Woman of vision: A life spent preventing blindness in Pakistan

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Updated 15 December 2019
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Woman of vision: A life spent preventing blindness in Pakistan

  • Dr. Pramila Lall is Pakistan’s first female eye specialist who has saved thousands from visual impairment
  • The female ophthalmologist has conducted the highest number of eye surgeries in Asia

TAXILA: In the archaeological city of Taxila, some 32 kilometers northwest of Pakistan’s capital Islamabad, lives an eye doctor of Indian origin, the country’s first female ophthalmologist, who has saved hundreds of thousands of people from visual impairment and continues her crusade against blindness despite crossing her retirement age.
Dr. Pramila Lall, 87, was born in Kerala, India, in 1932. She immigrated to Pakistan in 1957 after receiving MBBS from the Christian Medical College and marrying her Pakistani classmate, Dr. Ernest Lall, who advised her to become an eye specialist. Since then, she has dedicated her life to the cause and is said to have conducted over 500,000 surgeries, the highest number of such operations performed by any single doctor in Asia.
In 1987, Lall became member of the American Academy of Ophthalmologists, and the London Royal College of Ophthalmologists awarded her a fellowship in 1990.
Hailing from a family of academics, she recently narrated her journey from India to Pakistan while talking exclusively to Arab News at the Christian Hospital, Taxila, which was built in 1922 by missionaries.
“When I was young, I had a speech defect. I couldn’t speak out. If the teacher asked me anything, I would know the answer, but I closed my mouth, put my head down like I didn’t know it. It used to make me very ashamed of myself. My only hope was to be a veterinarian and take care of animals since I didn’t need to talk to them,” Lall said while she sat on her favorite black chair next to an old eye examination equipment.
“It was my mother,” she continued, “who told me: ‘You don’t take care of animals; you take care of human beings. You’ll become a doctor.’ My father said, ‘No, we don’t have money to send her to a medical college.’ But my mother said, ‘This daughter of mine is going to do medicine.’”
Lall enrolled in the medical school where she met her future husband, a Pakistani “Punjabi boy” who told her that there was “a lot of eye work required across the border” and advised her to do her residency in ophthalmology.
“I came to Pakistan on the 27th of September, 1957, at 4 o’clock in the evening. I was wearing a sari I didn’t have any socks on my feet and no shoes. I had only chappals, because in India that’s what we used all the time. We wore chappals and we wore saris.”
She had Pakistani visa stamped on her Indian passport and was accompanied by her husband. At the Amritsar border, she said, an “Indian immigration officer said, ‘Two doctors going off to Pakistan. We need doctors in India. You people better not go, you better stay in India.’”
Crossing over, the Pakistani immigration official said: “Welcome to Pakistan. We need doctors in this country.” It was a big welcome, she added, though she had to change her nationality within the first six months to permanently stay in the country.
Since then, Lall has returned to India once to receive the Paul Harrison Award in 1985 after previously being denied entry in 1965 when the two South Asian rivals suspended diplomatic relations while fighting a full-scale war.
“We needed to get an Indian visa to collect an award. The [Indian] embassy officer said, ‘You are a Pakistani. How come you are getting an award from India?’ I had to explain to him, that we came from India. We studied in Vellore, our work was there, training was there, and that was the reason why the Indians were giving me the award because I had done so much for the prevention of blindness in Pakistan. Only then he understood why I wanted to go to India,” Lall said, adding she did not have the urge to return to her country of origin. “Whatever I have are my staff and my friends in this country,” she said.
In 2002, President General (r) Pervez Musharraf gave her Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, an award of excellence conferred by the state, and she capitalized on the opportunity by requesting him to allow Christians to vote.
“When I got the award, I thanked the president and said I had one request: ‘I want you to do something for the rights of the minorities. We are not allowed to vote.’ He said, ‘I’ll do something about it,’” Lall said, smiling.
Discussing her career, she said there came a time when she was not able to take the pressure and influx of patients. She also faced hardships during the 1965 and 1971 wars since she was treated as a suspect due to her Indian origin.
“I just wrote a small message to my father and said, ‘Enough of Taxila. We are going to Canada. We are going to work over there. We’ll get good money over there and we won’t have all this business of being in Pakistan.’ My father wrote back and said, ‘Have you forgotten? Once you put your hand to the plow, you don’t turn back. Stick to your job and have faith in God. That’s the most important thing.’ The Lord had saved me. I am in my 80s now, and I keep praying, ‘Lord! Use me as long as you can, but I am ready to go to you whenever you call me,’” she told Arab News.
Lall continues her mission, though she now feels lonely since her husband passed away in March this year, her children live in the United States, and there is no one left in her family in India.
“I have stopped doing surgery now for four years. But I keep training others who come here so they can develop their skills and be good surgeons. I don’t want to be a burden. I have only one woman [maid] at home and one dog. I keep telling her, ‘If any day you find I am not breathing properly, this is the phone number. You call this ward and tell them, Please come and see Mrs. Lall.’”


