KARACHI: UAE Consul General Bakheet Ateeq Al Remeithi held an iftar dinner in honor of Pakistan’s Special Olympics athletes on Sunday, the UAE consulate in Karachi said, stressing the need to empower them through confidence. 

The development takes place as Pakistani athletes prepare to take part in the World Winter Games Turin 2025 that are being organized by the Special Olympics organization. The global event is scheduled to run from Mar. 8-15 and will feature at least 1,500 athletes from over 100 countries who will compete in eight sporting competitions throughout Italy’s Piedmont region. 

The UAE consul general welcomed the athletes at his residence in Karachi on Sunday evening. He said that athletes from Pakistan are second to none in the Special Olympics. 

“A little hard work on athletes boosts their morale,” Al Remeithi was quoted as saying by the UAE consulate. “The consul general said that despite mental or physical problems, special athletes are no less capable than anyone else. They need to be given confidence.”

The UAE consul general said that Arab culture during the holy month of Ramadan further strengthens the love and ties between the brotherly countries of Pakistan and the UAE. 

The participants thanked the UAE consul general for hosting the iftar and thanked him for extending his hospitality, the UAE’s consulate general said. 

QUETTA: Unidentified gunmen in southwestern Pakistan shot dead three barbers who hailed from Sindh on Sunday, a soldier of the paramilitary Levies force confirmed, amid a surge in ethnic attacks in the restive Balochistan province. 

Attacks by ethnic Baloch separatist militants against Punjab-based laborers, barbers and commuters are common in the southwestern province. Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by landmass and rich in mineral resources, has long faced a low-level insurgency led by separatist groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources for the development of Punjab while neglecting the local population. Pakistan’s government denies these allegations, saying it has prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education, and infrastructure projects.

The latest attack took place in Gwargo, an area located around five kilometers away from Balochistan’s Panjgur district, Levies soldier Shakeel Baloch said. He added that unidentified armed men shot the barbers while they were sitting outside a hotel on Sunday evening. 

“Three barbers who belonged to Mirpurkhas and Jacobabad districts of Sindh province were killed on the spot,” Baloch told Arab News. 

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on the BLA, which has carried out attacks against Punjabi laborers and barbers in the past. 

Balochistan government spokesperson Shahid Rind strongly condemned the attack, describing the development as a “barbaric” move by the militants. 

“Terrorists have been attempting to create divisions and hate among provinces by targeting laborers who are working in Balochistan,” Rind said. 

He said security forces had started tracking the “terrorists” involved in the attack. 

Balochistan has seen a surge in ethnic attacks over the past few months as the province’s security situation deteriorates. Seven Punjab-based passengers were forcibly removed from a bus heading to the eastern city of Faisalabad from Quetta and killed by a group of gunmen in Balochistan last month. 

In August 2024, nearly two dozen passengers traveling in Punjab-bound buses were killed after BLA militants forcibly removed ethnic Punjabi commuters from buses after checking their identity cards.

In May 2024, gunmen shot dead seven Punjab-based barbers who lived and worked together near the port city of Gwadar in Balochistan.