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  • Nine killed, 25 injured as avalanche hits Shounter Top in Pakistan’s mountainous north 


Nine killed, 25 injured as avalanche hits Shounter Top in Pakistan’s mountainous north 

In this screengrab, taken from a video posted by spokesperson to chief minister of Gilgit-Baltistan, rescue officials search for the avalanche victims in the Astore district in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan on May 27, 2023. (Photo courtesy: Twitter/iAliTajGB)
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Updated 27 May 2023
Nisar Ali 
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Nine killed, 25 injured as avalanche hits Shounter Top in Pakistan’s mountainous north 

  • Official says the victims were nomads who bring their cattle from Punjab to Gilgit-Baltistan region every summer
  • The region is home to over 7,000 glaciers and often witnesses avalanches, landslides and glacial lake outbursts
Updated 27 May 2023
Nisar Ali 

KHAPLU: At least nine people were killed and around 25 others injured after an avalanche hit Shounter Top area in the Astore district in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region on Saturday, officials said. 

At a height of 14,500 feet above the sea level, the Shounter Top mountain pass connects the Astore district to Azad Kashmir. The area is mostly inhabited by nomads, called ‘bakarwal,’ who bring their cattle from Punjab to the mountainous north every summer because of its lush green pastures. 

“It was raining in the area at night and snow was also falling. The nomads were on the way to Astore from Punjab via Azad Kashmir, when the incident took place,” Muhammad Shireen, a senior police official in Astore, told Arab News. 

“They were hit by a snow avalanche and as a result, nine were killed and almost 25 injured. Among the deceased, six were men and three were women.” 

Local volunteers had so far retrieved six bodies, according to the official. 

“We have moved police, Rescue 1122 and officials of the district administration to the spot, while Pakistan Army troops are also assisting in the rescue mission,” he said. “The victims hailed from Punjab’s Chakwal district.” 

Shortly after the incident, authorities imposed an emergency at the Astore district headquarter hospital. 

“An emergency has been declared in DHQ Hospital Astore. The doctors and staffs are on alert,” Dr. Mubashir Hassan, health director for the Astore-Diamer division, told Arab News. 

“The rescue operation is underway and the district health officer is also on the spot.” 

Pakistan Gilgit-Baltistan is home to five out of 14 world peaks above the height of 8,000 meters and more than 7,000 glaciers. The scenic region often witnesses avalanches, landslides and glacial lake outbursts. 

In 2012, 129 Pakistan Army soldiers and 11 civilians were buried after a massive avalanche hit their camp in Gayari area, some 300km northeast of GB’s Skardu district. 

The GB chief minister has directed authorities to provide all-possible assistance to the injured persons, Chief Secretary Mohyuddin Wani told Arab News. 

“The home secretary and Diamer commissioner and deputy inspector general have been asked to immediately reach Astore to establish a control room and base station for the search and rescue operation,” Wani said. 

“Chief Minister Khalid Khurshid will also visit the area soon,” he added. 

Topics: avalanche Shounter Top #climatechange

Pakistan urges World Bank support on economic reforms, development agenda

Updated 26 November 2024
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Pakistan urges World Bank support on economic reforms, development agenda

  • IMF approved a $7 billion bailout loan for Pakistan in September that comes with a tough economic reforms agenda
  • IMF is pushing Pakistan to continue prudent fiscal and monetary policies, mobilize revenue from untapped tax bases
Updated 26 November 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb met World Bank Country Director Najy Benhassine on Tuesday and urged the international lender to support Pakistan in its economic reforms and development agenda, Radio Pakistan reported. 

The talks in Islamabad came less than two months after the IMF approved a $7 billion bailout loan for Pakistan that is attached to tough economic reforms. The IMF is pushing Pakistan to continue prudent fiscal and monetary policies, and to mobilize revenue from untapped tax bases.

Pakistan’s $350 billion economy has struggled for decades with boom-and-bust cycles, needing 23 IMF bailouts since 1958.

“During the meeting, the Finance Minister highlighted the importance of collaboration with the World Bank to support Pakistan’s economic reforms and development agenda,” Radio Pakistan reported. “The Finance Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to fiscal discipline, sustainable growth, and efficient resource utilization.”

