ISLAMABAD: China has sent an inter-agency working group to join an investigation into last week’s bomb attack in Pakistan’s southern city of Karachi that killed two Chinese nationals, Chinese state media reported, citing a foreign ministry spokesperson.
Two Chinese nationals among three people were killed and 10 others injured in the attack near the Karachi airport on Oct. 6, according to Pakistani and Chinese authorities. The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) separatist group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that Chinese nationals were targeted by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Friday that Beijing quickly sent an inter-agency working group to Pakistan as part of its response to the attack on a Chinese convoy of the Port Qasim coal-fired power plant that killed and injured Chinese personnel, Chinese state-run CGTN news channel reported.
“After arriving in Islamabad on October 8, the working group immediately joined the Embassy in Pakistan and the company concerned in the emergency response,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying by the English-language news channel.
“The working group met intensively with heads of Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, and military, police and intelligence departments, and asked the Pakistani side to properly handle ensuing matters, make every effort to save the injured, conduct thorough investigations, bring all the perpetrators to justice, and step up security measures to ensure the safety and security of Chinese personnel, institutions and projects in Pakistan.”
Pakistan strongly condemned the attack and is fully dealing with the aftermath, investigating the incident and nailing down the perpetrators, according to the spokesperson. Islamabad has said it will further strengthen security measures and make all-out efforts to protect Chinese interests in Pakistan.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week met Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong and assured him of personally overseeing investigation into the militant attack and promised that those responsible would be brought to justice.
The Chinese ambassador expressed confidence in the Pakistani government’s “effective investigation, prompt identification of the responsible terrorists, and their swift punishment,” Sharif’s office said in a statement.
Sunday’s attack is the latest by the BLA, the most prominent of a number of separatist groups fighting for independence for Pakistan’s gas-and-mineral-rich Balochistan province, where a low-lying insurgency has been ongoing for the past two decades. Baloch militants blame the Pakistani state for exploiting the province’s resources, a charge denied by state authorities.
The BLA also accuses Beijing of helping Islamabad exploit the province and has attacked Chinese interests and projects in the past, in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. It has previously killed Chinese citizens working in the region and attacked Beijing’s consulate in Karachi.
In March this year, a suicide bombing killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in northwestern Pakistan as they headed to the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in the country. In 2022, three Chinese educators and their Pakistani driver were killed when an explosion ripped through a van at the University of Karachi.
Beijing sends team to Pakistan to join probe into Karachi bombing that killed two Chinese
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Beijing sends team to Pakistan to join probe into Karachi bombing that killed two Chinese
- Two Chinese nationals among three people were killed and 10 others injured in the bomb attack near the Karachi airport on Oct. 6
- Pakistan fully dealing with the aftermath, investigating the attack and nailing down the perpetrators, Chinese foreign ministry says
Pakistan air strikes kill 46 in Afghanistan — Taliban spokesman
- Zabihullah Mujahid says most of the dead were women and children, six wounded, mostly children
- There has been no official comment from Pakistani authorities on the latest strike in Afghan territory
KABUL: Pakistan air strikes in an eastern border province of Afghanistan had killed 46 people, the Taliban government spokesman told AFP on Wednesday.
There has been no official comment from Pakistani authorities on the latest strike in Afghan territory.
“Last night [Tuesday], Pakistan bombarded four points in the Barmal district of Paktika province. The total number of dead is 46, most of whom were children and women,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
He added that six more people were wounded, mostly children.
An Afghan defense ministry statement late Tuesday condemned the latest strikes by Pakistan on Afghan territory, calling them “barbaric” and a “clear aggression.”
“The Islamic Emirate will not leave this cowardly act unanswered, but rather considers the defense of its territory and sovereignty to be its inalienable right,” the statement said, using the Taliban authorities’ name for the government.
Deadly air strikes by Pakistan’s military in the border regions of Afghanistan in March that the Taliban authorities said killed eight civilians prompted skirmishes on the frontier.
A Barmal resident, Maleel, told AFP Tuesday’s strikes killed 18 members of one family.
“The bombardment hit two or three houses, in one house, 18 people were killed, the whole family lost their lives,” he said.
He said a strike killed three people in another house and wounded several others, who were taken to hospital.
Border tensions between the two countries have escalated since the Taliban government seized power in 2021, with Pakistan battling a resurgence of militant violence in its western border regions.
Islamabad has accused Kabul’s Taliban authorities of harboring militant fighters, allowing them to strike on Pakistani soil with impunity.
Kabul has denied the allegations.
The strike comes after the Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and share a common ideology with their Afghan counterparts, last week claimed a raid on an army outpost near the border with Afghanistan, which Pakistani intelligence officials said killed 16 soldiers.
Earlier Tuesday, high-level Taliban officials were meeting with Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan who was on a visit to Kabul.
