ISLAMABAD: A British-Pakistani, who arrived in Islamabad in July to see his ailing mother but could not return to London due to the UK government’s travel restriction on Pakistan, said on Saturday he anxiously wanted to hold his daughter once again.
Imran Niazi had to leave his wife and daughter behind in Britain while traveling to Islamabad but found himself stranded here due to the UK government’s “red list” requirements which expected him to undergo a costly 10-day hotel quarantine amid rising coronavirus concerns.
UK officials decided to place Pakistan on its red list in April due to a surge in COVID-19 delta variant cases in the country and added the South Asian state to its safe list on Friday.
“I am anxiously waiting to hug my 12-year-old daughter,” Niazi told Arab News. “This was a stressful time, and thank God, the UK has eased its travel restrictions.”
He said that much of his time in Islamabad was spent making video calls to his family.
“Hopefully, I will be joining them in about two weeks,” he continued.
Almost all airlines including British Airways, Emirates and Virgin Atlantic have resumed their operations from Pakistan, but they are either fully booked or their fares have gone extremely high due to the growing travel demand to the UK.
The one-way fare from Islamabad to London can currently cost between £1,800 to £2,165, though it used to be around £300 before the UK travel restrictions.
“I’ll obviously wait for at least two weeks to book my flight as this fare is too high for me to afford,” Niazi said, adding his real estate and security services business in London had already been “badly affected” due to the pandemic.
All those traveling to the UK from Pakistan need to be fully vaccinated with Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Moderna, otherwise they will require a booster shot of any of these vaccines before taking a flight.
Mirza Khalil Ullah, who runs a property business in Mill Hill, London, came to see his relatives in Karachi in February but got stuck in the country.
“We British-Pakistanis have got this relief after a very hard time,” he said. “I would request all Pakistanis that they should not do anything that can put us in trouble again or tarnish Pakistan’s image.”
He said he had taken the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine and was planning to get a Pfizer shot before booking his flight.
Another IT professional from London, Amir Faisal Awan, was also stranded in Pakistan for the last five months due to the travel restrictions.
“It has been a horrible experience,” he said while adding that his father was suffering from dementia and could not stay in confined places.
“The British government should have thought [of] us as British and not just Pakistanis,” he complained. “They should have facilitated us instead of involving us in their political issues. I am really excited now and just want to be back with my family. It was a very bad feeling that I had my passport and ticket but could not fly back to them.”
Rafiq Saya, a businessman based in Ireland, came to Karachi to negotiate a deal but got stuck here for months.
“It has affected my business in Ireland and kept me away from my family,” he said, while welcoming the UK government’s decision to remove Pakistan from the travel red list.
“It is a great thing for everybody since we can now go back to work and be with our families again,” Saya added.
‘Thank god’: British-Pakistanis excited to return to families after UK lifts travel restrictions
https://arab.news/6nzmw
‘Thank god’: British-Pakistanis excited to return to families after UK lifts travel restrictions
- One-way fare from Islamabad to London can currently cost up to £2,165, though the flights are still overbooked
- A stranded IT professional from London says UK authorities should have ‘thought of us as British, not just Pakistanis’ to avoid playing politics on the issue
Pakistan to deploy army, paramilitary Rangers troops for tri-nation cricket series
- Pakistan to host series involving New Zealand, South Africa from Feb. 8-14 in Lahore and Karachi
- Imran Khan’s party has announced it will hold nationwide protests on Feb. 8 against alleged rigging
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Ministry on Monday announced that it has authorized the deployment of army and paramilitary Punjab Rangers troops for the security of the South Africa and New Zealand cricket teams ahead of a tri-nation series scheduled to be held this week.
Pakistan is set to host a tri-nation ODI series from Feb. 8-14 in Lahore and Karachi cities featuring New Zealand and South Africa. The cricket series is being held as preparation for the upcoming eight-nation Champions Trophy tournament, also slated to be held later this month in Pakistan.
However, former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has announced it would mark Feb. 8 as a “Black Day” and hold nationwide protests on the one-year anniversary of February 2024 national polls that the PTI alleges were rigged.
“The Federal Government, in exercise of the powers conferred under Article 245 of the Constitution is pleased to authorize deployment of Pakistan Army and Pakistan Rangers (Punjab) troops under Sections 4 and 5 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 for security and protection duties to avoid any untoward incident during the visit of New Zealand and South Africa cricket teams to Pakistan,” the interior ministry’s notification said.
The ministry said that the exact number of troops, assets, date and area of deployment of the army and Rangers troops “will be worked out by the respective provincial governments in consultation with concerned stakeholders” based on the on-ground requirements and assessments.
