ISLAMABAD: A 14-member delegation from Saudi Arabia is expected to visit Pakistan on March 31 in order to examine immigration facilities at various airports in the country, officials said on Wednesday.
The move is part of measures to facilitate more than 184,000 Hajj pilgrims as part of the Kingdom’s Road to Makkah project.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had formally granted permission to include Pakistan in the “Road to Makkah Project” – an initiative to facilitate pilgrims from across the Muslim world – during his visit to Islamabad in February.
“Pakistan’s inclusion in this project is nothing less than a blessing,” Imran Siddique, spokesman for Ministry of Religious Affairs, told Arab News on Wednesday.
He said that the Saudi delegation, comprising top government officials, would be checking arrangements for a seamless immigration process at the airports.
“They will assess the need of the staff to be deployed at our four major airports including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore and Peshawar to get the immigration of all the pilgrims done here,” he said.
Terming it as a “great achievement” for Pakistani pilgrims, the spokesman also thanked the Saudi crown prince for extending the facility. Hajj flights from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia will begin from the first week of July.
A total of 184,210 pilgrims from Pakistan will perform Hajj this year, out of which 107,526 Pakistanis will perform Hajj on the government’s quota, while more than 76,000 will be using services offered by private tour and Hajj operators.
Siddique clarified that local immigration facilities will also be extended to those individuals who are not part of the government’s program and are planning their pilgrimage with private tour operators.
During his visit, the Saudi crown prince had signed agreements worth $20 billion in different fields including petrochemicals and renewable energy. “We believe Pakistan is going to be a very very important country in the future and we want to be sure we are part of that,” he said in his address at the inaugural session of the Supreme Coordination Council, co-chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan and the crown prince.
Abuzar Butt, a private tour and Hajj operator, said that the completion of all immigration-related formalities at Pakistani airports will help Pakistani pilgrims, especially the elders, to save a lot of time and hassle.
“The local immigration means our pilgrims will go through the immigration process in Pakistan, saving them the hassle of going to the immigration counters once they reach Saudi Arabia,” he told Arab News.
Saudi officials’ visit to check Pakistan’s Hajj immigration facilities
Saudi officials’ visit to check Pakistan’s Hajj immigration facilities
- Kingdom to deploy staff at airports in the country to facilitate pilgrims
- More than 180,000 to perform Hajj this year
Greek authorities release Pakistani woman athlete after two-day detention, ask her to return home
- Mona Khan, who also works with Pakistan state TV, was arrested on Friday while going to Greece’s Mount Olympus with a team of climbers
- The Pakistani athlete says she was arrested ‘due to her Pakistani identity and was questioned about carrying Kalima Tayyaba with her’
KARACHI: Pakistani woman athlete and journalist Mona Khan, who was arrested in Greece this week, has been released from prison, she said on Sunday, a day after the Pakistani Foreign Office said its mission was actively engaged with Greek authorities on the case.
Khan said she was stopped at a checkpoint on Friday afternoon when she was going to Mount Olympus along with a team of climbers, and upon checking her passport, Greek authorities held her for investigation, from where they took her to jail.
The athlete, who also works with Pakistan’s state TV as a host and participated in the Athens marathon last year, said she wanted to wave the Pakistan flag and Kalima Tayyaba on the highest mountain peak in Greece, that lies some 433 kilometers from Athens.
On Saturday, Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Foreign Office, told Arab News the Pakistani mission in Athens was actively engaged with Greek officials to secure the release of the Pakistani athlete.
Speaking to Arab News after her release on Sunday, the Pakistani athlete said her release was “conditional” even though she had violated no rules of the host country, while she would also not be able to return to Greece for five years.
“They arrested me just when they saw my Pakistani passport and later questioned me when they found Kalima Tayyaba in my bag,” Khan said.
“I am completely clueless as to why they arrested me, deprived me of a chance to accomplish my goal, and then asked me to leave.”
She said she was asked to sign documents that she would not enter another European country despite having visas and would return to Pakistan within 20 days.
“It’s my right to know what laws I have violated,” Khan said. “I was there for a healthy activity, but what happened to me caused me mental stress.”
Greek authorities have not issued any statement on Khan’s detention, while the Pakistani Foreign Office spokesperson did not respond, when asked about reasons for her detention and whether Pakistan had protested with Greek authorities in case Khan had not violated any laws of the host country.
