MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan: India and Pakistan exchanged gunfire through the night into Thursday morning in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, a day after Islamabad said it shot down two Indian warplanes and captured a pilot.
There were no immediate reports of casualties, though jet fighters roared overhead through the mountainous region as villagers along the so-called Line of Control fled to safety.
Meanwhile, members of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party called for more military action, suggesting the conflict still could worsen.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan had called for talks between the two nuclear-armed rivals in a televised address Wednesday, saying: “Considering the nature of the weapons that both of us have, can we afford any miscalculation?“
World powers have called on the nations to de-escalate the tensions gripping the contested region since a Feb. 14 suicide car bombing killed over 40 Indian paramilitary personnel. India responded with an airstrike Tuesday inside Pakistan, the first such raid since the two nations’ 1971 war over territory that later became Bangladesh.
The situation escalated with Wednesday’s aerial skirmish, which saw Pakistan say it shot down two Indian aircraft, one of which crashed in Pakistan-administered part of Kashmir and the other in Indian-administered Kashmir.
India acknowledged one of its MiG-21s, a Soviet-era fighter jet, was “lost” in skirmishes with Pakistan and that its pilot was “missing in action.”
India also said it shot down a Pakistani warplane, something Islamabad denied.
Both Indian and Pakistani officials reported small-arms fire and shelling along the Kashmir region into Thursday. Government buildings in Muzafarabad, the capital of the Pakistan-administered section of Kashmir, were used to provide shelter to those who fled from border towns.
Authorities in Pakistani-administered Kashmir closed all schools and educational institutions in the region and urged parents to keep their children at home amid mounting tension with neighboring India. Pakistan’s airspace remained closed for a second day Thursday, snarling air traffic.
Kashmir has been claimed by both India and Pakistan since almost immediately after their creation in 1947. The countries have fought three wars against each other, two directly dealing with the disputed region.
Pakistan, India trade fire in Kashmir; villagers flee homes
Pakistan, India trade fire in Kashmir; villagers flee homes
- Reportedly there are small-arms fire and shelling along the Kashmir region on Thursday
- World powers have called on the nations to de-escalate the tensions
‘Welcome development,’ says Pakistan as Spain, Norway, Ireland to recognize Palestinian state today
- Three European states have said they will formally recognize Palestinian state from May 28
- This followed recognitions by Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday congratulated Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez for pushing ahead with a decision to recognize a Palestinian state from today, Tuesday, as the European nation joins Ireland and Norway in implementing last week’s announcement.
The prime ministers of Spain, Ireland and Norway made the announcement on Wednesday, following recent recognitions by Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas. The additions have brought the total number of countries recognizing the Palestinian state to nearly 150.
“The recognition of the reality of Palestine by a country like Spain is a positive and welcome development on the international scene,” Sharif said in a statement released by his office.
“Honorable [Spanish PM] Pedro Sanchez and the people of Spain have rejected the ongoing historical oppression and usurpation ambitions of Israel on innocent Palestinians with this decision.”
By joining more than 140 of the 193 member-states of the United Nations that recognize a Palestinian state, Madrid, Dublin and Oslo have said they sought to accelerate efforts to secure a ceasefire in Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.
“This is a historic decision that has a single objective: that Israelis and Palestinians achieve peace,” Sanchez said in a televised address before a cabinet meeting that will formally approve the measure.
Spain will recognize a unified Palestinian state, including the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, under the Palestinian National Authority with East Jerusalem as its capital, he said.
The Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank under Israeli military occupation, has welcomed the decision.
Sanchez said Madrid will not recognize any changes to pre-1967 borders unless agreed to by both parties.
“It’s the only way of advancing toward what everyone recognizes as the only possible solution to achieve a peaceful future, one of a Palestinian state that lives side by side with the Israeli state in peace and security,” he added.
Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs said last week it would upgrade its representative office in Ramallah in the West Bank to an embassy and appoint an ambassador and upgrade the status of the Palestinian mission in Ireland to an embassy.
The three countries say they hope their decision will spur other European Union countries to follow suit.