The discussions focused on the establishment of a robust and transparent tax policy framework to enhance revenue mobilization and improve compliance while ensuring equitable taxation, the report said. 

The World Bank team also offered technical assistance to streamline the budget-making process, adopt modern practices to improve transparency and accountability in public financial management, and put in place an effective debt management mechanism to ensure fiscal sustainability and reduce risks.

Issues related to the Agricultural Income Tax Regime and GST harmonization in coordination with provinces and an enhanced focus on the active role of the National Tax Council also came under discussion.

“The Finance Minister expressed gratitude for the World Bank’s support and reaffirmed the government’s resolve to implement reforms aimed at sustainable economic progress,” the reported said, adding that the World Bank officials reiterated the lender’s commitment to assisting Pakistan in addressing economic challenges and achieving its developmental objectives.

The IMF, which approved the new bailout in September, has said the program will require “sound policies and reforms” to strengthen macroeconomic stability and address structural challenges alongside “continued strong financial support from Pakistan’s development and bilateral partners.”

The IMF said in its statement on approving the loan that Pakistan had taken key steps to restore economic stability with consistent policy implementation under the 2023-24 standby arrangement.

It added that growth had rebounded to 2.4 percent and inflation has receded significantly, falling to single digits, amid appropriately tight fiscal and monetary policies.

A contained current account and calm foreign exchange market conditions have allowed the rebuilding of reserve buffers, and the central bank of Pakistan has been able to reduce interest rates by 700 bps since June in four consecutive cuts.

Despite this progress, Pakistan’s vulnerabilities and structural challenges remain formidable and the tax base remains too narrow.

The South Asian country is the IMF’s fifth-largest debtor, owing the Fund $6.28 billion as of July 11, according to the lender’s data.

Topics: Pakistan World Bank

Islamabad district commissioner denies reports of fuel shortages amid opposition protest

Updated 26 November 2024
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Islamabad district commissioner denies reports of fuel shortages amid opposition protest

  • Major roads and highways leading to the capital have been sealed off since last week when PTI party launched protest march on Sunday
  • Oil Tanker Contractors Association says closed routes had stalled the delivery of petrol to several parts of Punjab province and Islamabad
Updated 26 November 2024
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: The Deputy Commissioner of Islamabad on Tuesday rejected reports of fuel shortages after an oil tankers association said the supply of petrol to the federal capital and several cities in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province had been “severely affected” due to a protest march being led by an opposition party.

Major roads and highways leading to the capital have been sealed off since last week when the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party of jailed former premier Imran Khan launched a protest ‘long march’ to Islamabad on Sunday. The city has been in complete lockdown since, with shipping containers used to block major roads and streets inside Islamabad also. 

“Reports of petroleum products crisis in the city are baseless and unfounded,” District Magistrate Irfan Nawaz Memon wrote on X. “There is a sufficient stock of petroleum products at petrol pumps.”

In a statement released on Tuesday, the Oil Tanker Contractors Association had said closed routes had stalled the delivery of petrol to several parts of Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, and Islamabad. 

“Routes to Islamabad, Rawalpindi and North Punjab are closed due to which supply from petrol tankers is severely affected,” association spokesperson Noman But said in a statement. “Thousands of tankers are waiting for the route to open.”

Butt said petrol had not been supplied to Gujranwala, Jhelum, Sialkot and Kharian districts in Punjab for the last three days, while supply to Islamabad, Kohala and the northern city of Gilgit was also affected. 

“Petrol has run out at pumps in many cities,” he added.

Khan’s party aims to pressure the government to release him from jail. He has been in prison since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated. The party is also protesting against what it says was rigging in the Feb. 8 general elections and calling on the government to roll back the recently passed 26th constitutional amendment, which the PTI says is an attack of judicial independence. The government denies this. 

PTI supporters broke through barricades and clashed with police as they marched on the capital late on Monday evening, with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi saying three paramilitary troops and one policeman had been killed in clashes.

The PTI said in a statement two of its supporters were confirmed dead while over 30 were wounded. 

