ISLAMABAD: The closing ceremony of a joint counter-terrorism exercise conducted between the armies of South Africa and Pakistan in the northwestern hill station of Cherat concluded on Sunday, the Pakistani military media’s wing said. 

The two-week Iqbal-I exercise was held from Oct. 15 to Oct. 27 at Cherat in which combat teams from Pakistan’s Special Services Group (SSG), the Pakistan Army and the Republic of South Africa Special Forces took part, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s media wing, said. 

“The exercise was aimed at refining the drills, procedures and techniques involved in CT operations through joint training, besides harnessing the historic military-to-military relations among the friendly countries,” the ISPR said. 

The commandant of Pakistan’s Special Operation School attended the closing ceremony as chief guest while the chief of staff of South Africa’s Special Forces, Col. SS Lechoenyo, also witnessed the closing ceremony. 

“The troops displayed the highest standards of professional excellence during the conduct,” the ISPR said. 

Pakistan routinely holds joint air, ground and sea exercises with friendly nations to foster interoperability and joint deployment concepts to counter threats to global peace.

Several cadets from these nations annually visit the South Asian country, which has fought back militancy for decades, to undergo specialized military training.

KARACHI: Hundreds of climate activists rallied in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi on Sunday to demand immediate action to address climate change, calling out the Global North for what they described as a “genocide and ecocide” in Palestine.
The rally, held in connection with the International Day of Climate Action, saw demonstrators gather at the historic Frere Hall building, holding placards with climate-related slogans written on them and waving Palestinian flags.
The participants criticized Israel and its backers from the Global North, including the United States and European nations, for widespread destruction in Palestine as a result of Israeli military campaign since Oct. 2023. 
“We might have hope left, but what about the Palestinians who are being destroyed,” asked Ahmed Shabbar, founder of the Pakistan Maholiati Tahaffuz Movement and one of the organizers of the march, saying that relentless Israeli bombardment was destroying both human lives and ecosystems in Palestine.
“We say that ecocide and genocide are one and the same. You simply cannot have climate justice without justice for Palestinians.”
Shabbar and other activists argued that climate justice and Palestinian rights were interconnected.
The protesters held placards inscribed with slogans relating to climate change. One placard read the “weather has never been weirder,” while another urged the local government to avoid using coal for energy to lessen the impact of climate change.
“We are here to tell that the government’s policies are failing,” said Yasir Husain, a climate activist. “They’re using the words, but their work does not show it.”
He noted that Karachi, one of the largest cities in the world, was sizzling in the month of October, while it had become second least liveable city of the world.
Naureen Fatima, another participant, highlighted the impact of climate change on marginalized communities, particularly those living in coastal areas.
“Water, air pollution, all of this actually has a huge toll on the health of people, communities who are from the coastal areas,” she said, adding that fisherfolk were worst affected by climate change.
Tofiq Pasha Mooraj, another climate activist, pointed to erratic changes in weather patterns in Pakistan in recent years.
“Places where it never used to rain, there is rain, there is flood. We have snowfall in seasons when there is no snow, and we have extreme heat,” he said, adding the march was aimed at raising awareness about climate change and pressuring authorities to take action.
Abira Ashfaq, an academic, emphasized the importance of preserving green spaces and ecosystems, warning about mega infrastructure projects that disregard the needs of local communities.
“Often the loans [acquired by the government from global institutions] are for infrastructure that, you know, indigenous peoples, farmers, pastoralists have no say in,” she said.