Israel has repeatedly condemned the move, insisting that it bolsters Hamas, which staged the Oct. 7 attack on Israel from its Gaza base.
“Sanchez, when you... recognize a Palestinian state, you are complicit in incitement to genocide against the Jewish people and in war crimes,” Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz wrote on X on Tuesday.
The Palestinian flag was flying outside the Irish parliament as the government was set to approve the recognition in a cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning.
“The people of Ireland know that a two-state solution is the only way to bring peace and stability to people in Israel, and to people in Palestine,” Prime Minister Simon Harris told journalists before the cabinet meeting.
-With inputs from Reuters
Journalist with Pakistan’s ARY News ‘taken’ by officers, whereabouts unknown — family
- Journalist Hafiz Maaz Bin Khalid works as a Digital Media Coordinator for ARY News
- Video shows police taking Khalid from his house in a police van early Tuesday morning
KARACHI: The father of a journalist from one of Pakistan’s top television news networks said on Tuesday he was picked up from his home in Karachi city by plain-clothes and uniformed officials and his whereabouts were unknown while the family feared for his safety.
The journalist, Hafiz Maaz Bin Khalid, works as a Digital Media Coordinator for ARY News. A video shared with media by the family showed officers taking Khalid away in a police van from Karachi’s Buffer Zone area early on Tuesday morning.
“They arrived in three mobile vans and a double cabin, climbed over the wall, and took my son with them, claiming they were taking him for investigation to the Crime Investigation Agency center,” Khalil Ur Rehman, the journalist’s father, told Arab News, adding that officers, who were both in police uniform and plain clothes, did not produce warrants when asked.
“They took him along with his national identity card and mobile phone. When I went to the CIA center, I was told my son was not brought there. I am unaware of his whereabouts,” the father added.
“They had informed us that they were taking Maaz for questioning for an hour. Almost ten hours have passed, but we are still unaware.”
Senior Superintendent of Police Zeeshan Siddiqui told Arab News police had not arrested the journalist and declined further comment. Neither police nor family commented on why Khalid might have been arrested but two of his colleagues at ARY who declined to be named said they believed it was over recent social media posts critical of the army and police.
Journalists in Pakistan are increasingly reporting on growing media censorship, with many blaming Pakistan’s powerful military for putting pressure on critical voices. The military and the government deny they suppress the press.
In a report released on May 3 to coincide with World Press Freedom Day, the International Federation of Journalists watchdog said more than 300 people associated with the information industry in Pakistan had faced repressive state tactics designed to quell dissent during the course of about a year.
“Over 300 journalists and bloggers this year were affected by state coercion and targeted, including dozens of journalists arrested for durations between several hours to four weeks and nearly 60 served legal notices or summons for their journalism work or personal dissent online,” the IFJ Pakistan country report for 2023-2024 said. “At least eight were charged for alleged sedition, terrorism and incitement to violence – all serious charges carrying lengthy sentences and even the death penalty.”
The report also said four journalists were killed during the period under review while at least 59 journalists and bloggers were charged with sedition, terrorism, incitement to violence, defamation or contempt.
Pakistan aims to turn Gwadar port into logistics hub, increase exports to China
- Beijing is major ally, investor in Pakistan but militants have attacked Chinese projects over recent years
- Establishment of Agriculture Demonstration Zones important project in next phase of CPEC, PM says
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday Pakistan would turn Gwadar port into a logistics hub with Beijing’s cooperation and had made it a priority to increase its exports to China.
China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan but both separatist and religiously motivated militants have attacked Chinese projects in recent years, killing Chinese personnel. In the last attack on Mar. 26, five Chinese workers were killed in a suicide bombing on their vehicle on their way to a hydropower project funded by Beijing and being built in Dasu in the country’s northwest.
The assault was the third major attack in little over a week on China’s interests in the South Asian nation, where Beijing has invested more than $65 billion in infrastructure, energy and other projects as part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
On Tuesday, PM Sharif held a review meeting on increasing cooperation between Pakistan and China in which various ministries presented their recommendations.
