ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been imprisoned for over a year on multiple charges, raised concerns about Pakistan’s democracy in an interview published by a London-based TV channel on Tuesday, calling on the prime minister of the United Kingdom to ensure “freedom and fairness.”
Khan was ousted in a parliamentary no-confidence vote in April 2022 and has been in prison since last August. New charges were filed against him last month after all four convictions against him were either suspended or overturned by courts. The opposition leader says the legal cases are politically motivated and being pushed by his political opponents in the coalition government of PM Shehbaz Sharif, with the backing of the military. Both deny the charge.
The ex-premier’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which won the most seats in Feb. 8 elections but not enough to form government, has complained about a massive state crackdown against its leaders and supporters before and after the polls, which it says were rigged. Many of Khan’s closest associates are in jail or have left his party, and critics of the government and the army widely complain of intimidation and harassment by state authorities, which reject the allegations.
In questions sent to Khan in prison last month by ITV, a major television network in Britain, he was asked if he wanted UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government to amplify calls for his release.
“We have a collective duty to uphold the values of peace and strive for freedom and fairness for everyone,” Khan was quoted as saying in response, adding that the new British administration faced “tremendous responsibility and high expectations” on the global stage. “Where the UK stands in its commitment to these values will speak volumes.”
Starmer led Britain’s Labour Party to a landslide election victory, and last month became the country’s 58th prime minister, the first leader from the center-left party to win a UK national election since Tony Blair, who won three in a row starting in 1997.
Khan, who says February general elections were manipulated to deprive the PTI of its mandate, asked Starmer and his cabinet to imagine a situation where “their overwhelming victory was stolen.”
“Picture a scenario where a party that barely won 18 seats usurped your mandate, where your party symbols were stripped, and your leaders were imprisoned or tortured until they switched allegiances or left politics altogether,” he said.
“The people of Pakistan yearned for change, for democracy, and for the rule of law to prevail. Their votes were a cry for justice, self-determination, and freedom.”
Khan also painted a bleak picture of his “seven-by-eight-foot death cell” in Rawalpindi Jail, saying he faced constant surveillance and had no privacy. The government denies this and told the Supreme Court in June that Khan had an exercise bike, a separate kitchen, special menu, room cooler, study table and an LED TV.
Imran Khan appeals to UK PM to encourage ‘freedom and fairness’ in Pakistan
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Imran Khan appeals to UK PM to encourage ‘freedom and fairness’ in Pakistan
- Ex-PM tells London-based ITV that Britain faces ‘tremendous responsibility and high expectations’ on global stage
- Urges Keir Starmer, his cabinet to imagine a scenario where their overwhelming election victory was ‘stolen’ by opponents
Pakistan commits to maritime decarbonization, environmentally friendly ship recycling at Islamabad summit
- UN maritime chief is in Pakistan on first-ever visit as Islamabad hosts International Maritime Sustainability Conference
- Pakistan says ready to work with global organizations to promote ship making, ship recycling and the blue economy
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday pledged to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the global maritime sector, make greater use of green technology to improve ships’ energy efficiency and carry out more environmentally friendly ship recycling, as the Secretary-General of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) arrived in Islamabad to attend the International Maritime Sustainability Exhibition and Conference (IMSEC).
This is the first-ever visit to Pakistan by the chief of the IMO, a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating shipping and ensuring maritime safety, environmental protection and security on international waters. Established in 1948, its primary role is to develop and maintain a comprehensive regulatory framework for shipping, which includes standards for safety, pollution prevention and legal matters surrounding global maritime operations.
“Pakistan fully complies with IMO regulation,” Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh said at the opening session of Thursday’s conference.
“We are striving to reduce the global [carbon] footprint and make greater use of green technology. Such measures must be taken in every institution to deal with climate change.”
The minister said Pakistan was invested in ensuring the protection of biodiversity and the oceans and would work to make ship recycling “safe and environmentally friendly.”
“We are ready to work with global organizations to promote ship making, ship recycling and the blue economy,” Sheikh added.
