CROTONE, Italy: Rescue teams pulled more bodies from the sea on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from Italy’s latest migration tragedy to 65, as prosecutors identified suspected smugglers who allegedly charged €8,000 euros (nearly $8,500) for each person making the “voyage of death” from Turkey to Italy.
Authorities delayed a planned viewing of the coffins to allow more time for identification of the bodies, as desperate relatives and friends arrived in the Calabrian city of Crotone in hope of finding their loved ones, some of whom hailed from Afghanistan.
“I am looking for my aunt and her three children,” said Aladdin Mohibzada, adding that he drove 25 hours from Germany to reach the makeshift morgue set up at a sports stadium. He said he had ascertained that his aunt and two of the children died, but that a 5-year-old survived and was being sheltered in a center for minors.
“We are looking into possibilities to send (the bodies) to Afghanistan, the bodies that are here,” he told The Associated Press outside the morgue. But he complained about a lack of information as authorities scrambled to cope with the disaster. “We are helpless here. We don’t know what we should do.”
At least 65 people, including 14 minors, died when their overcrowded wooden boat slammed into shoals 100 meters (yards) off the shore of Cutro and broke apart early Sunday in rough seas. Eighty people survived, but many more are feared dead since survivors indicated the boat had carried about 170 people when it set off last week from Izmir, Turkey.
Aid groups at the scene have said many of the passengers hailed from Afghanistan, including entire families, as well as from Pakistan, Syria and Iraq. Rescue teams pulled two bodies from the sea on Tuesday, bringing the toll to 65, police said.
Premier Giorgia Meloni sent a letter to European leaders demanding quick action on the continent’s longstanding migration problem, insisting that migrants must be stopped from risking their lives on dangerous sea crossings.
“The point is, the more people who set off, the more people risk dying,” she told RAI state television late Monday.
Meloni’s right-wing government, which swept elections last year in part on promises to crack down on migration, has concentrated on complicating efforts by humanitarian boats to make multiple rescues in the central Mediterranean by assigning them ports of disembarkation along Italy’s northern coasts. That means the vessels need more time to return to sea after bringing migrants aboard and taking them safely to shore.
But aid groups’ rescue ships don’t normally operate in the area of Sunday’s shipwreck, which occurred off the Calabrian coast in the Ionian Sea. Rather, the aid groups generally operate in the central Mediterranean, rescuing migrants who set off from Libya or Tunisia — not from Turkey in the eastern Mediterranean.
Crotone prosecutor Giuseppe Capoccia confirmed investigators had identified three suspected smugglers, a Turk and two Pakistani nationals. A second Turk is believed to have escaped or died in the wreck.
Italy’s border police said in a statement that organizers of the crossing charged €8,000 each for the “voyage of death.”
Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi pushed back at suggestions that the rescue was delayed or affected by government policy discouraging aid groups from staying at sea to rescue migrants.
The EU border agency Frontex has said its aircraft spotted the boat off Crotone at 10:26 p.m. Saturday and alerted Italian authorities. Italy sent out two patrol vessels, but they had to turn back because of the poor weather.
Piantedosi told a parliamentary committee that the ship ran aground and broke apart at around 5 a.m. Sunday.
“There was no delay,” Piantedosi told Corriere della Sera. “Everything possible was done in absolutely prohibitive sea conditions.”
The Italian Coast Guard issued a statement on Tuesday saying Frontex had indicated that the migrants’ boat was “navigating normally” and that only one person could be seen above deck.
It added that an Italian border police vessel, “already operating in the sea” set out to intercept the migrant boat.
“At about 4:30 am, some indications by telephone from subjects on land, relative to a boat in danger a few meters from the coast, reached the Coast Guard,” the statement said.
At that point, a Carabinieri police boat which had been alerted by border police “informed the Coast Guard about the shipwreck.”
