QUETTA: Survivors of a devastating earthquake that killed at least 23 people on Thursday and flattened out hundreds of mud houses in a remote district in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province blamed the high death toll on inadequate medical facilities in the area.
According to the US Geological Survey, the 5.9 magnitude earthquake that jolted the country’s biggest province earlier in the day had its epicenter in Harnai district which experienced significant loss of life and property.
Abdul Wahid Baloch, a 43-year-old resident of the area, said he was sleeping at about 3am when he felt strong tremors.
“I ran toward the door but the roof made of mud collapsed over my head and I almost got buried in the debris,” he said. “I started screaming and was rescued by my nephew who then shifted me to a hospital. We received no treatment until medical teams arrived from Quetta.”
Baloch said he saw dozens of injured people on the floor of the District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital since there were not enough beds.
It was difficult to carry out timely rescue operations, he added, and provide necessary medical facilities due to the lack of resources in the area. The power also remained cut for hours and there was no mobile phone connectivity.
More than 100 mud houses collapsed and many buildings were damaged, district official Sohail Anwar told media. Television images showed buildings with gaping cracks, caved-in roofs and crumpled walls.
About 250 homes collapsed and many people were killed by falling roofs and crumbling walls in the district’s Babu Mohallah neighborhood, Nawab Khan, a local journalist, told Reuters.
Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Imran Khan shared his condolences with families who lost their loved ones in the powerful earthquake.
“I have ordered immediate assistance on an emergency basis for the Harnai, Balochistan, earthquake victims & for an immediate assessment of the damage for timely relief & compensation,” he said in a Twitter post. “My condolences & prayers go to the families who lost their loved ones.”
Director General of the Provincial Disaster Management Authoroty Naseer Ahmed told Arab News the rescue and relief operation was almost over, and many critically injured residents of Harnai had been airlifted to Balochistan’s provincial capital, Quetta, by army aviation helicopters.
“About 35 critically injured people had been brought to DHQ Harnai who were then shifted to Quetta for better medical treatment,” he said. “Nearly 150 individuals with minor injuries have already been discharged after initial medical care.”
A 25-year-old resident of Harnai, Noor Muhammad, brought his aunt to Quetta’s Civil Hospital after completing a four-hour journey.
“She was sleeping in her house when the quake struck,” he told Arab News. “An iron girder fell down on her which broke four ribs.”
Waseem Baig, who represents the provincial health department, said authorities in Balochistan had imposed emergency at the Civil Hospital, Quetta, where medical professionals were providing “quality treatment” to the quake victims.
“Initially, three women and an injured child were brought to the hospital,” he said. “But about 30 other people were later flown to the facility in military helicopters.”
A 73-year-old resident of Harnai, Sahib Muhammad, said he had lost everything in the quake.
“My home was completely destroyed and I have nothing left but the damage done to my property by the earthquake,” he said as a paramedic treated him at the DHQ Harnai.
Earthquake in southwestern Pakistan exposes poor health facilities
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Earthquake in southwestern Pakistan exposes poor health facilities
- A 5.9 magnitude earthquake shook the country’s southwestern Harnai district on Thursday, killing at least 23 people
- Army aviation helicopters brought critically injured people from the quake-hit Harnai region to Civil Hospital in Quetta
PIA flight lands in Paris after four-year ban, marking return to Europe
- PIA’s first flight to Paris in over four years departed from Islamabad on Saturday afternoon
- Europe’s aviation safety agency suspended PIA’s authorization to operate in EU in June 2020
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani national airline’s first flight to Paris in over four years landed in the French capital, state-run media reported on Sunday, marking the resumption of its operations to Europe.
The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight departed for Paris from Islamabad on Saturday afternoon. The airline said on Friday that it was resuming two direct weekly flights to Paris.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) suspended PIA’s authorization to operate in the EU in June 2020 over concerns about the ability of Pakistani aviation authorities to ensure compliance with international standards.
EASA, United Kingdom and United States authorities suspended permission for PIA to operate in the region after Pakistan began investigating the validity of pilots’ licenses following a deadly plane crash that killed 97 people. In November 2024, the EASA announced it had lifted the ban.
“Pakistan International Airlines’ first flight to France has landed at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris after a gap of more than four years,” Radio Pakistan reported.
The report said that PIA passengers and crew were warmly received in Paris by Pakistan Charge d’Affairs Huzefa Khanum along with the Pakistani diaspora.
“The passengers who reached Paris via direct flight from Islamabad expressed pleasure over reduced travel time and quality service experienced by them,” it said.
PIA, however, remains barred from operating flights to the UK and the United States. The airline flies to multiple cities inside Pakistan, including the mountainous north, as well as to the Gulf and Southeast Asia.
