KARACHI: With an emphasis on improving the security of Chinese workers in Pakistan, officials in Beijing and Islamabad held the 13th Joint Cooperation Committee (JCC) meeting online on Friday, agreeing to proceed with the ML-1 railway project estimated to cost over $6 billion.
The JCC meeting, which focused on joint energy and infrastructure development initiatives under the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), was convened after the March 26 suicide attack that killed five Chinese engineers and their local driver en route to the under-construction Dasu dam.
Briefing the media about the decisions made during the meeting, Pakistan’s planning minister Ahsan Iqbal said Chinese security concerns were discussed during the talks.
“Security issues were discussed in the meeting and China was briefed on improving security,” he said, adding that Pakistani authorities had raised a special force to ensure the safety of CPEC projects.
The Chinese nationals in Pakistan have been targeted by various militant factions, with a significant number of attacks coming from Baloch nationalists who aim to push Beijing out of the mineral-rich Balochistan province.
Pakistan’s top economic body on Thursday approved $2.5 million in compensation for the families of the Chinese workers killed in the March 26 Dasu attack.
Iqbal mentioned that both sides decided to initiate more projects apart from those carried out under the CPEC umbrella, adding: “We will jointly improve the security for these projects.”
He also informed the two countries agreed to start the mega ML-1 railway project focusing on the dualization of the existing railway network, built in the late 19th century, and the overall upgrading of tracks connecting the port city of Karachi to Peshawar.
“I am pleased to inform you that Pakistan has made significant progress on the Pakistan Railways Mainline-1 project,” the planning minister said. “The re-modified PC-1 [project feasibility] has been approved with a cost of $6.76 billion in two phases.”
“The project is now ready for the bidding process among eligible Chinese companies,” he added. “We request that the bidding process should start immediately in view of the poor deterioration of the railway track.”
Iqbal also provided details of the CPEC projects that have been completed so far.
“It is heartening to note the steady progress CPEC has made since its inception in 2013,” he said. “In the energy sector, we have successfully completed 16 projects, with a generation capacity of 8,020 MW [megawatts], along with two coal mines and a +660 kV HVDC [Kilovolt High Voltage Direct Current] transmission line.”
He added that the 884 MV Suki Kinari hydropower project worth $1.707 billion was still under construction and expected to be commissioned by November 2024.
“Three power projects, including two hydel (Azad Pattan 700 MW and Kohala 1124 MW) and one coal-based (Gwadar) with a generation capacity of 2124.7 MW worth $4.157 billion, are at an advanced stage,” he continued.
The minister maintained concrete progress on the next CPEC phase would emerge after Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s visit to China, expected in the first week of June.
The two countries have closely collaborated since the launch of the joint corridor project. Sharif met representatives of several Chinese companies on Friday, noting that bilateral relations between the two states were further strengthening.
He urged Chinese companies to establish their industries in the special economic zones under CPEC by developing business-to-business relations, particularly inviting Chinese entrepreneurs in the textile sector to benefit from the opportunities in Pakistan.
Speaking to Arab News, Ammar Habib Khan, a senior research economist, acknowledged China’s financial assistance to Pakistan while suggesting that Islamabad wanted Beijing to soften its stance on restructuring about $15 billion in loans, mainly extended for power and other infrastructure projects.
“The debt restructuring of about $15 billion, including those of the power sector, will provide Pakistan a breathing space and could lead to a reduction in electricity prices,” he said.
Pakistan and China move forward on $6.76 billion railway line project amid increased security measures
https://arab.news/88zpb
Pakistan and China move forward on $6.76 billion railway line project amid increased security measures
- Minister Ahsan Iqbal says ML-1 project is now ready for the bidding process among eligible Chinese companies
- PM Sharif also meets Chinese businessmen, asks them to set up industries in special economic zones under CPEC
Explosion in house kills 2 children in former stronghold of Pakistani Taliban
- Police investigating what caused the blast including whether someone was handling explosives to make bombs
- Blast happened in Mir Ali where Pakistani Taliban often target security forces with suicide bombings
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A powerful explosion ripped through a house in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban on Thursday, killing at least two children and wounding some others, police said.
Police were still investigating what caused the blast including whether someone was handling explosives to make bombs, local police chief Irfan Khan said.
The blast happened in Mir Ali, a city in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan and where Pakistani Taliban and other insurgents often target security forces with suicide bombings and other violence.
Elsewhere in the province Thursday, a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle set off an explosive device prematurely on a deserted road in Charsadda district, killing himself but harming no one else, police said.
Local police official Masood Khan said the intended target was unclear and bomb disposal experts and police were still investigating whether the man was wearing the explosives or they were attached to his motorcycle.
The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, are separate from the Afghan Taliban but have been emboldened by the group’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.
