Five policemen killed, 22 injured as blast targets polio protection team in northwestern Pakistan 

People gather next to a police vehicle targeted in a blast in Bajaur city, Pakistan, on January 8, 2024. (Rescue 1122)
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Updated 08 January 2024
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Five policemen killed, 22 injured as blast targets polio protection team in northwestern Pakistan 

  • Outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan group takes responsibility for remote-controlled blast
  • Pakistan kicked off a nationwide polio campaign on Monday to inoculate children below 5 years

ISLAMABAD: Five policemen were killed and 22 others injured on Monday morning after a blast targeted a polio protection team in northwestern Pakistan, a police official confirmed. 

The bomb blast targeted the vehicle in Mamund village in Pakistan's northwestern Bajaur district, police officer Aziz-ur-Rehman told Arab News. He said a police contingent was heading out to far-flung areas in the province to protect polio volunteers when one of the vehicles was targeted in a bomb blast. 

“Five policemen were martyred and 22 others injured, with half of them in critical condition, when the vehicle they were travelling in was targeted by a remote-controlled bomb," Rehman said. He added that the village is located on the outskirts of Khar, a busy town in the tribal district. 




Officials and local residents offer funeral prayers of police officers, who were killed in the roadside bombing, in Khar, Pakistan, on January 8, 2024. (AP)

Rehman said another police contingent was dispatched to the area after the blast, adding that all those who were critically injured were being shifted to Peshawar for treatment. 

The outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group claimed responsibility for the blast. "A police mobile party was targeted with a mine blast in which six policemen were killed and 10 others severely wounded," Muhammad Khorasani, a TTP spokesperson, said in a statement. 

Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman and former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari condemned the blast, describing the police officers who were protecting the polio volunteers as "national heroes."

"Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police is frustrating the aims of terrorists," Bhutto-Zardari said in a statement. "The terrorists involved in the Bajaur incident and their facilitators are enemies of the nation."

The Bajur district near the Afghan border was once a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban — a close ally of Afghanistan’s Taliban government — before the Pakistani army drove the militants out of the tribal districts in successive operations that began in late 2000s.

In July last year, a suicide bomb blast killed over 50 people and wounded scores of others when the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F) party held a convention for its supporters in the city. 

Pakistan kicked off a nationwide door-to-door polio campaign to vaccinate children under the age of five years. The South Asian nation and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the disease is still endemic.  

Militants, including the Pakistani Taliban, have killed scores of polio vaccination workers and their security escorts in the past. Opposition to inoculation grew after the US Central Intelligence Agency organized a fake vaccination drive to help track down Al-Qaeda's former leader Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbottabad in 2011. 


Saudi Arabia says SFD could contribute over $100 million to Pakistan’s mining infrastructure

Updated 4 sec ago
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Saudi Arabia says SFD could contribute over $100 million to Pakistan’s mining infrastructure

  • The Kingdom is hosting a three-day Future Minerals Forum summit from Jan. 14-16 in Saudi capital 
  • Saudi minister Bandar Alkhorayef says Manara Minerals looking at investing in Pakistan’s Reko Diq mine

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Mining Minister Bandar Alkhorayef told Reuters on Wednesday that mining company Manara Minerals was looking at investing in Pakistan’s Reko Diq mine, saying that the Saudi Development Fund could contribute over $100 million to Pakistan’s mining infrastructure.
Executives from Manara visited Pakistan in May last year for talks about buying a stake in the Reko Diq mine, considered one of the world’s largest underdeveloped copper-gold areas by global mining company Barrick Gold, which owns the project jointly with Pakistan. 
Manara, a joint venture between state-controlled miner Ma’aden and the $925 billion Public Investment Fund (PIF), was set up as part of the kingdom’s efforts to diversify its economy away from oil, including by buying minority stakes in assets overseas.
“Part of what we are looking at is how we can help Pakistan also in some infrastructure,” Alkhorayef said in an interview on the sidelines of the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh.
“Without that infrastructure the economics of the deal are not attractive, so through the Saudi Development Fund we are thinking about how we can finance it.”
He also spoke about Saudi Arabian state oil giant Aramco’s project to extract lithium, saying it is “promising, but not yet commercially viable.” 
Aramco has partnered with the King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST) for the pilot, Bandar Alkhorayef said. 
Lithium Infinity, also known as Lihytech, a start-up launched out of KAUST, is leading the extraction project with cooperation from Saudi mining company Ma’aden and Aramco.
Lithium is a key component in the batteries of electric cars, laptops, and smartphones. Reuters previously reported that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates’ national oil companies planned to extract the mineral from oil runoffs.


