SKARDU: In the mountainous valleys of Pakistan, 18-hour daily power cuts have meant local teacher Aniqa Bano uses her fridge as a cupboard for storing books and kitchen utensils.
Load shedding is typical across much of fuel-short Pakistan, but few areas consistently suffer the same prolonged outages as Skardu city.
A surge in mountain tourism, driven by climbers and Pakistanis looking to escape heatwaves, is rapidly depleting the limited energy supply at the gateway to ascend K2, the world’s second-highest peak.
While higher-end hotels can supplement their supply with solar panels or fuel generators, many locals cannot afford such luxuries.
“We have to reinvent everything that once used electricity,” said Bano.
“We no longer have an oven, we use a coal-heated iron for clothes,” the 41-year-old teacher added. “When we come home tired from work, we cannot run a heater.”
TOURISM BOOM
Skardu is the largest city in the region of Gilgit-Baltistan, where almost impossibly high peaks tower over the Old Silk Road, still visible from a highway transporting tourists between cherry orchards, glaciers and ice-blue lakes.
Normally home to around 200,000 people, Skardu becomes heavily bloated in summer when Pakistanis seek the relief of its cooler climate at 2,228 meters (7,310 feet) above sea level.
The region hosted 880,000 domestic visitors in 2023, up from 50,000 in 2014.
As the country grapples with energy shortages – owing to dwindling forex reserves, mismanagement, rapid population growth and climate change – the tourism boom has proved too much for local power.
“Due to the increase in population and tourism activities, load shedding hours have increased,” Muhammad Yunus, a senior engineer for the regional government’s water and power department, told AFP.
There are up to 22 hours of load shedding in winter and between 18 and 20 hours in summer — an increase of around 10 percent each year for the past six years, according to the department.
Siddiqa, a tailor and handicraft maker who goes by one name, has seen her earnings fall alongside the number of hours of electricity.
“When we started this business in 2014, there was no issue of power,” she told AFP. “Now, I have replaced all the electric machines and brought hand sewing machines.”
“In the presence of light, we could prepare 10 to 12 suits every three days. Now, to prepare a single suit, it can take 10 to 15 days.”
The tourism flow does not appear to be letting up any time soon. There are up to 15 domestic flights a week to the region and, since March, international flights began landing from Dubai.
In Skardu alone, the number of hotels has increased more than fourfold since 2014, according to the tourism department.
7,000 MELTING GLACIERS
Owing to its remoteness, Gilgit-Baltistan is not connected to the national grid, so it relies on its own power generation from dozens of hydro and thermal plants.
But Pakistan’s 7,000 glaciers — more than anywhere outside the poles — are rapidly melting.
This can temporarily increase the availability of water for energy production, but the glaciers’ long-term ability to store and release water gradually decreases, affecting energy production.
“The availability of water for hydroelectric plants is becoming unpredictable,” said Salaar Ali, head of the Department of Environmental Science, University of Baltistan.
Damage to energy infrastructure is also a regular setback.
Record heatwaves in 2022 caused dozens of glacial lakes to burst their banks, washing away more than 20 power plants, 50 bridges and countless homes.
Inadequate planning and mismanagement of the power sector can also play a role, engineers have said.
The Satpara dam on the edge of Skardu city, completed in 2008 for $26 million of aid funding, was supposed to supply 40,000 homes with power.
But it generates just a fraction of its potential after plans to divert a river were halted, government engineers admit.
“It has been full only once since its formation,” said Yunus, the engineer in Skardu.
Without a reliable energy supply, Wajahat Hussain, a 36-year-old carpenter, uses a fuel generator to keep his business in operation — puffing out emissions that contribute to global warming.
“We run the generator to fulfil the demands,” he told AFP. “There is no work without the generator.”
Power crisis in northern Pakistan, plagued by decades of government neglect, exacerbated by mountain tourism
https://arab.news/ph5jp
Power crisis in northern Pakistan, plagued by decades of government neglect, exacerbated by mountain tourism
- Load shedding is typical across much of fuel-short Pakistan, but few areas consistently suffer the same prolonged outages as Skardu city
- Surge in mountain tourism, driven by climbers and Pakistanis escaping heatwaves, is depleting limited energy supply at the gateway to K2
Pakistan national airline hopes to resume Europe flights soon after regulator lifts ban
- The European Union Aviation Safety Agency suspended PIA’s authorization to operate in the EU in June 2020
- The move came after Pakistan began investigating the validity of pilots’ licenses following a deadly plane crash
KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) said on Sunday it expects to resume European routes soon and is eyeing several UK destinations after the EU aviation regulator lifted its bar on the flag carrier.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) suspended PIA’s authorization to operate in the EU in June 2020 over concerns about the ability of Pakistani authorities and its Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) to ensure compliance with international aviation standards.
“PIA plans to approach the UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) for UK route resumption, as EASA clearance is a prerequisite for their decision,” PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez Khan told Reuters.
EASA and UK authorities suspended permission for PIA to operate in the region after Pakistan began investigating the validity of pilots’ licenses following a deadly plane crash that killed 97 people.
Khan said the airline expects to resume flights to Europe, starting with Paris, within the next three to four weeks.
Once PIA gets approval for UK flights, Khan said London, Manchester, and Birmingham would be the most sought-after destinations.
PIA and the government, which is aiming to sell a 60 percent stake in the carrier, had urged EASA to lift the ban, even provisionally. The ban cost the airline 40 billion rupees ($144 million) annually in revenue.
Khan said the company has sufficient cash flow to add new routes. Decisions on leasing new aircraft will be made after the government finalizes privatization discussions, he said.
The loss-making national carrier has a 23 percent stake in Pakistan’s domestic aviation market, but its 34-plane fleet can’t compete with Middle Eastern carriers which hold a 60 percent market share, due to a lack of direct flights, despite having agreements with 87 countries and key landing slots.
The government’s attempt to privatise the airline fell flat when it received only a single offer, well below its asking price.
“With Europe now, and upcoming UK routes, we anticipate increased revenue potential and hence a rise in PIA’s value during the privatization process,” Khan said.
Death toll in Pakistan sectarian clashes now over 130, official says
- Kurram, near border with Afghanistan, has been a flashpoint for sectarian tensions for decades
- Pakistani government mediated seven-day ceasefire deal between the rival groups last Sunday
PESHAWAR: Deadly sectarian clashes have continued in Pakistan's northwestern Kurram district in spite of a tentative ceasefire struck late last week, local officials said, with the death toll now over 130 as authorities try to broker a solution.
Kurram, near the border with Afghanistan, has been a flashpoint for sectarian tensions for decades. They spilled over into a fresh wave of attacks last month when clashes between Sunnis and Shias left dozens dead.
District administration official Wajid Hussain said 133 people had been killed in the attacks in the last week and a half.
"The district administration and other relevant authorities have initiated efforts to stop fighting between the two communities but there is no breakthrough yet," he said.
A Pakistani government team mediated a seven-day ceasefire deal between the rival groups last Sunday. Armed Shia and Sunni Muslims have engaged in tribal and sectarian rivalry for decades over land and other local disputes in Kurram.
Provincial authorities put the death toll at 97, with 43 people killed in the initial attack when gunmen opened fire on mostly Shia drivers and the rest killed in retaliatory clashes.
Chief Minister for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Ali Amin Khan Gandapur visited the area on Saturday for a large gathering of tribal elders and leaders.
"Anyone who takes up arms will be treated as a terrorist, and their fate will be that of a terrorist," said Gandapur according to a statement from his office late on Saturday, adding that security forces would remain in the area.
Residents and officials said the main highway connecting Kurram's main city of Parachinar to the provincial capital Peshawar was blocked, which had created challenges transferring wounded people to hospitals.
"Our medical team is working around the clock to perform surgeries due to the challenges in referring patients to larger hospitals in Peshawar and elsewhere," said Dr Syed Mir Hassan, from Parachinar's district hospital.
He added that they were currently treating around 100 wounded patients and had received 50 bodies during the violence.
Trump cabinet pick criticizes New York’s deal to rent Pakistan’s Roosevelt Hotel for $220 million
- Vivek Ramaswamy has been picked by Trump to co-lead ‘Department of Government Efficiency’
- New York’s iconic Roosevelt Hotel was repurposed into an arrival center for migrants last year
ISLAMABAD: Vivek Ramaswamy, US President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to co-lead a new government department, on Sunday criticized a deal by the New York City government to rent the Pakistan-owned Roosevelt Hotel for a whopping $220 million for what he said were “illegal migrants.”
Cash-strapped Pakistan rented out its iconic Roosevelt Hotel to the New York City government for three years, as per an agreement reached last year.
Pakistan’s then aviation minister Khawaja Saad Rafique said that the New York administration would pay a rent of as much as $210 for each of the 1,025 rooms of the century-old hotel owned by the state-run Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).
The New York City administration has repurposed the Roosevelt Hotel as an arrival center for migrants where they can get access to vaccines, food and other resources.
“A taxpayer-funded hotel for illegal migrants is owned by the Pakistani government which means NYC taxpayers are effectively paying a foreign government to house illegals in our own country,” Ramaswamy wrote on social media platform X, responding to a post by American author John Lefevre.
“This is nuts.”
Roosevelt Hotel was closed by Pakistani authorities in October 2020 during the coronavirus pandemic, as the country’s economy weakened and the aviation sector faced significant losses.
However, the facility accumulated liabilities of around $25 million in taxes and other overheads.
Ramaswamy, a former Republican presidential candidate, will co-lead a newly created Department of Government Efficiency with billionaire Elon Musk. Trump has indicated the department will operate outside the confines of government.
Pakistan anti-terrorism court rejects Imran Khan’s bail plea in May 9 riots case
- Khan is facing charges of inciting attacks against military and government installations on May 9, 2023
- Judge notes Khan was found guilty of offenses, says found “no merits” in former premier’s bail petition
ISLAMABAD: An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore this week rejected former prime minister Imran Khan’s request for bail in a case relating to nationwide riots that broke out in May 2023 after his brief detention on graft charges.
Supporters of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party attacked and damaged government and military installations on May 9, 2023, after his brief arrest that day. The attacks took place a little over a year after Khan fell out with Pakistan’s powerful military, blaming the institution for colluding with his rivals to oust him from office in a parliamentary vote in April 2022. The military rejects his allegations.
Several cases against Khan and his party related to the May 9, 2023 violence were registered by the government, which also cracked down on his supporters allegedly involved in the riots. Khan’s party has distanced itself from the protests and accused the country’s intelligence agencies of framing his party for the violence. The military denies the accusations.
The ATC on Wednesday dismissed Khan’s petitions seeking post-arrest bail in eight May 9, 2023 cases, including an attack on a senior military commander’s residence. The judge had reserved the verdict in another case relating to an alleged attack on a police vehicle, which Justice Manzer Ali Gill announced on Saturday.
“Resultantly I found no merits in the bail petition in hand,” he said. “Hence the post-arrest bail of Imran Ahmad Khan Niazi stands dismissed.”
The judge noted in his written statement that Khan was not “an ordinary man,” adding that none within the PTI leadership even thinks about denying his directives. Gill said that as per police, all attacks on May 9 took place against military installations, police officials and government buildings, and that too on the same day.
The judge observed that the prosecution accused Khan of hatching a criminal conspiracy to attack government buildings and military installations.
“The offenses fall within the prohibitory clause of Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,” the judge noted. “Petitioner was found guilty.”
Khan, who remains a popular figure in Pakistan despite several court cases against him, has led a campaign of unprecedented defiance against the country’s powerful military. He also accuses the military of rigging the February 2024 polls in collusion with the election commission and his chief political rivals to keep him away from power.
The military rejects these allegations and insists it keeps away from politics.
Pakistan calls for sustainable interventions, strengthening health systems on World AIDS Day
- Around 88.4 million people in total have been affected HIV worldwide, says World Health Organization
- Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif resolves to expand access to essential health care services to all Pakistani citizens
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for strengthening health systems throughout the country and for sustainable interventions as the international community marks World AIDS Day today, Sunday.
Every year on Dec. 1, the international community marks World AIDS Day to unite people in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The day is marked to show strength and solidarity against Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and to remember the lives lost to the disease.
HIV attacks and destroys the infection-fighting CD4 cells (CD4 T lymphocyte) of the immune system while AIDS is its most advanced form. People with HIV who are not on medication and do not have consistent control of their HIV can transmit it through sexual intercourse, sharing of needles, pregnancy and breastfeeding. If HIV is controlled, the risk of transmission is close to zero.
“By working together, we will continue to strengthen our health systems and expand access to essential services for our citizens,” Sharif said in a statement.
The Pakistani premier noted that HIV/AIDS remains a global health challenge and a significant socio-economic issue that threatens livelihoods, disrupts families and deepens inequalities.
“Despite our collective efforts, the HIV epidemic in Pakistan continues to grow, underscoring the need for bold, innovative, and sustainable interventions,” Sharif noted. “It is only through the strategy rooted in equality and inclusion that we can halt the spread of HIV.”
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 88.4 million people have been infected with the HIV virus since the beginning of the epidemic and about 42.3 million people have died of HIV in total.
Globally, 39.9 million people were living with HIV at the end of 2023. An estimated 0.6 percent of adults aged 15–49 years worldwide are living with HIV, although the burden of the epidemic continues to vary considerably between countries and regions.
