ISLAMABAD: Pakistani mountaineers Sirbaz Khan and Naila Kiani on Monday summited the sixth highest mountain in the world, Cho Oyu, the non-governmental sports organization Alpine Club of Pakistan confirmed in a statement.
Standing at an imposing height of 8,188 meters or 26,906 feet high, Cho Oyu is located on the Nepalese–Tibetan (Chinese) border about 20 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Mount Everest. According to Karrar Haidri, secretary of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, it took both mountaineers 28 hours to summit the treacherous mountain amid challenging conditions.
“Sirbaz has accomplished an amazing accomplishment by ascending Cho Oyu, 8,188 meters high and the sixth highest peak in the world, in over 28 hours via a marathon alpine style climb,” Haidri told Arab News over the phone, adding that Khan is the first Pakistani climber to summit Cho Oyu.
“He achieved this feat without the need for additional oxygen, which makes it even more amazing.”
Khan’s latest feat makes him the only Pakistani climber who has summited 13 out of a total of 14 mountains that stand above 8,000 meters high, which are also known as “eight-thousanders.” These mountains are all located in the Himalayan and Karakoram mountain ranges – across Nepal, Tibet (China) and Pakistan.
“There is still one summit left on his trek, this being the thirteenth successful one,” Haidri said.
Haidri praised Kiani for becoming the first Pakistani woman to summit Cho Oyu, saying that she was able to achieve the feat in “incredibly challenging conditions with very poor visibility and hostile weather.”
“We all hope and pray for Naila’s safe return from this extraordinary adventure,” Haidri said, adding that with the latest feat, Naila successfully climbed her 10th eight thousander.
Kiani’s X account updated her followers with her achievement, saying that she became the first Pakistani with Khan to summit Cho Oyu.
“First Pakistani woman to summit 10 8,000er, only Pakistani to summit 7 8,000er in six months,” Kiani’s account wrote.
BREAKING:
Alhamdolillah!
With the prayers of loved ones and our nation, Naila has become First Pakistani along with sirbaz to summit Cho oyu.
Kiani, Khan and mountaineer Shehroze Kashif summited Mount Manaslu in Nepal last month, which is the eighth-highest mountain in the world. Mount Manaslu stands at an imposing height of 8,163 meters above sea level.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Senate Standing Committee on Interior has this week approved a bill proposing a three-year jail term and fines for individuals involved in propagating Zionism or displaying the movement’s symbols.
Zionism emerged in the late 19th century as an ethnic and religious movement but later converted into a political movement for the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel through the colonization of land outside Europe, which is Palestine.
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
The anti-Zionism bill approved by the Senate committee on Thursday was introduced in the upper house of parliament by Senator Dr. Afnan Ullah Khan, a lawmaker from the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz party. He has tabled the bill as a private member, which means its approval does not signify government policy. This bill will become law only if it is passed by both houses of parliament, Senate and National Assembly, with majority vote.
“Whoever knowingly or intentionally is engaged in the preaching of Zionism to incite and provoke hatred in society shall be punished with three years imprisonment, or with forty thousand rupees ($145) fine or with both,” says the draft law.
“Whoever knowingly or intentionally display symbol of Zionism to spread hatred and cause a disturbance in public peace shall be punished with two years imprisonment, or with thirty thousand rupees ($108) fine, or with both.”
Being a Muslim state, the bill says, Pakistan “should never allow display of symbols depicting Zionism for spreading unrest in Pakistan.”
ISLAMABAD: A three-year-old girl in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore has sued the government of the Punjab province as record-high air pollution levels have triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, school closures and stay-at-home orders in the city, which has been enveloped in a thick, toxic smog since last month.
On Friday, Lahore, home to 13 million people, had the worst air quality of any city in the world, according to IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company.
Research shows children exposed to high levels of smog may suffer from reduced lung capacity, pneumonia, bronchitis and other lung infections and more asthma attacks and worse symptoms than adults.
“Under Article 9-A of the Constitution, the government is obligated to provide citizens with a clean and healthy environment,” said the petition filed by three-year-old Amal Sekhera, who appeared in court with her mother Mehek Zafar on Thursday.
Sekhera said she was seeking justice for herself, her friends and the future generations as children and the elderly were the most badly hit by air pollution and smog. She also criticized the Punjab government for failing to protect fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution of Pakistan.
