ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s army on Friday bade farewell to Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Nadeem Raza, the Pakistani military said, in a transition of military leadership which put to rest widespread speculation earlier this week.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday picked Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza as the CJCSC and Lt Gen Asim Munir as the new chief of the country’s all-powerful army, ending uncertainty surrounding the high-profile appointment that caused months of political instability in Pakistan.
The office of the army chief is arguably the most influential position in Pakistan, given the country’s turbulent history of civil-military relations. Pakistan’s military has ruled the country for around half of its 75-year history and enjoys extensive powers even under civilian administrations.
To bid farewell to the outgoing CJCSC, a special ceremony was held at the Pakistani military’s Joint Staff Headquarters, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing, said in a statement. The ceremony was attended by former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and senior officials of the tri-services.
In his farewell address, General Raza thanked the Almighty for enabling him to discharge his duties to the best of his abilities and applauded the sacrifices rendered by the armed forces in the defense of Pakistan.
“[The] defense of the country is impregnable and gallant soldiers will not hesitate in making it even more formidable,” he was quoted as saying by the ISPR.
The outgoing CJCSC was also presented a ‘Guard of Honour’ by a smartly turned out tri-services contingent at the venue.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee works for coordination among the three branches of the military, while its chairman also serves as the principal military adviser to the prime minister.
CJCSC-designate Mirza will be taking over the office after the retirement of Gen Raza following his 41 years of military service. Mirza, who comes from the army’s Sindh Regiment, has had an illustrious career and has served in multiple leadership roles in the army.
He came into the spotlight after he became the director-general of military operations in the last two years of former army chief Raheel Sharif’s tenure.
Since his elevation to the rank of a three-star general, Mirza has served as the chief of general staff — the second-most powerful position in the army after the chief himself — and then the commander of the army’s 10th Corps.
In accordance with the constitutional procedures, President Arif Alvi ratified the appointments of the CJCSC and the army chief Thursday evening, with some experts expressing concerns Alvi might not immediately ratify the prime minister’s summary to prolong the process.
The fears were raised in the backdrop of ex-prime minister Imran Khan, a chief rival of Sharif, saying in an interview on Wednesday the president, a close aide and member of Khan’s party, was in contact with him and would consult him on the appointments on the top slots.
Pakistan’s army bid farewell to Gen Nadeem Raza in transition of military leadership
https://arab.news/wu2r9
Pakistan’s army bid farewell to Gen Nadeem Raza in transition of military leadership
- Raza will be succeeded by Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza as new head of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
- Mirza, who comes from Sindh Regiment, has had illustrious career and served in multiple leadership roles
Migrant boat with 80 passengers, including several Pakistanis, capsizes near Morocco — FO
- Migrant boat had set off from Mauritania, capsized near Moroccan port of Dakhla
- Minority rights group Walking Borders says 44 of 50 dead are Pakistani nationals
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office on Thursday confirmed that a migrant boat with 80 passengers on board, including several Pakistanis, had capsized near Morocco while on its way to Spain.
Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people on Wednesday from a boat that had left Mauritania on Jan. 2 with 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis, on board, minority rights group Walking Borders said. The group’s CEO Helena Maleno said 44 of the 50 presumed dead were from Pakistan.
The group said the migrant ship was on its way from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands when it capsized.
“Our Embassy in Rabat (Morocco) has informed us, that a boat carrying 80 passengers, including several Pakistani nationals, setting off from Mauritania, has capsized near the Moroccan port of Dakhla,” the foreign office said.
Pakistan said its embassy in Rabat is in touch with local authorities and that a team from the embassy has been dispatched to Dakhla to facilitate Pakistani nationals.
“The Crisis Management Unit (CMU) in the Foreign Ministry has been activated and the Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister has instructed the relevant Government agencies to extend all possible facilitation to the affected Pakistanis,” the statement said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed grief and sorrow over the incident, ordering authorities to submit a report on the incident.
“Strict action will be taken against those involved in the heinous act of human trafficking,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office. “No negligence of any kind will be tolerated in this regard.”
Migrant boats capsizing highlight the perilous journeys many migrants, especially those from Pakistan, undertake due to conflicts and lack of economic opportunities in their home countries.
In 2023, hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos. It was one of the deadliest boat disasters ever recorded in the Mediterranean Sea.
Analysts say no threat to Pakistan ruling coalition despite rifts between key members PPP, PML-N
- PPP has reservations over government-proposed canals in Indus River, alleged lack of funds for Sindh
- Ruling party senator admits PPP’s withdrawal of support would trigger coalition government’s collapse
KARACHI: Pakistani political analysts on Thursday said that despite rifts between key ruling coalition members Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) on policy issues and allocation of resources, there was no threat to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government.
The PML-N and the PPP emerged as the two largest political parties in parliament after Pakistan’s contentious February 2024 election. The PPP helped Sharif get elected as Pakistan’s prime minister for a second time and settled for the presidency and the governorship in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces, areas where it performed poorly in the national polls.