“Pakistan wants to increase cooperation with China in agriculture, information technology, energy sectors and increase exports of Pakistani products to China on priority basis,” Sharif was quoted as saying in a statement released by his office as he invited Chinese industries, particularly textiles, to set up shop in Pakistan.
Sharif said the government would provide all possible facilities to Chinese industrialists and investors, while the Chinese-funded deep-sea Gwadar port would be made a logistics hub with Beijing’s cooperation
“Establishment of Agriculture Demonstration Zones will be an important project regarding the next phase of CPEC,” the PM’s office said. “Concerned ministries should prepare for new Pakistan-China cooperation projects and take steps to increase business-to-business ties …China can help Pakistan in setting up a strategy to increase exports.”
Sharif also addressed the issue of the security of Chinese nationals working in Pakistan, saying a “comprehensive” plan had been prepared for their “foolproof security.”
Last week, Pakistani authorities said they had arrested 11 militants who were involved in the Mar. 26 suicide bombing, adding that evidence showed the insurgents had been taking instructions from Pakistani Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.
Pakistani military had already said the attack was planned in Afghanistan and that the suicide bomber was also an Afghan national, a charge Kabul denies.
Pakistan’s Nawaz Sharif set to retake ruling party presidency after six years
- Nawaz Sharif, who founded the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz in 1993, stepped down as president in 2018
- Over 3,500 members of PML-N party’s general council will elect new president through a show of hands today
ISLAMABAD: The election for the presidency of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) will be held today, Tuesday, in Lahore, the party said in a statement, with three-time former prime minister Nawaz Sharif expected to take over the top position after a hiatus of six years.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif resigned as PML-N president earlier this month saying it was time for his elder brother to “resume his rightful place” as the party’s leader.
Sharif, who founded the PML-N in 1993, stepped down as its president in 2018 after the Supreme Court ruled that an individual disqualified under Articles 62 and 63 of the constitution, which outline the rules for qualification and disqualification for parliamentarians, could not serve as the head of a political party.
“The central general council meeting of the party will be held in Lahore today (Tuesday) for the election of PML-N President,” the PML-N said in a statement.
“Voting will be held in the general council meeting at 4 p.m. in a local hotel in Lahore. If only one candidate submits papers then the election will be uncontested, otherwise the election will be by show of hands.”
Around 3,500 members of the party’s general council are expected to vote today.
The election schedule had been announced by the party’s election commission, PML-N Chief Election Commissioner Rana Sanaullah said in a press conference on Monday.
“11 nomination papers have been issued to different party leaders including Sharif, Bashir Memon, Irfan Siddiqui, Anusha Rehman, Raja Farooq Haider, Shah Ghulam Qadir,” Sanaullah told reporters.
Sharif was disqualified as prime minister by the Supreme Court in July 2017, which declared him “dishonest” for not disclosing a separate monthly income from a company owned by his son. The court also ordered the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to open a criminal trial into the ownership of London flats and several other revelations about the ex-PM’s family wealth disclosed in the Panama Papers’ leaks.
A year later, following the investigations ordered by the court, Sharif was sentenced to 10 years in prison for corrupt practices linked to his family’s purchase of the upscale London flat and subsequently to seven years in jail in a separate case for being unable to prove the source of income that had led to his ownership of a steel mill in Saudi Arabia.
Sharif has since been acquitted in both cases, which he always maintained were politically motivated.
As Sharif faced a slew of cases, Shehbaz Sharif, his younger brother, subsequently became president of the PML-N but had always maintained it was a temporary arrangement until his brother was exonerated by the courts.
After being jailed in 2018, Sharif flew to London in 2019 after a court allowed him to leave for medical treatment, on the condition he returned when fit. However, he went into exile and ran his party affairs from London, while former cricketer Imran Khan ruled as prime minister until April 2022, when he was ousted in a parliamentary vote of no confidence.
Shehbaz took over after Khan and became prime minister for 16 months ahead of general elections on Feb. 8, after which he once again came to power in March and became premier and is now ruling Pakistan through a fragile coalition with smaller parties.