Addressing the conference, IMO chief Arsenio Antonio Dominguez Velasco said his visit to Pakistan would give him the opportunity to “come back in the future and assess and evaluate all the promises and the conversations and the challenges that we are going to put toward each other, from Pakistan government as well as from IMO in order to work better in the different aspects of shipping.”
He said he looked forward to working with Pakistan on decarbonization and ship recycling, where Pakistan is one of the leading nations in the world.
In a statement shared with media on Wednesday, the foreign office said Velasco’s visit would afford an opportunity for Pakistan and the IMO to exchange views on the maritime sector and the blue economy:
“As a founding member of IMO, Pakistan is deeply committed to IMO’s vision of safe, secure and efficient shipping on clean oceans … Pakistan has served for five terms on the IMO Council and has consistently contributed in upholding the IMO objectives.”
The foreign office said Velasco would be in Pakistan from September 12 to 14 and would hold meetings with Pakistani leaders and senior government officials.
He is scheduled to attend IMSEC, which began in Islamabad on Thursday and will continue in Pakistan’s port city of Karachi over the next two days.
Pakistan cancer survivors turn to art for healing and hope
- Two-day exhibition at PNCA in Islamabad featured work by nine cancer survivors
- In Asia, Pakistan regionally represents the most significant breast cancer rate
ISLAMABAD: Fatima Salman, a 43-year-old miniature painter, found solace in art after being diagnosed with cancer in 2019, using her brush and canvas as therapy to overcome the disease and paint her way to healing.
Nearly five years later, she curated the two-day Connecting Dots art exhibition at the Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) this week, featuring the work of nine cancer survivors whose techniques range from oil, watercolors, mixed media and calligraphy.
Cancer has become a growing burden in Pakistan in recent years, posing a significant cause for concern. An International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) report in 2021 says the proportion of newly diagnosed cancers is 0.18 million in Pakistan, the number of cancer fatalities is 0.11 million, and the number of prevalent cases (5 year) is 0.32 million. In Asia, Pakistan regionally represents the most significant breast cancer rate, with one out of nine women now having a lifetime risk of the disease. Pakistan also has one of the highest breast cancer mortality rates globally.
“Initially, after my diagnosis, I had taken a little break from painting,” Salman, who graduated from Lahore’s renowned National College of Arts in 2001, told Arab News at the exhibition.
“But soon I felt a void … So, that’s when I thought that I don’t have much time, and I have so much work to do. So, I started painting, that was my therapy.”
Even after her recovery from stage four metastatic cancer, Salman said her creative work proved vital for her to open a new chapter of hope in her life.
“As I went through all the life-changing challenges, I thought that I could not be the only one going through this,” she added.
Salman then started looking for other cancer survivors interested in exhibiting their artwork.
“The basic idea is to create a platform for artists who can just come together and voice their feelings through art,” she said about the exhibition this week, which also saw the launch of a deeply personal memoir, My Cancer Journey, by Shirin Gheba Najib.
A 70-year-old retired school principal, Najib said painting had always been a “constant” in her life since she completed her first oil painting at the age of 12 but she had to put her passion on hold when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2021.
Weakened by the illness and the relentless trips to the hospital, she found refuge in writing instead.
“I used to take my laptop to chemotherapy as each session used to take six to eight hours, where [one could] write very freely,” Najib told Arab News.
The articles crafted while battling for her life became the foundation for the newly launched book and also gave Najib the impetus to go back to painting.
“Now that I’m completely out of cancer, which was within 15 months, now I’ve started painting again,” she said with a smile.
Speaking to Arab News, another artist, Ambreen Rashid Khan, reflected her newfound appreciation for life following her battle with stage 4 breast cancer, diagnosed four years ago.
“It’s strange,” the 65-year-old retired schoolteacher said. “You take life for granted until something like this happens. After that you learn that your time is short. So that is it, I love color and I love happiness.”
Khan said she started painting flowers in bright colors after her recovery as a display of her “gratitude and happiness.”
