ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan High Commission in Dhaka on Wednesday advised Pakistani students in Bangladesh to take necessary precautions and stay away from student protests in which at least six people have been killed and scores injured in the last 24 hours.
Tens of thousands of students have been holding nationwide protests since early July against public sector job quotas, including a 30 percent quota for family members of freedom fighters from the 1971 War of Independence, amid high youth unemployment.
Demonstrations intensified after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the daughter of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, who led Bangladesh’s independence from Pakistan, refused to meet the protesters’ demands and labeled those opposing the quota as “razakar,” a term used for those who allegedly collaborated with the Pakistani army during the 1971 war.
“Pakistan High Commission advises students to take all possible precautions for their safety and stay away from protests,” the High Commission said in a statement. “Campus residents have been advised to stay in their hostel rooms.”
On Wednesday morning, Deputy Prime Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar also spoke to the Pakistani High Commissioner in Bangladesh, Ambassador Syed Maruf, to inquire about the welfare of Pakistanis in Bangladesh.
“Maruf informed the Deputy Prime Minister about the security situation and the steps taken by the High Commission to ensure the welfare of Pakistanis in Bangladesh,” the statement said. “The embassy has opened a helpline for the convenience of people in distress.”
The protests turned violent this week when thousands of anti-quota protesters clashed with members of the student wing of the ruling Awami League party across the country. Six people, including at least three students, were killed during clashes on Tuesday, police said.
The protests are the first significant challenge to Hasina’s government since she secured a fourth consecutive term in January in an election boycotted by the opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP).
Pakistan advises its nationals to take precautions amid violent student protests in Bangladesh
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Pakistan advises its nationals to take precautions amid violent student protests in Bangladesh
- Tens of thousands of students have been holding nationwide protests since early July against public sector job quotas
- PM Hasina has labeled protesters “razakar,” term for those who allegedly collaborated with Pakistani army during 1971 war
Pakistan orders telecom regulator to block VPNs, citing militant use
- Interior ministry says ‘terrorists’ have been exploiting VPN services for violence, financial transactions
- Government has set up a portal for VPN registration, which can be done by the end of the ongoing month
ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Interior sent a letter to the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) on Friday, asking it to block illegal Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) across the country while citing their use by militant groups for financial transactions and violent activities.
This directive follows international criticism of Pakistan’s Internet restrictions, notably after the February general elections, where allegations of electoral manipulation led to the blocking of social media platform X.
Media reports also suggested the government was setting up a national firewall, which had led to the slowdown of Internet speed across Pakistan, saying the decision was taken to curb “anti-state narratives” by political activists.
More recently, the PTA launched a new portal for VPN registration, saying it wanted to ensure secure and uninterrupted operations for online users and businesses.
“I am directed to refer to the subject cited above [about blockage of illegal VPNs] and to state that VPNs are increasingly being exploited by terrorists to facilitate violent activities and financial transactions in Pakistan,” the ministry’s letter to the PTA chairman noted.
“Of late, an alarming fact has been identified, wherein VPNs are used by terrorists to obscure and conceal their communications,” it added. “VPNs are also being used for discreetly access pornographic and blasphemous contents.”
Earlier this week, the PTA already disclosed that nearly 20 million Pakistanis try to access pornographic websites on a daily basis that were banned by the authorities in 2011.
The letter requested the top PTA official to block illegal VPNs nationwide while pointing out that registration of VPNs with PTA could be made the end of the ongoing month.
VPN users in Pakistan have already reported significant disruptions to services since last weekend, with issues relating to connectivity and restricted access.
Pakistan’s decision to impose online restrictions have been questioned by free speech activists and businesses alike.
PREDA, Pakistan’s first membership-based organization dedicated to promoting and protecting the interests of professionals, also wrote a letter to the government earlier in the day, appealing for the adoption of stable digital policies to support growth and build an eco system for global competitiveness.
WHO says fake finger markings hampering Pakistan’s polio eradication efforts
- Health officials terminated polio team members found involved in 60 such cases in Balochistan province in August
- Pakistan has reported 49 new polio cases this year mainly from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces
ISLAMABAD, PESHAWAR & QUETTA: The World Health Organization said on Friday “fake finger markings” were one of the major factors hampering Pakistan’s polio eradication efforts, as the South Asian country reported the 49th case of the virus this week.
