ISLAMABAD: The King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has announced the construction of 1,000 houses for families displaced by the 2022 floods in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and eastern Punjab provinces, aiming to “rebuild communities and foster resilience” across the South Asian nation, a statement said on Wednesday.
The Saudi charity organization, with one of the largest humanitarian budgets available to any aid agency worldwide, has undertaken a wide variety of projects in more than 80 countries.
Pakistan is the fifth largest beneficiary of its aid and humanitarian activities and has received significant assistance, particularly following the 2022 monsoon floods, during which unusually heavy rains triggered flash floods, killing over 1,700 people and causing economic losses of around $30 billion.
The agreement for construction was finalized between Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and KSrelief earlier in October when officials from both sides signed the Cooperation Programs. Of the 1,000 houses, 590 will be built in KP’s Dera Ismail Khan and 410 in Punjab’s Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan.
“KSrelief has announced a major initiative to build 1,000 permanent houses for families in KP and Punjab who were displaced by the devastating 2022 floods,” the charity organization said in a statement. “This project is part of a broader series of public facilitation initiatives announced by KSrelief.”
All the houses will include two rooms, a kitchen and a washroom, with the aim of providing “safe and permanent” housing for around 7,000 people in the flood-hit regions of KP and Punjab.
The statement emphasized that KSrelief’s initiative will support the “recovery process” while enhancing the long-term well-being of affected communities.
Earlier this year in July, heavy monsoon rains triggered floods and landslides in KP and Punjab, resulting in nearly 250 deaths.
Pakistan is recognized as one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change. This year, the country recorded its “wettest April since 1961,” with 59.3 millimeters of rainfall, while some regions faced a deadly heat wave in May and June.
KSrelief to construct 1,000 houses for flood-hit families of Pakistan
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KSrelief to construct 1,000 houses for flood-hit families of Pakistan
- 590 homes will be built in northwest KP while 410 in eastern Punjab provinces
- 2022 floods killed over 1,700 people and caused a loss of around $30 billion
‘Pakistan is your second home,’ says PM Sharif after welcoming Palestinian medical students
- Pakistan will provide fully funded scholarships to 192 Palestinian students to continue their studies here
- Shehbaz Sharif condemns Israel’s military aggression, calls on world powers to do more to halt war in Gaza
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday welcomed Palestinian medical students who recently arrived in Pakistan from war-torn Gaza to pursue their studies here, vowing to facilitate them in pursuing their aspirations despite Israel’s military aggression in the Middle East.
Sharif was addressing a ceremony held in Islamabad to welcome the three batches of over 100 Palestinian students out of a total of 192, who arrived in Pakistan this month to continue their studies in educational institutions here on fully-funded scholarships.
Pakistan’s foreign ministry announced in July that the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) will provide scholarships to over 100 Palestinian students so that they can continue their studies in Pakistan. The initiative, which came amid Israel’s war on Gaza, is a collaboration between Doctors of Rehman, Global Relief Trust and a leading Pakistani non-governmental organization, the Al-Khidmat Foundation.
“Dear students, our brothers, sisters, Pakistan is your second home,” Sharif said at the ceremony attended by Palestinian students and other officials.
“Our hearts are there for you, our homes are there for you, our institutions are there for you, our teachers are there for you. Everything that we do will not be enough to make you comfortable here in Pakistan,” he added amid loud applause.
The Pakistani prime minister regretted the world’s silence in Gaza, saying that resolutions and speeches were not enough to stop the “heart-wrenching” war there.
“Blood still flows in the streets of Gaza, schools are being bombarded, hospitals are being smashed and the world is a silent spectator,” Sharif said.
He said Pakistan wished to invite hundreds of other Palestinian students from Gaza to Pakistan on fully funded scholarships, adding that he had requested Pakistani authorities to take action in this regard.
“We will be playing host to you,” the premier said. “Believe me, it is not a favor. It is a responsibility we should have discharged long ago. But it’s never too late.”
Speaking earlier, a Palestinian female student thanked the government of Pakistan, the country’s educational institutions and non-governmental organizations for helping them continue their studies in the South Asian country.
“Praise be to God, you are all looking after us like your own children,” she said, requesting the government to allow Palestinian students studying other subjects to continue their studies in Pakistan as well.
“Because each one of us holds Palestine, our families and our children and we want to continue our lives because we deserve it,” she said. “And so, we can help our people soon in the future.”