Experimenting with both oil and watercolors, she said her aim was to paint life and nature itself.
Asked about her ambition, she said that she wanted to “leave something behind” as her legacy but also to live out the rest of her days “in happiness.”
Sixty-year-old Nafisa Ather, an Islamic calligrapher, also said painting became her biggest source of solace when she was diagnosed with cancer.
“Cancer struck me [and] the thing which I didn’t have in me before was the fear that you are going to die,” she told Arab News. “And I just felt that I still have to fulfill some of my responsibilities, which have not been fulfilled. So, I think that gave me courage.”
Painting had helped her fight her fear of death, Ather said.
“You are creating something, you are making something and actually you forget your fear. That’s the beauty of it.
“Don’t give up on life,” she added. “If you give up, you’ll lose the battle. You have to believe you will survive.”
CM of Pakistani province bordering Afghanistan says will hold direct talks with Kabul on militancy
- Islamabad says it has consistently taken up the issue of cross-border attacks with Kabul
- Over 75 policemen have been killed in ambushes, target killings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2024
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Ali Amin Gandapur, the chief minister of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said this week he would hold direct talks with Kabul to take action against Afghanistan-based militant groups that Islamabad says launch attacks inside Pakistan.
Pakistan has seen a rise in militant attacks in recent weeks, with many of them taking place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa where groups like the outlawed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have stepped up attacks, daily targeting security forces convoys and check posts, and carrying out targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials.
Over 75 policemen have been killed in ambushes and target killings in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2024, according to police data. In the latest killing, unidentified gunmen on Thursday shot dead a policeman in Domail, a town on the outskirts of Bannu district. Police, joined by representatives of civil society and political parties as well as tribal elders and members of the public, are currently holding protests in a number of districts of the province against the spike in militancy and attacks on officers.
Islamabad says militants mainly associated with the TTP frequently launch attacks from hideouts in neighboring Afghanistan, targeting police and other security forces. Islamabad has even blamed Kabul’s Afghan Taliban rulers for facilitating anti-Pakistan militants. Kabul denies the charges.
“My [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa] police has lost trust, my people have lost trust, where are you [federal government, army] taking my youth, my people?” Gandapur said as he addressed a ceremony on Wednesday evening.
“I am saying let me send a representative to Afghanistan to talk to them. Afghanistan is our neighbor, we speak the same language, we have a longer than 1,200 km border. Let me talk to them that what is happening in Afghanistan.
“I announce here … I will talk to Afghanistan myself, I will talk to them as a province. I am telling you as the representative of this province, I will send an emissary and arrange a meeting, I will sit with them and talk and Inshallah I will solve this issue through talks.”
Islamabad says it has consistently taken up the issue of cross-border attacks with the Taliban administration, which denies allowing Afghan soil to be used for attacks.
The matter has led to clashes between the border forces of the two countries on multiple occasions in recent months, including on Sunday when security forces in Pakistan killed eight Afghan Taliban fighters in a border clash following what Islamabad described as “unprovoked firing” on Pakistani checkpoints.
Pakistan register 2-1 win against Japan in Hockey Asian Champions Trophy match
- Tournament started on Sunday with six continental heavyweights going head-to-head in China
- Six nations participating are India, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Japan, Pakistan and hosts China
ISLAMABAD: Unbeaten Pakistan bagged their first victory in the Hero Asian Champions Trophy by beating Japan 2-1 here at the Moqi Hockey Training Base in Hulun Buir, China, on Wednesday, the International Hockey Federation (IHF) said.
From the Pakistan side, Ahmad Nadeem and Sufyan Khan netted one goal each while Japan’s Raiki Fujishima scored one goal. Pakistan will now lock horns with host China tomorrow, Friday.
“We are happy to walk away with the winning points,” Khan was quoted as saying in an IHF statement.
“Our Coach’s instructions was to not make errors, in the first two matches we got too many cards that cost us dearly. We wanted to play a disciplined match today and we defended with all our heart. I am also happy to score for my team when we needed it the most.”