The PPP, however, has recently voiced its displeasure with the Sharif-led government on various issues. The party has expressed reservations over government-proposed canals in the Indus River that it believes would reduce water supply to the southern Sindh province, where it remains in power. Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah this week penned a letter to Sharif, protesting against the National Highway Authority’s (NHA) allocation of inadequate funds for Sindh.
However, political analysts brushed aside concerns the PPP would play a part in toppling the federal government.
“As for leaving the government, that question does not arise as everything happening in the country right now is part of a political arrangement, and this arrangement is intended to move forward,” Salman Ghani, a Lahore-based political analyst, told Arab News.
Ghani said that the PPP initially believed that the PML-N would struggle to manage the country’s economic crisis. However, he said the situation had reversed with visible signs of economic recovery. The PPP’s complaints stem from fears that continued gains by the PML-N could leave the party with no future prospects, he said.
“PPP’s reservations seem more related to political survival than a genuine desire to leave the coalition,” Ghani noted. “In fact, whenever PPP raises issues within the high-level government committees, their demands are met.”
Mazhar Abbas, a Karachi-based political analyst, agreed with Ghani. He said that while differences persist, they are unlikely to cause the coalition to collapse, unless Pakistan’s powerful military decided that the PPP should part ways with the government.
“The PPP will not leave unless the [military] establishment decides that it’s the time for the current regime to go,” he said.
Pakistan’s military, which has directly ruled the country for over 30 years and is believed to wield massive influence indirectly, strongly denies allegations it interferes in political matters.
‘EVERYONE WILL LOSE’
Nadir Nabeel Gabol, a Sindh government spokesperson, warned PPP had the power to oust the federal government if its grievances, especially those related to allocation of resources, were not addressed.
“If this attitude persists, I do not see this federal government surviving much longer,” Gabol told Arab News, noting that PPP had helped topple former prime minister Imran Khan’s coalition government in 2022.
He said the PPP would “consider all options” if the federal government keeps sidelining it.
Senator Dr. Afnan Ullah Khan of the PML-N said the federal government was committed to addressing the PPP’s concerns. He acknowledged that if the PPP withdrew its support, the coalition government would collapse.
“We do not have the numbers without them,” he admitted.
He said tensions between the two allies would not escalate to that point, given the recent economic gains by the coalition government.
“If we maintain stability and the IMF program continues smoothly, the economy can stay on track,” he said. “But if instability sets in, everyone will lose.”
Gabol also expressed hope that the rift would be resolved.
“The Pakistan People’s Party hopes it does not come to that,” he said, referring to the party’s possible withdrawal of support in parliament. “The Sindh government hopes that its grievances will be addressed and that democracy will take its course, as it always does.”
Pakistanis among dozens of migrants who may have drowned while crossing into Spain — NGO
- Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people on Wednesday from boat that left Mauritania on Jan. 2 with 86 migrants
- Forty-four of those presumed to have drowned were from Pakistan, Walking Borders CEO says on X platform
MADRID: As many as 50 migrants, many of them Pakistanis, may have drowned in the latest deadly wreck involving people trying to make the crossing from West Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands, migrant rights group Walking Borders said on Thursday.
Moroccan authorities rescued 36 people on Wednesday from a boat that had left Mauritania on Jan. 2 with 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis, on board, the group said.
Forty-four of those presumed to have drowned were from Pakistan, Walking Borders CEO Helena Maleno said on X.
“They spent 13 days of anguish on the crossing without anyone coming to rescue them,” she said.
Asked about what warnings it had received from NGOs regarding a missing boat, Spain’s maritime rescue service said it had learned on Jan. 10 about a vessel that had left Nouakchott in Mauritania and was experiencing problems but it could not confirm if it was the same boat.
The service said it had carried out air searches without success and had warned nearby ships.
Walking Borders said it had alerted authorities from all countries involved six days ago about the missing boat. Alarm Phone, an NGO that provides an emergency phone line for migrants lost at sea, also said it had alerted Spain’s maritime rescue service on Jan. 12 about a boat in distress.
A record 10,457 migrants, or 30 people a day, died trying to reach Spain in 2024, most while attempting to cross the Atlantic route from West African countries such as Mauritania and Senegal to the Canary islands, according to Walking Borders.
Citing the Walking Borders’ post on X, the Canary Islands’ regional leader Fernando Clavijo expressed his sorrow for the victims of the latest wreck and urged Spain and Europe to act to prevent further tragedies.
“The Atlantic cannot continue to be the graveyard of Africa,” Clavijo said on X. “They cannot continue to turn their backs on this humanitarian drama.”
Imran Khan’s party chairman confirms first official meeting with Pakistan army chief
- Meeting caps nearly two years of the PTI’s unprecedented campaign of defiance against the all-powerful military
- Tensions between PTI and the army have remained at fever-pitch since Khan was ousted from PM’s office in April 2022
ISLAMABAD: The chairman of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Gohar Ali Khan, said on Thursday he had met with the Pakistan army chief, General Syed Asim Munir, capping nearly two years of the party’s unprecedented campaign of defiance against the all-powerful military.