UAE, other nations now require police verification for Pakistanis seeking work visas — official
- Pakistani immigration official says visit visa applicants to UAE do not need police certificates
- Secretary for Overseas Pakistanis says unskilled labor facing visa delays, no issue for skilled workers
KARACHI: Pakistanis seeking work visas for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries are now required to produce police verification certificates, the director general of the Bureau of Emigration & Overseas Employment confirmed to Arab News this week.
The development comes amid recent media reports of a decline in UAE visas for Pakistanis and a decrease in overall overseas employment for nationals of Pakistan, allegedly due to their lack of respect for local laws and customs and for participating in political activities and sloganeering while abroad.
On Monday, the Senate Standing Committee on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development on Monday convened a special session at the Parliament House to deliberate what it described as the UAE’s “unofficial visa restrictions,” calling on the Pakistan government to keep the public informed about the real status of the issue.
Last week, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the UAE was taking steps to streamline visas for Pakistanis. The Gulf state’s consul general in Karachi, Dr. Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi, has recently said there was no visa ban on Pakistani nationals.
“This police verification is for work purposes, and it is also for other countries,” DG Bureau of Emigration, Muhammad Tayyab, told Arab News in an interview on Tuesday, adding that his statement in this regard to the Senate committee session only related to work visas.
“The media reporting on this matter, in my opinion, should have been a bit more cautious,” he said. “My department deals with people who go abroad for work. My department has nothing to do with people who are going on visits, personal visits or tours.”
Tayyab said he had informed the Senate committee that a large number of Pakistanis had visited the UAE during 2024.
“I made it very clear in the committee yesterday that if there were restrictions, then approximately more than 65,000 people would not have gone abroad this year,” he added.
Nadeem Sharif, a former chairman of the Travel Agents Association of Pakistan (TAAP), confirmed there was no police certificate requirement for UAE visit visas.
“There have been no such restrictions that those going to UAE on visit visas would require police clearance certificates. People have flown to the UAE yesterday and today [without them],” he told Arab News.
Addressing Monday’s Senate committee meeting as per a report published in Pakistan’s Geo News, Arshad Mahmood, the secretary of Overseas Pakistanis, said that while unskilled workers had faced delays in getting UAE visas, skilled laborers were receiving visas without problems.
Pakistan airstrikes target suspected TTP militant hideouts in Afghanistan
- Strikes carried out in mountainous area in Paktika province bordering Pakistan, training facility dismantled, insurgents killed
- Afghan Defense Ministry condemns airstrikes by Pakistan, saying they targeted civilians, including women and children
PESHAWAR: Pakistan in rare airstrikes targeted multiple suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban inside neighboring Afghanistan on Tuesday, dismantling a training facility and killing some insurgents, four security officials said.
The strikes were carried out in a mountainous area in Paktika province bordering Pakistan, said the officials. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media on the record. It was unclear whether the jets went deep inside Afghanistan, and how the strikes were launched.
No spokesman for Pakistan’s military was immediately available to share further details. But it was the second such attack on alleged hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban since March, when Pakistan said intelligence-based strikes took place in the border regions inside Afghanistan.
In Kabul, the Afghan Defense Ministry condemned the airstrikes by Pakistan, saying the bombing targeted civilians, including women and children.
It said that most of the victims were refugees from the Waziristan region.
“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan considers this a brutal act against all international principles and blatant aggression and strongly condemns it,” the ministry said.
Local residents said at least eight people, including women and children, were killed in the airstrikes by Pakistan. They said the death toll from the strikes may rise.
In a post on the X platform, the Afghan defense ministry said the Pakistani side should know that such unilateral measures are not a solution to any problem.
“The Islamic Emirate will not leave this cowardly act unanswered but rather considers the defense of its territory and territory to be its inalienable right.”
The strikes came hours after Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, traveled to Kabul to discuss a range of issues, including how to enhance bilateral trade, and improve ties.
Sadiq during the visit met with Sirajuddin Haqqani, Afghanistan’s acting interior minister, to offer his condolences over the Dec. 11 killing of his uncle Khalil Haqqani. He was the minister for refugees and repatriation who died in a suicide bombing that was claimed by a regional affiliate of the Daesh group.
Sadiq in a post on X said he also met with Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and he “held wide ranging discussions. Agreed to work together to further strengthen bilateral cooperation as well as for peace and progress in the region.”
A delegation of the pro-Taliban Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam also visited Kabul on Tuesday to convey condolences over the killing of Haqqani’s uncle.
Islamabad often claims that the Pakistani Taliban use Afghan soil to launch attacks in Pakistan, a charge Kabul has denied.
Syed Muhammad Ali, an Islamabad-based security expert, said Tuesday’s airstrike “represents a clear and blunt warning to Pakistani Taliban that Pakistan will use all the available means against the terrorist outfit both inside and outside its borders.” However, it is not an indiscriminate use of force and due care was taken by Pakistan in ensuring that only the terrorist bases were hit and no civilian loss of life and property took place, he said.
The Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, whose leaders and fighters are hiding in Afghanistan.
