FAISALABAD, Pakistan: With waves of arrests, Pakistani investigators are trying to unravel trafficking networks that convince impoverished Pakistanis to marry off their daughters to Chinese men for cash, and they say the evidence is growing that many of the women and girls are sold into prostitution once in China.
At least two dozen Chinese nationals and dozens of their Pakistani partners have been arrested in recent weeks in raids by Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency. Pakistani government officials, however, have ordered police to remain quiet about the extent of the networks, fearing it could hurt increasingly close economic ties with Beijing, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
"We are interested only in stopping the trafficking. Make no mistake, this is trafficking," said one of the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the government order. "We think the majority are sold as prostitutes," he said of the women married in the trafficking schemes.
The AP spoke to seven girls who had been forced to marry Chinese men, four of them still in China. Each described how their new husbands handed them over to paying clients to be raped.
"I was living in hell-like conditions, silently weeping, silently praying for help," said 20-year-old Natasha Masih. She told of how her husband locked her in a hotel in the remote northwest Chinese city of Urumqi and forced her into prostitution. The AP does not name rape victims, but Masih agreed to her name being used and now after her escape works to help other victims speak out.
Pakistan became a focus of Chinese marriage brokers last year, and activists say that since then as many as 1,000 women and girls have been married off to Chinese men. Most of the women are from Pakistan's small Christian community, who are among the country's most desperately poor. Brokers offer families cash to give their daughters as brides, promising them well-off Chinese husbands who would give them a good life. The business is fueled by demand in China, where men outnumber women.
In Pakistan, some Christian pastors are paid to help brokers lure members of their flock into marriages, and the girls — married against their will — become isolated in China, vulnerable to abusive husbands, previous AP reporting found.
China's ambassador to Pakistan, speaking on local television, denied girls are trafficked to China and sold into prostitution. Trafficking was not discussed during a visit to Pakistan this month by China's vice president, Wang Qishan. In comments carried in the Pakistani press, Wang denied trafficking was taking place.
"China is denying it is happening, but we are showing the proof," said Saleem Iqbal, a Christian activist who has helped bring girls back from China.
The two law enforcement officials said one of the trafficking networks raided by police, based in the city of Lahore, had been operating for at least a year. It was protected by corrupt policemen, and the son of a former senior police official served as the lynchpin between the Chinese and Pakistani operatives, the officials said.
One woman, Sumaira, told the AP how her brothers were paid by brokers and forced her into such a marriage in July last year. The 30-year-old said her husband took her first to a house in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, and there she was raped each night by Chinese men for a week.
Before they were to leave for China, she convinced her husband to allow her to go home to say farewell to her sisters. There, she refused to return to the husband and screamed at her brothers, "Why did you sell me? How much money did you get for me?'" she said. The brothers beat her, but she managed to escape to the home of an uncle.
Before her marriage, Sumaira had run a beauty salon in a poor, mostly Christian neighborhood of the Punjab town of Gujranwala. "I was a very different person than what you see now," she said. "Then I had hope. I believed in my future. Now I don't know."
Masih told the AP she was married off in November and soon after left her home in Faisalabad, flying to China with her husband. He took her to the northwest of the country, to a small house in a forested area. Three male and two female friends of her husband shared the house.
Her husband forced her to have sex with the men. Then he took her to the Urumqi hotel, where he confined her to a room and sold her into prostitution.
"I bought you in Pakistan," she said her husband told her. "You belong to me. You are my property."
Natasha made furtive calls to her parents on her mobile phone, and her mother turned to her church for help. One parishioner, Farooq Masih, formed a group of men from the congregation to try to rescue Natasha. One of the men had a younger brother who was a student in China, said Masih, who is not related to Natasha. The brother agreed to pose as a client and pay him to sleep with Natasha.
Instead, when the student went to the hotel in a taxi, he called Natasha and told her to slip out to meet him.
