ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Ishaq Dar on Saturday instructed the government to provide timely assistance to the victims of a recent boat tragedy off the coast of Morocco, where more than 40 nationals of his country are feared to have drowned while attempting to reach European shores.
Pakistan’s foreign office confirmed on Thursday that a migrant boat with 80 passengers on board, including several Pakistanis, had capsized near Morocco en route to Spain.
According to Moroccan authorities, 36 people were rescued on Wednesday from the vessel, which had departed Mauritania on January 2 with 86 migrants on board, including 66 Pakistanis, according to minority rights group Walking Borders.
The group’s CEO, Helena Maleno, said 44 of the 50 presumed dead were from Pakistan. The boat was reportedly heading toward Spain’s Canary Islands when it capsized.
Dar, who also serves as Pakistan’s foreign minister (FM), held a meeting in Islamabad earlier in the day to review the situation.
“The DPM/FM issued instructions for coordination of government response and asked the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior to ensure provision of efficient and timely assistance to the Pakistani victims of the tragedy,” the foreign office said in a social media post.
Media reports claim almost all the Pakistanis who were on the boat were from cities in the eastern Punjab province.

The government has intensified its efforts in recent months against human smugglers who facilitate perilous journeys for illegal immigrants to Europe and has made several arrests.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has called for enhanced cooperation with international agencies, seeking swift action against human trafficking networks.

He has also instructed the Federal Investigation Agency to compile a detailed report on migration-related incidents over the past year and implement an Integrated Border Management System (IBMS) to monitor and prevent illegal movement.
The incident near Morocco once again highlighted the perilous journeys many migrants, particularly Pakistanis, undertake due to conflict and economic instability in their home country.

In 2023, hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek town of Pylos.
It was among the deadliest boat disasters ever recorded in the Mediterranean Sea.

PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry on Saturday initiated mandatory training sessions for pilgrims performing this year’s Hajj under the government scheme by holding the inaugural session in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Earlier this month, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the annual Hajj agreement in Jeddah, which formally confirmed that the South Asian nation would send 179,210 people to perform the pilgrimage this year.
More than 200 pilgrims participated in the first session in Peshawar, held at a private educational institution in the city.
Muhammad Umair Butt, the ministry spokesperson, told Arab News that authorities have planned the mandatory Hajj training sessions at 147 locations across the country.
“According to the Saudi government’s instructions, we have to provide training to Hajj pilgrims to acquaint them with the administrative affairs and other Hajj rituals so they can complete their worship properly,” he said, adding the sessions were also designed to sensitize pilgrims on how to spend their time in Saudi Arabia.

Butt said the training sessions would cover all required topics in two sittings.
“These sessions will be concluded before [the Muslim fasting month of] Ramadan,” he said. “The sessions will be held from January 18 to February 27 across the country in every province.”
The religious affairs ministry has taken several initiatives this year to facilitate pilgrims, including the launch of the Pak Hajj 2025 mobile application to guide them.
The app is available for both Android and iPhone users.

The ministry spokesperson said each sitting of the training session will last for about three hours, during which pilgrims will receive guidelines through audiovisual material.
Speaking to Arab News, participants of the training session expressed satisfaction with the information shared, saying multiple questions they had about the Hajj rituals had been answered.
“It is good that I attended the first session in which they provided detailed information about the app,” Mujib-ur-Rehman Bhatti, a resident of Peshawar’s Gulbahar neighborhood, said after participating in the training.

He added the ministry had informed all the pilgrims in detail about how to overcome common problems reported during Hajj.
“The things they taught us were for our own ease and can save us from tension ahead,” Bhatti said.
Another participant of the session, Ali Khan, an official at the Civil Aviation who is planning to perform Hajj with his family, called it a “brilliant program.”
“Everything was explained quite well and in significant detail,” he said. “We gathered information from videos, YouTube and other sources. The session was very practical and important.”