Family of detained Baloch rights activist moves Supreme Court against her arrest

Updated 12 June 2025
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Family of detained Baloch rights activist moves Supreme Court against her arrest

  • Dr. Mahrang Baloch has been held in a Quetta prison since she was arrested on March 22
  • She published a letter from jail in a US magazine, saying ‘speaking for justice is not a crime’

ISLAMABAD: The family of a detained Pakistani Baloch rights activists, Dr. Mahrang Baloch, filed a petition in Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday, seeking to overturn a provincial court ruling that upheld her arrest under public order laws, according to a local media report.

Baloch, a physician and a civil society activists, has been held at Quetta’s Hudda District Jail since March 22 after she participated in protests following a separatist militant attack on a passenger train in Balochistan.

She was arrested under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO) law, a move her supporters described as part of a broader crackdown on nonviolent dissent in the restive province.

The petition, filed by her sister, argues that the detention is arbitrary and aimed at silencing peaceful activism.

“Nadia Bal­och, the sister of Dr. Mah­­rang Baloch, urged the Supreme Court on Wed­­nesday to set aside the April 15 order of the Balo­ch­istan High Court that rej­ected the plea against her detention under the Main­tenance of Public Order,” the English-language newspaper Dawn quoted from the petition.

The detained activist, who leads the Baloch Yakjehti Committee, also published a letter from prison in the US-based Time magazine this week, in which she asserted that “speaking up for justice is not a crime.”
Pakistani authorities have accused Baloch of promoting the narrative of separatist groups like the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) in public. However, her letter in the American magazine maintained the officials had not provided any evidence of her links with BLA or any other militant group while criticizing the authorities for blurring the line between militancy and peaceful protest.

Earlier this year, the Balochistan High Court dismissed Baloch’s initial challenge to her detention, advising her to seek administrative remedies instead of judicial relief.

Her sister’s petition has now asked the apex court to suspend that ruling and review whether constitutional protections such as habeas corpus were ignored in the previous judicial decision.
The Supreme Court has yet to announce when it will take up the case for hearing.
 


Pakistan urges global protection for Gaza’s children on World Day Against Child Labor

Updated 12 June 2025
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Pakistan urges global protection for Gaza’s children on World Day Against Child Labor

  • President Zardari says children in conflict zones need global aid, protection and justice
  • PM Shehbaz Sharif also calls for stricter enforcement of existing laws against child labor

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday called for urgent international support for children in Gaza, warning that thousands face displacement, hunger and heightened risks of forced labor amid ongoing conflict.

The appeal was made by President Asif Ali Zardari in a statement issued on the World Day Against Child Labor, observed annually on June 12. He said children living in war zones must be at the center of the global child protection agenda.

“These children urgently need global aid, protection and justice,” Zardari said. “In conflict-affected regions such as Gaza, thousands of innocent children have been displaced, injured or orphaned by violence. Many face hunger, trauma and the risk of falling into child labor.”

While reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to eliminating child labor domestically, the president urged governments, rights defenders, media, religious leaders and philanthropists to come together and protect vulnerable children everywhere.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a separate message, said Pakistan “stands shoulder to shoulder with the international community in the fight against child labor,” but noted that implementation gaps still exist.

“This day is a reminder that we must continue striving toward a future where every child grows up in a safe and prosperous environment,” he said.

Officials say child labor remains widespread in Pakistan, especially in rural and informal sectors, depriving millions of education and exposing them to exploitation.

Sharif urged stricter enforcement of existing laws, which prohibit child labor under Pakistan’s constitution and several key statutes.

Zardari emphasized that while Pakistan has introduced reforms and protection systems, including the National Commission on the Rights of the Child and child welfare bureaus, lasting change requires collective action.

“Child labor is a global challenge,” he said. “Governments and societies must work together to protect children from exploitation and ensure they grow up in dignity.”


Pakistan PM arrives in UAE for high-level talks on strategic cooperation

Updated 21 min 18 sec ago
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Pakistan PM arrives in UAE for high-level talks on strategic cooperation

  • PM Shehbaz Sharif is undertaking the visit on Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed’s invitation
  • Trip comes as Pakistan strives to deepen trade, investment relations with Gulf nations

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for a daylong official visit to the United Arab Emirates at the invitation of President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Pakistani government said.

Sharif was received at Al Bateen Airport by the UAE president’s brother and national security adviser, Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who accompanied him to the presidential palace.

UAE’s Secretary General of the Supreme National Security Council, Ali Ahmed Al Shamsi, Pakistan’s Ambassador Faisal Niaz Tirmizi and senior embassy officials were also present at the airport.

“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has arrived in Abu Dhabi on a one-day official visit to the United Arab Emirates on the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

The Pakistani delegation includes Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Special Assistant Tariq Fatemi.

The trip comes amid Pakistan’s broader efforts to strengthen strategic and economic ties with Gulf countries, particularly the UAE, which is its third-largest trading partner and a key source of investment and financial support.

The UAE has played a critical role in helping Pakistan navigate recent economic challenges, including through direct deposits into Pakistan’s central bank that supported an International Monetary Fund bailout.

According to a statement from Pakistan’s foreign office a day earlier, the prime minister is expected to follow up on more than $3 billion in cooperation agreements signed during his previous visit in January 2024, covering infrastructure, energy and investment.

Sharif and the UAE presidents are also expected to discuss regional security developments. Last month, the two leaders held a phone call during which Islamabad praised the UAE’s diplomatic role in de-escalating tensions between Pakistan and India after a military flare-up.


‘Bellicose punchlines’: Islamabad slams India’s top diplomat over anti-Pakistan remarks in Brussels

Updated 12 June 2025
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‘Bellicose punchlines’: Islamabad slams India’s top diplomat over anti-Pakistan remarks in Brussels

  • Subrahmanyam Jaishankar accused Pakistan of sponsoring ‘terrorism,’ asserted New Delhi’s right to retaliate
  • Foreign office says India should raise the quality of its discourse instead of remaining ‘obsessed with Pakistan’