"I saw him and quickly I took my clothes and got into his taxi," she said. "I didn't ask his name. I didn't ask anything, I just said, 'Brother, thank you.'" Soon she was on a plane to Pakistan.
Farooq Masih and the men from the church have since dedicated hours to unearthing trafficking networks. They recently conducted their own sting operation in Faisalabad, orchestrating a fake marriage that led the Federal Investigation Agency to the brokers and the pastor who solemnized the unions for a fee.
"I am lucky," Natasha said. "Many girls who were taken there by their husbands are still living a terrible life. ... Now I know what is freedom and what is slavery. In China, I was treated as a slave by my husband."
Pakistan police seek to unravel networks trafficking women
Pakistan police seek to unravel networks trafficking women
- Two dozen Chinese nationals and dozens of their Pakistani partners have been arrested recently
- Chinese ambassador denied girls are trafficked to China and sold into prostitution
Pakistan to face India on Oct. 6 in women’s T20 World Cup clash
- ICC Women’s T20 World Cup to run from Oct. 3-20 in Dhaka and Sylhet
- Pakistan are placed in Group A with Australia, India, New Zealand, Qualifier 1
DHAKA: England will face South Africa in the opening match of the ICC Women’s Twenty20 World Cup to be held in Bangladesh later this year, the International Cricket Council announced on Sunday.
The event will run from October 3 to 20 in the capital Dhaka and the northeastern city of Sylhet, with warm-up matches starting on September 27.
Hosts Bangladesh and the top six teams from the previous edition in South Africa — Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa and the West Indies — qualified automatically for the tournament, with Pakistan joining them as the next best ranked team.
Ireland, the UAE, Sri Lanka and Scotland are in contention for the remaining two places, with the semifinals of the qualifying tournament being held in the UAE.
Six-times winners and current world number one Australia will play in Group A alongside India, New Zealand, Pakistan and a Qualifier 1.
Neighbours and rivals India and Pakistan will face off on October 6.
Group B will feature South Africa, Bangladesh, England, West Indies, and Qualifier 2.
“Over the last six to seven years we have seen women’s cricket grow exponentially,” ICC chief executive officer Geoff Allardice said at the announcement of the fixture list and trophy unveiling in Dhaka.
“This is going to be a very special tournament,” he added.
It will be the ninth edition of the tournament, with Bangladesh previously hosting in 2014.
From bricks to clicks, Pakistani laborer achieves fame and financial independence via YouTube videos
From bricks to clicks, Pakistani laborer achieves fame and financial independence via YouTube videos
- Riaz Ali who built homes working as a manual laborer initially began making videos on TikTok
- 30-year-old made his YouTube channel in 2022 and has since become an online sensation
SANGHAR: Riaz Ali, 34, would stack brick over brick and bond them with mortar, a thick paste of cement, water and sand, as he built homes and did other manual labor work for years in the southern Pakistani district of Sanghar.
In 2022, he started making engaging video content that included throwing and catching mortar, targeting a tall pole with a motorbike tire and some prank videos, which have not only turned the daily wager into a millionaire but also a digital sensation.
Ali, better known as Riaz Jaan, initially posted videos on TikTok after which a friend advised him to post them on YouTube. He created his YouTube channel in April 2022 which was monetized only nine months later.
He now earns 20 times more than what he used to make two years ago.
“As a laborer, my wage was Rs1,500 [per day]. In a month, I used to earn Rs30,000 or Rs35,000 ($107-$125) as it was an inconsistent livelihood,” he told Arab News on Thursday.
“From YouTube, I earn more than Rs500,000 ($1,795) per month.”
Ali, who has 1.9 million subscribers on YouTube, 439,000 followers on TikTok and 359,000 on Facebook, says his content went viral through YouTube Shorts — vertical videos that have a duration of 60 seconds or less.
“My first earnings on YouTube were Rs800,000 ($2,872). I had never seen such a huge amount of money before. My family and I were so delighted that such a significant sum had come into my hands,” he said.