“The date of de-requisitioning of said deployment will be decided subsequently after mutual consultation among all stakeholders,” it said.
The 2024 polls were marred by a countrywide shutdown of cellphone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by the PTI and other opposition parties.
The caretaker government and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) denied the allegations. The US House of Representatives, as well as European countries, have called on Islamabad to open a probe into the allegations — a move that Pakistan has thus far rejected.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday urged the PTI to call off its Feb. 8 protests.
Protests by the PTI, whose founder Khan is in jail since August 2023 on a slew of charges he denies, have resulted in violence in the past.
The party is accused of leading protests on May 9, 2023, in which government buildings and military installations were attacked nationwide following Khan’s brief detention on corruption charges. Khan and his party have denied involvement in the violence.
In November last year thousands of Khan protesters assembled in Islamabad to demand his release from prison. The government says four troops were killed in clashes, a charge the PTI denies and says scores of its workers were also killed.
Khan’s ouster in a parliamentary no-trust vote in 2022 has plunged Pakistan into a political crisis. His party and the government held talks in December and January to ease political tensions in the country.
However, the PTI ended negotiations last month, saying the government had failed to honor its demands of establishing judicial commissions to probe the protests of May 9, 2023, and November 2024.
Pakistan Jan consumer inflation eases to 9-year low
- Inflation rate fell to 2.4% year-on-year in January, statistics bureau says
- Inflation rate is down from a multi-decade high of around 40% in May 2023
KARACHI: Pakistan’s consumer inflation rate fell to its lowest in more than nine years, dropping to 2.4% year-on-year in January, the statistics bureau said on Monday.
Inflation has cooled significantly, easing from 28.3% in January 2024.
Consumer prices in January rose 0.2% from the month before, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
The South Asian country, currently bolstered by a $7 billion facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) granted in September, is navigating an economic recovery. The IMF is set to review Pakistan’s progress by March, with the government and central bank expressing confidence about meeting its targets.
“Inflation is lower because of the statistical base effect, also supported by currency stability and lower food and energy prices,” said Adnan Sami Sheikh, assistant vice president of research at Pakistan Kuwait Investment Company.
Pakistan’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate by 100 basis points to 12% last week, as inflation eases and growth looks set to pick up after 1,000 basis points of rate cuts over the last six months.
The State Bank of Pakistan has slashed rates from an all-time high of 22% last June, one of the most aggressive moves among central banks in emerging markets and exceeding its 625 bps of rate cuts in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pakistan’s consumer inflation rate fell to 4.1% in December, its lowest in more than six years, helped by favorable base effects. That was below the government’s forecast and down from a multi-decade high of around 40% in May 2023.
After the policy rate decision, central bank Governor Jameel Ahmad told a press conference that inflation would ease further in January but noted core inflation remained elevated.
He forecast full-year inflation in the year to June would average 5.5%-7.5%.
Pakistan police officer killed as polio vaccination drive starts — police
- Two motorcycle riders opened fire on police officer in northwestern Jamrud town, say police
- Pakistan launched this year’s first nationwide immunization effort today after 73 cases in 2024
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A Pakistan police officer traveling to guard polio vaccinators was shot dead Monday, police said, on the first day of a nationwide immunization effort after a year of rising cases.
The officer was traveling to guard polio vaccinators in the area of Jamrud town in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province when he was killed, local police official Zarmat Khan told AFP.
“Two motorcycle riders opened fire on him,” he said. “The constable died instantly at the scene.”
Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio is endemic and militants have for decades targeted vaccination teams and their security escorts.
Pakistan recorded at least 73 polio infections last year compared to six in 2023. The vaccination campaign which started on Monday is the first of the year and is due to last a week.
“Despite the incident, the polio vaccination drive in the area remains ongoing,” Khan said.
Abdul Hameed Afridi, another senior police official in the area, also confirmed details of the attack and said officers have “launched an investigation.”
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, however Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — which neighbors Afghanistan — is a hive of militant activity.
The Pakistani Taliban are the most active group in the area.
Polio can easily be prevented by the oral administration of a few drops of vaccine, but scores of vaccination workers and their escorts have been killed over the years.
In the past, clerics falsely claimed that the vaccine contained pork or alcohol, declaring it forbidden for Muslims.
In more recent years the attacks have focused on vulnerable police escorts accompanying the vaccinators as they go door-to-door.
Last year, dozens of Pakistani policemen who accompany medical teams on campaigns went on strike after a string of militant attacks targeting them.
Pakistan has witnessed rising militant attacks since the Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan.
More than 1,600 people were killed in attacks in 2024 — the deadliest year in almost a decade — according to the Center for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based analysis group.