Topics: Pakistan Islamabad Fuel shortage

Pakistan rules out talks with protesters demanding ex-PM Khan’s release, six killed

Updated 15 min 4 sec ago
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Pakistan rules out talks with protesters demanding ex-PM Khan’s release, six killed

  • Topping demands of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party is release of all its leaders, including Khan
  • Interior ministry says four troops killed in clashes with protesters, PTI says two supporters dead
Updated 15 min 4 sec ago
Aamir Saeed

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Tuesday ruled out talks with protesters who are holding a sit-in in Islamabad to demand the release of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan after four security officials and two demonstrators were killed in clashes. 

Hundreds of supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Tuesday reached the D-Chowk public square in Islamabad’s heavily fortified red zone, home to parliament, key government installations, luxury hotels, embassies and the offices of foreign organizations. Protest leaders, including Khan’s wife Bushra Khan and Ali Amin Gandapur, who is the chief minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province where the PTI is in power, have said this is a “do or die” sit-in that will go on until Khan is freed from prison. The former premier has been jailed since August last year and faces a slew of charges from corruption to terrorism that he says are politically motivated to keep him behind bars and away from politics. 

PTI supporters broke through barricades and clashed with police as they marched on the capital late on Monday evening, with Interior Minister Naqvi saying three paramilitary troops and one policeman had been killed in clashes. The PTI said in a statement two of its supporters were confirmed dead while over 30 were wounded, the worst political violence seen in months in the South Asian nation of 241 million people.

“In today’s meeting, the clear cut decision of the prime minister and others is that there will be no talks with these protesters,” Naqvi said after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met his cabinet and other top officials. 

Information Minister Ataullah Tarar said the government had agreed to offer the protesters a place on the outskirts of Islamabad to hold their protest and would have facilitated them in their activities. 

“But why do they want to go to D-Chowk?” the information minister asked. “Because they want to cause damage to the life and property of Islamabad’s citizens. They have among them Afghan nationals, terrorists, dacoits.” 

In a message shared with supporters from jail by his team, Khan, 72, urged his followers to stay peaceful but to stand firm til the end. 

“My message for my team is to fight until the last ball is bowled. We will not back down until our demands are met!”

LOCKDOWN

As thousands of rally goers left for Islamabad on Sunday in protest caravans, authorities shut down major highways leading to the capital and used shipping containers to block major roads and streets inside the city. Mobile Internet links and apps like WhatsApp have been down since the weekend and schools have been closed for several days in the capital and the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi. 

Last week, the district administration also banned public gatherings in Islamabad for two months, and on Monday, the interior ministry invoked Article 245, calling in the army to maintain law and order. 

A round of the federal capital by Arab News on Tuesday afternoon showed that all entry and exit points of the city had been sealed again with shipping containers shortly after protesters removed them to enter the city. The Srinagar Highway, the main artery connecting the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, was littered with stones that protesters had reportedly hurled at security personnel on their way to D-Chowk. 

Local residents of Rawalpindi and Islamabad could be seen distributing food and water among protesters on the Srinagar Highway while helicopters hovered above. 

Protest leader Ali Amin Gandapur, whose caravan had still not reached D-Chowk by Tuesday evening, urged protesters to camp at the square and not advance further into the red zone. 

“D-Chowk means D-Chowk,” the chief minister told supporters from atop a truck en route to the public square. “Beyond that, as long as Imran Khan’s orders, Imran Khan’s instructions are not given, we will not go beyond that area and we will respect his instructions.”

Amnesty International called on the Pakistan government to protect and ensure the rights of protesters and “immediately rescind the ‘shoot-on-sight’ orders that provide undue and excessive powers to the military.”

“The severe restrictions on assembly, movement and mobile and Internet services as well as arbitrary detentions of thousands of protesters across Pakistan, particularly in Islamabad, are a grave violation of the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, movement and expression,” the rights group said on X.

Topics: Pakistan Imran Khan Bushra Bibi

Pakistani conglomerate Descon announces local incorporation in Saudi Arabia

Updated 26 November 2024
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Pakistani conglomerate Descon announces local incorporation in Saudi Arabia

  • Pakistan’s Descon Engineering operates in the engineering, power and chemical sectors
  • It has a long-standing strategic partnership with the Olayan Saudi Holding Company 
Updated 26 November 2024
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Descon Engineering, which operates in the engineering, power and chemical sectors, on Tuesday announced the incorporation of Descon Engineering Arabia, a registered entity in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in partnership with its long-standing strategic partner, Olayan Saudi Holding Company (OSHCO.)