Khan fell out with the military’s top leaders in the lead-up to his ouster from the PM’s office in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April 2022, and his party has since led large street movements, railing against the generals’ iron grip on politics and even blaming senior military officials for an assassination bid on Khan in November 2022. The army denies the allegations.
Tensions between the PTI and the army have remained at fever-pitch especially after Khan’s brief arrest on May 9, 2023, in a land graft case that sparked countrywide protests, with PTI supporters attacking and ransacking military installations in an unprecedented backlash against the army. The military has called the day of the protests a “Black Day” and vowed to punish those involved. Since then, at least 5,000 of Khan’s supporters have been arrested, and dozens of his top party leaders have defected after they faced increasing pressure from the military establishment to do so, according to his supporters. The army denies interfering in politics.
In various press conferences, the military has denied any contact with the PTI and said that it would not talk to the masterminds of the May 9 protests. But Pakistani media has recently widely reported on a meeting this Monday between Army Chief Munir and PTI leaders Gohar and Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where the PTI has been in power since 2013.
“Yes, I [Gohar Ali Khan] did meet him [army chief],” Gohar told reporters on Wednesday after he met with Khan at Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail where the PTI founder has been in prison since 2023. “See, wherever and for whatever reason I hold meetings, I talk about it only after I have instructions from Khan,” Gohar added, justifying his earlier denial of the meeting with Munir.
He said Khan had described the development as “very welcoming” and said negotiations were “important for the country’s stability.”
“Our doors were always open for negotiations, other people’s doors were closed,” Gohar said, quoting Khan from their meeting. “If negotiations go ahead, it will bring stability in the country.”
The PTI chairman’s disclosure comes as a government negotiation committee and the PTI held a third round of talks on Thursday afternoon in which the party presented its two main demands in writing: the release of all political prisoners and the establishment of judicial commissions to investigate protests led by the PTI on May 9, 2023, and Nov. 26, 2024, in which its supporters are accused of violence and arson.
The first round of talks took place on Dec. 23 and the second on Jan. 2.
The talks opened last month as Khan had threatened a civil disobedience movement and amid growing concerns he could face trial by a military court for allegedly inciting attacks on sensitive security installations during the May 9 protests.
Khan’s ouster in 2022 has since plunged the country into a long-term political crisis, particularly since the PTI founder was jailed in August last year on corruption and other charges and remains behind bars. Khan and the PTI say the charges are trumped up to keep them out of power.
Gunmen attack aid convoy enroute to Pakistani district hit by sectarian clashes, injuring 4
- At least 136 have been killed due to sectarian, land disputes in Kurram district since Nov. 21
- Five persons were injured on Jan. 4 in same locality when armed men attacked an aid convoy
PESHAWAR: Four persons were injured when an aid convoy enroute to Pakistan’s northwestern Kurram district, which has been rocked by sectarian clashes in recent months, was attacked by unidentified armed men on Thursday, police and health officials confirmed, as authorities struggle to main law and order in the restive area.
Kurram, a northwestern district of around 600,000 people in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, has been hit hard by tribal and sectarian clashes since Nov. 21, 2024, when gunmen attacked a convoy of Shia passengers, killing 52. Sporadic clashes since then have killed at least 136 people before the provincial government brokered a peace agreement among the warring tribes this month.
The attack sparked further violence and blockade of a main road connecting Kurram’s main town of Parachinar with the provincial capital of Peshawar, causing medicine, food and fuel shortages in the area.
This is the second such attack on an aid convoy enroute to the district, in the locality. Unidentified gunmen attacked an aid convoy at Bagan, a tense locality, on Jan. 4, injuring five people including a top administration official. Thursday’s attack also took place in Began.
“The aid convoy of more than 30 vehicles en route to Upper Kurram was attacked with gunfire by unknown armed men in Bagan area,” a police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media, told Arab News.
“A few of the trucks which were loaded with food items were put on fire and have been burnt,” he added.
Police and law enforcement agencies are investigating the matter, the official said.
The attack caused injuries to four persons, according to Zakir Khan, the senior medical officer at the Basic Health Unit in Manduri, Lower Kurram.
“Four injured were brought to the hospital (BHU Manduri) among whom two were serious,” he said, adding that patients critically wounded had been referred to Peshawar for treatment.
The attack takes place days after authorities started demolishing bunkers in Lower Kurram, more than a week after the peace agreement was reached.
Under the peace agreement signed on Jan. 1, both sides agreed on the demolition of bunkers and the handover of heavy weapons to authorities within two weeks.
Any party that launches an attack after the signing of the deal will be considered a “terrorist” and action will be taken against it, as per the agreement. A fine of Rs10 million ($35,933) will be imposed on those who violate the terms of the deal by using weapons against each other, it said.
The agreement called for land disputes in the volatile district to be settled on a priority basis with the cooperation of local tribes and the district administration.
It also said that opening offices of banned outfits will be prohibited in the district, while social media accounts spreading hate will be discouraged via collective efforts backed by the government.