“After YouTube, my life changed. As they say, when Allah gives, He gives abundantly.”
Ali, who started working as a daily wager in 2010, has left his laboring job since becoming a digital sensation but still makes videos related to his former work.
He has also enabled the sharing of his viral videos on YouTube, helping several other content creators have engagement on their channels.
“There are people from various countries who repost my content and videos on their channels, and their channels have also been monetized,” he said. “I have granted them permission.”
This success has helped Ali buy two residential plots and two buffaloes, send his children to better schools, and take care of his family in a much better way. The 30-year-old has also bought a mobile phone worth Rs500,000, which he uses to create quality video content.
But Ali has not kept his success to himself and has passed his digital skills on to his family, friends and whoever he found willing to learn.
“Besides myself, my brother also has a YouTube channel where he posts labor-related videos. His channel has also been monetized,” he told Arab News.
“Additionally, I have two sons, Ali Ayan and Zeb Zohan, whose channel is also monetized.”
He says neither his brother’s nor his sons’ channels gained traction in the beginning and so, he began posting his content on their channels, which helped them gain momentum. Consequently, both channels were monetized.
The 30-year-old offers free, informal consultancy services to youth, who are interested in establishing their own YouTube channels, in his hometown of Jhol in Sanghar. He says he has around 50 to 60 youngsters, who either have monetized channels or are actively working toward them.
“I guide them all, and they follow my directions,” Ali said.
Ali Raza, a farmer and a friend of Ali, got inspired by seeing his friend earn through YouTube. Raza created his own account on the video-sharing website, where he posts funny videos.
“Since Riaz Jaan is teaching others, I also joined his group. It’s been four months since my YouTube channel has been monetized,” Ali Raza told Arab News.
“I earn between Rs25,000 and Rs30,000 ($89-$107) per month.”
Pakistan’s PM Sharif congratulates Sadiq Khan on winning third term as London mayor
- Sadiq Khan secured historic third term in office as London mayor on Saturday
- PM Sharif says Khan’s third victory reflects his dedication to public service
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Sunday for winning a third consecutive term in office, saying the landmark victory reflected the British-Pakistani official’s dedication to public service.
Khan, 53, who was first elected in May 2016, beat his Conservative rival Susan Hall by more than 276,000 votes, with his win representing a swing of 3.2 percent to the Labour party. He won nine of the 14 constituencies, results showed on Saturday.
Taking to social media platform X, Sharif offered his heartiest felicitations to Khan for his “hattrick” of victories.
“As a hard-working British Pakistani, he not only raised the head of his parents high but also made every Pakistani to rejoice his victory with pride,” Sharif wrote.
He offered Khan best wishes for his future success as mayor of London.
“The prime minister further said that his re-election for the third term also indicated his popularity and his devotion to public welfare,” the Pakistani prime minister wrote.
Khan, who replaced Boris Johnson as London mayor in 2016 and who has widespread policing and budget powers, has been an increasingly divisive figure in the past few years regardless of the facts for or against, particularly in the suburbs, where he fared worse than in the inner city.
His supporters say he has multiple achievements to his name, such as expanding housebuilding, free school meals for young children, keeping transport costs in check and generally backing London’s minority groups. His critics say he has overseen a crime surge, been anti-car and has unnecessarily allowed pro-Palestinian marches to become a regular feature at weekends.
With inputs from AP
Naila Kiani becomes first Pakistani woman to summit world’s fifth-highest mountain
- Naila Kiani summitted 6,485-meter high Mount Makalu in Nepal on Sunday morning, says Alpine Club of Pakistan
- Kiani’s latest achievement makes her first and only Pakistani woman to summit eleven peaks higher than 8,000 meters
KHAPLU, GILGIT BALTISTAN: Dubai-based mountaineer Naila Kiani has become the first woman from Pakistan to summit Mount Makalu, the fifth-highest mountain in the world, the country’s leading non-governmental organization promoting mountaineering said on Sunday.