PIA, which employs 7,000 people, has long been accused of being bloated and poorly run — hobbled by unpaid bills, a poor safety record and regulatory issues.
Pakistan’s government has said it is committed to privatizing the debt-ridden airline and has been scrambling to find a buyer. Late last year, a deal fell through after a potential buyer reportedly offered a fraction of the asking price.
The government hopes the opening of European routes, which officials expect will be followed by a similar announcement by the UK later this year, will boost its selling potential.
PIA posted losses of $270 million in 2023, according to local media. Its liabilities were nearly $3 billion, about five times the total worth of its assets.
In the same year, amid a national economic crisis, dozens of domestic flights were canceled when it could not afford fuel for its planes.
PIA came into being in 1955 when the government nationalized a loss-making commercial airline, and enjoyed rapid growth until the 1990s.
Food lovers relish international flavors, global cuisines at Karachi Eat 2025
- Three-day annual Karachi Eat festival features cuisines from Middle East, Turkiye and Italy
- Food stall owners say festival helps them bring global cuisines to Pakistani audiences
KARACHI: The air at Beach View Park in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi was filled with the enticing aroma of Sicilian slow-cooked beef, Arabic Paratha, beefy Chapli Kebabs from Peshawar and mouthwatering Chicken Tikka.
Welcome to Karachi Eat 2025, Pakistan’s biggest annual food festival. The three-day festival has been taking place in the ‘City of Lights’ every year in January since 2014. This year’s festival, set to conclude today, Sunday, also features hundreds of eateries and offers a variety of cuisines to visitors.
According to Ticket Wala, a platform that sells tickets for entertainment events, chefs from Indonesia, Singapore, Turkiye, Romania, Malaysia, France and other countries visited Karachi for the festival.
Sarah Aziz, a food stall owner passionately selling Sicilian cuisine, told Arab News she wanted to bring international cuisine to Pakistanis who could not travel to countries around the world.
“We want to bring the flavors out there for everyone who can’t go to Sicily, Portugal, or Malta,” she said. “We want to bring the food here, so they can also cherish and enjoy it.”
Aziz said she wanted to “convert” her cuisine, which was for a niche market, so that many people in Pakistan can enjoy and develop a taste for it.
“So, the menu is basically based on slow-cooked beef with lamb fat,” she said. “We are doing handmade pesto with garlic paste.”
For others like Muhammad Ismail, 28, the festival provided an opportunity for him to indulge in his love for Arabic cuisine.
“I just had Arabic Paratha here,” Ismail, a banker by profession, told Arab News. “I have it there [Saudi Arabia] too but this one tastes exactly like the authentic one you get in Saudi Arabia, and it’s absolutely amazing,” he said.
Shaikh Ameen, the owner of Arabi’s, a restaurant in Karachi that offers Arabic cuisine, said there was a growing appreciation for Middle Eastern cuisine in Pakistan.
“We offer authentic shawarma, mutabbaq and kunafa, so we’re serving these authentic dishes here,” Ameen said.
“There are quite a few people from the Middle East, especially families, who are familiar with this food, and they really enjoy it. Moreover, people’s tastes have evolved, and they really like these flavors now.”
Kashaf Noman, a textile designer in her 20s, expressed her enthusiasm for the festival.
“I am loving it, it’s very really organized and I have many more options here than at other festivals, so it’s really nice, I’m having fun,” she said.
Noman said she had relished fish gyozas, waffles and a Mexican drink.
CHAPLI KEBABS AND BOHRA CUISINES
While the festival featured a plethora of international flavors, it also celebrated local specialties like the Chapli Kebab, Bohra cuisines and dishes from Pakistan’s northern mountainous regions.
Bohra cuisine comprises of food items made famous by the Bohra community, a Shiite Muslim sect.
The festival also provided a platform for lesser-known regional cuisines to showcase their items. Zaeem Ud Din, 25, a student and stall owner, introduced the traditional Chapshoro dish from the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region.
“Our Chapshoro is not spicy; people’s taste buds aren’t the same but we still wanted to bring a tradition with us,” he said.
“We aimed to introduce something unique from Gilgit-Baltistan as not everyone can travel there.”
There were also some outlets from Pakistan’s second-largest city Lahore, which enjoys a food rivalry with Karachi.
Despite the general perception that Lahore’s food is inferior to that of Karachi in terms of taste, Lahore-based food stalls attracted a significant crowd at the festival.
“If someone says you can’t find anything like Karachi in Lahore, they should definitely try Arif Chatkhara,” Mirza Zaidan Baig, owner of the popular Lahore eatery “Arif Chatkhara,” told Arab News.
And for those who did not like Arif Chatkhara’s sumptuous items, Baig had a generous offer.
“If they don’t like it, we will send them back with double the amount they paid,” he said.
