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Pakistani expats in Gulf seek revival of overseas students' quota at medical colleges

Students look at the facade of a building made with solar panels in Lahore on October 12, 2020. (AFP/ FILE)
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Updated 19 August 2021
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Pakistani expats in Gulf seek revival of overseas students' quota at medical colleges

  • Children of overseas Pakistanis were earlier able to avail quotas at 73 private and 44 public medical colleges in Pakistan
  • Government last year abolished the quota system for overseas students saying all candidates should be selected on merit
Updated 19 August 2021
Aamir Saeed

ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis in Gulf countries are calling on the government to reinstate a college admission quota for overseas nationals who want to study medicine back home, with an association for parents of overseas Pakistanis saying thousands may lose their chance at education due to the new rule.

Children of overseas Pakistanis were previously able to enroll at 73 private and 44 public medical colleges in Pakistan based on admission quotas — 15 percent at private institutes and 76 seats at government-run ones.

But the government last year abolished the private school quota and reduced the one for public colleges to 66 spots, saying all candidates should be selected on merit. 

In the run up to the reduction being enforced from the current academic year 2021-22, the Overseas Pakistani Parents Association in Gulf, which represents expats in Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain, this week requested the National Assembly Standing Committee on Education to reverse its decision.

Citing the future of thousands of expat children and the contributions of overseas Pakistanis to the country's economy, the association, in a letter dated August 16, asked the parliamentary commission to help reintroduce the quota system.
 
"It is unfortunate the government is creating hurdles for our children instead of facilitating them in getting admissions in the private and public medical colleges," Muhammad Azam, a representative of the association in Al-Ain, UAE, told Arab News over the phone on Wednesday.

"We are contributing over 60 percent in annual remittances to Pakistan, but in return the government isn’t willing even to facilitate admissions to our children in the medical colleges."

Azam said the removal of quotas coupled with the coronavirus pandemic situation could upend the future of some 2,000 Pakistani students in the Gulf region — 800 in the UAE alone — as they may not even be able to participate in entrance exams.

The Pakistan Medical Commission (PMC), he said, had established only two exam centers, in Dubai and Riyadh.

"It will be difficult for students in Oman, Qatar and Bahrain to travel to Dubai or Riyadh for the tests given travel restrictions due to COVID-19 situation," Azam said.

Upon the association's complaints, Pakistan's consulate general in Dubai wrote to the education ministry earlier this week asking it to review its decision. While a response is still awaited from the ministry, the Pakistan Medical Commission, the relevant regulatory body, says reversing the decision would be against the constitution.

"The Supreme Court has declared the admission quota against the constitution in one of its judgments," PMC vice president Muhammad Ali Raza told Arab News, adding that the commission had already removed a discriminatory fee system under which overseas Pakistanis had to pay tuition in US dollars.

"We have abolished discrimination in fee structure for the overseas students as they will now be paying the same fee as the local students," he said. "Overseas students should compete with all other students to get in on merit."

Topics: Pakistan students Gulf Middle East overseas

Pakistan Senate rejects Indian attempt to link it to Kashmir tourist attack

Updated 10 sec ago
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Pakistan Senate rejects Indian attempt to link it to Kashmir tourist attack

  • Deputy PM Ishaq Dar says India must be held accountable for its acts of ‘terrorism’ in Pakistan
  • He also reaffirms Pakistan’s ‘moral, political and diplomatic’ support to the people of Kashmir
Updated 10 sec ago
Usama Iqbal Khawaja

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Senate on Friday unanimously passed a resolution condemning what it called India’s “frivolous and baseless” attempts to link Islamabad to a deadly shooting in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, rejecting the allegation and accusing New Delhi of using “terrorism” as a political tool.
India has blamed Pakistan for the attack in the scenic town of Pahalgam in Kashmir’s Anantnag district, where gunmen killed 26 civilians on Tuesday in the deadliest assault on non-combatants in nearly two decades.
Pakistan has denied any involvement in the incident, with Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar reading out the resolution in the upper house of parliament that was later adopted by all the lawmakers.
“The Senate of Pakistan condemns terrorism in all its forms and manifestation, emphasizes that killing of innocent civilians is contrary to the values upheld by Pakistan [and] rejects all frivolous and baseless attempts to link Pakistan with the Pahalgam attack of 22nd April 2025 in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” he said.
The resolution denounced India’s suspension of the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty and reaffirmed Pakistan’s support for the Kashmiri people’s right to self-determination.
It also accused India of waging a “mala fide campaign” to malign Pakistan.
“The country’s sovereignty, security and interests demand that India should be held accountable for its involvement in different acts of terrorism and targeted assassinations on the soil of other countries, including Pakistan,” Dar continued.
He also reaffirmed Pakistan’s “unwavering moral, political and diplomatic support for and commitment to the Kashmiri people’s just struggle for realization of their inalienable right to self determination.”

