ISLAMABAD: Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Babar Iftikhar said on Friday the situation on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan was "under control" despite the ongoing situation in the neighboring country which recently witnessed the collapse of its political administration.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left his country earlier this month after the Taliban captured major cities and strategic border crossings that ultimately led to the fall of Kabul on August 15.
Prior to that, the Afghan national army gave little resistance to the Taliban insurgents who intensified their military campaign after US President Joe Biden announced to pull out international forces in April.
The absence of a government and a functional military has raised concerns about border management in Pakistan since thousands of Afghans want to flee their country in the present political turmoil.
"Pakistan had already started taking those measures which we needed to take to guard the Pakistan-Afghanistan international border in the best possible way, to manage it well and to ensure security and stability on this side of the border," Iftikhar said.
He maintained his country's leaders had the "foresight" to predict the situation in Afghanistan, adding that they decided to beef up border security as early as 2014.
"Despite whatever has happened on that side [in Afghanistan], the situation on the Pak-Afghan border is normal and under control," he said.
The DG ISPR noted that several high-ranking Pakistani officials, including the army chief, had visited Kabul during the tenure of the Ghani administration, offering Afghan officials intelligence sharing mechanism and training of their forces.
He added that Pakistan was even willing to raise, equip and train a brigade level force in the Afghan national army, but its offers were spurned by the government in Kabul.
"We offered to train them several times but only six Afghan cadets came [to Pakistan]," he said. "This was despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of Afghan soldiers went for training to India and several Indian training teams were also placed in Afghanistan."
Iftikhar maintained the international community should put India "in the dock" since it had "poisoned" the minds of Afghan political and military leaders on all levels while accusing New Delhi of playing a negative role in Afghanistan.
"Whatever investment they [Indians] made in Afghanistan to develop their clout, it was done with only one intention: to harm Pakistan," he said.
Iftikhar reiterated that Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies were working together to hurt Pakistan, though India has denied such charges in the past.
Asked about Pakistan's future course of action if the Afghan Taliban failed to control anti-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban militant faction, he said the Taliban had assured they would not allow the Afghan soil to be used against any country and "we should take them at their word."
Pakistani military says situation on Afghan border 'under control'
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Pakistani military says situation on Afghan border 'under control'
- As thousands of Afghans want to flee their country, the absence of a functioning military in Afghanistan has raised border security concerns
- Pakistan's military also accused India of 'poisoning' the minds of Afghan leaders and asked international community to put New Delhi 'in the dock'
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.
Pakistan court issues arrest warrants for top Imran Khan aides over riots led by supporters in 2023
- Khan was himself indicted last month on charges of inciting supporters to attack military’s GHQ headquarters on May 9, 2023
- Hundreds of PTI supporters and leaders were arrested while police registered cases against top leaders, including Khan
ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Wednesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants for key aides of former premier Imran Khan, local media widely reported, in a case involving riots by supporters of the jailed PM’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, including attacks on military installations.
Khan was himself indicted last month on chparges of inciting his supporters to attack the military’s GHQ headquarters during protests on May 9, 2023. That day, after Pakistan’s powerful army publicly rebuked the PTI founder for repeatedly accusing a senior military officer of trying to engineer his assassination, Khan was arrested by the national anti-corruption agency in a land graft case. The arrest sparked a wave of protests by Khan supporters across the country, with rioters attacking important state buildings and ransacking military facilities, including the GHQ in the garrison city of Rawalpindi and the residence of the army’s top commander in the eastern city of Lahore.
Hundreds of PTI supporters and dozens of leaders were subsequently arrested while police registered cases against the party’s top leaders, including Khan.
Pakistan’s top TV news channel, Geo News, reported on Wednesday that non-bailable arrest warrants had been issued for Omar Ayub Khan, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, and Shibli Faraz, the opposition leader in Senate, after both failed to appear before an anti-terrorism court in a case registered at the Civil Lines Police Station.
“Warrants have also been issued ... against PTI’s Kanwal Shauzab as well as former party leader Fawad Chaudhry,” Geo reported. Several other Pakistani news channels also reported on the development.
Nearly 2,000 people were arrested following the May 9 protests and at least eight were killed. The government had called out the army to help restore order.
Though Khan was released on bail within days of the May 9 arrest, he was later arrested in August 2023 after he was handed a three-year prison sentence in a corruption case. He has been in jail since then.
His party was barred from Pakistan’s election on Feb. 8, 2024, but the would-be candidates stood as independents.
Despite the ban and Khan’s imprisonment for convictions on charges ranging from leaking state secrets to corruption, millions of the former cricketer’s supporters voted for him. Independent candidates from his party won the highest number of seats but not enough to form a government on their own. Khan cannot be part of any government while he remains in prison.
Khan and his party say all legal cases against him are based on made-up charges to keep him out of politics at the behest of the army after he had fallen out with the military’s generals. The army denies the accusation.
Last month, the government launched talks with the PTI to cool political temperatures in the South Asian nation. The two sides have met thrice and the PTI has said it will only attend a fourth round of talks if the government announced judicial commissions into accusations Khan’s party and supporters led violent protests on May 9, 2023, and Nov. 26, 2024, when protests in Islamabad demanding Khan’s release turned violent, with the PTI saying 12 supporters were killed while the state said four troops had died.