OSHCO is a Saudi-based diversified business enterprise with commercial and industrial operations spread across Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East and North Africa regions. The company’s portfolio includes more than 25 companies operating in five sectors, namely, food and beverages, restaurants, health and personal care, information and communications technology (ICT), and energy.

Descon, a group of companies headquartered in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, is active in UAE, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and South Africa.

“This significant development reaffirms Descon’s continued commitment to the Kingdom and highlights its focus on localization within Saudi Arabia,” Descon said in a statement. 

“Through Descon Engineering Arabia, the company is further expanding its regional footprint, reinforcing its position as a trusted and established service provider dedicated to meeting the needs of customers across the Kingdom.”

The company said the “new chapter” had strengthened its resolve to make a broader global impact, ensuring enhanced value delivery to clients in Saudi Arabia, while supporting the development of local talent and capacity building.

“As we establish Descon Engineering Arabia in partnership with OSHCO, we reaffirm our commitment to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its vision for sustainable growth. This step represents a deepening of our long-standing relationship with the region, enabling us to deliver tailored solutions while contributing to local talent development and capacity building,” Taimur Saeed, CEO of Descon Engineering, said. 

“We look forward to fostering stronger collaborations and continuing to serve the Kingdom with the reliability and expertise that have defined our journey for nearly five decades.”

Through Descon Engineering Arabia, Descon Engineering is positioned to deliver even greater value, continuing its “dedication to excellence and local growth” for customers in Saudi Arabia and the region, the company added. 

Topics: Pakistan Saudi Ties Descon Pakistan Arab News Pakistan OSHCO

Ayub century helps Pakistan crush Zimbabwe, level series

Updated 26 November 2024
AFP
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Ayub century helps Pakistan crush Zimbabwe, level series

  • Ayub struck unbeaten 113 as Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 10 wickets to level one-day international series with one match to come
  • Zimbabwe were all out for 145 at Queens Sports Club as they sought a second victory over the tourists
Updated 26 November 2024
AFP

ZIMBABWE: Saim Ayub struck an unbeaten 113 as Pakistan crushed Zimbabwe by 10 wickets in Bulawayo on Tuesday to level a one-day international series with one match to come.

Zimbabwe were all out for 145 at Queens Sports Club as they sought a second victory over the tourists in three days having won by 80 runs in a rain-shortened tour opener.

Pakistan then atoned for a poor batting show on Sunday with Ayub and fellow opener Abdullah Shafique (32 not out) unstoppable as they reached their target in 18.2 overs.

Ayub struck 17 runs and three sixes off 62 balls in a 75-minute stand while Shafique claimed four fours in the southern city.

Ayub reached his century off 53 balls — the second fastest in an ODI international by a Pakistani after Shahid Afridi.

Zimbabwe, seeking a first ODI series win over Pakistan, utilized five bowlers, but none made an impression with Brandon Mavuta, who conceded 47 runs in four overs, particularly expensive.

After winning the toss, Zimbabwe were quickly in trouble with openers Joylord Gumbie (five) and Tadiwanashe Marumani (four) back in the pavilion with less than four overs bowled.

Only Dion Myers, who struck six fours in his 33, and veteran Sean Williams, who posted 31 before being trapped leg before by Ayub, impressed for the home team.

Pakistan-born all-rounder Sikandar Raza, often the batting savior for Zimbabwe, made just 17 before becoming one of three victims of Salman Ali Agha.

Abrar Ahmed took four wickets and Ali Agha three for Pakistan, who arrived in southern Africa after a 3-0 ODI series loss in Australia.

The Zimbabwe ODI series decider is set for Thursday, followed by three Twenty20 internationals from Sunday, also in Bulawayo. Pakistan then visit South Africa for an all-format tour.

Topics: Pakistan v Zimbabwe Cricket Saim Ayub Zimbabwe Arab News Pakistan

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