ISRAEL’S WAR ON GAZA
Since Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has killed over 42,000 people in Gaza through relentless bombardment despite ceasefire calls and angry protests in several countries around the world. The Jewish state has bombed thousands of buildings, including medical institutions as it carries out airstrikes and ground offensives in Gaza.
There have also been widespread reports of substantial damage to educational institutions along with reports of deliberate targeting of Palestinian academics.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and other sources have documented severe damage to Gaza’s health care facilities, including the largest hospital Al-Shifa, which has been rendered non-functional due to extensive damage in the ongoing conflict.
AI cameras in northern Pakistan reducing attacks on endangered snow leopards — WWF
- Snow leopards have been killed in past by local communities in retaliation for their attacks on livestock
- AI cameras detect snow leopards’ presence, generate alerts for local communities about presence of animal
ISLAMABAD: Artificial Intelligence-based cameras installed along strategic locations in Pakistan’s northern Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region have resulted in the protection of snow leopards who are killed by local communities in retaliation for harming their livestock, the World Wildlife Fund-Pakistan (WWF-Pakistan) said on Wednesday.
WWF-Pakistan and the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) have developed and installed five AI-based camera traps at strategic locations where snow leopard depredations were reported by local communities, WWF Pakistan said in a press release.
Several snow leopards have been killed or hunted by local communities in the past in retaliation for their attacks on livestock. Poaching, illegal hunting, and habitat loss due to climate change impacts also endanger snow leopard populations across central and South Asia, the WWF added.
“The Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based trail cameras installed at strategic locations in the Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) region have turned human-wildlife conflict into human-wildlife coexistence,” WWF Pakistan said.
“This recent technology has significantly reduced Snow leopard (Panthera uncia) attacks on the livestock at the targeted sites.”
The WWF explained that the AI cameras detect the presence of snow leopards in the surroundings, transfer the data to a centralized system and generate alerts for members of local communities about the predator.
Local communities in turn safeguard their livestock from either grazing in the fields or being kept in the household, reducing conflict between leopards and humans.
The WWF said that since snow leopards are elusive animals, it is difficult to record their exact population across Central and South Asia where they are found.
“However, WWF research indicates that fewer than 7,000 Snow leopards live in the world, of which approximately 200 to 420 individuals inhabit the northern mountain ranges of Pakistan including the GB region, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), and Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK),” it said.
Pakistan says ‘about time’ concrete steps are taken to operationalize loss and damage fund
- Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb attends Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group meeting in United States
- Fund compensates developing countries for losses and damages due to natural disasters triggered by climate change
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb this week urged the international community to take “concrete steps” to ensure the climate loss and damage fund is operationalized, warning that countries were falling into debt traps due to natural disasters.
Pakistan joined hands with other developing nations in 2022 at a major climate conference, COP27, in Egypt, to call for the Loss and Damage Fund to mitigate the impacts of climate-induced disasters. While the fund was set up, developing and developed countries have been at odds over questions on which entity should oversee the fund, who should pay and which countries would be eligible to receive funding.
Pakistan’s efforts followed the disastrous floods of 2022 in which over 1,700 people were killed and critical infrastructure was damaged, costing Islamabad over $30 billion after unusually heavy monsoon rains wreaked havoc in the country.
“Loss & damage fund was discussed but it is about time concrete steps are taken to operationalize it,” Aurangzeb was quoted as saying by the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF).
The Pakistani minister was speaking during a meeting of the Vulnerable Twenty (V20) Group, which comprises the finance ministers of the CVF, a dedicated cooperation initiative by economies vulnerable to climate change. The V20 works through dialogue and action to tackle global climate change.
Pakistan has repeatedly urged the international community to ensure a fair deal in assisting developing countries such as itself in coping with the adverse impacts of climate change, warning that loans for this purpose were debt traps or “death traps.”
“There is an urgent need to reform global finance to make debt work for climate,” Aurangzeb noted. “Countries may be getting into a climate debt trap.”
The finance minister announced Pakistan was developing its Climate Prosperity Plan, the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said, without sharing its details.
Aurangzeb is in the United States to attend the annual International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank meetings from Oct. 21-26. Leading the Pakistani delegation, he has met counterparts from several countries and senior IMF officials, briefing them about Pakistan’s macroeconomic reforms related to energy, tax and state-owned enterprises.
Ben Stokes forecasts spin battle in Pakistan-England decider
- England captain says the longer the game goes, the more spin will come into play
- Pakistan won the second Test in Multan by 152 runs by relying on spin bowlers
RAWALPINDI: England captain Ben Stokes believes the series-deciding third Test against Pakistan starting Thursday will boil down to a spin battle on a Rawalpindi pitch likely to favor slow bowlers.
