KARACHI: Pakistan’s immigration authorities on Saturday detained an Iranian national traveling to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on fake documents at the Karachi airport, confirmed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in a statement.
Ameer Yousuf, who was planning to travel to Dubai on a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight PK-213, was interrogated by the authorities who suspected his documents to be fake.
“During the questioning, he could not provide information on his family,” the FIA spokesperson said in a statement. “The accused failed to satisfy the authorities about his place of birth and other related questions.”
Yousaf was subsequently taken to the Anti Human Trafficking Cell in Karachi for further legal action, the spokesperson added.
According to his travel documents seen by Arab News, Yousuf got a fake passport from Pakistani city of Panjgur in southwester Balochistan province bordering Iran.
Last year in October, at least three Iranian nationals were arrested at the Karachi airport after failed attempts to travel to the UAE and Qatar on fake travel documents.
The suspects, Amir Ali and Abdul Samad, were planning to go to Sharjah while Hanif wanted to go to Doha from the southern Pakistani port city.
A day later, immigration officials at the Karachi airport also arrested three other Iranian citizens, Tayyab Raza, Afzal Ahmed and Hamza Maqsood, after their arrival from Iran.
“All three had stamped fake Australian visas on their passports,” the FIA spokesperson said in a statement issued on October 30, 2022.
The FIA also arrested 10 other Iranians from Karachi last September in what was described as a “comprehensive crackdown” in different parts of the city.
The FIA said at the time the foreign nationals obtained Pakistan’s identity cards and travel documents with the help of Pakistani and Iranian agents and wanted to travel to Qatar.
In 2018, 11 Iranian nationals were arrested at the Turbat International Airport in Pakistan’s Balochistan province with fake Pakistani identity cards and passports, which they had used to repeatedly travel to the Middle East since 2014.
Iranian national trying to travel to Dubai on fake documents arrested at Pakistani airport
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Iranian national trying to travel to Dubai on fake documents arrested at Pakistani airport
- Pakistan’s immigration authorities arrested several Iranian citizens last year who wanted to go to Qatar, UAE on fake passports
- In 2018, a group of Iranian nationals were detained in Turbat who had repeatedly traveled to Arab countries on fake documents
Major cases keeping former Pakistan PM Imran Khan in jail
- Khan is serving 10 years on charges he leaked a classified cable and seven years in another
- Former prime minister denies wrongdoing, says cases against him are politically motivated
ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was granted bail in a land corruption case on Wednesday, but will remain in prison on other charges.
The 71-year-old former cricket star who has been in jail since August last year has been convicted in four cases, of which sentences in two have been suspended.
Details of the convictions and some important cases follow:
STATE SECRETS CASE
Khan is serving 10 years in prison on charges of making public a classified cable sent to Islamabad by Pakistan’s ambassador in Washington in 2022, in what is commonly known as the cipher case. An appeal seeking to suspend the sentence is being heard by the Islamabad High Court.
Khan has said the cable was proof of a conspiracy by the Pakistan military and US government to topple his government in 2022 after he visited Moscow just before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Washington and Pakistan’s military deny that accusation.
UNLAWFUL MARRIAGE CASE
Khan and his wife, Bushra Khan, also known as Bushra Bibi, are serving seven-year jail terms after a trial court ruled that their 2018 marriage broke the law. An appeal against this case is being heard by a sessions court.
They were charged with not completing the waiting period mandated by Islam, called “Iddat,” after Bibi divorced her previous husband. They signed their marriage contract, or “Nikkah,” in January 2018 in a secret ceremony.
STATE GIFTS CASES
Khan was handed jail sentences — one of 14 years and the other three years — in two cases pertaining to illegally acquiring and selling state gifts. Both sentences have been suspended by high courts while his appeals are heard.
Also known as the Toshakhana or state treasury case, Khan and his wife are charged with selling gifts worth more than 140 million rupees ($501,000) in state possession, which he received during his 2018-2022 premiership.