The TTP has stepped up attacks on Pakistani soldiers and police since November 2022, when it unilaterally ended a ceasefire with the government after the failure of months of talks hosted by Afghanistan’s government in Kabul. The TTP in recent months has killed and wounded dozens of soldiers in attacks inside the country.
On founding father’s birthday, Christmas, PM reminds nation of vision of ‘inclusive Pakistan’
- Committed to safeguarding rights of minorities, Pakistani leaders say in Christmas messages
- Christianity is the third-largest religion in Pakistan, with over three million Christians
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday reaffirmed the government’s commitment to safeguarding the rights of all religious minorities as they wished the nation’s Christians on the occasion of Christmas, reminding citizens of founding father Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s message of inclusivity and unity.
Prayer ceremonies were held in various cities across Pakistan on Christmas morning as participants gathered to pray for the safety, security, and prosperity of the nation. In the port city of Karachi, a central celebration was held at St. Patrick’s Church, while the eastern city of Lahore marked the celebration with a 100-pound cake, which was cut at St. Luke’s Church in Shahdara. Similar events took place in Islamabad, Bahawalpur, Quetta, Multan, Sargodha, and Lodhran, with churches organizing prayer gatherings under tight security.
Dec. 25 is also celebrated in Pakistan as the birth anniversay of Jinnah, a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan who served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the inception of Pakistan on Aug. 14, 1947. Jinnah was also Pakistan’s first governor-general until his death a year later.
“The government of Pakistan remains firmly committed to safeguarding the rights of all religious communities and fostering an environment of mutual respect and understanding,” Sharif said in his Christmas message to the nation.
“We will continue to ensure that people of all faiths can practice their beliefs freely and contribute to the collective progress of our nation.”
In a separate message, Sharif said founding father Jinnah had dreamed of a Pakistan” where every citizen could live with dignity, freedom, and equal opportunity, irrespective of faith or ethnicity.”
“His vision for Pakistan was one of inclusivity, unity, and prosperity,” the PM added.
In a statement released by his office, President Zardari said the constitution of Pakistan guaranteed the “fundamental rights of all citizens, irrespective of their faith,” adding that upholding the rights of all citizens was “essential for fostering national unity and progress.”
Christianity is the third-largest religion in Pakistan, with results from the 2023 census recording over three million Christians, or 1.3 percent of the total population in Pakistan. The majority of Christians in Pakistan are members of the Catholic Church or the Church of Pakistan.
Christians face institutionalized discrimination in Pakistan, including being targeted for blasphemy accusations, abduction, and forced conversions to Islam. Christians are also reserved for low-status jobs, such as working in sewers or on brick kilns.
Historical churches in Pakistan are monitored and have been targeted with bomb attacks on multiple occasions.
Multan to host back-to-back cricket Tests between Pakistan and West Indies next month
- Multan has been the only option for Pakistan to host matches, with stadiums in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi being upgraded for Champions Trophy
- It will be West Indies’ first Test series in Pakistan for more than 18 years, although both nations played a Test series in the United Arab Emirates
ISLAMABAD: Multan will host back-to-back Tests when Pakistan plays the West Indies next month, the domestic cricket board said on Tuesday.
With stadiums in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi being upgraded for February’s Champions Trophy, it has left the Pakistan Cricket Board with Multan as the only option to host the two-Test series against the West Indies.
England also played back-to-back Tests in Multan in October because of the renovation work in Karachi and Lahore.
The West Indies squad arrives on Jan. 6 and will play a three-day warm-up game in Rawalpindi against Pakistan Shaheens. The first Test is held from Jan. 17-21 and the second starts on Jan. 25.
It will be West Indies’ first Test series in Pakistan for more than 18 years, although both nations played a Test series in the United Arab Emirates in 2016 when UAE was Pakistan’s home venue.
West Indies named uncapped batter Amir Jangoo in its 15-strong squad after he smashed a century on his ODI debut against Bangladesh earlier this month.
Left-arm spinner Gudakesh Motie returns to the fold after missing the two Tests against Bangladesh last month because he was playing in the inaugural Global Super League.
Kevin Sinclair and Jomel Warrican are the other spin options in the squad.
West Indies is without fast bowler Shamar Joseph, who is suffering from shin splints. Alzarri Joseph is also unavailable because of his commitments with International League T20 in the UAE.
“Motie rejoins the squad to bolster the spin attack, while Jangoo’s selection comes on the back of his consistency across formats in regional cricket, as well as his demonstrated high level of competency against spin bowling,” head coach Andre Coley said.
The series is part of the World Test Championship. Pakistan is seventh in the standings while rock-bottom West Indies is ninth.
West Indies squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (captain), Joshua Da Silva, Alick Athanaze, Keacy Carty, Justin Greaves, Kavem Hodge, Tevin Imlach, Amir Jangoo, Mikyle Louis, Gudakesh Motie, Anderson Phillip, Kemar Roach, Kevin Sinclair, Jayden Seales, Jomel Warrican.