The Lahore High Court issued notices in response to the petition to the Punjab government, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the City Traffic Police. The hearing has been adjourned till Nov. 12, with the court instructing the government to ensure the presence of the provincial secretary of the Environment Protection Department and the director general of the EPA in court at the next hearing.
Authorities earlier this week shut down schools in Lahore and said 50 percent of government employees in the city were told to work from home until next week. On Wednesday schools in 18 surrounding districts were also shut. Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in the Punjab province, has urged residents to voluntarily wear face masks and avoid unnecessary travel, and said that “otherwise, the government will be forced into a complete lockdown.”
Authorities in the city have already banned barbecuing food without filters, as well as the use of motorized rickshaws, and wedding halls must close by 10pm. The government has also said it was looking into methods to induce artificial rainfall to combat the pollution, which has been sending patients to hospitals and private clinics complaining of coughs and burning eyes.
“Tens of thousands of patients suffering from respiratory diseases were treated at hospitals and clinics in a week,” Salman Kazmi, vice president of the Pakistan Medical Association, told media on Thursday.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has congratulated Pakistani cueist Muhammad Asif for winning the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) World Snooker Championship in Qatar for the third time, Pakistani state-run media reported on Thursday.
Asif defeated Iran’s Ali Ghareghozlou 5-3 to clinch the title in a thrilling final on Nov. 6. He outclassed Ali 5-3: 70-25, 7-87(84), 82(56)-8, 106(106)-08, 82-12, 43-91(58), 0-118 and 93(80)-4.
“Asif made the entire nation proud by winning the international championship for the third time,” PM Sharif was quoted as saying by the Radio Pakistan broadcaster. “The talented youth of Pakistan are highlighting the country’s name in the fields of sports.”
The IBSF, founded in 1971, is the governing body for billiards and snooker worldwide. It represents 85 member countries and is recognized by the World Confederation of Billiard Sports and the International Olympic Committee.
Asif, 42, first won the IBSF World Snooker Championship in 2012 and went on to win it again in 2019. His victory ties him with India’s Pankaj Advani who has also won the World Snooker Championship thrice.
The Pakistan prime minister said Asif’s family and coach also deserved recognition, adding that providing quality facilities to Pakistani players was top priority of his government.
“The government is making all possible efforts to provide international standard facilities to the players,” he added.
ISLAMABAD: China and Pakistan on Thursday discussed advancement of key infrastructure and economic projects under the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the Pakistani government said, with the two sides also discussing security of Chinese nationals working in Pakistan.
CPEC, a part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative, aims to connect China to the Arabian Sea through a network of roads, railways, pipelines and ports in Pakistan and help Islamabad expand and modernize its economy.
The discussions on key CPEC projects were held during Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong’s meeting with Pakistani Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, according to Pakistan’s Press Information Department (PID).
On the occasion, the Pakistani planning minister emphasized the need for concrete mechanisms to ensure smooth and effective implementation of bilateral projects.
“Both sides deliberated on advancing key projects, including the Karachi-Hyderabad section of Main Line-1 (ML-1) and Karakoram Highway (Thakot-Raikot Section) project, and agreed to accelerate the projects’ timely execution,” the PID said in a statement.
“Regarding the Gwadar Port and Free Zone, both sides expressed a mutual commitment to ensuring the continued development of Gwadar in a holistic manner.”
The meeting came two days after a security guard at a factory in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi shot and injured two Chinese nationals before fleeing, police said.
Last month, two Chinese nationals were killed in a suicide bombing near the international airport in Karachi. In March this year, a suicide bombing killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in northwestern Pakistan as they headed to the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in the country. In 2022, three Chinese educators and their Pakistani driver were killed when an explosion ripped through a van at the University of Karachi. A blast on a bus killed 13 people in north Pakistan in 2021, including nine Chinese nationals.
China, breaking with tradition, publicly spoken out against security threats to its workers and nationals living in Pakistan, where hundreds of them work on Beijing-funded projects linked to CPEC.
Iqbal assured the Chinese ambassador the safety of Chinese citizens was a top priority of his government.
“Pakistan will continue working closely with China to ensure the security of Chinese citizens, projects, and institutions,” he was quoted as saying by the PID.