The gifts included diamond jewelry and seven watches, six of them Rolexes — the most expensive being valued at 85 million rupees ($304,000).
ABETTING VIOLENCE
Khan is facing a trial under anti-terrorism charges in connection with violence against the military and other state installations that erupted following his brief arrest in May last year.
A number of Khan’s supporters have been sentenced by military courts, but the case against Khan is ongoing.
Pakistani firm partners with UAE’s NymCard to promote fintech innovation in MENAP
- Dellsons Associates is a Pakistani consultancy firm while Nymcard is a UAE-based financial services provider
- Dellsons to act as a partner agent and refer new business opportunities to Nymcard, says press release
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani financial consultancy firm Dellsons Associates has partnered with NymCard, a leading financial services provider in the UAE, to promote innovation in the fintech landscape and empower businesses in Pakistan and the Middle East, Nymcard said on Wednesday.
NymCard is a leading provider of end-to-end embedded finance solutions, simplifying payments with its modern platform since 2018. It empowers businesses of all sizes to launch new payment products quickly, including prepaid cards, multi-currency offerings and credit cards.
Dellsons Associates is a leading provider of strategic banking consultancy, training, conferences, event management, IT services, and more, its website says.
The partnership between the two entities was signed at the Dubai Fintech Summit, a press statement from NymCard said, adding that the strategic alliance would synergize NymCard’s cutting-edge technology with Dellsons’ regional expertise and industry connections in the financial and banking sectors.
“We are excited to partner with Dellsons Associates, believing the synergies from this collaboration would catalyze cross-regional expansion for both institutions,” Shiraz Ali, the chief business officer at NymCard, was quoted as saying in the press release.
The press release said Dellsons would act as a partner agent and refer new business opportunities to NymCard, focusing on the fintech and banking sectors in the UAE and Pakistan. It said the partnership would create a powerful alliance to “revolutionize the financial services landscape.”
Dellsons Associates Chairman Ibrahim Amin said his firm was working in Pakistan and the Middle East to promote fintech innovation, financial inclusion, and digitization of cross-border channels of remittances to facilitate different states.
“Our key objective is to bring social and economic development through technological solutions, collaborations with emerging players, and networking with communities in Pakistan, the UAE, and different countries of the Middle East and South Asia,” Amin was quoted as saying by the press release.
Pakistani court grants bail to ex-PM Khan in graft case, says party
- Ex-PM Khan, wife were charged with receiving land worth millions of dollars as bribe from real estate tycoon
- Khan’s party says “fake” cases were designed to damage his and wife’s reputation, keep him away from polls
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani high court on Wednesday granted bail to former prime minister Imran Khan in a land corruption case, his party confirmed in a statement, rejecting the “fabricated and politically motivated” cases against the cricketer-turned-politician.
Government officials allege Khan, 71, and his wife received land worth millions of dollars as a bribe from a real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Hussain through the Al-Qadir Trust, a non-governmental welfare organization set up by Bushra Watto, Khan’s third wife, and Khan in 2018 when he was still in office.
The trust runs a university outside Islamabad devoted to spirituality and Islamic teachings, a project inspired by the former first lady, who is also commonly known as Bushra Bibi and has a reputation as a spiritual healer.
Khan was briefly arrested on May 9 in connection with the case, with riots breaking out throughout the country that saw military and government installations attacked. Khan was released shortly but was arrested in August in a separate case related to the sale of state gifts illegally.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Pakistan’s corruption watchdog, filed a reference against Khan in December 2023 saying he and his wife committed the offense in the land corruption case. In February this year, the former prime minister and his wife were indicted by an accountability court.
Khan, who denied the charges, appealed against the indictment at the Islamabad High Court. A two-member bench of the IHC comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Tariq Mehmood Jahangiri had reserved the verdict on Tuesday after both sides concluded their arguments.
“Islamabad High Court has accepted bail petition from the Former Prime Minister Imran Khan & has ordered his release,” Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said in a statement.
