KHAPLU: Fruit farmers in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit Baltistan (GB) region expressed optimism on Friday their access to the Chinese market will strengthen the local economy after the country’s trade authorities announced the successful dispatch of the first-ever consignment of Pakistani cherries across the border this week.
GB is frequently described as Pakistan’s gateway to China since it is home to the Khunjerab Pass, which is the highest paved international border crossing in the world and the highest point on the Karakoram Highway. This pass and highway are crucial components of the route that connects Pakistan to China, facilitating trade and travel between the two countries.
GB’s mild to cold climate also makes it an ideal location for fruit orchards, particularly cherries, which are considered some of the best in the region. The area also supports the cultivation of other fruits like apricots and apples, contributing to its reputation for high-quality produce.
Despite its proximity with China, the farmers in GB never exported fruit to the neighboring market before the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) announced the dispatch of the first consignment of cherries on June 5.
“We are very happy that our cherries have entered the Chinese market,” Abbas Skinderi, a cherry farmer from Nagar district, spoke to Arab News over the phone. “If half of GB’s production goes to China, the farmers will be the top beneficiaries.”
Skinderi said there were limited markets available to farmers in GB, adding the recent development would reduce poverty in the area.
“As China opens its door for our cherries, we will plant more of these trees,” he continued.
Irfan Ali Shah, another farmer, agreed, saying the export to the Chinese market would change the lives of local farmers.
“Hundreds of people in GB are associated with cherry farming,” he noted. “This is the first time our cherries have been exported to China. This will change our destiny since the Chinese market is very close to the region.”
Shah said the development was also significant due to the limited shelf life of cherries.
“Due to transportation problems and dilapidated roads, it’s difficult to safely send our cherries to Pakistan’s main cities,” he informed. “China, in contrast, is much closer to GB than cities like Lahore or Karachi, ensuring that our production will not be wasted and our incomes will increase.”
GB’s major cherry-producing areas include Hunza, Nagar, Gilgit, Ghizer, Skardu and Ghanche districts.
Speaking to Arab News, Nazir Ali, a TDAP assistant director, said the first consignment of cherries was packed in a refrigerated container used internationally for transporting perishable goods.
“Over 100 cherry orchards, alongside a cold storage and packing house at Rahimabad in Gilgit, are now registered with the General Administration of Chinese Customs,” he said. “This registration ensures that the cherries meet the stringent quality and safety standards required by the Chinese market, thereby guaranteeing the best prices for Pakistani farmers.”
Javed Akhtar, a deputy director at GB’s agriculture department, said the first consignment had 15 to 20 tons of cherries.
“China’s protocol for exporters of cherries is very tough,” he continued. “Luckily, under the guidance of the plant protection and agriculture departments, our traders fulfilled all protocols and managed to successfully send the first consignment to China. The climate of GB is very favorable for cherry production and 14 different varieties of cherries are found in the region.”
According to the agriculture department, the region produces about 5,000 tons of cherries per season. Access to the Chinese market is expected to significantly boost this production level as more and more farmers adopt advanced agricultural practices and begin to grow the fruit.
Farmers in Gilgit Baltistan foresee economic boom as Pakistan exports first cherry consignment to China
https://arab.news/g53yj
Farmers in Gilgit Baltistan foresee economic boom as Pakistan exports first cherry consignment to China
- Region’s fruit farmers say it is easier to transport cherries to China than to Pakistan’s major urban centers
- GB’s agriculture department says the region produces approximately 5,000 tons of cherries every season
Pakistan and Indonesia conclude week-long, joint military exercise to counter militancy
- Pakistan routinely holds joint air, ground and sea exercises with friendly nations
- These military exercises help foster interoperability and joint deployment concepts
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Indonesia have concluded a week-long, joint military exercise, Elang Strike-II, to counter militancy, the Pakistani military said on Monday.
This was the second exercise between the two countries in the counter-terrorism domain, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing.
It began on September 8 and continued for a week at the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) in Pabbi town of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
“The exercise was aimed at mutually beneficial sharing of experience and training methodology between the two armies which have strong brotherly relations,” the ISPR said in a statement.
Senior officials of Pakistan Army and Col. Budi Wirman, defense attaché of Indonesia, attended the closing ceremony.
Pakistan routinely holds joint air, ground and sea exercises with friendly nations. These drills help foster interoperability and joint deployment concepts to counter threats to regional and global peace.
The South Asian country, which has fought back militancy for decades, also hosts cadets from these brotherly nations each year to undergo specialized military training.
Pakistani man to appear in US court on assassination plot charges
- Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Asif Merchant, 46, spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States to recruit people for the plot
- Merchant told a confidential informant he also planned to steal documents from one target and organize protests in the US, prosecutors said
NEW YORK: A Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran is set to appear in US court on Monday on charges of scheming to assassinate an American politician in retaliation for the killing of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards top commander Qassem Soleimani.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn say Asif Merchant, 46, spent time in Iran before traveling to the United States to recruit people for the plot.
Merchant told a confidential informant he also planned to steal documents from one target and organize protests in the United States, prosecutors said.
The defendant named Donald Trump as a potential target but had not conceived the scheme as a plan to assassinate the former president, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Court papers do not name the alleged targets, and no attacks were made. As president, Trump had in 2020 approved the drone strike on Soleimani.
There are no suggestions that Merchant was tied to an apparent assassination attempt on Trump at his Florida golf course on Sunday, or a separate shooting of the Republican presidential candidate at a rally in Pennsylvania in July.
Merchant faces one count of attempting to commit terrorism across national boundaries and one count of murder for hire.
He is expected to enter a plea before US Magistrate Judge Robert Levy in Brooklyn at 12 p.m. EDT (1600 GMT). Merchant was arrested in Texas on July 15.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations said in August that the “modus operandi” described in Merchant’s court papers ran contrary to Tehran’s policy of “legally prosecuting the murder of General Soleimani.”
Pakistan says global commodities trader Gunvor Group ‘keen’ to invest in petroleum sector
- Last month, Gunvor Group signed an agreement to acquire 50 percent shares of Pakistan’s Total Parco oil marketing company
- PM Shehbaz Sharif informs Gunvor Group chairman of reforms undertaken to increase foreign investment in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: Global commodities trader Gunvor Group has expressed its “keen” interest in investing in Pakistan’s petroleum sector, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said on Monday.
The statement came after Sharif’s meeting with Gunvor Group Chairman Torbjorn Tornqvist and Total Energies Vice President Oceania & Southeast Asia Mehmet Celepoglu
During the meeting, the prime minister highlighted the rapid reforms that were underway to increase investment and business activities in Pakistan, according to PM Sharif’s office.
“Chairman Torbjorn Tornqvist expressed the Gunvor Group’s keen interest in investment in the petroleum sector of Pakistan,” it said in a statement.
The prime minister was informed that the Gunvor Group had signed an agreement in August to acquire 50 percent shares of Total Parco Pakistan Limited, a subsidiary of French oil giant Total Energies.
A joint venture between Total Energies and Pak-Arab Refinery Limited in Pakistan, Total PARCO Pakistan Limited has a retail network of more than 800 service stations and is involved in fuel logistics and lubricants.
“The prime minister directed the relevant authorities to provide all possible facilities to the Gunvor Group,” Sharif’s office said.
Since avoiding a default last year, Islamabad has been making attempts to boost foreign investment and trade to drive economic growth in the South Asian country.
In recent months, Pakistan has reached multiple investment deals with a number of countries, mainly the Gulf states, in infrastructure, energy, maritime, ports and other sectors.
Pakistan reports sixth case of mpox virus in Islamabad
- Patient admitted to the isolation ward of Islamabad’s Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
- Mpox is mild but people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of complication
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani health authorities on Monday confirmed a sixth case of mpox virus in the federal capital of Islamabad, saying the patient was admitted to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) hospital.
The Border Health Staff (BHS) detected mpox symptoms in a 44-year-old man during screening at the Islamabad International Airport, according to the federal health minister.
Since confirming its first mpox case last month, Pakistan has implemented stringent screening protocols at all airports and border crossings for the screening of travelers.
“The sixth case of mpox has been reported in Pakistan,” a health ministry spokesperson said in a statement. “The travel history of the 44-year-old man is from Gulf countries.”
Patients who contract mpox get flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Mpox is usually mild but can kill. Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of complications from the infection.
On Sept. 8, health authorities declared Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province mpox-free after all four patients previously infected with the virus recovered.
Dr. Mukhtar Bharath, the prime minister’s coordinator for health, said the health ministry was working closely with provincial authorities to monitor new cases and around 630,000 passengers had so far been screened at airports.
“Effective measures are being taken to protect people from mpox,” Dr. Bharath said.
The World Health Organization has declared a global health emergency over the spread of a new mutated strain of mpox named clade I, which first emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has since spread to several countries, leading to increased monitoring and preventive measures worldwide.
Sindh minister orders security for polio worker who says she was raped on duty
- The polio worker testified before a local court on Friday that she was raped while she was on duty
- But the woman later retracted her statement amid threats by her husband for being an ‘adulteress’
KARACHI: Provincial Health Minister Dr. Azra Fazal Pechuho on Monday took notice of alleged rape of a polio worker in the Jacobabad district of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province and instructed police to provide her round-the-clock security.
The incident occurred in Allah Baksh Jakhrani village of Jacobabad. The polio worker testified before a local court on Friday that she was raped while on duty, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported. A day later, the polio worker retracted her statement and said she was robbed, reportedly amid threats by her husband for being a ‘Kari,’ an adulteress, who deserves death.
The Sindh health minister has instructed police to provide security around the polio worker’s current residence and requested Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah to provide the woman with monetary compensation to help her take care of her children.
“Our female polio workers are the backbone of the polio program and protecting them has always been the utmost priority of the program,” Dr. Pechuho said. “I am taking every necessary action to ensure that she gets the justice she deserves.”
On Sept. 9, Pakistan launched a week-long, nationwide polio campaign amid a spike in militant attacks. The potentially fatal, paralyzing disease mostly strikes children under the age of five and typically spreads through contaminated water.
Two days later, a roadside bomb hit a vehicle carrying officers assigned to protect health workers conducting polio immunization in the northwestern South Waziristan district, in the same province, wounding six officers and three civilians. The militant Daesh group later claimed responsibility for the attack.
Anti-polio campaigns in Pakistan are regularly marred by violence. Militants target vaccination teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming that the campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children.
Since January, Pakistan has reported 17 new cases of polio, jeopardizing decades of efforts to eliminate polio in the country. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in which the spread of polio has never been stopped.
