KARACHI: In the narrow alleys of a poor neighborhood of the Pakistani city of Karachi, known for drugs, gang wars and low literacy rates, children are learning about peace, love and interfaith tolerance from string puppets.
As the curtains open on stage, a narrator tells the story of “Sindbad the Sailor,” a hero of Middle Eastern origin and his journeys around the world in which he meets people of different faiths, languages and religions — who often do not have much tolerance for one another.
“A man is dying and you guys are talking about castes,” the protagonist puppet rebuked a fellow puppet who did not want to save a drowning marionette because it belonged to a lower caste.
“You should be ashamed calling yourself human beings. Humans save humanity not caste,” Sindbad says.
Writer Nouman Mehmood said the story came to mind when his group was conducting an education awareness campaign in some poor neighborhoods in the city.
They noticed religious and ethnic antagonism in those neighborhoods and decided to create a show to spread a message of peace, tolerance and harmony.
Pakistan, an overwhelmingly Muslim country of more than 200 million people, has seen repeated attacks on churches, Hindu temples and sufi shrines in recent years by hard-line religious groups and Islamist militants.
Conservative religious schools or madrasas are regularly blamed for radicalization but they are often the only education available to millions of poor children, making alternative messages especially important.
“The basic thing is acceptance. You should have enough room to accept others regardless of whether he is a Christian, without considering he is a Hindu, without considering he is a Sikh,” Mehmood said.
Organized by Thespianz Theatre, the show plans to travel to other poor Karachi neighborhoods and provinces after its run in the tough Karachi neighborhood of Lyari.
“There is a message that we should not interfere with others’ religions. We should help each other,” said eighth grade student Adul Rahim Arshad after watching the show.
“If one deceives us, we should not deceive him back. Instead we should help him.”
Puppeteers lead message of tolerance in Pakistan
Puppeteers lead message of tolerance in Pakistan
- Aim to counter religious and ethnic antagonism in poor neighborhoods
- The show plans to travel to other neighborhoods of Karachi
Pakistan PM says pushing for $10 billion disbursement of pledged flood-relief funds
- Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar points out Pakistan’s flood recovery plan was built around the international pledges
- The climate-induced floods affected million people and killed over 1,700 during last year’s monsoon season
KARACHI: Pakistan is striving to get donors to release $10 billion in pledges to help it recover from devastating floods by launching rebuilding projects that hinge on the funding, caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-haq Kakar said on Friday.
Donors from around the world stepped up after Pakistan was hammered by floods last year and the $10 billion amounts to more than half of what Islamabad estimated it needed to rebound from the disaster.
“In all our interactions, one point has been that the projects are designed in accordance with the pledges, and that we ensure that they convert to tangible financial assistance,” Kakar told the national broadcaster.
“We’re trying to ensure that the amounts promised and pledged to us are dispersed to Pakistan and are spent on those affected by the floods,” he said.
Such funding is crucial for cash-strapped Pakistan but the government says it has not arrived, amid growing concerns about its future debt obligations. An IMF bailout was delayed until July this year over concerns about a lack of fiscal reform.
Among the donors were the Islamic Development Bank with $4.2 billion, the World Bank with $2 billion, Saudi Arabia with $1 billion, as well as the European Union and China. France and the United States also made contributions.
The floods, which scientists said were aggravated by global warming, affected at least 33 million people and killed more than 1,700 from the beginning of the monsoon season in mid-June 2022 until mid-November that year.
UK police release new images in fresh appeal for clues about British-Pakistani girl’s death
- Surrey Police hope the release of images will prompt people to share information about Sara Sharif and her family
- UK authorities were alerted about her death by a call from Pakistan in which a man identified himself as her father
LONDON: British police on Friday released new pictures and renewed their appeal for information into the death of a 10-year-old girl, whose father will face trial for her murder.
Sara Sharif’s body was discovered at her family’s home in southern England on August 10.
A post-mortem examination revealed Sharif had sustained “multiple and extensive injuries” over a long period.
Her father, stepmother and uncle have been charged with murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
They are expected to stand trial next autumn.
Surrey Police said they were releasing the new images “as part of our ongoing appeal for information to help us build a picture of her life prior to the discovery of her body.”
Police added that the photos “present Sara in the way we believe she may have dressed in the months prior to her death.”
“We are hoping that these images will prompt more people to come forward with information about her and her family.”
One of the pictures shows Sharif wearing a black hijab in what looks like a school photo and in the other she is wearing a blue hijab.
Sara’s father Urfan Sharif, 41, his partner Beinash Batool, 29, and his brother Faisal Malik, 28, traveled to Pakistan the day before her body was found.
An early morning emergency call alerting officers to Sara’s death was made from Pakistan by a man identifying himself as the father, according to detectives.
Following a month in the South Asian country, they returned to the UK on September 13 and were arrested on arrival at London’s Gatwick Airport.
They have been remanded in custody and are due to appear in court on December 1 for a plea hearing.
Their trial is due to begin on September 2, 2024 and is expected to last six weeks.
IMF chief wants Pakistan to increase tax revenue from rich, protect vulnerable
- The poor segments have been suffering due to high inflation which the government has attributed to IMF reforms
- Kristalina Georgieva says economic reforms are not easy to implement but they are in the interest of Pakistani people
ISLAMABAD: International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Friday her organization had been consistently communicating the need for Pakistani authorities to generate more tax revenue from wealthier social segments while protecting the underprivileged classes in the country.
