ISLAMABAD: Officials said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be briefed on the latest tensions in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, where Pakistan accused India of a cease-fire violation in which Indian troops killed one Pakistani.
According to sources, Sharif will also be briefed about measures being taken by the army to prevent militants from entering from Afghanistan or crossing the border to launch attacks inside Afghanistan.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to talk to reporters on the record.
The development comes a day after Pakistan summoned an Indian diplomat and lodged a protest with New Delhi over Wednesday’s shooting in Kashmir.
India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.
Tanker fire toll rises to 190
Sources said the death toll from a massive fuel truck fire earlier this week has climbed to 190, after 17 more people died in hospital from severe burns.
Rao Taslim Ahmad, a deputy commissioner in the city of Bahawalpur in central Pakistan, said some of the victims who were rushed to hospitals following the blaze were still in critical condition on Friday.
The disaster struck early on Sunday outside Bahawalpur when the driver of the oil tanker, which was en route from the southern port city of Karachi to Lahore, lost control and crashed on a highway.
The fuel ignited when villagers rushed to the scene to collect the spilled oil, ignoring warnings from police.
Pakistan held a collective funeral for 130 of the victims on Tuesday.
Journalist arrested under cybercrime law
Authorities have arrested a journalist under a new electronic crime law aimed at combating terrorism and preventing blasphemy but which critics say is used to suppress political dissent.
The journalist, Zafarullah Achakzai a reporter for the Daily Qudrat newspaper, in Quetta city was produced before a magistrate on Wednesday and remanded in police custody under the cyber law, an official from the police’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) said.
He is one of the first reporters to be charged under the electronic crime law, which was introduced in August to the objections of media freedom and human rights activists.
Achakzai’s father, Naimatullah Achakzai, said his son was detained on Sunday by officers from the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in overall charge of security in Baluchistan province, of which Quetta is the capital.
Pakistan PM meeting officials amid tension with neighbors
Pakistan PM meeting officials amid tension with neighbors
Bangladesh halts controversial relocation of Rohingya refugees to remote island
- Administration of ousted PM Sheikh Hasina spent about $350m on the project
- Rohingya refuse to move to island and 10,000 have fled, top refugee official says
DHAKA: When Bangladesh launched a multi-million-dollar project to relocate Rohingya refugees to a remote island, it promised a better life. Five years on, the controversial plan has stalled, as authorities find it is unsustainable and refugees flee back to overcrowded mainland camps.
The Bhasan Char island emerged naturally from river sediments some 20 years ago. It lies in the Bay of Bengal, over 60 km from Bangladesh’s mainland.
Never inhabited, the 40 sq. km area was developed to accommodate 100,000 Rohingya refugees from the cramped camps of the coastal Cox’s Bazar district.
Relocation to the island started in early December 2020, despite protests from the UN and humanitarian organizations, which warned that it was vulnerable to cyclones and flooding, and that its isolation restricted access to emergency services.
Over 1,600 people were then moved to Bhasan Char by the Bangladesh Navy, followed by another 1,800 the same month. During 25 such transfers, more than 38,000 refugees were resettled on the island by October 2024.
The relocation project was spearheaded by the government of former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who was ousted last year. The new administration has since suspended it indefinitely.
“The Bangladesh government will not conduct any further relocation of the Rohingya to Bhasan Char island. The main reason is that the country’s present government considers the project not viable,” Mizanur Rahman, refugee relief and repatriation commissioner in Cox’s Bazar, told Arab News on Sunday.
The government’s decision was prompted by data from UN agencies, which showed that operations on Bhasan Char involved 30 percent higher costs compared with the mainland camps in Cox’s Bazar, Rahman said.
“On the other hand, the Rohingya are not voluntarily coming forward for relocation to the island. Many of those previously relocated have fled ... Around 29,000 are currently living on the island, while about 10,000 have returned to Cox’s Bazar on their own.”
A mostly Muslim ethnic minority, the Rohingya have lived for centuries in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state but were stripped of their citizenship in the 1980s and have faced systemic persecution ever since.
In 2017 alone, some 750,000 of them crossed to neighboring Bangladesh, fleeing a deadly crackdown by Myanmar’s military. Today, about 1.3 million of them shelter in 33 camps in the coastal Cox’s Bazar district, making it the world’s largest refugee settlement.
Bhasan Char, where the Bangladeshi government spent an estimated $350 million to construct concrete residential buildings, cyclone shelters, roads, freshwater systems, and other infrastructure, offered better living conditions than the squalid camps.
But there was no regular transport service to the island, its inhabitants were not allowed to travel freely, and livelihood opportunities were few and dependent on aid coming from the mainland.
Rahman said: “Considering all aspects, we can say that Rohingya relocation to Bhasan Char is currently halted. Following the fall of Sheikh Hasina’s regime, only one batch of Rohingya was relocated to the island.
“The relocation was conducted with government funding, but the government is no longer allowing any funds for this purpose.”
“The Bangladeshi government has spent around $350 million on it from its own funds ... It seems the project has not turned out to be successful.”