‘Media speculation,’ foreign office says on Beijing wanting own security staff in Pakistan
- Reuters reported this week Beijing and Islamabad in talks to set up a joint security management system
- Beijing has been angered by recent attacks on Chinese nationals, has publicly raised security concerns
ISLAMABAD: The foreign office on Thursday rejected as “media speculation” reports by a foreign news agency that Beijing is pushing Pakistan to allow its own security staff to provide protection to thousands of Chinese citizens working in the South Asian nation.
Reuters, citing five Pakistani security and government sources speaking on condition of anonymity, reported this week that a string of recent attacks on Chinese nationals had angered Beijing and pushed Pakistan to begin formal negotiations for a joint security management system.
Last month’s airport bombing in the southern port city that killed two Chinese engineers returning to work on a project after a holiday in Thailand was the latest attack on Beijing’s interests in Pakistan.
“Let’s not get carried away with speculation,” Foreign Office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a weekly news briefing in Islamabad when questioned about the Reuters report.
“I would not like to respond to media speculations that are based on unreliable sources and motivated by an agenda to create confusion about the nature of Pakistan-China relationship.”
She added that Pakistan had raised a security force to protect Chinese nationals and projects, particularly those operating under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) umbrella, and “this security apparatus continues to provide security to Chinese CPEC projects inside Pakistan.”
Longtime Pakistan ally China has thousands of nationals working on projects grouped under the CPEC, a $65-billion investment in President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which seeks to expand China’s global reach by road, rail and sea.
The Reuters report said there was now a consensus on setting up a joint security management system, and that Pakistan was amenable to Chinese officials sitting in on security meetings and coordination but there was no agreement as yet on their participating in security arrangements on the ground.
One official said Pakistan had asked China for help in improving its intelligence and surveillance capabilities instead of direct involvement.
“We advise the media to ascertain the motivation of individuals who are feeding them this story,” Baloch said.
“Pakistan and China have a robust dialogue and cooperation on a range of issues including counterterrorism and security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan … We will continue to work with our Chinese brothers for the safety and security of Chinese nationals, projects and institutions in Pakistan.”
Baloch said as close allies, Pakistan and China had the resolve and capability to foil “any attempts to harm Pakistan-China relations, including by spreading stories about the nature of this relationship.”
Pakistani deputy PM to attend UAE’s Sir Bani Yas Forum from Nov. 15-17
- Three-day summit will host top decision-makers, experts for debates on regional issues
- Ongoing war in Gaza is expected to feature prominently in discussions at Sir Bani Yas Forum
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar will attend the 15th Sir Bani Yas Forum in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from November 15-17, the foreign office in Islamabad said on Thursday, with the ongoing war in Gaza expected to be at the center of discussions.
The three-day annual retreat will bring together top decision-makers and experts to debate pressing Middle Eastern issues such as regional peace and security and economic transformation.
“At the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar will participate in the 15th Sir Bani Yas Forum being held from Nov. 15-17 in the UAE,” foreign office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a weekly news briefing in Islamabad.
“At the forum, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister will engage in high-level dialogue with global leaders and experts addressing critical issues of regional security, economic cooperation and sustainable development.”
Dar will highlight Pakistan’s “strategic perspective on fostering diplomatic solutions to complex regional challenges and advancing collective prosperity,” Baloch added.
The war in the Gaza Strip is expected to feature prominently in discussions at the Sir Bani Yas Forum.
Israel invaded the enclave last year after Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, and abducting more than 250 as hostages. Since then, the Israeli campaign has killed more than 43,500 people, according to Gaza health authorities, and destroyed much of the enclave’s infrastructure, forcing most of the 2.3 million population to move several times.
The issue was also at the center of the agenda at the recently concluded Joint Arab-Islamic Summit hosted by Saudi Arabia, with Baloch welcoming the resolution adopted by the summit, which, among other issues, called on the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Israel and asked it to set up an independent investigation committee to investigate Israeli crimes including genocide, forced disappearances, torture and ethnic cleansing.
Commenting on recently signed investment agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth over $2.8 billion between Pakistani and Saudi companies, the spokesperson said the deals were crucial for “sustaining economic and investment collaboration” between the two close allies.
“They [MoUs] are a reflection of the enhanced cooperation between our two countries in the economic domain,” Baloch added.
In response to a question about reports that the UAE had implemented a visa ban for Pakistanis, the spokesperson said:
“First, I would like to reiterate that according visa to any individual is the sovereign right and decision of the country concerned and secondly, we do not subscribe to this impression that there is a ban on visa for Pakistani nationals.”
The spokesperson’s comments follow widespread media reports of a decline in visas for Pakistanis by the UAE and a decrease in overall overseas employment for nationals of Pakistan, allegedly due to their lack of respect for local laws and customs and for participating in political activities and sloganeering while abroad.