Topics: Senate of Pakistan Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar Pakistan India Ties

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Detained Pakistan rights activist Dr. Mahrang Baloch launches hunger strike

Updated 15 min 7 sec ago
AFP
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Detained Pakistan rights activist Dr. Mahrang Baloch launches hunger strike

  • Baloch, 32, was arrested last month on charges of terrorism, sedition and murder
  • Dozen UN experts called on Pakistan in March to immediately release Baloch rights defenders
Updated 15 min 7 sec ago
AFP

QUETTA: Detained activist Dr. Mahrang Baloch, one of the leading campaigners for Pakistan’s Baloch minority, has launched a hunger strike along with other detainees, her sister told AFP on Friday.
Mahrang Baloch, 32, was arrested last month on charges of terrorism, sedition and murder.
In her native Balochistan, an impoverished province that borders Afghanistan and Iran, security forces are battling a growing insurgency.
Rights groups say the violence has been countered with a severe crackdown that has swept up innocent people. Authorities deny heavyhandedness. 
Mahrang’s hunger strike “is aimed at denouncing the misconduct of the police and the failure of the justice system to protect... prisoners,” her younger sister, Nadia Baloch, said.
Nadia said the hunger strike was launched on Thursday after the attempted “abduction” of one of the Baloch detainees.
Mahrang’s organization, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), said the inmate was beaten by security officials and taken from the prison to an unknown location.
A security official said the detainee was moved to another prison and denied any mistreatment.
BYC said four other detained Baloch activists have joined the hunger strike.
“All of them are peaceful political workers, imprisoned for raising their voices... Their only ‘crime’ is organizing peacefully in an environment saturated with state terror and violence,” the group said.
Activists say in the crackdown against militancy in the region authorities have harassed and carried out extrajudicial killings of Baloch civilians.
Pakistani authorities reject the “baseless allegations.”
A dozen UN experts called on Pakistan in March to immediately release Baloch rights defenders, including Mahrang, and to end the repression of their peaceful protests.
UN special rapporteur for human rights defenders Mary Lawlor said she was “disturbed by reports of further mistreatment in prison.”
The judiciary has declined to rule on Mahrang’s detention, effectively halting any appeal and placing the matter solely in the hands of the provincial government.
Insurgents in Balochistan accuse outsiders of plundering the province’s rich natural resources and launched a dramatic train siege in March, during which officials said about 60 people were killed.

Topics: Dr. Mahrang Baloch Mahrang Baloch

Pakistan joins Muslim world in sending condolences ahead of Pope’s funeral on Saturday

Updated 25 April 2025
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Pakistan joins Muslim world in sending condolences ahead of Pope’s funeral on Saturday

  • Over 128,000 people have already paid last respects to Francis, whose coffin will be closed at 1800 GMT in ceremony attended by senior cardinals
  • Francis will be interred in the ground, his simple tomb marked with just one word: Franciscus, people will be able to visit the tomb from Sunday morning
Updated 25 April 2025
Falak Mahmood Khan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan joined the Muslim world in sending condolences as the Vatican made final preparations Friday for Pope Francis’s funeral and the last of the huge crowds of mourners filed through St. Peter’s Basilica to view his open coffin.
Over 128,000 people have already paid their last respects to Francis, whose coffin will be closed at 8:00pm (1800 GMT) in a ceremony attended by senior cardinals.
Many of the 50 heads of state and 10 monarchs attending Saturday’s ceremony in St. Peter’s Square, including US President Donald Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, are expected to arrive later Friday in Rome.
“Pakistan conveys its heartfelt condolences on the passing of His Holiness, Pope Francis, a revered spiritual figure and a worldwide advocate for peace, interfaith dialogue and compassion,” the foreign office said. 
“His Holiness demonstrated unwavering commitment to fostering unity among world religions, advocating for the oppressed and promoting the inherent dignity of all humankind. Pakistan deeply values his tireless efforts to enhance mutual respect and understanding among diverse cultures and faiths.”
The foreign office said the pope’s legacy was marked by “profound humility, selfless service and a unifying vision for humanity,” which would serve as an inspiration for generations to come. 
“At this moment of profound sorrow, Pakistan stands in solidarity with our Catholic brothers and sisters worldwide and with all those touched by the extraordinary life of service.”
Italian and Vatican authorities have placed the area around St. Peter’s under tight security with drones blocked, snipers on roofs and fighter jets on standby. Further checkpoints will be activated on Friday night, police said.
Vast crowds of people on Friday morning packed Via della Conciliazione, the wide avenue leading to the Vatican, for the third and final day of the pope’s lying-in-state.
For a second night in a row, the Vatican kept St. Peter’s open past the scheduled hours to accommodate the queues, only closing the doors between 2:30am (0030 GMT) and 5:40am Friday.
Cardinal Kevin Farrell, Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church, will preside at the Rite of Sealing of the Coffin of the late Pope Francis on Friday, April 25, at 8:00 PM, ahead of the papal funeral on Saturday morning.
The Catholic Church’s first Latin American pope died on Monday aged 88, less than a month after spending weeks in hospital with severe pneumonia.
The Argentine pontiff, who had long suffered failing health, defied doctors’ orders by appearing at Easter, the most important moment in the Catholic calendar.
It was his last public appearance.
Condolences have flooded in from around the world for the Jesuit, an energetic reformer who championed those on the fringes of society in his 12 years as head of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics.
He used his last speech to rail against those who stir up “contempt... toward the vulnerable, the marginalized, and migrants.”
After the funeral, Francis’s coffin will be driven at a walking pace to be buried at his favorite church, Rome’s papal basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore.
The hearse will pass down Rome’s Fori Imperiali – where the city’s ancient temples lie – and past the Colosseum, according to officials.
Big screens will be set up along the route on which to watch the ceremony, Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said.
Francis will be interred in the ground, his simple tomb marked with just one word: Franciscus.
People will be able to visit the tomb from Sunday morning, as all eyes turn to the process of choosing Francis’s successor.
With inputs from AP