The PTI said it had contended that the land of the trust was not for personal gain. It said the former prime minister had established a religious and scientific educational institution with the intention of providing quality education to people regardless of caste, creed, race, religion, or financial status.
It said that since the trust deed mentioned Khan and his wife could not derive any benefit from it, the “false, fabricated and politically motivated cases were filed against them only to damage their reputation.”
“And to keep him in prison, impeding his participation in general elections,” it added.
PTI’s lawyer Naeem Haider Panjutha wrote on social media platform X that despite getting bail, Khan would remain in custody due to two convictions— one involving the leaking of state secrets and the other on his marriage violating Islamic law.
Khan, 71, has been in jail since August last year. In total, he has been convicted in four cases, but sentences in two have been suspended.
Pakistan conducts successful training launch of rocket system capable of engaging ‘deep targets’
- Fatah II Guided Rocket System can defeat any missile defense system, says army’s media wing
- Pakistan sees its missile development as deterrent against nuclear-armed neighbor and rival India
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army on Wednesday successfully conducted the training launch of the Fatah-II Guided Rocket System capable of engaging “deep targets” with high precision, a statement from the army’s media wing said, adding it can defeat any defense system.
Pakistan sees its missile development as a deterrent against nuclear-armed neighbor India, with which it has fought three wars since independence from Britain in 1947. Both nations have been developing missiles of varying ranges since they conducted nuclear tests in May 1998. In December 2023, Pakistan Army successfully conducted the flight test of the Fatah-II missile, which has a range of 400 kilometers.
“Equipped with state-of-the-art navigation system, unique trajectory and maneuverable features, Fatah-II is capable of engaging targets with high precision and defeating any missile defense system,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s media wing, said.
“Fatah -II is being inducted in Pakistan’s Artillery Divisions for stand-off, precision engagement of deep targets.”
The army said the rocket system would “significantly upgrade” the reach and lethality of Pakistan Army’s conventional arsenal.
The flight test was witnessed by Pakistan Army’s chief of general staff and senior officers of the country’s air force, army and navy forces, apart from scientists and engineers.
President Asif Zardari, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Shamshad Mirza and Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir congratulated the participating troops and scientists over the achievement.
As Pakistan and India continue to test missiles and build their weapons armor, analysts warn Asia may be sliding into an accelerating arms race.
Ancient spring festival kicks off in Pakistan’s Chitral, drawing crowds with traditional music and dance
- Chilam Joshi festival is celebrated by the Kalash people, often described as pagan due to their religious practices
- The annual event is integral to the identity of the Kalash community and the continuity of its ancient traditions
PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Tourism Authority on Tuesday announced the beginning of a popular cultural festival in Pakistan’s northwestern Chitral region, saying the event had attracted large numbers of foreign and local tourists like in the past.
The Chilam Joshi festival is celebrated by the Kalash people, who are often described as pagan due to their religious beliefs and practices involving the worship of multiple gods and spirits, to mark the arrival of spring and celebrate the bounty of nature.
Known for music, dance, and colorful clothes, the festival is also associated with the preparation for new crops, symbolizing hope and prosperity for the community.
“The ancient Kalash festival ‘Chilam Joshi’ has kicked off in full swing,” the KP tourism authority said in a statement. “Young women of Kalash danced to the beat of drums while wearing intricately embroidered garments, enhancing the colors of the festival.”
The statement added that district administration officials, members of the Kalash Development Authority and a large number of domestic and foreign tourists were also attending the festivity.
“The district administration has arranged foolproof security for the festival,” it added. “Tourism police are also providing services for the guidance of tourists.”
Chilam Joshi is said to be the oldest festival of the Kalash tribe. It involves various rituals, the most well-known being the one where people dance with walnut branches in hand.
The festival will last for three days in the area known for its rugged terrain and scenic beauty. The annual event is considered integral to the identity of the indigenous Kalash community and the continuity of its ancient traditions.