“If there are any issues that arise with respect to issuance of visas and stay of Pakistani nationals in the UAE,” Baloch said, “that are important agenda items between Pakistan and the UAE and we continue to discuss them.”
Lahore most polluted city on earth, Agra’s toxic smog hides Taj Mahal
- Smog obscured India’s famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal, and Sikhism’s holiest shrine, Golden Temple in Amritsar
- Delhi flights faced delays, with tracking website Flightradar24 showing 88 percent departures and 54% of arrivals were delayed
NEW DELHI: Toxic smog obscured India’s famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal, as well as Sikhism’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and delayed flights on Thursday, becoming too thick to see through in several places.
The city of Lahore in neighboring Pakistan ranked as the world’s most polluted in winter’s annual scourge across the region, worsened by dust, emissions, and smoke from fires burnt illegally in India’s farming states of Punjab and Haryana.
In the city of Agra, the Taj Mahal was barely visible from the gardens in front of the 17th-century monument, while dense fog wreathed worshippers at the Golden Temple in Punjab, television images showed.
Delhi flights faced delays, with tracking website Flightradar24 showing 88 percent of departures and 54 percent of arrivals were delayed.
Officials blamed high pollution, combined with humidity, becalmed winds and a drop in temperature for the smog, which cut visibility to 300 m (980 ft) at the city’s international airport, which diverted flights in zero visibility on Wednesday.
More patients flocked to hospitals, particularly children.
“There has been a sudden increase in children with allergies, cough and cold ... and a rise in acute asthma attacks,” Sahab Ram, a paediatrician in Punjab’s Fazilka region, told news agency ANI.
Delhi’s minimum temperature fell to 16.1 degrees Celsius (61°F) on Thursday from 17 degrees C (63 degrees F) the previous day, weather officials said.
Its pollution ranked in the ‘severe’ category for the second consecutive day, with a score of 430 on an index of air quality maintained by the top pollution panel that rates a score of zero to 50 as ‘good’.
Pollution in New Delhi is likely to stay in the ‘severe’ category on Friday, the earth sciences ministry said, before improving to ‘very poor’, or an index score of 300 to 400.
The number of farm fires to clear fields in northern India has risen steadily this week to almost 2,300 on Wednesday from 1,200 on Monday, the ministry’s website showed.
Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab, was rated the world’s most polluted city on Thursday, in live rankings kept by Swiss group IQAir. Authorities there have also battled hazardous air this month.
Pakistan court rules out Imran Khan acquittal in new state gifts case, will frame charges
- Case involves jewelry worth over €380,000 gifted to ex-first lady by foreign dignitary when Khan was PM from 2018-2022
- Huband-wife duo is accused of undervaluing the gift and buying it at a lesser price from the state repository
ISLAMABAD: A trial court has dismissed an acquittal petition and will frame charges against jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife in a case relating to gifts acquired from a state repository, the ex-premier’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said on Thursday.
The reference, popularly called the new Toshakhana case, was filed in July and involves a jewelry set worth over €380,000 gifted to the former first lady by a foreign dignitary when Khan was prime minister from 2018-2022. The couple is accused of undervaluing the gift and buying it at a lesser price from the state repository.
Before the new case was filed, the ex-premier, who has been in jail since last August, was convicted in four cases. Two of the cases have since been suspended, including an original one relating to state gifts, while he was acquitted in the remaining two.
“The trial court has dismissed the acquittal petition of Imran Khan & Bushra Bibi from Toshakhana Case 2. On Nov. 18, the court will frame charges,” the PTI said in a statement to reporters.
“This case doesn’t merit proceedings as the prosecution admitted that Imran Khan did not gain any personal benefit from the case, neither do the proceedings meet the law.”
Khan’s convictions had ruled the 71-year-old out of the Feb. 8 general elections as convicted felons cannot run for public office under Pakistani law.
Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says the cases against him are “politically motivated” and aimed at keeping him from returning to power. Pakistani authorities deny this.
The ex-premier is also facing multiple cases relating to May 9, 2023 protests, which saw his supporters attack government and military installations over his brief arrest in another graft case.
On Wednesday, the PTI announced that Khan had called a ‘long march’ protest movement to the capital, Islamabad, over alleged rigging in general elections and to call for the release of political prisoners and the independence of the judiciary.
The PTI is demanding that the government rollback recent constitutional amendments like the 26th amendment that it says are an attempt to curtail the independence of the senior judiciary.
The party is also calling for the release of all political prisoners, including Khan, and a return of “the public mandate” following what it believes was a rigged general election.
Pakistan’s government denies being unfair in Khan’s treatment and its election commission denies the elections were rigged. The government also says the recent amendments related to the judiciary are meant to smooth out its functioning and tackle a backlog of cases.
