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.

QUETTA: The government of Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province ordered the lodging of a case against the owners of a private mining company on Saturday after a deadly methane gas explosion on Thursday killed 12 workers inside their coal mine located about 40 kilometers from Quetta.

Rescue teams recovered four bodies of the miners on Friday, while the search for the remaining eight has continued over the past two days, with rescuers facing challenges retrieving the bodies from 4,000 feet inside the mine filled with hazardous gas.

In a notification issued on Friday, the provincial mining department directed the district administration to lodge a First Information Report (FIR), or police complaint, against the owners of United Mineral Company Sanjdi.

“An accident occurred on 09/01/2025, which killed twelve miners,” the notification said. “Therefore, it is requested to lodge an FIR against Sheikh Abdul Aziz and Hayat Khan, owners of the mine.”

Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province in terms of landmass, is one of the most impoverished regions in the country, yet it is among the richest in terms of mineral resources, with gold, copper and coal mines scattered across various districts.

Many coal mines in the province are operated by private companies, often under lease agreements with the government.

These mines are notorious for hazardous working conditions and poor safety standards, where deadly incidents are common, and miners work deep underground without adequate safety equipment.

According to the Mines and Mineral Department of Balochistan, 82 workers were killed in 46 coal mine accidents in 2024.

“Following the request of the mining department, we are lodging an FIR against the mine owners of the private mineral company located in Sanjdi,” Saadi Bin Asad, deputy commissioner of Quetta, told Arab News.