Pakistan, along with neighboring Afghanistan, remains the last polio-endemic country in the world. The nation’s polio eradication campaign has hit serious problems with a spike in reported cases this year that has raised doubts over the quality of vaccination reporting and prompted officials to review their approach to stopping the crippling disease.
Polio, a disease transmitted through sewage which can cause crippling paralysis particularly in young children, is incurable and remains a threat to human health as long as it has not been eradicated. Immunization campaigns have succeeded in most countries and have come close in Pakistan, but persistent problems remain.
“Some of the gaps and issues that were identified during campaigns included fake finger marking and altered campaign modalities mainly in South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” WHO spokesperson Maryam Younas told Arab News on Friday in answers to written questions.
Local officials say parents suspicious of mass immunization campaigns have been getting hold of special markers, used by health workers to put a colored spot on the little fingers of children to identify that they have been vaccinated.
The fake finger marking, sometimes done in collusion with health workers, hide the true scale of refusal rates and thus gaps in vaccination.
Provincial authorities in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where 10 cases have been confirmed this year, and Balochistan, where 24 were reported, also said fake finger markings were an obstacle for eradication efforts.
In August this year, the Balochistan Provincial Emergency Operation Center said it had exposed a nexus between parents refusing polio drops for their children and polio teams involved in fake finger marking. Around 60 cases of fake finger markings were identified in various districts of Balochistan and the teams involved were terminated.
“Fake finger markings, low immunization drives, and malnourished children are three prime causes for this rapid surge in polio cases,” Dr. Aftab Kakar, the provincial team lead for the National Stop Transmission of Polio (N-Stop) in Balochistan, said.
The KP Governor’s Focal Person for polio, Tariq Habib, also said fake finger-marking had led to “decreased trust and effectiveness in vaccination efforts.”
The WHO spokesperson suggested that the targeted vaccination of children was pivotal for achieving success against polio, adding that it was essential to focus on children who were “consistently missed due to operational gaps, vaccine hesitancy, security issues, and boycotts.”
This year, 24 cases of polio have been reported in Balochistan, 13 in Sindh, 10 in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one each in Punjab and the federal capital of Islamabad. In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 cases annually but in 2018 the number dropped to eight cases. Six cases were reported in 2023 and only one in 2021.
Pakistan’s polio eradication program began in 1994, and the number of cases has declined dramatically since then. But efforts to eradicate the virus have for years been undermined by opposition from some religious hard-liners, who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies. Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
In July 2019, a vaccination drive in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was thwarted after mass panic was created by rumors that children were fainting or vomiting after being immunized.
Public health studies in Pakistan have shown that maternal illiteracy and low parental knowledge about vaccines, together with poverty and rural residency, are also factors that commonly influence whether parents vaccinate their children against polio.
Pakistan’s Punjab launches 10-year smog plan amid record air pollution
- Government has distributed super seeders to farmers to support precision seeding
- 800 brick kilns demolished instead of being sealed which briefly happens each year
ISLAMABAD: Punjab Senior Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb on Friday announced the provincial government had launched a 10-year smog mitigation plan, as record-high air pollution levels have triggered hundreds of hospitalizations, school closures and stay-at-home orders in several districts of the Pakistan’s most populous province.
On Friday, the provincial capital of Lahore, home to 13 million people, had the worst air quality of any city in the world, according to live readings by IQAir, a Swiss air quality monitoring company.
Toxic smog has enveloped Lahore and at least 17 other districts in Punjab since last month, where health officials have been forced to close down schools and government offices, among other measures.
“For the first time, Punjab has developed a 10-year climate change policy,” Aurangzeb said while addressing a press conference in Lahore, saying Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif was “personally” monitoring the plan’s implementation.
Pakistan, like neighboring India, battles pollution each year as temperatures fall and cold air traps construction dust, vehicle emissions and smoke as farmers illegally burn paddy stubble to clear fields. Prohibited brick-kilns and smoke-emitting vehicles also contribute to the problem.
Speaking about measures taken to combat air pollution, the minister said the Punjab government had distributed super seeders to farmers, bearing 60 percent of their cost while farmers paid the remaining 40 percent. The no-till planters are designed for precision seeding which helps farmers contribute to cleaner air, improved soil health, and a more sustainable agricultural ecosystem.
“We have an aim of distributing 5,000 super seeders in Punjab by July next year,” the minister said. “We have now engaged more companies to increase production of super seeders.”