“Jailed for doing nothing and just because of being Pakistani,” Khan said, after reuniting with her son, who was waiting for her to return after completing the mission to wave the Pakistani flag and Kalima Tayyaba on Mount Olympus.
“He asked for the video where I was supposed to wave the flag. I didn’t end his excitement and didn’t tell him about my ordeal.”
Emirs of Qatar, Kuwait accept PM Sharif’s invitation to visit Pakistan— PMO
- PM Shehbaz Sharif holds separate meetings with ambassadors of Qatar, Kuwait to Pakistan
- Visits to prove effective in increasing investment, cooperation with both countries, says PM Office
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s office said on Sunday that the emirs of Qatar and Kuwait have accepted his invitation to visit Pakistan, as Islamabad looks to increase foreign trade and investment from allies to escape a macroeconomic crisis.
Sharif separately met the ambassadors of Qatar and Kuwait to Pakistan on Sunday during which matters relating to bilateral relations, trade and cooperation were discussed.
During the meetings, the ambassadors of both countries presented letters from their emirs addressed to Sharif which conveyed they had accepted his invitation to visit Pakistan.
“Visits by the emirs of Kuwait and Qatar to Pakistan will prove effective in increasing investment and cooperation further with Qatar and Kuwait,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
In his meeting with Kuwait’s Ambassador to Pakistan Abdulrahman Jasser Al-Mutairi, Sharif recalled his recent meeting with Kuwait’s emir at the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Riyadh in April.
“The prime minister expressed satisfaction that the next meeting of the Pakistan-Kuwait Joint Ministerial Commission will be held from May 28-30 in Kuwait,” the PMO said.
Sharif also met Qatar’s envoy Mubarak Ali Essa Al-Khater in which he said Islamabad values its “historic brotherly relations” with Doha and reiterated Pakistan’s determination to increase mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, the PMO said.
The Pakistani premier said both countries should start preparing for the Qatari emir’s visit by exchanging delegations to ensure the visit becomes a productive and successful one.
This development takes place amid a flurry of foreign visits in recent weeks to Pakistan. These included visits by the now deceased Iranian president, the Saudi foreign minister, a delegation of top Saudi companies as well as officials from Qatar, China, Japan, Turkiye and Central Asian countries, among others.
Reeling from high inflation, low forex reserves, and an unstable currency, Sharif has vowed to steer Pakistan out of its prolonged economic crisis by enhancing bilateral trade with allies and attracting more international investments. This week, Sharif met UAE’s President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan who committed to investing $10 billion in multiple sectors of Pakistan.
Islamabad is also currently in talks with the IMF to secure a new, longer-term bailout package of at least $6 billion to stave off a chronic balance of payment crisis.
Pakistan’s Multan sees increase in patients as heat wave intensifies
- Pakistan’s disaster management authority last week warned of heat wave in Punjab from May 25-31
- Health experts at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital advise people to remain indoors, stay hydrated
ISLAMABAD: Doctors in Pakistan’s Multan this week advised citizens to exercise caution during the ongoing heat wave, as the administration of the city’s main hospital said it has recorded an increase in the number of patients in recent days owing to the extreme temperature.
The Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) last week warned that the southern districts in Punjab, namely Multan, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Dera Ghazi Khan would experience a heat wave from May 21-27. Authorities in the province ordered schools to remain shut from May 25-31 due to the extreme heat.
Heat waves become severe and frequent due to climate change. These events, occurring in summer, are caused by slow-moving high-pressure systems leading to prolonged high temperatures.
“These days the temperature is rising already, it’s almost touching 48 and 47, so the patients are coming with minor symptoms,” Dr. Farooq Ahmad, medical superintendent at Multan’s Nishtar Hospital, told Reuters.
“During summer, we face two things, one is the heatwave, the other is the diarrhea season, both basically cause for dehydration and the losses and everything.”
Health experts advise citizens to take special precautions against the heat and not venture out unnecessarily.
“We try our best to inform people coming in [to the hospital about the dangers of heat stroke],” Dr. Ayub Qazi, deputy superintendent at the hospital, told Reuters.
“We tell them to not to leave their homes unnecessarily, and cover their heads when they do.”
Pakistan experienced its first severe heat wave in June 2015 when temperatures as high as 49 degrees Celsius struck the country’s south, causing the deaths of about 2,000 people from dehydration and heatstroke, mostly in the southern port city of Karachi.
