ISLAMABAD: Authorities in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad have intensified an ongoing crackdown against wholesalers for hiking prices of essential commodities during Ramadan, arresting around 700 in the first 11 days of the holy month, a spokesperson for the district administration said on Wednesday.
Food prices in Pakistan typically surge during Ramadan due to increased demand and supply chain inefficiencies. A significant factor contributing to this rise is hoarding and speculative pricing by traders, who artificially inflate market rates to maximize profits.
“Around 700 profiteers have been arrested for violating government price regulations and a total fine of around Rs400,000 [$1,428] was imposed by price control magistrates,” Islamabad district administration spokesperson Muhammad Nasir Butt told Arab News.
He said the district administration’s teams have conducted over 3,800 operations in which more than 12 shops were sealed after being found guilty of violating price lists and hoarding goods.
Butt said the district administration has set up six full-scale Ramadan bazaars and 20 fair-price shops across the capital for the public’s convenience.
“Ramadan bazaars feature special chicken stalls selling at Rs30 below the market rate while ghee is available at Rs70 less,” Butt said. “Additionally, sugar stalls offer sugar at a Rs30 discount compared to market prices.”
The spokesperson said to ensure that wholesalers keep prices in order and provide quality products to customers, a team of 26 price control magistrates and eight assistant commissioners are monitoring the situation.
The spokesperson added that a “deputy commissioner corner” has been set up in all grocery malls, where various items are offered at controlled prices.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday ordered strict action against profiteers, calling for intensified monitoring of relief measures. He also directed federal ministers and public representatives to visit Ramadan markets, utility stores, and other key locations to ensure the availability of subsidized goods.
Last month, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb warned the government would not spare hoarders, whose actions contribute to annual spikes in the cost of essential commodities during the holy month.
QUETTA: At least five soldiers of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were killed and 11 others injured on Sunday morning after their convoy was targeted in a blast in southwestern Pakistan, a police official said.
The latest attack took place at the N-40 highway connecting Pakistan to neighboring Iran in Nushki district. A convoy of seven Frontier Corps buses was traveling to Taftan from the provincial capital of Quetta when it was hit by a “powerful explosion” near Rakhshani Mill, Zafar Sumalani, station house officer at the Nushki Police Station, told Arab News.
“Five security personnel were killed in the attack and 11 others injured,” Sumalani said. “The number of casualties might increase as the bus carrying dozens of FC soldiers was completely destroyed.”
A soldier inspects a bus after a blast in Nushki in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan provice on March 16, 2025. (Nushki Police)
The doctor said the critically injured were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Nushki and were later shifted to Quetta for treatment.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the blast in a statement shared by his office. The prime minister directed authorities to provide medical treatment to the injured, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
“Such cowardly acts cannot shake our resolve against terrorism,” Sharif was quoted as saying by the PMO.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast but suspicion is likely to fall on the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent ethnic Baloch separatist outfit in the province.
The blast takes place days after BLA militants stormed the Jaffar Express train on Tuesday in a remote mountain pass in Balochistan after blowing up train tracks. The militants held over 400 passengers hostage in a day-long standoff before the military rescued them.
Pakistan security forces killed 33 insurgents, rescued 354 hostages before bringing the siege to a close on Wednesday, according to army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry. A final count showed 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers had died in the attack.
Oil-and-mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated province. Ethnic Baloch separatists have long accused the central government of discrimination, which Islamabad denies.
The military has a huge presence in Balochistan bordering Afghanistan and Iran. The army has long run intelligence-based operations against insurgent groups such as the BLA, who have escalated attacks in recent months on the military and nationals from longtime ally China, which is building key projects in the region, including a port at Gwadar.
More than 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of assaults in Balochistan that were claimed by the BLA.
Bomb targeting bus carrying security forces kills 5, wounds 10 in southwestern Pakistan
Bomb attack takes place in Nushki district in militancy-wracked Balochistan province, say police
No one has claimed responsibility but suspicion likely to fall on separatist Baloch Liberation Army
Updated 16 March 2025
AP
QUETTA, Pakistan: A roadside bomb exploded near a bus carrying security forces in restive southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least five officers and wounding 10 others, police said.
The attack occurred in Nushki, a district in Balochistan, said Zafar Zamanani, a local police chief. He said the blast also badly damaged another nearby bus. The dead and wounded were transported to a nearby hospital.
Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister of Balochistan, condemned the attack.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which days ago ambushed a train, took about 400 people on board hostage and killed 26 hostages before security forces launched an operation and killed all 33 attackers.
Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated province. Ethnic Baloch residents have long accused the central government of discrimination — a charge Islamabad denies.
Baloch Liberation Army has been demanding independence from the central government.
ISLAMABAD: Iraqi Special Forces have completed an over two-month-long training course at the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) in northwestern Pakistan, state-run media reported on Sunday, as both countries eye bolstering military and defense cooperation for regional security.
The Iraqi personnel arrived in Pakistan in December 2024 to undergo training at the NCTC located in Pabbi town in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
“Pakistani military institutions are playing an important role in providing counter-terrorism training and enhancing security cooperation in the region,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
It added that the cooperation for military training between the two states dates back to 1955, under which the Pakistan Army agreed to train Iraqi Special Forces.
The state broadcaster said that the Pakistan Army will train more Iraqi Special Forces personnel at the NCTC, describing the center as an “internationally renowned training center with modern facilities.”
Pakistan and Iraq have strengthened ties in recent years through defense cooperation, with Islamabad frequently providing training to Iraqi security forces.
In 2014, Iraq procured Super Mushak trainer aircraft from Pakistan to bolster defense relations between the two Muslim-majority nations.