Pakistan’s army, foreign office reject Indian army chief’s ‘epicenter of terrorism’ allegations

Updated 22 min 31 sec ago
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Pakistan’s army, foreign office reject Indian army chief’s ‘epicenter of terrorism’ allegations

  • India’s army chief this week accused Pakistan of being involved in infiltration attempts by “terrorists” in India
  • Pakistan’s army says statement “contrary to facts,” attempt to divert attention from “brutality” in Indian-held Kashmir

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s army and foreign office on Wednesday rejected Indian Army Chief General Upendra Dwivedi’s recent statement in which he referred to Pakistan as the “epicenter of terrorism,” dismissing his remarks as an attempt to deflect the world’s attention from alleged brutalities in disputed Kashmir by New Delhi. 
In a statement on India’s Army Day on Monday, Gen. Dwivedi accused Pakistan of “orchestrating” infiltration attempts in India, describing Pakistan as the “epicenter of terrorism.” He said 60 percent of the “terrorists” India eliminated last year were of Pakistan origin. 
Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan have fought two out of three wars over the disputed Himalayan Kashmir valley. Both claim the territory in full but administer only parts of it. India accuses Pakistan of arming militants in the Kashmir territory under its control, allegations that Islamabad has denied. Pakistan, on the other hand, accuses India of repressing the rights of Kashmiris in India and denying them the right of self-determination. 
“Insinuating Pakistan as the epicenter of terrorism by the Indian Army Chief, is not only contrary to facts, but also an exercise in futility to beat the dead horse of India’s default position — blaming Pakistan for indigenous reaction to state-sponsored brutality,” a statement from the army’s media wing said.
The Inter-Services Public Relations, the army’s media wing, said Dwivedi’s remarks were a case of “extreme duplicity” aimed to diverting the world’s attention from India’s “brutality” in the region of Kashmir under its control. 
The army said that such repression has only strengthened the resolve of Kashmiris for their right of self-determination, which is enshrined in the UN Security Council Resolutions.
“Instead of trying to conjure up a non-existent terror infrastructure in Pakistan, it would be wise not to indulge in self-delusion, and appreciate the ground reality,” the army said. “Pakistan takes strong exception to such baseless and unfounded statements.”
In a separate statement earlier on Wednesday, the foreign office rejected Gen. Dwivedi’s “baseless accusations and unfounded assertions.”
“Pakistan also underscores that provocative statements of this nature are counterproductive to regional peace and stability,” the foreign office said. 
Political tensions between the two countries have remained high since 2019 when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew Jammu and Kashmir’s special autonomy in 2019 and split the former state into two federal territories. 
Pakistan described the move as unilateral and illegal, saying it was aimed at tightening India’s grip on the Muslim-majority region. Islamabad suspended trade with New Delhi and downgraded diplomatic ties with its neighbor following the decision.


Saudi aid agency KSrelief distributes over 2,000 food parcels in Pakistan

Updated 15 January 2025
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Saudi aid agency KSrelief distributes over 2,000 food parcels in Pakistan

  • Food parcels in flood-affected Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions, benefiting 13,159 people
  • Latest initiative forms part of this year’s Food Security Support Project in Pakistan by KSrelief 

RIYADH: The Kingdom’s aid agency KSrelief has distributed 2,028 food parcels in Pakistan’s flood-affected Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa regions, benefiting 13,159 people, the Saudi Press Agency reported recently.

Sunday’s initiative forms part of this year’s Food Security Support Project in Pakistan.

The aid reflects the Kingdom’s ongoing humanitarian efforts through KSrelief to assist needy individuals in Pakistan.