In contrast to similar cases of migrant vessels in distress, “no phone indication ever came from migrants aboard” to the Coast Guard, the statement noted.
Not rarely, migrants aboard a vessel in distress contact Alarm Phone, a humanitarian support hotline which relays indications of boats in trouble in the Mediterranean to maritime authorities.
When briefing lawmakers, the interior minister cited figures supporting Italy’s long-held frustration that fellow European Union nations don’t honor pledges to accept a share of asylum-seeking migrants who reach Italy.
Piantedosi said that while these pledges covered some 8,000 migrant relocations from June last year through this month, only 387 people actually were transferred to other EU nations, with Germany taking in most of them.
Pakistani, other migrants paid €8,000 each for ‘voyage of death’ to Italy
https://arab.news/zzunr
Pakistani, other migrants paid €8,000 each for ‘voyage of death’ to Italy
- At least 65 people, including 14 minors, died when their overcrowded wooden boat slammed into shoals
- Prosecutors says investigators have identified three suspected smugglers, a Turk and two Pakistani nationals
Six Indian gray wolf puppies rescued in southwest Pakistan
- The puppies were moved to a wildlife rescue center in Balochistan
- These wolves inhabit dry grasslands of India, Pakistan and Nepal
KARACHI: Six Indian gray wolf puppies, found in the care of local residents in Pakistan’s southwestern Zhob district, were relocated to a rescue center in Balochistan province, the Wildlife Department said on Friday.
The Indian gray wolf, also known as canis lupus pallipes, is a small, slender subspecies of the gray wolf found in India, Pakistan and Nepal, particularly in dry grasslands and scrublands. It has a pale brown or reddish-gray coat with short fur suited to hot climates.
The rescue followed a video that went viral on social media, showing locals playing with the puppies in the Kakar Khorasan area of Zhob. Afterward, residents requested assistance from the police and Levies, prompting wildlife authorities to intervene.
“We have transferred all six to the rescue center in Zhob where they are being cared for,” Chief Wildlife Conservator Sharifuddin Baloch told Arab News over the phone. “Once they reach an appropriate age, they will be released into the wild.”
He said initial reports suggested that one wolf puppy had died, but wildlife officials later found all the puppies alive.
Compared to other wolves, Indian gray wolves form smaller packs, are more elusive and less vocal. They prey on livestock, small mammals and occasionally wild ungulates.
Genetically distinct and among the oldest wolf lineages, the Indian gray wolf is listed as endangered in India due to habitat loss, human-wildlife conflict and persecution.
Pakistan’s UN envoy says India’s suspension of water treaty illegal, poses ‘existential threat’
- Ambassador Ahmad warns India’s action could set a dangerous precedent undermining rights of lower riparian states
- He says Pakistan rejects any attempt to associate it to the April 22 attack, which it condemned alongside other nations
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top diplomat at the United Nations on Friday raised alarm over India’s decision to suspend a decades-old river water sharing mechanism between the two nations after a gun attack killed 26 people in the disputed Kashmir region on April 22.
New Delhi blamed Islamabad for the assault in Pahalgam, a tourist hotspot in Indian-administered Kashmir, despite Pakistani denial of involvement and calls for an independent investigation. India also expelled Pakistani diplomats, shut a major border crossing and suspended the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in the wake of the attack.
Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN, told a media briefing at the UN his country “categorically rejects any attempt to associate it with the 22 April terrorist incident” and had condemned it alongside other Security Council members.
He described India’s conduct as “incendiary,” saying it disregarded international law and could have “far-reaching consequences for global peace and stability.”
“Of grave and particular concern is India’s irresponsible decision to hold in abeyance the historic Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, a landmark, legally binding agreement brokered and guaranteed by the World Bank,” he said.
“Holding of IWT in abeyance is unilateral and illegal,” he continued. “There are no such provisions in the Treaty. India’s unilateral and unlawful actions are bound to undermine regional peace and stability with catastrophic implications.”