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Wednesday criticized Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar for “producing bellicose punchlines” after he made a series of statements during his visit to Brussels, accusing Islamabad of sponsoring “terrorism” and asserting New Delhi reserved the right to retaliate against militant attacks.
The comments come in the wake of a recent military standoff between the nuclear-armed neighbors, involving the exchange of fighter jets, drones, missiles and artillery fire. Both countries have since launched parallel diplomatic offensives, dispatching delegations to major world capitals to present their versions of events.
New Delhi suspended a longstanding river water-sharing treaty following a gun attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that it blamed on Pakistan. Islamabad denied any involvement, calling for an impartial international probe before India decided to launch missiles to target what it called was “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan.
A US-brokered ceasefire was announced by President Donald Trump on May 10, followed by Pakistan’s call for a “composite dialogue” with its neighboring state which New Delhi has so far resisted.
“Pakistan categorically rejects the irresponsible remarks made by the External Affairs Minister of India during different media engagements in Brussels,” the foreign office said in a strongly worded statement.
“The discourse of top diplomats should aim to promote peace and harmony, rather than producing bellicose punchlines,” it continued. “The tone and tenor of a Foreign Minister should be commensurate with his dignified status.”
The ministry accused India of waging a years-long “malicious campaign” aimed at misleading the global community with a “fictitious narrative of victimhood,” adding that such rhetoric cannot conceal what it described as India’s own “sponsorship of terrorism beyond its borders” or its “state-sanctioned oppression” in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir.
“India must also desist from concocting misleading narratives to justify its recent aggressive actions,” the statement said. “Pakistan believes in peaceful coexistence, dialogue and diplomacy. However, it stands resolute in its intent and ability to safeguard its sovereignty against any aggression, as exemplified by its robust response to India’s reckless strikes last month.”
Calling India’s recent remarks a sign of “sheer frustration” after what it termed an “unsuccessful military adventure,” Islamabad said Indian leaders should focus on improving the quality of their discourse rather than remaining “obsessed with Pakistan.”
“The history will judge not by who shouted the loudest but by who acted the wisest,” it added.


Palestinian MP accuses Israel and India of conspiring together against Pakistan’s sovereignty

Updated 12 June 2025
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Palestinian MP accuses Israel and India of conspiring together against Pakistan’s sovereignty

  • Sheikh Mamoun Asaad Al-Tamimi was speaking at the National Press Club in Islamabad during a ‘Meet the Press’ event
  • Says Pakistan’s ‘victory’ in recent military confrontation with India was a success for the entire Muslim ummah

ISLAMABAD: Palestinian lawmaker Sheikh Mamoun Asaad Al-Tamimi on Wednesday accused Israel and India of working in tandem to undermine Pakistan’s sovereignty, alleging that both nations viewed Pakistan’s nuclear capability as a threat to their regional ambitions.
Speaking at the National Press Club in Islamabad during a “Meet the Press” event, Al-Tamimi claimed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, encouraged by Israeli leadership, had attempted to provoke war with Pakistan.
“Modi and Netanyahu are deeply troubled by Pakistan’s nuclear strength. On Israel’s instigation, Modi tried to impose war on Pakistan but they were met with a response they never anticipated,” he said.
Al-Tamimi was referring to exchanges of drones, missiles, and artillery strikes between the two arch-rivals between May 7-10 before a ceasefire was announced. After India struck first on May 7, Pakistan vowed retaliation, saying it had downed six Indian fighter jets.
The two nations also hit each other’s military bases, airfields and other army facilities with missiles.
The Palestinian MP said Israel expected Pakistan’s leadership to be divided and weak in the face of Indian airstrikes.
“But Pakistan’s military and political leadership responded with unity and strength. This is not just a Pakistani victory, it is a victory for the entire Muslim ummah,” he said.
Al-Tamimi’s remarks come amid ongoing violence in Gaza, which he described as a humanitarian catastrophe.
Israel launched an air and ground offensive in Gaza in October 2023 in which at least 54,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to health authorities in the coastal enclave.
“Israel has placed Gaza under siege ... There is now an acute shortage of food and medicine. If the blockade continues, two million Palestinians could die of hunger within a year,” Al-Tamimi warned.
He also drew parallels between the struggles in Gaza and disputed Kashmir, claiming both were victims of occupation and global neglect.
“The war in Gaza has unmasked everyone. Western media portrays Israel as a victim, but this war has exposed the truth. The silence of the international community is deafening.”
Calling for global protests, Al-Tamimi urged people, particularly in Pakistan, to demonstrate outside US embassies in solidarity with the people of Gaza:
“The world must pressure Israel to end its brutal campaign.”
During the press meet visit, NPC President Azhar Jatoi recalled the club’s early support for Gaza, including rallies and awards for over 150 journalists who highlighted the Palestinian cause. Secretary Nayyar Ali added that Pakistani journalists would continue speaking up for Gaza on all platforms.