Four killed, 14 injured after bus falls into ravine in Pakistan’s Balochistan

Bystanders stand next to the wreckage of a bus after an accident in in Dana Sar, some 80 kilometers away from Zhob city, Balochistan on September 14, 2024. (Photo courtesy: Levis Force Sherani district)
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Updated 14 September 2024
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Four killed, 14 injured after bus falls into ravine in Pakistan’s Balochistan

  • The incident occurred in Dana Sar mountainous area that lies along the Koh-e-Sulaiman range
  • District officials say the driver of the Quetta-bound bus fell asleep and lost control of vehicle

QUETTA: At least four people were killed and 14 others injured after a passenger bus fell into a ravine in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Saturday, officials said.
The bus was traveling to Quetta from Islamabad, when the driver reportedly fell asleep and the bus fell into a gorge near Dana Sar area in Balochistan’s Sherani district, according to Sana Mahjabeen Umrani, a senior district administration official.
The deceased included the bus driver, while his assistant was among the critically wounded persons.
“Eight critically injured persons, including women, have been referred to Quetta for better medical treatment,” Umrani told Arab News.




Bystanders stand next to the wreckage of a bus after an accident in in Dana Sar, some 80 kilometers away from Zhob city, Balochistan on September 14, 2024. (Photo courtesy: Levis Force Sherani district)

Dana Sar is a mountainous area that lies along the Koh-e-Sulaiman mountain range, with a curvy and narrow N-50 highway passing through it.
In July 2022, 20 passengers were killed and more than a dozen others injured after a Quetta-bound passenger bus fell into a ravine in the area notorious for fatal road accidents.
Last month, a bus carrying pilgrims from Iran to Pakistan’s Karachi fell into a ditch near the Buzi Top area on the Makran Coastal Highway in Balochistan, killing 12 people and injuring 35 others.
Fatal accidents are common in Pakistan, where traffic rules are rarely followed and roads, particularly in many rural and mountainous areas, are in poor condition.
Such incidents are particularly common in Balochistan where single carriage roads connect various cities and even some highways lack modern safety features.


UK team in Pakistan for aviation audit ahead of resumption of PIA flights

Updated 10 sec ago
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UK team in Pakistan for aviation audit ahead of resumption of PIA flights

  • European safety agency in November lifted 2020 bar on PIA operating in bloc
  • PIA resumed Europe operations on Jan. 10 with flight to Paris from Islamabad 

KARACHI: A delegation from the United Kingdom’s Department for Transport and Civil Aviation Authority arrived in Pakistan today, Monday, to conduct a safety assessment ahead of the resumption of PIA flight operations between Pakistan and the UK.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency in November lifted its ban on Pakistan’s national carrier operating in the bloc, a restriction that was placed in 2020 over concerns about the ability of Pakistani authorities and its Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) to ensure compliance with international aviation standards. The suspension came days after Pakistan launched an investigation into the validity of pilots’ licenses issued in the country following a PIA plane crash that killed 97 people.

On Jan. 10, PIA resumed flights to European destinations with a plane departing for Paris from Islamabad International Airport.

“There will be several high-level meetings between the two sides,” PCAA said in a statement after the UK team’s arrival in Pakistan.

“The discussions will examine aviation safety protocols, review documentation, and evaluate operational procedures. The UK delegation is also scheduled to visit airlines to assess compliance with international standards.”

PCAA said its officials had been engaged for months in technical talks with UK authorities and were “optimistic about the positive outcome of this visit.”

In November EASA said the decision to allow PIA to perform commercial air transport operations to, from and within the EU was based on the “significant efforts” made by the PCAA.

Pakistan had grounded 262 of the country’s 860 pilots, including 141 of PIA’s 434, whose licenses the then aviation minister termed “dubious.” The investigation ultimately did not reveal any major concerns, but the suspension remained in place.

The ban was costing PIA nearly 40 billion Pakistani rupees ($144 million) in revenue annually, according to government records presented in parliament.


Truck carrying liquified petroleum gas explodes in central Pakistan, killing 5 people

Updated 21 min 7 sec ago
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Truck carrying liquified petroleum gas explodes in central Pakistan, killing 5 people

  • Over two dozen others injured in Multan, an old city in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province
  • Firefighters have extinguished flames as officers investigate cause behind gas leak in truck

MULTAN, Pakistan: A truck carrying liquified petroleum gas caught fire and exploded overnight near an industrial area in central Pakistan, killing five people and injuring more than two dozen others, officials said Monday.

The explosion in Multan, a city in the eastern Punjab province, substantially damaged nearby shops and homes, and the deaths were caused by the fire and the collapse of roofs of houses, rescue official Mohammad Bilal said.

He said firefighters had extinguished the blaze and officers are investigating to determine exactly what the gas leak in the truck and the subsequent explosion.


China bans meat imports from Pakistan, Afghanistan and other nations over disease worries

Updated 27 January 2025
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China bans meat imports from Pakistan, Afghanistan and other nations over disease worries

  • Ban comes after the World Health Organization released information of disease outbreaks in various countries
  • China stops imports from Palestine, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bangladesh due to sheep pox, goat pox

BEIJING: China has prohibited imports of sheep, goat, poultry and even-toed ungulates from African, Asian and European countries due to outbreaks of livestock diseases such as sheep pox, goat pox and foot-and-mouth-disease.

The ban, which also includes processed and unprocessed products, comes after the World Health Organization released information of disease outbreaks in various countries, according to a series of announcements by China’s General Administration of Customs dated Jan. 21.