Mount Makalu is located in the Mahalangur range of the Nepal Himalayas, southeast of Mount Everest. The imposing mountain stands at 8,485 meters (27,838 feet) high. Kiani’s latest achievement makes her the first and only Pakistani woman to summit eleven peaks higher than 8,000 meters.
She has previously summited Broad Peak (8,047 meters), Annapurna (8,091 meters), K2 (8,611 meters), Lhotse (8,516 meters), Gasherbrum 1 (8,068 meters), Gasherbrum II (8,035 meters), Nanga Parbat (8,125 meters), Mount Everest (8,849 meters), Manaslu (8,156 meters) and Cho Oyu (8,201 meters).
“Congratulations, Nail Kiani has summited Makalu,” Karrar Haidri, the secretary general of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, told Arab News over the phone.
“So far out of 14 eight-thousanders, she has completed the 11th peak. She summited the peak at 8:50 am local time,” he added.
The Alpine Club said in a separate statement that Naila was grateful for all the prayers and wishes she had received from people, thanking Sherpa Gelgen Dai from Imagine Nepal, a company that promotes mountain trekking and peak climbing in Nepal.
“This latest success highlights her exceptional endurance and determination,” the statement said. “She now holds the record as the fastest Pakistani, both male and female, to have summited 11 of the 8,000-meter peaks, accomplished in under 3 years.”
Kiani is a Pakistani banker living in Dubai and a mother of two. She garnered fame in 2018 after her wedding photos from K2 basecamp were widely shared on social media. The Pakistani climber received the Sitara-e-Imtiaz, Pakistan’s third-highest civilian award, in March this year for climbing Mount Everest.
“We are proud of the inspiration created by Naila, not only for her daughters and wider family but across the nation from every household,” Khalid Raja, Kiani’s husband, told Arab News over the phone.
Supporting his wife’s expeditions, Raja said it gets challenging for him at times to look after their children when Kiani is away.
“If Naila completes 14 of the world’s 8,000-meter peaks, then we hope she can reduce the levels of time that she is away from her family and we can build together from there,” he said.
“Then who knows, maybe I can do a few expeditions of my own.”
PM Sharif forms committee to resolve Pakistani wheat farmers’ grievances
- Farmers are demanding government stop wheat imports that have flooded markets, leading to reduced prices
- Government committee to take measures to address farmers’ complaints within four days, says state media
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week formed a government committee to address the ongoing wheat crisis in the country, state-run media said, amid protests by thousands of farmers who say they are facing difficulties in selling and buying the food grain in Pakistan.
Farmers in Pakistan’s most prosperous Punjab province are demanding the government stop wheat imports that have flooded the market at a time when they expect bumper crops. The import of wheat in the second half of 2023 and the first three months of 2024 has resulted in excess amounts of the commodity leading to reduced prices, they say.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday taking notice of the issues faced by the farmers in selling their wheat and obtaining wheat bags, formed a committee under Ministry of National Food Security and Research to address their grievances,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.
Sharif issued the directives to form the committee during a high-level meeting he chaired on Saturday to review wheat procurement matters through the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO). The meeting was attended by federal ministers Rana Tanveer Hussain, Attaullah Tarar, and other officials.
The committee would take measures to address farmers’ concerns within four days, APP said, adding that Sharif expressed concerns over reports of farmers facing difficulties in buying wheat at “fair” prices and tasked authorities to resolve the issue immediately.
“The federal government, through PASSCO, is procuring 1.8 million metric tons of wheat to ensure maximum benefit to farmers,” the APP quoted Sharif as saying.
“The prime minister emphasized that the government will not compromise on the economic protection of farmers and will take all necessary steps to ensure their well-being.”
Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and constitutes its largest sector. The majority of Pakistan’s population, directly or indirectly, depends on agriculture for their income.
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), agriculture contributes about 24 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for half of the employed labor force in the country.