The top IMF official made the comment during a brief interaction with a Pakistani reporter on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly session in New York.
Her statement comes against the backdrop of spiraling inflation in Pakistan which has primarily affected the poor. The government has consistently attributed the increasing cost of living in the country to stringent economic reforms recommended by the international lender while approving a $3 billion bailout in June.
“Let me send a simple message to everybody in Pakistan,” she said while speaking to Geo News correspondent. “What we are asking in our program is please collect more taxes from the wealthy and please protect the poor people of Pakistan.”
“I do believe that this is in line with what people in Pakistan would like to see for the country,” she added.
The IMF chief acknowledged the conditions laid down by her organization to revitalize Pakistan’s economy and address the mistakes of the past were not easy to implement.
However, she maintained they were in the interest of the people of Pakistan.
Georgieva statement comes following her meeting with Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Tuesday in which she was briefed on measures taken by the country’s interim administration to stabilize the economy.
The IMF asked Pakistan to raise energy prices and following market-driven exchange rate which made the CPI hit a record 38 percent this year and the national currency plummet to all-time lows.
Kakar said he had a “constructive dialogue” with the IMF chief who, in turn, said there was an agreement to follow policies to ensure stability and foster sustainable and inclusive growth in Pakistan.
International report highlights polio eradication challenges in Pakistan, other countries
- There have only been seven cases of wild polio reported this year, five in Afghanistan and two in Pakistan
- Experts say outbreaks linked to vaccine-derived polio are more challenging and have paralyzed more children
LONDON: The global effort to end polio is likely to miss two key targets this year on the path toward defeating the virus, according to an independent strategic review.
The aim in 2023 was to interrupt the transmission of wild polio in the two countries where it is still endemic, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and do the same for a variant form of polio known as “vaccine-derived” that is causing outbreaks elsewhere.
The Independent Monitoring Board, a group of polio experts who oversee the work of the UN-backed Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), said neither target would be hit this year.
The GPEI agreed on both counts, citing insecurity in key locations as one of the remaining challenges and stressing in a statement responding to the review that ending the vaccine-derived outbreaks is likely to take the most time.
Wiping out polio, a viral disease that can cause paralysis, has been a key global health aim for decades. Cases have been reduced by more than 99 percent since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns, but making polio the second infectious disease ever to be completely eradicated, after smallpox in 1980 – has proved more difficult.
“But it can be done. And we need to make sure we finish the job,” said Aidan O’Leary, director of polio eradication at the World Health Organization, a GPEI partner alongside governments and funders like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
There have only been seven cases of wild polio reported this year, five in Afghanistan and two in Pakistan.
O’Leary said interrupting transmission of this form of polio was likely to happen by early 2024, just a few months after the target.
This meant the hope of a conclusive end to polio by 2026 remained alive, at least for wild polio, he said in a phone interview with Reuters on Thursday.
However, outbreaks linked to vaccine-derived polio are more challenging, he said. This form of polio can occur when children are immunized with a vaccine containing a weakened version of the live virus. They are protected, but the weakened virus excreted by these immunized children can spread and mutate among an unvaccinated population, ultimately becoming harmful.
Such viruses have recently paralyzed nearly 50 times more children than wild poliovirus, the monitoring board review said.
The GPEI aims to focus its vaccination and surveillance efforts on the areas where these kinds of polioviruses are concentrated: the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, north western Nigeria, south-central Somalia, and northern Yemen, O’Leary said.
“This is what is needed to shift the game,” he said. “Clearly the timelines are under review ... but we can do what has to be done.”
Pakistan army chief meets Saudi counterpart to discuss defense ties, security cooperation
- Pakistan, Saudi Arabia’s militaries have a history of extensive defense cooperation
- Two nations often participate in joint military exercises, Pakistan army trains Saudi cadets
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s army chief, General Asim Munir, on Friday held a meeting with the leader of Saudi Arabia’s armed forces, General Fayyadh Bin Hamed Al Ruwaili, and discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation in defense and security affairs, the army’s media wing said.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia share strong defense ties and security cooperation. An annual tradition involves cadets from the Kingdom, along with counterparts from other Middle Eastern nations, visiting Pakistan to undergo specialized army training. The two nations regularly engage in joint military exercises.
On September 9, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia launched a joint naval exercise near the Kingdom’s Al Jubail city and in August the two countries launched an inaugural joint special forces exercise to benefit from each other’s counterterrorism expertise.
“During the meeting, both sides deliberated upon various areas of mutual interest and bilateral cooperation, including defense and security matters,” the army’s media wing said of the meeting between the two generals.
A day ago, General Al-Ruwaili visited Pakistan’s Naval Headquarters in Islamabad and met a senior Pakistan Navy official.
“The visiting dignitary appreciated and acknowledged Pakistan Navy’s efforts and commitments in support of collaborative maritime security in the region,” a statement from the Navy said on Thursday.
Riyadh and Islamabad also enjoy close cooperation in trade, economy, culture, information, and investment. Pakistani expats living in Saudi Arabia are the largest source of remittances to the South Asian nation.