Ambassador Jiang expressed gratitude for Pakistan’s comprehensive engagement and said the Chinese side was ready for collaboration in areas of agriculture, mines and minerals, industrial cooperation, according to the PID.
Iqbal shared that his ministry was in coordination with the National Development and Reform Commission of China to arrange high-level workshops to bring together experts from both sides to outline the future direction of CPEC’s second phase.
China has lately shown willingness for the second phase of CPEC and has given assurances for the establishment of five new corridors, including that of growth, livelihood, innovation, green economy and open regional inclusive development.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will urge developed countries attending the upcoming Conference of the Parties (COP29) in Baku to fulfill their pledges and provide easy access to climate funding without attaching conditions, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coordinator on climate change said on Thursday.
The COP29 climate conference, scheduled to take place in Baku between November 11 and 22, will layout new policies and bring together representatives from various nations to discuss the adverse impacts of climate change and evaluate available solutions for adaptation.
Pakistan is ranked as the 5th most vulnerable country to climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index. In 2022, devastating floods affected over 33 million people and caused economic losses exceeding $30 billion, highlighting the country’s high susceptibility to extreme weather events.
“Pakistan is very clear on our stance that we need all the developed countries when it comes to the pledges, one, they need to complete their pledges, they need to fulfil their pledges, and two, easy access toward the fundings,” Romina Khurshid Alam, PM Sharif’s coordinator on climate change, told Arab News in an exclusive interview.
In this file photo, taken on August 30, 2024, people wade through flood waters after heavy monsoon rains in Multan. (AFP/File)
Due to the rising temperatures, extreme climatic phenomena, including floods, droughts, cyclones, torrential rainstorms and heatwaves, have been occurring more frequently and with greater intensity across Pakistan.
The South Asian country is among the most severely threatened countries in terms of climate–induced challenges, especially in the context of its dependency on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, natural resources and the environment, and socio-economic issues such as poverty. The country’s adaptation to the adverse impacts of climate change is inevitable and likely to become critical in the future.
Alam said vulnerable countries were suffering from their own economic challenges and vulnerabilities, while at the same time, many countries faced additional restraints on climate funding.
“It’s not fair that we always get demands to ‘do more and to do this, to do that, these sanctions are coming,’ that is something which is on the human rights violation as well,” she said, adding that Pakistan wanted to raise its voice on what happened to the pledges, how many countries benefited from them and what straightforward mechanisms could be pursued to provide effective support.
Asked about the total amount pledged by developed nations, Alam said she would provide the exact figure after COP29, but noted that “the number is very low.”
“At COP29, we are talking about the data bank system like in a way that what countries are suffering and looking forward for the carbon credits policies,” she added.
In this file photo, taken on August 30, 2024, residents gather at the site of a landslide owing to heavy monsoon rains in the remote area of Patrak, in Upper Dir district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. (AFP/File)
Last month, Pakistan proposed the establishment of a regional climate data bank to help Vulnerable Twenty (V20) group of countries prepare an evidence-based response to climate disasters.
Alam said the South Asian country had planned “many things” to showcase at Pakistan Pavilion during COP29.
Speaking about the prevailing smog issue, she said Pakistan would take it up with the Indian team at COP29.
“We are open to dialogues and open to come up with the solution, we want to get the things done by dialogue,” she said, noting that the chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab, Maryam Nawaz, had also urged India to sit together to resolve this issue.
People walk along a street amid smog in Lahore on November 2, 2024. (AFP/File)
“CM Punjab very clearly said that ‘let’s sit together to sort out this issue because this cannot be done in a way that we are not doing this or you are doing this’,” Alam said.
“This is not a game, the main thing is to think about the children and to think about the future.”
Winter smog has become an annual crisis in Pakistan’s Punjab, particularly the provincial capital of Lahore, with air quality deteriorating to hazardous levels each season. The city consistently ranks among the world’s worst for air pollution, leading to a significant rise in respiratory issues and hospital admissions, especially affecting children and the elderly.
Last year, severe pollution levels prompted a surge in cases of asthma, lung infections and other respiratory problems among residents, according to media reports.
The problem this week prompted Punjab CM Nawaz to propose cross-border cooperation with Indian authorities to tackle shared pollution sources, such as crop residue burning, which exacerbate the region’s smog problem.