The ban from the world’s largest meat importer affects Ghana, Somalia, Qatar, Congo (DRC), Nigeria, and Tanzania, Egypt, Bulgaria, East Timor and Eritrea.

China also said it has stopped imports of sheep, goat and related products from Palestine, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal and Bangladesh due to sheep pox and goat pox outbreaks.

It also blocked the imports of even-toed ungulates and related products from Germany following an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, it said. 
 


Imran Khan’s party asks government to form committee to appoint new Pakistan election commissioner

Updated 27 January 2025
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Imran Khan’s party asks government to form committee to appoint new Pakistan election commissioner

  • Demand comes as Pakistan Chief Election Commissioner Sikander Sultan Raja’s tenure expires
  • Khan’s party accuses Raja of manipulating results of February 2024 elections, which he denies 

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party on Monday repeated its demand for the government to constitute a parliamentary committee to appoint a new chief election commissioner (CEC), a day after his term in office expired. 

Omar Ayub, a PTI lawmaker and leader of the opposition in the lower house of Pakistan’s parliament, wrote to Speaker Ayaz Sadiq on Jan. 15 to form a parliamentary committee to appoint a new chief election commissioner. Ayub said Raja’s term would expire on Feb. 26, urging him to constitute the committee “to facilitate this important constitutional requirement.”

Raja oversaw Pakistan’s contentious general election last year which were marred by a countrywide shutdown of cellular networks, suspension of Internet services and delayed results. The PTI and other opposition parties alleged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) under Raja manipulated the results of the polls to facilitate his political rivals. The ECP has strongly rejected the PTI’s allegations while the caretaker government at the time said mobile phone and Internet services were suspended to maintain law and order in the country. 

“Wrote a letter to the Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan on 15th January 2025 to constitute a Parliamentary Committee for the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner,” Ayub wrote on social media platform X. 

“Sikander Sultan Raja’s term ended yesterday (26th January 2025). He has no moral authority to continue. He and the 2 ‘retired’ commissioners should step down immediately,” he added. 

Tensions between Khan’s party and Raja escalated in August 2022 when the ECP ruled that the PTI had received millions of dollars in funds from foreign countries, including the United States, the United Arab Emirates, the UK and Australia, in violation of the constitution and concealed information related to it. Khan’s party denied it had hidden any information related to the funding. 

In a separate verdict in October 2022, the ECP disqualified Khan from public office in a case registered against the ex-premier for failing to declare assets he earned from the sale of state gifts. Khan and his party have denied any wrongdoing. 

Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023 on a slew of charges, was ousted from the prime minister’s post in April 2022 via a parliamentary vote. Once considered close to the military, Khan had a falling out with Pakistan’s powerful army in the days leading to his ouster. 

Since his ouster from office, the former prime minister has led a defiant campaign against the military, whom he accuses of supporting his political rivals. Pakistan’s army and the government both reject his allegations strongly, with the military saying it does not interfere in politics. 

The development also takes place amid renewed political tensions between the government and the PTI after the latter withdrew from negotiations with the former. Both sides kicked off talks last month to ease political tensions in the country. The PTI demanded the government release Khan and all political prisoners, and constitute judicial commissions to probe anti-government protests that took place in May 2023 and November 2024. 

The PTI announced last week it would not partake in further talks with the government unless it forms judicial commissions. The government’s negotiation committee said it would respond to the PTI’s demands by Jan. 28, criticizing Khan’s party for ending talks “unilaterally.


Pakistan PM, president condemn gun attack on speaker Azad Kashmir’s convoy

Updated 27 January 2025
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Pakistan PM, president condemn gun attack on speaker Azad Kashmir’s convoy

  • Chaudhry Latif Akbar’s convoy was fired upon when it arrived on Sunday in village near Muzaffarabad
  • Shehbaz Sharif prays for early recovery of three persons injured, orders stern action against culprits

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari on Sunday condemned a gun attack targeting the speaker of the Kashmir region administered by Pakistan that left three people injured, tasking authorities to take stern action against the culprits, state-run media reported. 

Speaker Chaudhry Latif Akbar, a leader of the Sharif-led ruling coalition ally Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), was visiting his constituency in Kakliyot village around 15km south of Muzaffarabad when the shooting took place on Sunday as per news reports. 

Three PPP supporters who were part of the convoy were injured in the attack. Akbar had reportedly received threats from Raja Amir Zafar, a local district council member, who vowed that no one would be allowed to enter the village for Akbar’s visit. 

“President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif have strongly condemned the incident of firing on the convoy of Speaker of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Sunday. 

Zardari described the attack on the speaker as a “cowardly and despicable act,” praying for the early recovery of the injured. 

In his statement, the Pakistani prime minister prayed for the early recovery of the injured persons. 

“The Prime Minister directed the authorities concerned to take immediate action and ensure the arrest of those responsible for the attack,” Radio Pakistan reported. 

Azad Kashmir is a self-governing administrative unit under Pakistan’s control but is not recognized as a sovereign country. The Muslim-majority Kashmir region has long been a source of tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan, leading them to fight two out of three wars since winning independence from the British Empire in 1947 over the disputed territory. 

The scenic mountain region is divided between India, which rules the populous Kashmir Valley and the Hindu-dominated region around Jammu city, Pakistan, which controls a wedge of territory in the west called AJK, and China, which holds a thinly populated high-altitude area in the north. Besides Pakistan, India also has an ongoing conflict with China over their disputed frontier.