The Pakistani envoy warned that the suspension of the IWT posed “an existential threat to the people of Pakistan” and amounted to the usurpation of the rights of lower riparian states.
“If left unchecked by the international community, such actions risk setting a dangerous precedent that could undermine the legal rights for lower riparian states, potentially triggering new global conflicts over shared water resources,” he said.
Ahmad also expressed concern over escalating rights violations in Indian-administered Kashmir, the only Muslim-majority region under New Delhi’s control, since the Pahalgam attack.
He cited reports of arbitrary detentions, home demolitions and “collective punishment” imposed on civilians by the Indian authorities.
He reiterated Pakistan’s longstanding position that the root cause of instability in South Asia was the unresolved Jammu and Kashmir dispute, and warned of the risk of wider conflict in the nuclear-armed region.
“Escalation in South Asia, home to nearly two billion people, favors none,” Ahmad said. “It is time for sanity to prevail and allow dialogue and diplomacy to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.”
Pakistan sees tax-to-GDP ratio hitting 10.6% by June as reform efforts continue
- The country’s tax-to-GDP ratio was among the lowest in the region and stood at 8.8% in FY2023-24
- Pakistan’s finance chief projects foreign exchange reserves to reach $14 billion by the end of June
KARACHI: Pakistan’s finance chief said on Friday the country’s tax-to-GDP ratio was expected to reach 10.6% by the end of the current fiscal year, according to an official statement, as the government works to build on economic progress made under recent International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan programs.
Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio, one of the lowest in the region, stood at around 8.8% in fiscal year 2023-24. Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb has repeatedly warned that such low levels of revenue mobilization are unsustainable and pose long-term risks to fiscal stability.
Aurangzeb shared the projection while briefing representatives of Standard & Poor’s Global Ratings as part of Pakistan’s ongoing sovereign ratings review.
“The Finance Minister presented a detailed overview of the government’s macroeconomic reform agenda and reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to achieving sustainable and inclusive economic growth by enhancing productivity and promoting exports,” the finance ministry said in a statement after the meeting.
He said Pakistan’s external portfolio was well-managed, with foreign exchange reserves projected to reach $14 billion by the end of June.
“He further stated that the tax-to-GDP ratio was expected to reach 10.6 percent by the end of June, which would mark progress toward the government’s target of raising it to 13 percent by the conclusion of the 37-month Extended Fund Facility (EFF) with the International Monetary Fund (IMF),” the statement said.
Pakistan has taken several steps to improve revenue collection, including the automation of processes at the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the operationalization of the National Tax Council and the imposition of agricultural income tax.
It has also separated the Tax Policy Office from the FBR to better align tax policymaking with broader economic goals.
Aurangzeb also highlighted recent surpluses in both the primary balance and the current account, along with falling inflation and current account deficit figures, which he said were contributing to improved economic fundamentals.
During last month’s IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, the Pakistani finance chief held over 70 engagements with rating agencies, development finance institutions, investors and think tanks.
The government also maintains the international community broadly supports Pakistan’s reform agenda, as it tries to maintain its overall economic momentum.
India asks IMF to review loans to Pakistan, Indian government source says
- The adviser to Pakistan’s finance minister says the IMF program is ‘well on track’
- The soaring tensions between the two states has drawn calls for cooling tempers
NEW DELHI/KARACHI: India has asked the International Monetary Fund to review loans disbursed to Pakistan, an Indian government source told Reuters on Friday, as tensions between the South Asian neighbors escalated following a deadly attack in Kashmir.
India and Pakistan have announced a raft of measures after an attack on Hindu tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir last week killed 26 men and there is a fear that the latest crisis between the nuclear-armed rivals could spiral into a military conflict.
New Delhi has identified the three attackers, including two it says are Pakistani nationals, as “terrorists.” Islamabad has denied any role and called for a neutral investigation.