Sharif returned from exile to Pakistan in October last year in a chartered jet, surrounded by supporters and journalists.
For deaf children in Pakistan, school is life
- Of more than a million deaf school-age children in Pakistan, less than five percent go to school
- According to World Federation of the Deaf, 80 percent of world’s 70 million deaf people have no access to education
LAHORE: At a school for the deaf in Pakistan, the faces of students are animated, their smiles mischievous, as their hands twirl in tandem with their sign language teacher.
The quiet classes exude joy, led often by teachers who are also deaf.
“I have friends, I communicate with them, joke with them, we share our stories with each other about what we have done and not done, we support each other,” said Qurat-ul-Ain, an 18-year-old deaf woman who joined the school a year ago.
More than 200 pupils, children and adults mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds, are among the few given a new fervor for life at this inner-city school in historic Lahore.
Of more than a million deaf school-age children in Pakistan, less than five percent go to school.
The figure is even lower for girls and, without a language to express themselves, many children are marginalized by society and even their families.
“Life is a little difficult. There is a huge communication gap here where people generally don’t know sign language,” said Qurat-ul-Ain.
At the school run by charity Deaf Reach, pupils learn sign language in English and Urdu before progressing on to the national curriculum.
Everyone has a name in sign language, which often has to do with a physical characteristic.
Younger children learn with visuals: a word and a sign are associated with an image.
Their peers turn their thumbs down for a wrong answer and make the applause sign — twisting hands — for a correct one.
Founded in 1998 by an American and funded with donations, Deaf Reach now has eight schools across the country, educating 2,000 students on a “pay what you can afford” basis, with 98 percent of children on scholarships.
The vast majority of students at the school come from hearing families, who are also offered the chance to learn how to sign and break the language barrier with their son or daughter.
Adeela Ejaz explained how she struggled to come to terms with her first born son — now 10 years old — being deaf.
“When I couldn’t understand what he was trying to say he would bang his head against the wall and floor,” the 35-year-old told AFP.
“It was tough for everyone because no-one knew how to communicate with him. Everyone would tell us he is deaf but I wasn’t prepared to accept that.”
The mother and son pair are now both learning to sign.
“I am getting better at signing and I am able to communicate with my son. He’s now become so attached to me.”
“ATTITUDES IMPROVING”
The program makes extensive use of technology, and offers an online dictionary and a phone app.
It has also found employment for more than 2,000 deaf people with around 50 Pakistani companies.
Huzaifa, 26, who became deaf after contracting a fever at a young age, was given a stitching apprenticeship at Deaf Reach to help him into the skilled workforce.
“Teachers in the government school didn’t know any sign language. They would just write notes on the board and tell us to copy it. We used to get really disheartened, and I would be extremely worried for my future,” he told AFP.
His family pushed for him to become educated, helping him to learn the basics of sign language before he received formal coaching.
“My parents never threw me away. They spared no effort in ensuring I was able to continue my education,” he said.
Without their dedication, he said: “I’d be working as a day laborer somewhere, cutting leaves or cementing walls.”
Sign language varies from one country to another, with its own associated culture, and regional variations sometimes exist.
According to World Federation of the Deaf, 80 percent of the approximately 70 million deaf people in the world have no access to education.
“I used to sit idly at home, use the mobile or play outside. I never had a clue about what people were saying,” said Faizan, 21, who has been at Deaf Reach for 11 years and dreams of working abroad.
“Before learning how to sign I used to feel very weak mentally and had an inferiority complex and fear. But thankfully there is none of that anymore.”
Attitudes toward people with disabilities are slowly improving in Pakistan, which has introduced laws against discrimination.
“We have seen over the years the mentality change tremendously. From many people hiding their deaf children, feeling embarrassed, ashamed,” noted Daniel Marc Lanthier, director of operations of the foundation behind Deaf Reach.
Nowadays families are “coming out in the open, asking for education for their children, asking to find employment for them,” he said, though much work remains.
“With a million deaf children who don’t have access to school, it’s a huge challenge, it’s a huge goal to be met.”