Topics: Pope Francis

Families heartbroken as Pakistan closes airspace for Indian planes, land border shut

Updated 25 April 2025
Reuters
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Families heartbroken as Pakistan closes airspace for Indian planes, land border shut

  • Militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir has triggered diplomatic crisis between Islamabad and New Delhi
  • Diplomatic relations between Pakistan and India were weak even before the latest measures were announced
Updated 25 April 2025
Reuters

KARACHI: A 79-year-old Pakistani man, Ali Hasan Baqai, lamented about not being able to meet his siblings living in India as he sat with his wife and grandchildren at his house in Pakistan’s Karachi, hours after Pakistan closed its air space for Indian airlines on Thursday.
The move came in retaliation to a raft of actions by India after a deadly militant attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi says Pakistan is involved in. Pakistani officials have rejected the accusations.
The latest diplomatic crisis was triggered by the killing of 26 men at a popular tourist destination in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday, in the worst attack on civilians since the 2008 Mumbai shootings. The tit-for-tat announcements took relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors, who have fought three wars, to the lowest level in years.
Whenever relations deteriorate between Pakistan and India, elderly Baqai is besieged with a feeling of longing for his siblings and his birthplace on the other side of the border with India.
“I was planning to visit India. My sisters there were also planning to travel to Pakistan. But all of a sudden this attack happened. We could not even think of it. The situation was absolutely normal but suddenly the situation turned bad,” Baqai told Reuters Television.
Ali was born in 1946 in Delhi, India, a year before the partition of the subcontinent in 1947. He was last able to visit Delhi in 2014. Two of his sisters, along with his mother, passed away in the subsequent years. His three brothers died in India last year.
“If we don’t get a chance and the borders are closed for a long time, the only way left is we go to Dubai and meet each other there,” he said.
“You can’t meet your relatives. We can neither go there, nor can they come. It has become a mockery now. There is no hope left.”

Topics: Pakistan India Ties Pakistan India

Roadside blast kills three paramilitary troops in Pakistan’s volatile southwest

Updated 25 April 2025
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Roadside blast kills three paramilitary troops in Pakistan’s volatile southwest

  • The blast appeared to target bomb disposal personnel of the Frontier Corps paramilitary force in the Marget coalfield
  • No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on Baloch separatist militants
Updated 25 April 2025
Saadullah Akhtar

QUETTA: A roadside blast killed three paramilitary troops and injured four others in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Friday, a local administration official said.
The blast in Margat area, home to coal mines and located some 60 kilometers from the provincial capital of Quetta, appeared to target the Frontier Corps paramilitary force’s bomb disposal personnel when they were clearing the route.
Balochistan, which shares a porous border with Iran and Afghanistan, has been the site of a decades-long insurgency by Baloch separatists who have targeted security forces protecting mining fields, laborers and truckers transporting minerals.
“An improvised explosive device (IED) was planted along the route being used for the transportation of coal from the Marget coalfield which exploded when the bomb disposal wing of the Frontier Corps was busy in security clearance of the route,” Quetta Deputy Commissioner Saad bin Asad told Arab News.
“Three soldiers of the BD wing were killed and four wounded in the attack.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatist militants, who frequently target security forces, Chinese nationals, ethnic Punjabi commuters and laborers in the restive province.
The separatists accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper. Successive Pakistani governments have denied the allegations and said they only worked for the uplift of the region and its people.
The latest attack comes a day after three people, including two women, were killed when a vehicle was hit by a powerful explosion in Balochistan’s Kalat district. Last month, the Baloch Liberation Army separatist group hijacked a train with hundreds of passengers aboard near Balochistan’s Bolan Pass, which resulted in the deaths of 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers. At least 33 insurgents were also killed.
Pakistan accuses the neighboring Afghanistan and India of supporting separatist militants in Balochistan, an allegation denied by New Delhi and Kabul.

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