ISLAMABAD: Pakistan authorities were on Sunday preparing to shut down the capital ahead of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit, overshadowed by recent militant violence and political unrest.
The Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Chinese Premier Li Qiang will be among senior regional government officials attending the two-day conference on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In the weeks leading up to the summit, Pakistan’s authorities have cracked down hard on dissent, banning an ethnic nationalist movement and introducing new laws that restrict protest in the capital.
They have also arrested hundreds of supporters of jailed opposition leader Imran Khan who attempted to march in Islamabad earlier this month.
A deadly attack on a convoy of Chinese engineers in the mega port city of Karachi last week has also deepened security fears in a country where separatist groups routinely target Chinese nationals.
Islamabad has authorized the deployment of troops on the streets for the duration of the summit.
Imtiaz Gul, a security analyst and executive director of the Center for Research and Security Studies, said the meeting holds great significance for a country that’s “not seen as safe.”
“The government claims to have made elaborate security arrangements and understandably so because it has to make sure that the event passes off peacefully without any untoward incident,” he told AFP.
The SCO comprises China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus — with 16 more countries affiliated as observers or “dialogue partners.”
All visiting member nations are expected to send government heads apart from Pakistan’s arch-rival India, who will dispatch its foreign minister in a rare visit to its neighbor.
The SCO is sometimes touted as an alternative to the Western-dominated NATO military alliance.
As China’s claim over Taiwan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have seen them clash with the US and Europe, analysts say the SCO is one forum where they are trying to curry regional influence.
While the SCO has a mandate to discuss security, the Islamabad summit is due to focus on trade, humanitarian and cultural issues.
Pakistan’s domestic concerns are likely to dominate the sidelines of the summit, however.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has threatened to stage protests, a week after scattered demonstrations by supporters saw the capital locked down for three days with mobile phone signal cut and exit and entry points blocked.
“The PTI doesn’t want to showcase the positive side of Pakistan to the world,” accused Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhary, minister for planning, during a press conference Saturday.
“Instead, they aim to present a picture of the country filled with tear gas and unrest.”
Authorities have declared a three-day public holiday for Islamabad and the neighboring city of Rawalpindi starting Monday, along with road closures to reduce movement around the area.
The “red zone” government quarter hosting the summit meanwhile has been spruced up with manicured lawns ringed by razor wire.
Cash-strapped Pakistan is particularly at pains to protect citizens from China because it is a major investor, sending funds and staff for million-dollar infrastructure projects.
Pakistan is grappling with a broad uptick in militancy coinciding with the Taliban’s 2021 return to power in neighboring Afghanistan, where Islamabad claims attackers are now taking shelter.
Pakistan frets over security ahead of SCO summit
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Pakistan frets over security ahead of SCO summit
- Prime ministers of Russia, China among senior regional government officials attending SCO summit
- Pakistan’s authorities have cracked down hard on dissent in the weeks leading up to the event
Egyptian president has accepted invitation for official visit to Pakistan — PM Sharif
- Pakistan and Egypt have cordial relations and both countries have resolved in recent years to enhance their bilateral trade
- PM thanks President El-Sisi for Egypt’s proactive diplomacy that helped Pakistan, India reach a truce after this month’s standoff
ISLAMABAD: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has accepted an invitation to visit Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday, following a telephonic conversation between the two leaders.
Pakistan and Egypt have cordial ties and both countries have resolved in recent years to enhance bilateral trade by facilitating businessmen with visas, exchanging trade-related information and promoting private-sector contacts.
During their conversation, PM Sharif conveyed his profound gratitude to President El-Sisi for Egypt’s constructive role and proactive diplomacy that helped Pakistan and India reach a truce after a four-day standoff.
“Expressing satisfaction on Pakistan-Egypt relations, the prime minister highlighted the need to enhance bilateral trade and investment,” Sharif’s office said.
“The prime minister extended a most cordial invitation to the Egyptian president to undertake an official visit to Pakistan which was graciously accepted.”
Friendly ties between Pakistan and Egypt can be traced back to 1947, when the former gained independence and its founder, Muhammad Ali Jinnah, visited Egypt on the special invitation of King Fuad II.
In July last year, Pakistan’s then religious affairs minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain and Egyptian Ambassador to Pakistan Dr. Ihab Abdelhamid Hassan agreed to enhance cooperation between the two countries in religious education and other areas of mutual interest.
During the call on Tuesday, PM Sharif and President El-Sisi also discussed developments in the Middle East, particularly the situation in Gaza.
“The prime minister urged the international community to ensure consistent and timely delivery of badly needed humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza,” Sharif’s office said.