India suspended a critical river water sharing treaty and the two countries have closed their airspace to each other’s airlines.
Pakistan secured a $7 billion bailout program from the IMF last year and was granted a new $1.3 billion climate resilience loan in March.
The program is critical to the $350 billion economy and Pakistan said it has stabilized under the bailout that helped it stave off a default threat.
India raised concerns with the IMF on its loans to Pakistan, asking for a review, a government source told Reuters without elaborating.
The IMF and India’s finance ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The adviser to Pakistan’s finance minister said the IMF program is “well on track.”
“The latest review has been done well and we are completely on track,” adviser Khurram Schehzad told Reuters, adding that Pakistan had very productive spring meetings with financial institutions in Washington.
“We did about 70 meetings ... interest has been very high for investing and supporting Pakistan as the economy turns around,” Schehzad said.
The soaring tensions between the two countries has drawn global attention and calls for cooling tempers.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is claimed in full by both Hindu-majority India and Islamic Pakistan, but each rules it in parts.
While New Delhi accuses Pakistan of backing an uprising in Indian Kashmir since 1989, Pakistan says it only offers diplomatic and moral support to a Kashmiri demand for self-determination.
Pakistani generals link Kashmir attack to India’s ‘governance failures,’ vow to defend sovereignty
- Army says India uses such incidents for political gains like suspending Indus Waters Treaty
- The generals says the Pahalgam attack was to help ‘Indian terror proxies’ targeting Pakistan
KARACHI: Pakistan’s top generals on Friday blamed last month’s tourist shootings in Indian-administered Kashmir on New Delhi’s “governance failures” and its strategy of using such incidents for political gain, while warning Pakistani security forces were ready to respond to any attack on the country’s sovereignty, according to an official statement.
India blamed Pakistan for the April 22 attack in the scenic town of Pahalgam, in Kashmir’s Anantnag district, where gunmen killed 26 people in one of the deadliest assaults on civilians in nearly two decades.
Pakistan denied involvement, though tensions escalated as India expelled Pakistani diplomats and nationals, closed a key border crossing and suspended the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which has governed the distribution of river waters between the two countries since 1960.
Pakistan’s top general gathered at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi earlier today to review the geo-strategic environment, with particular focus on the Pakistan-India standoff and the broader regional security situation, the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), said.
“The Forum noted, with serious concern, India’s consistent pattern of exploitation of crises to achieve political and military objectives,” the ISPR said. “They have been following a predictable template — whereby internal governance failures are externalized.”
“These incidents have often coincided with unilateral moves by India to alter the status quo, as seen in 2019 when India similarly exploited the Pulwama incident to unilaterally alter the status quo of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir, through revocation of Article 370,” it added.
The 2019 Pulwama attack killed 40 Indian paramilitary personnel and was also blamed on Pakistan before New Delhi revoked the region’s special constitutional status to integrate it in the Indian union, a move repeatedly condemned by Islamabad.
The generals expressed concern that India was now using the Pahalgam shootings to undermine the IWT and “usurp Pakistan’s legitimate and inalienable water rights.”
The statement called the move a dangerous attempt to “weaponize water,” threatening the livelihoods of more than 240 million Pakistanis and increasing strategic instability in South Asia.
The commanders also voiced alarm over what they described as credible evidence of Indian military and intelligence involvement in orchestrating militant violence inside Pakistan.
They accused New Delhi of using the Kashmir attack to divert attention from its own domestic challenges and to provide “operational breathing space” to what they called “Indian terror proxies” targeting Pakistan.
While reaffirming Pakistan’s commitment to regional peace and stability, the generals warned that any attempt to impose conflict would be met with a “sure and decisive” response.
Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir praised the operational readiness and morale of Pakistan’s armed forces and emphasized the need for vigilance and proactive readiness across all fronts.
“Deliberate destabilization efforts by the Indian government will be confronted and defeated with resolve and clarity,” the ISPR said.