Pakistan to cut tariff for electric vehicle charging stations by 45%

Updated 17 min 38 sec ago
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Pakistan to cut tariff for electric vehicle charging stations by 45%

  • The government aims for 30% of vehicles to run on electricity by 2030
  • It has announced a 15-day registration process for charging stations

KARACHI: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has decided a 45 percent reduction in electricity tariffs for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, cutting rates from Rs71.10 per unit to Rs39.70 per unit, said Pakistan’s Energy Minister Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari on Wednesday.
Pakistan has actively promoted EV adoption to combat environmental challenges, reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels and improve urban air quality. Under its Electric Vehicle Policy 2019-2024, the government aims for 30 percent of vehicles to run on electricity by 2030.
However, inadequate charging infrastructure, frequent power outages and the high cost of EVs have hindered progress.
“Today, the prime minister has decided that including taxes, we were charging a tariff of Rs71.10 [$0.26] to these charging stations,” Leghari told reporters in Islamabad. “What the distribution companies used to charge them, we are reducing it approximately by 45 percent and announcing a tariff of Rs39.70 [$0.18] today.”
Leghari said that there were no charging stations for motorbikes, three-wheelers and rickshaws in Pakistani neighborhood.
“And the reason for that absence is the high cost of electricity,” he added. “And the absence of laws and regulations on the basis of which this business can start.”
A statement issued by the power division said the country’s first-ever regulations for establishing EV charging stations and battery swapping points was being implemented under the National Energy Conservation Authority, with an official gazette notification issued.
It highlighted the economic benefits of these measures, saying that switching motorcycles to electric technology at an average cost of Rs50,000 could save $6 billion annually on fuel.
Similarly, electrifying three-wheeled rickshaws could significantly reduce urban travel costs and help combat air pollution.
The reduced EV charging costs are also expected to lower transportation expenses, positively impacting goods delivery and essential commodity prices.
The government has decided to support these initiatives through a one-window registration process for setting up charging stations and battery points, allowing approvals within 15 days.
Registration fees have been set at Rs50,000 to encourage local and foreign investment.
Prime Minister Sharif, while presiding over a meeting in Islamabad, also praised the power division’s policy on electric vehicles, describing it as “highly encouraging.”
He emphasized that the adoption of electric vehicles would reduce foreign exchange expenditure on petrol and diesel imports while providing an environmentally friendly mode of transportation.
The PM also directed the relevant authorities to actively promote the government’s policy on electric vehicles.
 


Pakistani PM orders cooperation with Interpol against suspects running human trafficking schemes abroad

Updated 15 January 2025
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Pakistani PM orders cooperation with Interpol against suspects running human trafficking schemes abroad

  • Illegal immigration in spotlight in Pakistan since last month after five Pakistani nationals killed in boat capsize off Greek coast 
  • In 2023, hundreds, including 262 Pakistani nationals, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank off Greek coast

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday called on the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) to work with international police organization Interpol for the extradition of suspects running the “heinous business of human trafficking abroad.”

The issue of illegal immigration has been in the spotlight in the South Asian nation since last month following the death of five Pakistanis when a migrant boat capsized off the southern Greek island of Gavdos. 

The tragedy, which occurred on Dec. 14, underscored the perilous journeys many migrants undertake due to military or political conflicts in their home countries or in search of better financial prospects. 

On Wednesday, Sharif presided over a review meeting to discuss progress on actions taken against human trafficking.

“Prime Minister instructed the FIA ​​to seek cooperation from Interpol for the extradition of the most wanted smugglers running the heinous business of human trafficking abroad,” the PM’s office said in a statement. 

“Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should run an effective awareness campaign about illegal foreign travel and human trafficking.”

Authorities told Sharif dozens of traffickers had been arrested in 2024 and several government officials who were found to be facilitating them had been dismissed and several more were facing disciplinary action.

“Punitive measures are being taken against government officials involved in human trafficking,” the statement added. “Assets worth over Rs 500 million of human traffickers have been seized and the process of confiscating more is underway rapidly … Special prosecutors have been appointed to prosecute human traffickers.”

In 2023, hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel traveling from Libya capsized and sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos.