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Protests erupt in Balochistan’s Turbat over power cuts as official blames Iran’s supply suspension

Members of All Parties Association in Pakistan’s remote Kech district protest against power outages in Makran division in Turbat city on July 9, 2024. (Photo courtesy: Supplied/Assad Baloch)
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Updated 10 July 2024
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Protests erupt in Balochistan’s Turbat over power cuts as official blames Iran’s supply suspension

  • Iran supplies 200-megawatt electricity to the coastal region, equally distributed between Gwardar and Kech
  • Traders in Turbat threaten to go on a shutter-down strike, saying power cuts have adversely impacted business
Updated 10 July 2024
SAADULLAH AKHTER

QUETTA: Residents of Pakistan’s southwestern Makran coastal region decided to camp in Balochistan’s Turbat city on Tuesday to protest against prolonged power outages amid scorching heat as the Quetta Electric Supply Company (QESCO) said the situation was caused by Iran’s decision to suspend electricity supply to the area.
Pakistan shares a 959-kilometer frontier with Iran that begins at the Koh-i-Malik Salih Mountain and ends at Gwadar Bay in the Gulf of Oman. Iran and Pakistan signed an agreement in 2003 under which Iran daily supplies 35 megawatts of electricity to Balochistan’s coastal belt, including Gwadar, which is the heart of the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Pakistan’s top economic decision-making body, ECNEC, announced its plan in May 2019 to connect Makran Division with the national grid, but the border districts of Gwadar and Kech continue to receive power from Iran’s main transmission line.
Speaking to Arab News over the phone from Turbat in Kech district, the organizers of the protest said the power cuts – also called loadshedding in Pakistan – had disrupted life amid intense heat.
“Most of the power feeders in Kech have run out of electricity, resulting in 14 hours of loadshedding despite a soaring temperature of about 50°C [122°F],” Zarif Baloch, deputy convener of the All Parties Association of District Kech, informed.
He said there was a total power outage in Turbat as he spoke over the phone.




Members of All Parties Association in Pakistan’s remote Kech district protest against power outages in Makran division in Turbat city on July 9, 2024. (Photo courtesy: Supplied/Assad Baloch)

“When we contacted QESCO officials, they said Iran had suspended the power supply which was causing the situation in the district,” he continued. “We have been suffering from such a situation since the last month, but we have now called a shutter-down strike in Turbat from Thursday if the power supply is not restored.”
Muhammad Afzal Baloch, the QESCO spokesperson, told Arab News Pakistan had been receiving 200 megawatts of electricity from Iran, half of was supplied to Gwadar and half to Kech district.
“The power supply was suspended from Iran due to their own needs but it was restored in Makran Division on Monday night,” he said. “Although Iran has been providing 200 megawatts of electricity to our bordering districts, we consume the Iranian electricity as per our need.”
Last year in May, the top leaders of the two countries inaugurated the first border market on their frontier to strengthen trade relations. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Iran’s former president Ebrahim Raisi agreed to initiate 100 megawatts of additional electricity to Balochistan’s bordering districts from the Polan-Gabd transmission line.
Ishaq Roshan Dashti, president of the traders’ association in Kech district who runs his own clothing business in Turbat, said the prolonged power cuts were causing significant hardships for his fellow community members.
“We are very much disturbed during the peak summer months of June and July,” he told Arab News. “The situation has led to a 50 percent decrease in business activities in the area.”
Shahzad Baloch, who runs an ice factory, agreed with him.




Members of All Parties Association in Pakistan’s remote Kech district protest against power outages in Makran division in Turbat city on July 9, 2024. (Photo courtesy: Supplied/Assad Baloch)

“Every year, we face such electricity breakdowns in Makran during these months and the country’s power division blames Iran,” he said. “We cannot meet the regular demand for ice and have started using generators. But this has increased the price of each ice block by 35 percent compared to the previous year.”
Residents of Gwadar and Pasni also protested against unplanned power outages on Monday and blocked the country’s key coastal highway connecting Balochistan with Pakistan’s southeastern port city of Karachi.
However, they ended the protests after the authorities assured them that the power supply would be restored within a few hours.

Topics: Turbat city Pakistan Iran border Pakistan Iran Power cuts

‘Fantastic place to fly’: Polish aviator recalls history-making glider flight over Pakistan’s K2

Updated 26 July 2024
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‘Fantastic place to fly’: Polish aviator recalls history-making glider flight over Pakistan’s K2

  • Poland’s Sebastian Piotr Kawa was one half of pair who made history last week by gliding over K2 mountain 
  • Kawa hopes Polish pair “cleared the path” for future pilots to glide over the challenging 8,611-meter-high K2 
Updated 26 July 2024
Nisar Ali

KHAPLU, Gilgit-Baltistan: Sebastian Piotr Kawa, one of the Polish aviators who made history last week by flying above the 8,611-meter-high K2 mountain in northern Pakistan, hoped he had “cleared the path” for future pilots to achieve the same feat. 
Kawa and Sebastian Lampart became the first pair to fly over the second-highest mountain in the world, K2, when they successfully flew their Ash25 glider over it on Saturday. Their two-seater glider was equipped only with oxygen and a small emergency engine. The pair took off from Skardu airport in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan region and then flew over the mountain. 
But flying above K2 was no simple task. Mountain Challenger, the company that organized the tour, said apart from the high altitude, the weather at K2 was windy and flights in the Karakorum mountain range, where the mountains are located, are heavily restricted. 
Kawa told Arab News there were no gliding activities in the area, and to fly over the mountain, the pair needed permissions from “a lot of institutions.”
“I hope we cleared the path for future pilots and gliding tourists because this place deserves it,” Kawa said. “It is a fantastic place to fly. I was in Nepal and I find Pakistan nicer.”
Kawa, a sports pilot who regularly participates in flying competitions around the world, has 24 medals from World Gliding Championships, 18 of them being gold. 
“I always like challenges. I am a sports pilot participating in competitions,” he said. “This was always a challenge. Soaring sport is dedicated to mountains.”
Before gliding over K2, Kawa has flown above the Himalayas, including the 8,849-meter-high Mount Everest. 
“I decided to do something I never had a chance to do flying in competition— to explore mountains where nobody had flown before,” Kawa explained. 
He counted his most important wins in the Sailplane Grand Prix gliding competition, where the first three rounds were held in the French Alps, the Southern Alps in New Zealand and the Andes in South America. 
Kawa said one needs skills and knowledge to glide in extremely high altitudes, pointing out that gliders do not use engines during flight. 
“It is sometimes dangerous if you navigate around valleys without landings or heavy weather like thunderstorms,” he said, adding that heavy winds also trouble pilots. 
“You may use it or it can cause a lot of trouble. For successful soaring, air has to move so flying in calm weather is not an option,” he explained. 
‘FLYABLE BY GLIDER’
Kawa said he knew the Pakistani mountains would be a “fantastic place to fly” given the region they are in is much drier. It is not like Pokhara city in Nepal, Kawa said, where there is moist air from the Bay of Bengal or the Caucasus region which gets constant thunderstorms due to the Black Sea nearby. 
“They are very flyable by glider,” the Polish pilot said. “It is very similar to the Alps where you can fly in any direction, it is not like one chain in the Andes but a vast area.”
He said the clouds in northern Pakistan are above the mountain peaks, adding that the high altitudes provide pilots a lot of space to fly around obstacles.
“I wish we could fly here in another season when it is windier because it allows us to fly much higher and faster,” Kawa said.
And mountains weren’t the only thing Kawa became fond of during his brief trip of Pakistan. 
“I visited Pakistan for the first time and I need to say, the people are fantastic, very friendly,” he said.

Topics: K2 mountain Polish mountaineers Polish aviators

Militant killed, two others injured in shootout in Pakistan’s southwest — military

Updated 26 July 2024
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Militant killed, two others injured in shootout in Pakistan’s southwest — military

  • The shootout took place during an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Hoshab district
  • Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan, is the site of a low-level insurgency for last two decades
Updated 26 July 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: A militant was killed and two of his accomplices were injured in a shootout with security forces in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, the Pakistani military said.
The shootout took place during an intelligence-based operation in Balochistan’s Hoshab district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
“Weapons, ammunition and explosives were also recovered from killed terrorist, who remained actively involved in multiple terrorist activities in the area including kidnapping and target killing of innocent civilians,” the ISPR said in a statement.
“Sanitization operation is being conducted to eliminate any other terrorist found in the area.”
The military issued no further details about the injured suspects.
Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan, is the site of a low-level insurgency by separatists, who have recently carried out a number of attacks in the region.
Last week, one Frontier Corps (FC) paramilitary soldier was killed and four others were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in the Kech district of Balochistan, according to Insap Baloch, the head of the paramilitary Levies force in the area. The IED attack took place as an FC convoy was passing an area called ‘Gili,’ some 100 kilometers away from Turbat.
In another attack, an official of the Counter Terrorism Department (CTD) was injured in an explosion that targeted a CTD vehicle in Balochistan’s Pishin district.
Pakistan has long accused neighboring countries and hostile agencies for harboring Baloch separatist fighters and other armed groups that operate in the Balochistan province. 
The separatists say they are fighting what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s wealth by the federation. The Pakistani state denies it.

Topics: Balochistan Pakistan Army

Pakistan’s Punjab, Islamabad prohibit political gatherings amid opposition protest calls

Updated 26 July 2024
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Pakistan’s Punjab, Islamabad prohibit political gatherings amid opposition protest calls

  • Opposition parties, including ex-PM Khan’s PTI, have announced protests today for release of members as well as against inflation and worsening law and order
  • Authorities have imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a provision that restricts an assembly of four or more people, in Punjab and Islamabad
Updated 26 July 2024
Aamir Saeed

ISLAMABAD: Authorities have banned political or any other gatherings in Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province and the federal capital of Islamabad, amid protest calls by opposition parties over a host of issues.
The development came after former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party announced a nationwide protest today, Friday, for the release of Khan and other PTI members, as well as against inflation and worsening law and order situation in the country.
Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party chief PkMAP Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who leads the opposition alliance known as Tehreek Tahaffuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP), also announced a major protest for the release of political prisoners on Friday, with support from Jamiat Ulema Islam.
In order to keep various opposition groups from moving forward with their protests plans, the government in Punjab has imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a provision that allows administrations to prohibit assembly of four or more people, till July 28.
“It has been observed that in view of prevailing law and order situation and security threats, any political gathering/assembly is likely to provide soft target to terrorists and miscreants, which not only pose serious security threats, but is also likely to cause threat to public peace and order,” the Punjab home department said in a notification.
“Therefore, Government of Punjab, in exercise of powers vested under Section (144) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, hereby prohibits all kinds of political assemblies, gatherings, sit-ins, rallies, demonstrations, jalsas, protests and such other activities across Punjab with immediate effect from 26th to 28th July, 2024.”
Separately, the Islamabad police said on X that the federal capital administration had imposed Section 144 and no gathering would be allowed without permission.
The statement followed an announcement by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) religious party for a sit-in in Islamabad on July 26 to demand a reduction in power tariff, withdrawal of slab system for electricity consumers, and review of agreements with independent power producers.
JI chief Hafiz Naeemur Rehman this week told the media that their sit-in was “for the rights of the people, against inflation, and unjust taxes imposed in the recent budget.”
The developments come at a time of renewed political tensions between the government and opposition parties, particularly Khan’s PTI party. The ex-premier has been in jail since August last year, even though all four convictions handed down to him ahead of a parliamentary election in February have either been suspended or overturned.
After being acquitted on the last of those four convictions, authorities rearrested Khan and his wife in an old corruption case on charges of selling state gifts unlawfully. He also faces an accusation of inciting his supporters to attack military installations in May last year. Khan denies all the accusations.
The tensions rose after police raided the headquarters of Khan’s party in Islamabad earlier this week. The PTI’s senior media manager, Ahmed Waqas Janjua, and Information Secretary Raoof Hassan were arrested by authorities on accusations they were pushing an “anti-state narrative” to undermine Pakistan’s sovereignty.

Pakistan PM pledges ‘full support’ for ECO amid push for regional trade, connectivity

Updated 25 July 2024
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Pakistan PM pledges ‘full support’ for ECO amid push for regional trade, connectivity

  • Economic Cooperation Organization seeks to promote economic interests of member states in West, South and Central Asia
  • Pakistan has increasingly south to position itself as trade and transit hub connecting Central Asian states to rest of the world
Updated 25 July 2024
Shahjahan Khurram

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to extend its “full support” to the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) as Islamabad eyes greater regional connectivity and trade to sustain its fragile economy. 

Founded by Pakistan, Iran and Turkiye in 1964, the ECO describes itself as one of the oldest intergovernmental organizations that seeks to improve regional connectivity and enhance economic cooperation for countries in West, South and Central Asia. 

Sharif met the ECO’s outgoing Secretary-General Khusrav Noziri in Islamabad on Thursday during which the two spoke about Noziri’s contributions to the regional platform. 

“The Prime Minister reaffirmed his commitment that Pakistan would continue to lend its full support to ECO in enhancing intra-regional trade among ECO countries as well as on the ECO reforms agenda,” a statement from Sharif’s office said. 

Sharif said Pakistan was proud that the incoming ECO secretary-general was Dr. Asad Majeed Khan, Pakistan’s former foreign secretary. 

“The secretary-general conveyed his gratitude for Pakistan’s consistent support to him during his tenure as secretary-general ECO,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. 

PAKISTAN’S INVESTMENT, CONNECTIVITY PUSH

Pakistan has recently sought to forge deeper trade and economic ties with Central Asian countries. There has been a flurry of recent visits, investment talks and economic activity between Pakistan and these Central Asian countries, including meetings of top Pakistani officials with the leaders from Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan.

Located in a landlocked but resource-rich region, Central Asian countries need better access to regional markets including Pakistan, China, India and countries of West Asia. Meanwhile, Islamabad is seeking to bolster trade and investment ties with allies to stabilize its fragile $350 billion economy as it faces an acute balance of payment crisis amid soaring inflation and rising external debt.

It hopes to achieve this by positioning itself as a trade and transit hub connecting Central Asian countries to other parts of the world. Pakistan recently offered Central Asian states to become part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project, under which Beijing has pledged around $65 billion in energy, infrastructure and other projects in Pakistan

Pakistan is seeking to enhance its foreign exchange reserves and bolster its economy as it tries to cut reliance on international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) whose financial bailout packages come at a heavy cost for Islamabad. 

Sharif has repeatedly said his government wants mutually rewarding partnerships, not just loans, from regional allies. 

Topics: ECO

Police release chairman of Pakistan’s leading rights body after brief detention

Updated 25 July 2024
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Police release chairman of Pakistan’s leading rights body after brief detention

  • Chairman Human Rights Commission of Pakistan Asad Iqbal Butt says police questioned him about his ties to Baloch rights movement
  • Pakistani state has denied allegations by rights activists and politicians it is involved in enforced disappearances of people in Balochistan 
Updated 25 July 2024
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: The chairperson of a leading rights body in Pakistan said he was detained by police in Karachi on Thursday who questioned him for raising his voice for the people of oppressed communities, particularly those from Balochistan. 

Asad Iqbal Butt, the chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) told Arab News police officials arrived at his house around noon on Thursday and took him to meet the Station House Officer (SHO) at Karachi’s Gulberg Police Station. 

Butt said the deputy superintendent of police (DSP) at the Gulberg station asked him whether he frequently visited Quetta to organize the Baloch rights movement. 

“I explained that the movement organizes itself and we support them when they face injustice, as we do for oppressed people of any ethnicity,” Butt said. 

Enforced disappearances is an enduring issue in Pakistan where relatives, politicians, and rights activists say many people who have gone missing, especially in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, have been abducted by Pakistani security forces on the pretext of fighting militancy.

The Pakistani state denies involvement in enforced disappearances. 

Butt said the police official accused him of having ties to the Baloch people. The HRCP chief said he responded to the DSP by telling him that he had ties to “oppressed people of every ethnicity, region, and religion.”

“I believe I was taken to police station because HRCP issued a strong statement on the Bannu issue,” Butt said, referring to last week’s shooting at a peace rally in Bannu that triggered a stampede, killing at least two and injuring 20 others. 

He said another reason for his detention could be that the HRCP is trying to prevent people from Karachi’s Lyari area, who wanted to attend an upcoming protest rally for “missing persons” in southwestern Gwadar city, from being detained by police. 

“They feared I would speak out, and HRCP’s support carries weight when it speaks,” he said. 

Karachi police officials did not respond to a request for a comment. 

Topics: HRCP Pakistan Asad Iqbal Butt

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