Muslims but “true Pakistanis.” She distributed minority cards among participants at the ceremony.
Pakistani minorities have often suffered attacks at the hands of religiously motivated militants and hard-liners. There have been dozens of instances of mob violence against religious minorities in the South Asian nation in recent years, including an attack on Christians in Punjab’s Jaranwala town in August 2023. An angry mob had torched churches, homes and businesses targeting the Christian community there over blasphemy allegations.
In the country’s southern Sindh province, Hindus have frequently complained about forced conversions, particularly of young girls, and attacks on temples.
Over 96 percent of Pakistan’s population is Muslim, according to the population census of 2023, with the remaining four percent comprising 5.2 million Hindus, 3.3 million Christians, 15,992 Sikhs and others.
Islamabad, Ankara discuss enhancing training and job opportunities for Pakistanis in Turkiye
- Pakistan’s religious affairs minister meets Turkish Ambassador Irfan Nazir Oglu in Islamabad to discuss matters of bilateral interest
- Foreign remittances sent by thousands of overseas Pakistanis help cash-strapped country keeps fragile $350 billion economy afloat
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain met Turkish Ambassador Irfan Nazir Oglu on Wednesday to discuss provision of modern technical education and enhancing job opportunities for the country’s skilled workers in Turkiye, the religion ministry said in a statement.
Pakistan exports skilled manpower to several countries around the world such as Turkiye and the Gulf countries. Foreign remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis help the cash-strapped country keep its fragile $350 billion economy afloat.
Pakistan enjoys cordial relations and cooperation with Turkiye in various sectors such as trade, defense, media and economy. In May 2024, both countries resolved to enhance the volume of bilateral trade to $5 billion.
“During the meeting, various proposals were discussed regarding religious harmony, respect for humanity and providing more job opportunities for Pakistani workers in Turkiye,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs said.
Hussain pointed out that both countries share similar stances on regional and global issues, and have supported each other on various global issues at the international stage.
“Turkish Ambassador Irfan Nazir Oglu expressed sorrow over the deaths of Pakistanis in the Morocco boat incident and reaffirmed the commitment to providing more job opportunities for skilled Pakistanis in Turkiye,” the religion ministry said.
The ambassador pointed out that Turkiye is working on increasing the supply of machinery to Pakistani industries and expanding technical training and educational projects in the South Asian country.
He said that though several Turkish companies are operating in Pakistan, there remains significant potential to increase joint investment and trade volume between the two countries, the religious affairs ministry said.
Hussain said 600,000 Pakistanis went abroad for employment last year, adding that by December 2024 overseas Pakistanis sent a record remittance of 3.1 billion dollars to Pakistan.
“The establishment of better banking channels between Turkiye and Pakistan is also essential for promoting mutual trade,” the ministry said.
It said the meeting concluded with an agreement to enhance cooperation toward eliminating extremism and “terrorism,” promoting interfaith harmony and providing skilled Pakistanis with modern technical education.
Pakistan seeks to boost trade through infrastructure, logistics cooperation with Dubai’s DP World
- Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb meets top officials from logistics giant DP World on sidelines of Davos conference
- Meeting comes days after DP World launched a feeder service to transport shipping containers from Dubai to Karachi
ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met top officials from Dubai-based logistics giant DP World and discussed boosting trade through cooperation in infrastructure and logistics frameworks, Pakistani state media reported on Wednesday.
The meeting comes days after DP World, in collaboration with Pakistan’s National Logistics Corporation, launched a feeder service to transport shipping containers from Dubai to Karachi. DP World operates in over 75 countries, specializing in port operations, terminal management and logistics services. Feeder services use smaller vessels to transport containers between regional ports, reducing shipping costs and transit time.
Earlier this month, Pakistani officials and DP World also finalized terms for a freight corridor project from Karachi Port to the Pipri Marshalling yard in southern Pakistan.
“Aurangzeb met with Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of DP World Rizwan Soomar and Deputy CEO and Chief Financial Officer Yuvraj Narayan in Davos, Switzerland,” Radio Pakistan reported after the meeting.
“During the meeting, discussions focused on enhancing infrastructure and logistical frameworks in Pakistan to boost trade,” the report said, adding that the finance minister assured DP World it wanted to advance business-to-business and business-to-government collaboration with the company.
The UAE is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States, and a major source of foreign investment, valued at over $10 billion in the last 20 years, according to the UAE foreign ministry. It is also home to more than a million Pakistani expatriates.
In January last year, Pakistan and the UAE signed multiple agreements worth more than $3 billion for cooperation in railways, economic zones and infrastructure.
The agreements cover the development of a dedicated freight corridor, multi-modal logistics park, and freight terminals.
Under the agreements, DP World will carry out infrastructure improvement at Qasim International Container Terminal, Pakistan’s leading trade gateway. The Emirati firm also plans to develop an economic zone near the terminal.
DP World is also involved in the Karachi Freight Corridor, an infrastructure project in Pakistan aimed at improving the movement of freight from the port city of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest, to various parts of the country. The project involves the construction of a dedicated double-track corridor and other related facilities that will run 50 km from Karachi port to the Pipri Marshalling yard.
Militants launch fresh attacks in southwest Pakistan, targeting paramilitary check-post, trucks convoy
- In one attack on Wednesday, unidentified gunmen attacked, set on fire paramilitary Levies check-post in Panjgur
- In second attack on Tuesday, attackers stopped and set on fire a convoy of trucks carrying minerals in Nushki
QUETTA: Militants set on fire a paramilitary forces check-post and a convoy of trucks carrying minerals in two separate attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, officials said on Wednesday, the latest assaults in a region plagued by a decades-long separatist insurgency.
Groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) seek independence for Balochistan, a mineral-rich, southwestern province bordering Afghanistan to the north and Iran to the west. The region, Pakistan’s largest in terms of land mass but its most impoverished, is home to key mining projects, including Reko Diq, run by mining giant Barrick Gold, and believed to be one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines. China also operates a gold and copper mine in the province, is building a deep-sea port in the coastal town of Gwadar and has funded an international airport, among several other projects that are part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) scheme.
Separatist groups often target key infrastructure projects and security posts in Balochistan as well as Chinese interests, in particular the port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad to exploit the province.
Nearly 300 people, including soldiers, were killed and dozens injured in more than 500 attacks reported in Balochistan in 2024.
In the last attack, Zahid Langove, Deputy Commissioner Panjgur, told Arab News unidentified gunmen attacked a paramilitary Levies check-post with a rocket in the district’s Pullabad area during the early hours of Wednesday.
“The midnight attack on Levies check-post was not of a large-scale,” Langove said. “No casualty was reported in the attack but the attackers set the check-post ablaze and escaped in the nearby mountains.”
In a separate attack, unidentified gunmen attacked a convoy of trucks carrying minerals in the province’s Nushki district.
Zafar Sumalani, Station House Officer at the Nushki Police Station, said unidentified attackers stopped a convoy of trucks on the Pak-Iran highway, some four kilometers outside of Nushki city on Tuesday night.
“Two trucks carrying minerals were torched and the attackers burst the tires of a truck with gunfire,” Sumalani said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the two attacks but most attacks in the region are claimed by the BLA and other separatists who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources such as gold and copper while neglecting the local population. Successive Pakistani governments have denied the allegations, saying they have prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.
On Jan. 13, the military said Pakistani security forces had killed 27 militants in Balochistan in an intelligence-based operation in Kacchi district.
The operation came after dozens of fighters of the BLA stormed the small town of Zehri in Khuzdar district and took control of the town for hours. The group set government buildings, including a Levies police station, ablaze and robbed 768,000 rupees ($2745) from a private bank.
In August last year, separatists killed over 50 people, including security forces, in a string of coordinated attacks in Balochistan, the deadliest the region had seen in decades.
Security forces to resume demolishing bunkers today in Pakistani district wracked by sectarian feuds
Security forces to resume demolishing bunkers today in Pakistani district wracked by sectarian feuds
- At least 150 people have been killed in Kurram district since sectarian clashes broke out in November
- Police and security forces confiscate large number of illegal weapons from district, says state media
ISLAMABAD: An armed crackdown in the northwestern Pakistani district of Kurram that has been marred by sectarian clashes since November continued on Wednesday, with the provincial chief minister’s office saying the process of demolishing bunkers would resume today.
Kurram, a tribal district of around 600,000 where federal and provincial authorities have traditionally exerted limited control, has frequently experienced violence between its Sunni and Shiite communities over land and power. Travelers to and from the area often ride in convoys escorted by security officials.
The latest feuding started on Nov. 21 when gunmen ambushed a vehicle convoy and killed 52 people, mostly Shiites. The assault triggered road closures and other measures that have disrupted people’s access to medicine, food, fuel, education and work and created a humanitarian crisis in the area, where authorities say at least 150 people have been killed in two months of feuding.
Media widely reported on Monday that Pakistani security forces had launched a “large-scale” operation targeting militants in the restive northwestern district bordering Afghanistan, after unidentified gunmen ambushed and burned aid trucks on Friday, killing up to 10 people. Pakistani forces had earlier this month also launched an operation to demolish bunkers established by warring factions in the district. The action was in accordance with a peace agreement signed by the warring tribes on Jan. 1 in which they had committed to demolish bunkers and hand over heavy weapons to authorities within two weeks.
“The process of demolishing illegal bunkers in Kurram is being resumed from today,” a statement from the chief minister’s office said. The decision was taken after Gandapur presided over a meeting of senior provincial officials to take stock of the situation in the district.
“Four convoys of vehicles containing essential items will be sent to Kurram by the end of this month.”
The provincial government also decided to summon a jirga or tribal council meeting of the signatories of the peace agreement. It said that the responsibilities of the signatories in implementing the agreement should be highlighted in the jirga.
“Both sides will formulate a procedure to clear Kurram of weapons and submit it to the government as soon as possible,” the chief minister’s office said.
It reiterated that indiscriminate action will be taken against “terrorists” and “hard-liners” belonging to either of the rival tribes, adding that those nominated in police complaints for attacks on aid convoys will be arrested.
Earlier, Pakistani state media said a large number of weapons were confiscated from Bagan in Kurram district on Wednesday.
“In a joint search and clearance operation by the district administration, police and security forces in the conflict-affected area of Bagan, district Kurram, a significant number of illegal weapons were recovered,” the Associated Press of Pakistan said.
Feuding tribes have been engaging in battles with machine guns and heavy weapons, isolating the remote, mountainous Kurram region. Parachinar is the main town in Kurram and a main road that connects the town to Peshawar, the provincial capital of the larger Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has been blocked since sectarian fighting began in November.
Provincial and federal authorities have been supplying relief goods and evacuating the injured and ailing from Kurram to Peshawar via helicopters since last month.
Shiite Muslims dominate parts of Kurram, although they are a minority in the rest of Pakistan, which is majority Sunni. The area has a history of sectarian conflict.