Bangladesh T20 tour to Pakistan confirmed after India ceasefire
- Bangladesh were initially scheduled to play five T20 internationals from May 25
- Conflict with India also forced Pakistan to reschedule its Twenty20 cricket league
KARACHI: Pakistan has confirmed that Bangladesh will go ahead with a Twenty20 tour after it was put in jeopardy following cross-border conflict with India earlier this month.
Bangladesh were scheduled to play five T20 internationals from May 25, but will instead play three matches from a date yet to be confirmed.
Earlier this month India and Pakistan clashed for four days — their worst conflict in decades — before a ceasefire agreement.
Pakistan was also forced to reschedule its Twenty20 league — the Pakistan Super League (PSL) — after a ten-day break.
The Indian Premier League — the world’s richest cricket tournament — was also interrupted.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said negotiations with their Bangladesh counterparts were successful, after some touring players had raised security concerns.
“PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi... convinced them of full security and the series now comprises three T20Is instead of five,” a board press release said.
All three T20Is will be played in Lahore, likely after the PSL final on May 25.
Heatwave forces early school closures in Pakistan’s largest province
- Class times have also been changed, with all educational institutes instructed to close two hours early at 11:30am
- Pakistan, one of the most vulnerable countries to global warming, has been experiencing unusually high temperatures
LAHORE: Rising temperatures in Pakistan’s most populous province have forced the provincial government to close all private and public schools for summer vacations early, officials said on Tuesday.
Punjab province’s education minister Rana Sikander Hayat said summer vacations will now start from May 28 instead of June 1.
Class times have also been changed, with all educational institutes instructed to close two hours early at 11:30am “due to a constant heatwave,” a notification issued by the education department said.
Pakistan, one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of global warming, has been experiencing unusually high temperatures after a particularly dry winter.
Temperatures soared to near-record highs for the month of April, reaching as high as 46.5 degrees Celsius (115.7 degrees Fahrenheit) in parts of Punjab.
An alert issued on Monday by the national meteorological agency forecast that northern parts of the province, currently in the grip of a heatwave, will see daytime temperatures rise “5 to 7C above normal.”
An Education Department representative told AFP the early closures were announced because of the weather.
“We had to move up the summer vacation schedule because of these heatwaves,” the representative said.
Schools in the province that serve tens of millions of children also closed for a week in May last year because of excessive heat, and for several weeks in November because of high levels of toxic smog that blanketed several cities.
Islamabad to send dossier to world powers urging action against Indian ‘aggression’
- India struck what it said were ‘terrorist camps’ in multiple Pakistani cities this month, leading to a four-day military conflict between the arch-foes
- The dossier will be presented to foreign capitals by a high-level delegation tasked with effectively presenting Pakistan’s case before the world
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will be sending a dossier, which outlines the chain of events in its military standoff with India this month, to world powers to urge them to hold New Delhi accountable for its “aggression and attacks on civilian population” in Pakistan.
The dossier will be presented to foreign capitals by a high-level delegation formed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif last week. The delegation, led by former Pakistani foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, is tasked with effectively presenting Pakistan’s case before the world.
The document, seen by Arab News, contains details of an April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, India’s subsequent strikes against Pakistan and Islamabad’s response to them, the ensuing four-day military standoff, international media coverage, images of the attacked sites, and specifics of Pakistan’s countermeasures.
“Pakistan reaffirms its commitment to regional peace and stability and international community must hold India accountable for its aggression and attack on innocent women and children,” the dossier reads.
India blamed the April 22 attack that killed 26 people on Pakistan and on May 7, New Delhi attacked what it called “terrorist camps” in multiple Pakistani cities. Islamabad has denied complicity and called for an international probe into the assault.
The four-day military conflict came to a halt after United States (US) President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire on May 10, offering to help settle longstanding dispute between the two nations.
The Pakistani dossier says that India had repeatedly used “false-flag operations” and its immediate blaming of Pakistan for the attack raised “serious concerns about the integrity of its claims” as standard investigative procedures required time and forensic examination.
“The Pahalgam incident followed the same pattern of manipulation and manufactured provocation,” the dossier says, noting that Pakistan sought evidence from India and proposed a joint investigation.
“However, these proposals were not only rejected by India but India also continued to attack civilians inside Pakistan.”
Members of Pakistan’s high-level delegation, tasked with visiting London, Washington, Paris and Brussels, described this outreach to the international community as “absolutely imperative.”
“The region stands at a key inflection point in the wake of India’s unprovoked aggression and its egregious reshaping and deliberate distortion of facts as active state-sponsored disinformation,” Senator Sherry Rehman, a member of the Pakistani delegation, told Arab News.
“We have obviously prepared a detailed dossier that documents not just recent violations but also India’s longstanding record of state-sponsored terrorism inside Pakistan,” she said, adding that Pakistan has chosen diplomacy over escalation.