With this win, Pakistan is placed second in the pool standings with five points behind India on the top. The much-awaited India vs Pakistan match of the tournament will be played on September 14.
The championship started on Sunday with six continental heavyweights going head-to-head at the Moqi Training Base.
The six nations participating in the Asian Champion Trophy 2024 are India, Malaysia, Republic of Korea, Japan Pakistan and hosts China.
India are the most successful side in the Asian Champions Trophy, having won it four times. They enter the 2024 edition as the defending champions, having beaten Malaysia 4-3 in the final in Chennai last year.
Pakistani finance minister discusses joint ventures, business collaborations with Saudi envoy
- Last month, Pakistan said it had secured commitments from China, Saudi Arabia and UAE to roll over debt for a year
- Debt rollovers will be a boost for Islamabad as it awaits final approval of a $7 billion IMF loan program signed in July
ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb met Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Malki on Wednesday and discussed joint ventures and business collaborations as well as steps Islamabad is taking as it navigates a tough reforms agenda mandated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong trade, defense and cultural ties. The Kingdom is home to over 2.7 million Pakistani expatriates and serves as the top source of remittances to the cash-strapped South Asian nation.
In February 2019, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia inked investment deals totaling $21 billion during a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Islamabad. The agreements included about $10 billion for an Aramco oil refinery and $1 billion for a petrochemical complex at the strategic Gwadar Port in Balochistan.
Both countries have been working in recent months to increase bilateral trade and investment, and the Kingdom in April this year reaffirmed its commitment to expedite an investment package worth $5 billion for Pakistan.
“Aurangzeb expressed deep appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s consistent economic support to Pakistan, while highlighting the renewed interest shown by Saudi investors in pursuing joint ventures and business collaborations with Pakistan’s private sector,” Radio Pakistan said on Thursday.
“Aurangzeb noted the significant outcomes of the high-level business delegation’s visit from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan in May, aimed at exploring investment opportunities, expanding bilateral cooperation, and scaling up partnerships across diverse sectors.”
The minister also outlined Pakistan’s “positive” economic trajectory, citing key indicators such as currency stabilization, reduced inflation, a surge in remittances, prudent management of the current account deficit and foreign exchange reserves sufficient to cover two months of imports.
“The Minister emphasized that structural reforms are pivotal for ensuring sustainable economic growth and stability, forming a cornerstone of the government’s policy agenda,” Radio Pakistan said.
The report said Al-Malki “commended” the government of Pakistan’s efforts in implementing structural and institutional reforms and reiterated the Kingdom’s “unwavering commitment to contributing to Pakistan’s economic growth.”
“The Ambassador also acknowledged the immense potential for investment and business opportunities between the two countries,” Radio Pakistan said. “He indicated that a Saudi business delegation is expected to visit Pakistan in the coming months to further explore areas for joint ventures and collaborative investments.”
Aurangzeb has said in recent weeks Pakistan will focus on meeting its external financing needs by speaking with foreign governments and lenders to draw foreign investment as well as seeking loan rollovers. The government is also seeking to focus on more sustainable forms of external financing such as direct investment and climate financing.
Pakistan and the IMF reached an agreement for a new 37-month $7 billion loan program in July. The IMF has said the program is subject to approval from its executive board and obtaining “timely confirmation of necessary financing assurances from Pakistan’s development and bilateral partners.”
Last month, Bloomberg reported Pakistan had secured commitments from China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to roll over debt for a year, a boost for Islamabad as it awaits final approval of the IMF loan program.
Rollovers or disbursements on loans from Pakistan’s long-time allies, in addition to financing from the IMF, have helped Pakistan meet its external financing needs in the past.
Tough conditionalities placed by the IMF, such as raising tax on agricultural incomes and lifting electricity prices, have unleashed street protests and prompted concerns about poor and middle class Pakistanis grappling with rising inflation and the prospect of higher taxes.