Increased exposure to heat, and more heat waves, have been identified as one of the key impacts of climate change in Pakistan, with people experiencing extreme heat and seeing some of the highest temperatures in the world in recent years. The South Asian country of more than 241 million, one of the ten most vulnerable nations to climate change impacts, has also recently witnessed untimely downpours, flash floods and droughts.
Climate change-induced extreme heat can cause illnesses such as heat cramps, heat exhaustion, heatstroke, and hyperthermia. It can make certain chronic conditions worse, including cardiovascular, respiratory, and cerebrovascular disease and diabetes-related conditions, and can also result in acute incidents, such as hospitalizations due to strokes or renal disease.
According to the Global Climate Risk Index, nearly 10,000 Pakistanis have died while the country has suffered economic losses worth $3.8 billion due to climate change impacts between 1999 and 2018. A deadly heat wave that hit Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi, the capital of Sindh, claimed 120 lives in 2015.
In 2022, torrential monsoon rains triggered the most devastating floods in Pakistan’s history, killing around 1,700 people and affecting over 33 million, a staggering number close to the population of Canada. Millions of homes, tens of thousands of schools and thousands of kilometers of roads and railways are yet to be rebuilt.
Army captain, soldier killed in gunbattle with militants in northwest Pakistan
- Five militants killed, three injured during shootout in Peshawar district, says army’s media wing
- Pakistan has seen surge in attacks since Nov. 2022 when its truce broke down with Pakistani Taliban
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistan Army captain, soldier and five militants were killed in a shootout with militants in the northwestern Peshawar District on Sunday, the army’s media wing said in a statement.
The gunbattle took place when security forces conducted an intelligence-based operation in Hassan Khel area in Peshawar District on the reported presence of “terrorists,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s media wing, said.
It said five “terrorists” were killed while three others were injured during the exchange of fire.
“However, during an intense exchange of fire, leading his troops from the front, Captain Hussain Jahangir (age: 25 years, resident of Rahim Yar Khan District) along with another brave son of soil, Havildar Shafiq Ullah (age: 36 years, resident of District Karak), having fought gallantly, made the ultimate sacrifice and embraced Shahadat,” the ISPR said.
The army said a sanitization operation was being carried out to eliminate any militants found in the area.
“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to eliminate the menace of terrorism and such sacrifices of our brave soldiers further strengthen our resolve,” the army said.
Pakistan’s security forces have suffered a surge in attacks from the Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in the country’s western regions bordering Afghanistan ever since a fragile truce between the state and the banned outfit broke down in November 2022.
The TTP, which seeks to impose its strict version of Islam in the South Asian country, has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistani civilians and security forces since 2007 before the army conducted multiple operations to drive them out of the tribal areas.
Repeated attacks from the TTP against Pakistan’s security forces have soured relations between Islamabad and Kabul. Pakistan has accused the Taliban of providing shelter to TTP militants to attack Pakistan. Kabul has denied the allegations and insisted it does not allow any group to launch attacks on other countries from its soil.
Pakistan PM backs China amid Beijing’s rising tensions with Taiwan
- Development takes place after China launched military drills around Taiwan this week after its new president took oath
- PM Sharif resolves to continue support for China on Taiwan issue, says “so-called elections” do not change facts
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday backed China’s stance on Taiwan, saying it was an inalienable part of China amid Beijing’s rising tensions with Taipei.
The development takes place as China launched joint exercises involving the army, navy and air force in the sea near Taiwan this week after its new president, William Lai Ching-te, took oath of office and called on Beijing to stop its “intimidation” of the island.
China views democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to take it one day, by force if necessary.
In a message on social media platform X, Sharif said Pakistan has always supported China’s principled stance on Taiwan and would continue to do so.
“Pakistan adheres to ‘One China’ policy, regards Taiwan as an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China and supports the Chinese government’s efforts for national reunification,” Sharif wrote.
“The so-called elections or transition of the self-proclaimed government in Taiwan do not change the objective facts on the Taiwan issue,” he added.
Beijing has referred to Lai as a “troublemaker” and a “separatist” in the past.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Defense said it had placed its military on “high alert” in response to the latest drills, which it described as “irrational provocations and actions that disrupt regional peace and stability.”
China has been one of Pakistan’s most reliable foreign partners in recent years and has invested over $65 billion in energy and infrastructure projects as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in Pakistan.
The project, part of President Xi Jinping’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative, aims to connect China to the Arabian Sea via a network of roads, railways, pipelines and ports in Pakistan, and help Islamabad expand and modernize its economy.