Pakistan rejects Afghanistan’s ‘concocted’ allegations of training Daesh militants
- Defense Minister Khawaja Asif says accusations “attempt to shift the blame” of militancy on Pakistan
- Urges Afghanistan to dismantle “terrorist infrastructure,” prevent use of Afghan soil for militant attacks
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif this week rejected “concocted” allegations by Afghanistan’s deputy minister of foreign affairs, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, who accused Islamabad of arming and training Daesh militants.
In a statement this week, Stanikzai claimed Daesh has centers in Pakistan where Pakistan Army soldiers arm and train militants, and then send them to Afghanistan for subversive activities.
His allegations come amid tense relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan, with both countries trading blame over surging militant attacks in their countries.
“Pakistan categorically rejects baseless, concocted, and contrived allegations by Acting Afghanistan DFM Stanikzai, which are an attempt to shift the blame,” Asif wrote on social media platform X on Saturday.
The Pakistani defense minister said that as per the UN Monitoring Team’s report, over two dozen militant groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, Al-Qaeda, Daesh, East Turkestan Islamic Movement (ETIM) and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan (IMU) are operating in Afghanistan.
“The interim Afghan authorities are well advised to fulfill the assurances given to the international community by dismantling terrorist infrastructure and taking visible and verifiable actions to prevent Afghan soil from being used against other countries,” Asif added.
Ties between the two neighbors have been strained because of a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan’s western regions that border Afghanistan since 2022, after the breakdown of a fragile truce between the Pakistani government and the outlawed TTP.
Pakistan has frequently accused neighboring Afghanistan of sheltering and supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks. Afghan officials deny involvement, insisting Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.
The two countries also conducted cross-border strikes in each other’s territory last month in the latest escalation of hostilities along the border.
Pakistan commends OIC for empowering females during ongoing summit on girls’ education
- Pakistan’s deputy PM meets OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha in Islamabad
- At least 150 dignitaries from 44 Muslim and other friendly states are attending summit
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar met the chief of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) this week to laud the inter-governmental organization’s efforts in empowering women, the foreign office said, as Islamabad hosts a two-day conference on girls’ education in Muslim communities.
Dar met OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha, who is in Islamabad to take part in the International Conference on “Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities.”
The global summit, which aims to find ways to advance girls’ education across the Muslim world, is being attended by over 150 dignitaries from 44 Muslim and other friendly states, according to Pakistan’s foreign office.
“Welcoming the OIC delegation to Pakistan, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister commended the OIC’s dedication and commitment to women empowerment and its unwavering focus on girls’ education in the Islamic countries,” the foreign office said on Saturday.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed Israel’s war in Gaza and the situation in the Middle East, Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, Islamophobia, discrimination, violence against Muslims worldwide and the role of OIC in that regard.
“The DPM/FM commended the appointment of OIC’s Special Envoy on Islamophobia to help coordinate the work of the Organization and its Member States for addressing discrimination against Muslims all over the world,” the statement added.
The two-day conference resumes today, Sunday, and will see an “Islamabad Declaration” announced at the end of the conference that would outline decisive steps to transform girls’ education in Islamic countries.
Pakistan’s finmin departs for Asian Financial Forum to meet top Chinese officials, investors
- AFF brings together influential leaders from government, finance and business in the region
- Muhammad Aurangzeb will also interact with foreign media publications during the tour
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has left for Hong Kong to take part in the Asian Financial Forum (AFF) 2025 where he is expected to meet top Chinese officials, financial experts and investors, state-run media reported on Sunday.
The AFF is the region’s premier platform that brings together influential leaders from government, finance, and business communities globally for ground-breaking discussions and exchange of insights on the global economy from an Asian perspective.
AFF 2024 brought together over 140 elite speakers from around the world and attracted over 3,600 visitors from more than 50 countries and regions, including over 70 overseas and mainland China delegations.
“Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has departed for Hong Kong to represent Pakistan in the eighteenth Asian Financial Forum,” Radio Pakistan reported.
“During his visit, he will meet with heads and senior officials of major Asian financial institutions.”
The state media said Aurangzeb will meet Chinese and foreign officials, financial sector experts, professionals, investors and top businessmen during the summit.
These include the heads of China International Capital Corporation Limited, China New Energy Sky Rail Limited and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, it added.
The Pakistani finance minister will also hold interactions with foreign media, which include speaking to international publications such as Bloomberg, Nikkei Asia and other media representatives.
His visit to Hong Kong takes place as Pakistan attempts to ward off an economic crisis that has drained its resources and triggered a balance of payments headache for the country over the past two years.
Pakistan has made some economic gains since 2023 by slashing inflation down to single-digit figures from a record high of 38 percent in May 2023 and registering gains in the stock market.