“This dossier is not a political tool, it is a factual record of aggression and hybrid warfare, including India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty, which constitutes a grave violation of international law and a weaponization of water against civilian populations.”
Rehman said the aim of the delegation will be to reinforce Pakistan’s position as a responsible state, seeking peaceful resolution “through diplomacy and facts, not aggression or media manipulation.”
“It is also to seek global support for de-escalation frameworks, including calls for renewed dialogue on Kashmir as a flashpoint, and to safeguard regional water security through multilateral oversight,” she added.
India suspended on April 23 the World Bank-mediated Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 that ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms, saying it would last until “Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.”
Separatist groups have waged an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989, demanding independence or a merger with Pakistan. New Delhi accuses Pakistan of backing the militants, Islamabad denies it and says it only supports Kashmiris diplomatically and politically.
Jalil Abbas Jillani, another Pakistani delegate and a former foreign secretary, said it is extremely important for Pakistan to share its concerns over the aggressive Indian behavior, genesis of the Kashmir dispute, and violations of the Indus Waters Treaty and its implications on peace and stability in the region.
“The delegation will also apprise the international community of the support being extended by India to terrorist outfits like BLA [Baloch Liberation Army] and TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan], etc,” he told Arab News.
New Delhi denies supporting the BLA, TTP or any such groups in Pakistan. India has also sent multiple all-party delegations abroad to extend its diplomatic outreach over the recent conflict.
Former Pakistani diplomats and experts called the submission of the dossier a “right approach” by Pakistan to brief the world about Indian actions.
“Pakistan’s recent step of submitting yet another dossier is again a step in the right direction as India has been selling its narrative on false grounds,” former Pakistani ambassador to the United Kingdom Nafees Zakaria told Arab News.
He said there was no reason for the international community not to pay due attention to Pakistan’s “evidence-based dossier” against India.
“Western world led by the US, which sees India as its lynchpin in the region as a counterweight to the rising powers China and Russia, has been looking the other way, which allowed India to indulge in criminal activities and subversion with impunity,” he said, adding that Pakistan must present its narrative and rigorously pursue it to ensure that India is “called to account and pays for its crimes.”
Former foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhary said Pakistan needed to convey its perspective as India had hardly presented any evidence to the world to support its accusations, which resulted in the military standoff.
“It should be a proactive agenda on our part, meaning we should compile dossiers on India’s involvement in terrorism in Pakistan, evidence for which is now plentiful,” he told Arab News.
He said India had better accepted the offer made by President Donald Trump to sit and talk with Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute.
“The sooner India does that the better it would be for it and for the peace in the region,” he added.
Bitter rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars, including two over the disputed region of Kashmir, since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety but rule it in part.
Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir promoted to field marshal
- Munir is only the second military officer in Pakistani history to be promoted as field marshal, country’s highest military rank
- Analysts say it is likely he will also retain army chief’s chair, influence in government affairs will ‘significantly increase’
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has elevated Army Chief General Asim Munir to the rank of field marshal, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said on Tuesday, making him only the second general in the country’s history to rise to that rank.
The development comes a little over a week after Pakistan declared victory in a four-day standoff with India that saw the arch-rivals trade fighter jet, missile, drone and artillery strikes, with dozens killed on both sides before a ceasefire was reached on May 10.
“The Government of Pakistan approved the promotion of General Syed Asim Munir (Nishan-e-Imtiaz Military) to the rank of Field Marshal for ensuring the security of the country and defeating the enemy on the basis of the superior strategy and courageous leadership in Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos on behalf of Pakistan,” PM Sharif’s office said in a statement released after a meeting of the federal cabinet.
In a statement issued by the military, Munir said he was dedicating his promotion to the people and armed forces of Pakistan.
“This honor is the trust of the nation, for which millions of Asims can be sacrificed,” he was quoted as saying.
Munir’s promotion to field marshal’s rank is the first since Pakistani dictator General Ayub Khan made himself a field marshal in 1965.
Field marshal is a ceremonial five-star rank that usually signifies extraordinary leadership and wartime achievement. Security sources said it was likely Munir would also remain the army chief.
Munir started his job as army chief in November 2022. A parliamentary legal amendment extended his term to five years in November 2023, from the usual three years for the role of army chief.
The office of the army chief is arguably the most powerful position in Pakistan, where the military has ruled directly for nearly half of the country’s history. Even when not in power, the military and the army chief play an outsized role in political and foreign affairs and national security decision making. In recent years, the army chief’s public role in economic decision making and in seeking foreign investments has also grown considerably.
“Definitely, his [Gen. Munir’s] stature will be now higher in all forces and his influence in civil matters like government affairs will also significantly increase,” Lt. Gen. (retired) Naeem Lodhi, a former defense secretary, told Arab News.