Aurangzeb also said authorities had demolished 800 brick kilns.
“We did not seal them this time because they would begin operating again from January if they were only sealed,” she added.
The minister said environmental control systems to detect smoke had been set up through loans provided by the Punjab government.
“More than 90 small and medium sized industries have installed the system using this loan,” she said, encouraging people to help with the afforestation of Lahore.
“Forest cover of Lahore should be 36 percent on international standard, it is 3 percent now,” Aurangzeb said. “Green master plan of Lahore has been made. Implementation has started. Forest cover is planned to be increased, which is a part of this plan.”
Earlier this week, the government of Punjab closed all high schools in the province until Nov. 17 due to persisting smog.
Primary schools and government offices had already been closed until Nov. 17 in many districts of Punjab earlier this month, with school closures likely to affect the education of more than 20 million students, according to associations representing private and government schools.
Authorities in 18 districts of Punjab also closed all public parks, zoos and museums, historical places, and playgrounds for ten days last week.
On Friday, a court in Lahore ordered the government to shut all markets after 8pm. Authorities have already banned barbecuing food without filters and ordered wedding halls to close by 10pm.
On Monday, the UN children’s agency said the health of 11 million children in Punjab province was in danger because of air pollution.
Daesh group gunmen kill politician in Pakistan
- Daesh group Khorasan branch said its “soldiers shot an official of the apostate political party”
- Daesh militants have killed at least 39 people in targeted attacks, bomb explosions this year, police say
PESHAWAR: Gunmen from the regional branch of the Daesh group have killed a politician affiliated with a religious political party in northwest Pakistan, police and the militants said Friday.
“Jamaat-e-Islami Bajaur leader Sufi Hameed was leaving the mosque after offering prayers after sunset (Thursday) when two masked men on a motorcycle opened fire on him,” senior police official Waqar Rafiq told AFP.
The official said the attackers escaped after shooting the politician in Bajaur district, near the border with Afghanistan where militants remain active.
The Daesh group Khorasan branch (IS-K) said its “soldiers shot an official of the apostate political party,” in a message on Telegram.
The local chapter of the group accuses religious political parties of going against strict religious preachings and supporting the country’s government and the military.
IS-K has recently carried out several attacks against political parties, including a suicide bomb blast at a rally in Bajaur last year which killed at least 54 people including 23 children.
“In this year alone, they have killed at least 39 people in targeted attacks and bomb explosions” in Bajaur, a senior local security official told AFP on the condition of anonymity.
In both Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where Bajuar is located, and Balochistan province in the southwest, armed militants regularly target security forces and state representatives.
Militants operating in Pakistan include Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the country’s homegrown Taliban group.
Pakistan has seen a sharp rise in militant attacks in regions bordering Afghanistan since the Taliban returned to power in the country in 2021.
US urges sports diplomacy between Pakistan, India following ICC Champions Trophy row
- State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel highlights the role of sports in “connecting people”
- India has refused to travel to Pakistan for ICC Champions Trophy slated to be held from Feb-March next year
ISLAMABAD: US State Department Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel on Friday encouraged sports diplomacy between Pakistan and India amid a row over New Delhi’s refusal to send its cricket team to neighboring Pakistan for the ICC Champions Trophy.
The ICC informed Pakistan last week India had declined to play any games in Pakistan during the Champions Trophy, which is scheduled to be held from Feb. 19 - March 9. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has sought clarification from the ICC on the refusal.
“Bilateral relationships are certainly not something for us to get in the middle of but sports is certainly a potent and connecting force,” Patel said during a weekly press briefing. “You have seen the secretary and this department really prioritize the role that sports diplomacy has in connecting people.”
Patel added that bilateral relations between Pakistan and India ought to be discussed between the countries on their own through sports orother means.
“At the end of the day, sports really connects so many people and is a great way for the human-to-human and people-to-people ties this administration has really prioritized,” he said.
India has not toured Pakistan since 2008 because of soured political relations between the neighbors, who play each other only in global multi-team tournaments. Pakistan hosted the Asia Cup last year but the winners India played all their matches in Sri Lanka under a “hybrid model.”
The PCB has ruled out a similar arrangement for the 2025 Champions Trophy despite the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) maintaining its stance of not sending a team to Pakistan, citing government advice.