QUETTA: One cop was killed while five others were injured on Saturday after an improvised explosive device (IED) blast targeted an Anti-Terrorism Force (ATF) vehicle in southwestern Pakistan, a police official said.
The attack took place at the Western Bypass area of Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province. An ATF patrolling vehicle was targeted with a remote-controlled IED fitted inside a cement block, the station house officer (SHO) of Brewery Road Police Station, Mehmood Kharoti, told Arab News.
The ATF operates under the Balochistan Police and is a specialized unit responsible for countering “terrorism” and organized crime.
“One ATF [cop] Dilbar Khan was killed on the spot and five others were injured in the attack,” Kharoti said.
The police officer said the injured were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment.
“According to the Bomb Disposal report, two kilograms of explosives were used in the attack,” he added.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent ethnic Baloch separatist outfit operating in the province.
The blast takes place days after BLA militants stormed the Jaffar Express train on Tuesday in a remote mountain pass in Balochistan after blowing up train tracks. The militants held over 400 passengers hostage in a day-long standoff before the military rescued them.
Pakistan security forces killed 33 insurgents, rescued 354 hostages and brought the siege to a close on Wednesday, according to army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry. A final count showed 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers had died in the attack.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s biggest in terms of landmass, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency, with separatist groups accusing the government of exploiting the province’s natural resources while leaving its people in poverty.
Government officials deny the allegation and say they are developing the province through multibillion-dollar projects, including those backed by China.
Ramadan on patrol: Pakistani policeman balances duty with devotion in Islamabad
Constable Malik Muhammad Ikram says iftar hour is particularly ‘unpredictable’ as they are often caught up in patrolling, chasing suspects or responding to emergencies
The 47-year-old, who always wanted to contribute to the society’s betterment, says iftar and suhoor are secondary and duty comes first, for which the government pays them
ISLAMABAD: As the daylight fades and residents sit together to break their fast amid a call for Maghreb prayer in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, the call for duty rings louder for Constable Malik Muhammad Ikram than the call to iftar, compelling him to break his fast with a date and water.
The 47-year-old, who has been serving in the Islamabad police for 18 years and is currently part of their Dolphin patrolling squad, says he is proud of efficiently discharging his duty, which takes on a different meaning in Ramadan that not only tests his endurance but also his devotion to faith.
Ikram’s duty schedule remains the same in Ramadan as any other day of the year, with an eight-hour shift varying between 7am-3pm, 3pm-11pm or 11pm-7am. But the fatigue feels different while fasting, he says.
“Indeed, performing our duties during Ramadan feels different,” he told Arab News while on duty in Islamabad’s G-6 sector within the remits of the Aabpara police station.
“Nonetheless, it is our responsibility and our profession. We can choose to work with a positive attitude or do it out of obligation, so we try to do it happily.”
Islamabad police constable, Malik Muhammad Ikram, stands guard during the holy month of Ramadan in Islamabad, Pakistan, on March 14, 2025. (AN photo)
The capital city police department doesn’t provide any formal iftar or sehri meals but offers whatever it can to on-duty staff, according to Ikram. The policemen manage to have quick sehri meals before heading out for duty on most days, and if not, they swing by a government mess or food stalls at the nearby G6 market to munch something quickly.
Ikram, who leads a team of three other cops, says the iftar hour is particularly “unpredictable” as they often break their fast with dates, water and fruit while being caught up in patrolling, chasing suspects or responding to emergency calls.
“If we’re on duty during iftar, we have to manage on our own,” he said. “If there’s a station nearby, we go there but there are times, when the Azaan is being called and we’re going for some task.”
Ikram recalls how he received an emergency call from the police control room about an accident near Zero Point just when he was about to break his fast this month and had to rush to the site to respond to the situation.
“If we are having iftar and we get a call regarding an emergency case or an accident, we have to leave everything and respond to the call,” he explained. “We also need to report our response time to the control room, letting them know how long it took us to respond after receiving the call.”
He said he was able to save a young man’s life following that call from the police control room.
“I felt really happy from the bottom of my heart,” he said, reminiscing the moments like this that remind him why he had joined the police force. “The life of the man was saved due to timely treatment.”
A police officer stands guard during the holy month of Ramadan in Islamabad, Pakistan, on March 14, 2025. (AN photo)
For a policeman, being patient is part of the job, particularly in Ramadan, as fatigue and hunger could flare up tempers that hampers their duty, according to the 47-year-old.
“We have to tolerate our anger because it’s the public,” he said. “Our profession and nature of duties are such that anger cannot work here and we have to be patient.”
Recalling another incident, he said they were stationed near a traffic signal in the G6 sector when his team signaled two youths riding a bike to stop, but they sped up and were eventually stopped after a long chase.
“We verified and found out that their bike was stolen. That’s why they tried to flee,” he said, highlighting that his team calmly handled the situation even though it could have turned tense.
Ikram says he is often assigned to the Red Zone, a high-security area housing key government buildings, embassies and key institutions, where the shift runs up to 16 hours even during Ramadan, but he accepts it as part of his calling.
The 47-year-old, whose other family members have also served in police, says he always wanted to contribute to the society’s betterment, which was the reason he joined the force.
“If there is an emergency during Ramadan, duty comes first,” he said. “I took up this profession because firstly, it’s all about Rizq (livelihood) — Allah had written our Rizq in this profession. Secondly, it was my personal choice to join the Islamabad police.”
Looking back at his years of service, Ikram says he finds fulfillment in small yet powerful moments.
“Iftar and suhoor are secondary. Duty is our responsibility, and the government pays us for it. So, duty always comes first,” he said as he picked up his radio and moved on with the routine patrol while fasting with an unwavering faith.