England piled up 823-7 to thrash Pakistan by an innings on a lifeless Multan pitch in the first Test, before the hosts bounced back with a 152-run win on a recycled and turning Multan track.
For the deciding match, Pakistan have kept the same combination of three frontline spinners in Sajid Khan, Noman Ali and Zahid Mahmood, with just one fast bowler in Aamer Jamal.
Pakistan have used industrial fans and heaters to dry the Rawalpindi pitch, hoping to replicate their spin-led success in Multan which ended a drought of home wins stretching back to 2021.
Stokes said his three spinners in Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir and the recalled Rehan Ahmed were equal to the challenge.
“I’ll be backing the three spinners that we’ve picked,” Stokes told reporters after a training session on the eve of the third and final Test.
“We don’t know exactly how the wicket will play, but we’ve taken as much information from it as we can.
“We think the longer the game goes, the more spin will come into play.”
Pakistan head coach Jason Gillespie, the former Australia fast bowler, also expects the near-bald pitch “to favor the slower bowlers.”
The toss could be crucial, with both teams looking to bat first and maximize the impact of their spinners on a deteriorating pitch.
Pakistan have performed poorly in all formats in the past year, losing 2-0 in a home Test series to Bangladesh and crashing out of the ODI and Twenty20 World Cups in the first rounds.
A series victory over England would mark a stark change in fortunes.
“Over the last few years Pakistan’s Test cricket hasn’t been where we’d like it to be, so any win is a positive,” he said.
Cross-border couple marries online, appeals for travel permit, as Pakistani bride denied Indian visa
Cross-border couple marries online, appeals for travel permit, as Pakistani bride denied Indian visa
- Strained relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals have made it difficult for their people to get visas
- Mohammad Abbas Haider from India and Syeda Andleeb Zaidi from Pakistan faced the same issue
KARACHI: A cross-border couple from India and Pakistan was forced to hold their marriage ceremony online last week after the bride’s visa was denied by authorities in New Delhi, with the newlyweds saying on Tuesday they hoped Indian authorities would grant her travel permission so they can begin their life together.
Mohammad Abbas Haider from Jaunpur, India, and Syeda Andleeb Zahra Zaidi from Lahore, Pakistan, have known each other since childhood, as their families have been closely connected.
The couple’s wedding, originally set for October 18 in India, was disrupted when Zaidi’s visa application was rejected, highlighting the challenges faced by families separated across borders.
“This has been an emotional and difficult experience for us, as we had hoped to celebrate this special moment side by side,” Zaidi told Arab News over the phone. “We request Indian authorities to grant the visa so we can finally be together.”
The couple’s story highlights the challenges faced by residents of the two neighboring countries seeking visas to meet family members, mostly separated during the 1947 partition, or for work-related or tourism purposes.
Strained relations between the two nuclear-armed states, downgraded after India’s decision in October 2019 to withdraw special rights for Indian-administered Kashmir, have led to stricter security measures and bureaucratic hurdles, complicating the visa process.
“The current sponsorship requirements are a barrier for ordinary people,” Haider, the groom, said in a conversation with Arab News, urging both governments to simplify visa procedures.
He added that his wife’s mother was his aunt, who had migrated to Pakistan in 1986 after marrying Syed Ali Zaidi, a resident of Lahore. They had visited India regularly until 2020 before visa complications arose.
“When we decided it was time to get married, they applied for a visa but encountered difficulties,” he said.
Haider explained their marriage had been arranged by their grandparents long ago.
“It’s not just about marriages,” he added, emphasizing that inter-country unions and easier movement could foster greater understanding.
“The false narrative that portrays enmity between our nations overlooks the fact that people live in both places and love and kindness are shared similarly,” he continued.
“When people from one country come to the other, they receive love in return,” he added, urging simplification of visa procedures and documentation requirements.
Haider described their nikkah, the Islamic marriage contract formalizing the union under Sharia law, saying it was initially planned as a large event but turned out to be a simple ceremony attended by close relatives.
“Insha’Allah [God willing], when my wife arrives here in India, we will hold a grand celebration,” he said, hoping the issue will attract the attention of higher authorities and push them to issue visas to the bride and her family.
Zaidi, meanwhile, shared this sentiment, expressing her eagerness to visit India with her family to complete their marriage rituals.
“It would mean the world to us to finally be together and complete this important chapter in our lives,” she said.