Islamabad accuses Kabul’s new rulers of failing to rout militants organizing on Afghan soil, a charge the Taliban government routinely denies.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Sunday last year’s polio eradication efforts faced “a major setback.”
“We must eradicate polio from Pakistan at any cost,” he said as he launched the new vaccination drive.
Lawyers in Pakistan’s capital strike to protest ‘unfair’ transfer of judges
- Lawyers in Pakistan’s capital strike to protest ‘unfair’ transfer of judges
- Lawyers reject president’s move, say transfer “unfair” and affects seniority of other Islamabad High Court judges
ISLAMABAD: Lawyers associated with the capital’s bar associations and councils have gone on strike today, Monday, to protest against the president’s move to transfer three judges from different high courts to the Islamabad High Court (IHC).
President Asif Ali Zardari on Saturday approved the transfers of Justice Sardar Muhammad Sarfraz Dogar from the Lahore High Court, the Sindh High Court’s Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and Balochistan High Court’s Justice Muhammad Asif to the IHC, invoking anger from the capital city’s district and high court bar associations.
Zardari went ahead with the transfers despite opposition from five of 10 IHC judges. In a letter addressed to the chief justices of the Supreme Court and high courts on Friday, the judges said the decision was unfair to the existing senior judges of the IHC.
They also cited speculation and news reports that the government wanted to appoint Justice Dogar as the IHC’s chief justice, saying that it would be a “fraud on the constitution.”
“This decision is unfair to the judges serving in the IHC as it clearly affects their seniority,” Asad Manzoor Butt, president of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, told Arab News.
Butt supported the Islamabad High Court Bar Association’s call for notification of the judges’ transfer to be canceled.
“We will travel to Islamabad to consult with the Bar leadership and extend our support to them,” he said.
Pakistan’s constitution empowers the president to transfer a judge from one high court to another after the concerned judge consents to the decision. The president can approve the transfer after consulting the chief justice of Pakistan and the chief justice of both high courts.
The Islamabad Bar Council (IBC) said on Sunday that the capital city’s lawyer bodies will pursue all legal and constitutional avenues to challenge the move and safeguard the “judicial independence of Islamabad.”
It said an All-Pakistan Lawyers’ Convention will be held under the IBC on Monday to formulate a future strategy to challenge the transfers.
Pakistan PM visits Quetta after militant attack kills 18 security forces
- Militant attack took place in southwestern Balochistan province’s Kalat district on Saturday
- Shehbaz Sharif to discuss law and order situation with provincial leadership, says PM’s Office
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has arrived in the provincial capital of Quetta on a day-long visit where he will be briefed about the law and order situation in southwestern Balochistan, his office said on Monday, days after a militant attack killed 18 security forces in the province.
The Pakistan army said on Saturday 18 security forces had been killed while trying to thwart an “act of terrorism” in the insurgency-plagued Balochistan province, adding that 23 militants were killed in subsequent clearance operations.
The army said the attack took place in Kalat district’s Mangochar town on the night between Friday and Saturday when militants attempted to establish roadblocks in the area. The banned Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), one of the most prominent separatist groups operating in the southwestern province, claimed responsibility for the attack.
“Governor Balochistan Sheikh Jafar Khan Mandokhel and Chief Minister Balochistan Sarfraz Bugti received Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif upon his arrival at Quetta,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
It said Sharif will meet security forces personnel who were injured while battling militants in Kalat last week.
“The prime minister will also meet the provincial leadership in Quetta and will be briefed on law and order,” the statement added.
Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, Defense Minister Khawaja Asif, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar and Power Minister Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari are accompanying Sharif, the PMO said.
While the army did not specify which forces the 18 soldiers belonged to, government officials in Balochistan told Arab News they included 17 soldiers and one Frontier Corps trooper.
BALOCHISTAN INSURGENCY
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and rich in mineral resources, has long faced a low-level insurgency led by separatist groups like the BLA, who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources while neglecting the local population.
Pakistani governments have for decades denied these allegations, saying they have prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.
The BLA has emerged as a significant security threat in recent months, carrying out major attacks in Balochistan and other parts of Pakistan and targeting security forces, ethnic Punjabis they consider outsiders in Balochistan, as well as Chinese interests and nationals working on investment projects.
Over 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of attacks in Balochistan claimed by the BLA. Last month, dozens of fighters of the separatist outfit gained control of a small town in Khuzdar for hours. They snatched weapons and vehicles from the local Levies paramilitary force and set the Levies station on fire.
Violence by Baloch separatist factions, primarily the BLA, killed about 300 people last year, according to official statistics, marking an escalation in the decades-long conflict.
