ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani prime minister’s special assistant on youth affairs, Muhammad Usman Dar, expressed gratitude for the UAE’s financial support to create job opportunities during a meeting with Emirati Ambassador Hamad Obaid Al-Zaabi in Islamabad on Thursday.
The premier’s aide expressed appreciation for Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan’s announcement of $200 million support for small and medium-sized enterprises in Pakistan, a statement issued by Dar’s office said.
The crown prince visited Pakistan on Jan. 2 and announced the support package to help create jobs and enhance exports.
“Your support will surely help in enhancing economic activities at SME level that will also create jobs opportunities for our youth. Your assistance in the areas of health and education are also highly commendable,” Dar told Al-Zaabi.
According to the statement, the Emirati ambassador said the crown prince’s cooperation with Pakistan was focused on the youth, education and health sectors, and his government was planning special training for teachers at its school projects in South Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa and Baluchistan.
“We are also working on establishing training centers in view to better equip teachers in these schools,” he said, as quoted in the statement, and told Dar that the UAE government had announced the establishment of a $20 million structure for Pakistan at Dubai Expo 2020 and a special corner for youth to showcase Pakistani talent.
He said that “1.7 million Pakistanis, including doctors, engineers and laborers working in UAE are part of our success,” the statement read.
Dubai Expo 2020 will begin on Oct. 20 and is the first mega-event of its kind to be held in the Middle East.
UAE support for Pakistani youth employment 'deeply appreciated' — PM aide
https://arab.news/2sxc3
UAE support for Pakistani youth employment 'deeply appreciated' — PM aide
- UAE announced $200 million support for small and medium-sized Pakistani enterprises
- A special pavilion to promote Pakistani talent will be established at Dubai Expo 2020
Four people, including two policemen, killed in twin blasts in northwest Pakistan
- Attack on police van in South Waziristan and motorbike-mounted IED in Lakki Marwat hits KP province
- Violence comes amid a surge in militancy and cross-border clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan
ISLAMABAD: At least four people, including two policemen, were killed and about 20 others wounded in two separate blasts in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, officials said, the latest violence in a region grappling with militant violence.
One explosion targeted a police patrol van in Wana, the main town of South Waziristan district near the Afghan border, while another blast caused by explosives mounted on a motorbike struck a market area in Lakki Marwat district, according to police officials and preliminary reports.
The incidents come amid rising militant violence in Pakistan’s northwest, where authorities say armed groups operate from across the border in Afghanistan, straining relations between Islamabad and the Taliban administration in Kabul, with both sides engaged in a military conflict since last month.
“The control room received information in the evening about a bomb blast targeting a police van in Wana Bazaar,” a police official in the area, who did not want to be named, confirmed while speaking to Arab News over the phone.
He confirmed two deaths in the incident while saying more than 25 people had been injured.
The official said rescue teams responded promptly and shifted three seriously injured people to a nearby hospital in Wana.
In another incident during the day in Lakki Marwat, an improvised explosive device attached to a motorbike exploded near shops.
“Two people have been killed and about 10 have been injured in an IED blast in Lakki Marwat,” Raza Khan, Deputy Superintendent of Police in Bannu, told Arab News.
“The deceased are identified as Shoaib Ur Rehman and Furqan Ullah,” he added. “Shoaib, the owner of the shop, was the brother of the Lakki peace committee head.”
Peace committees in the region are informal, community-based groups that work with security forces to report militant activity and maintain order, making their members frequent targets of attacks.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi condemned the attacks and expressed grief over the incidents.
“I strongly condemn the blast near a police patrolling vehicle in Wana Bazaar,” Naqvi said in a statement, confirming the killing of four people, including two police personnel.
“Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police are on the front line in the war against terrorism,” he said, noting the force had made “unforgettable sacrifices” in the fight against militant groups.
Militant violence has surged in Pakistan’s border regions in recent months, particularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces.
Islamabad has repeatedly accused the Afghan Taliban government of allowing militant groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), to operate from Afghan territory — a charge Kabul denies — as cross-border tensions between the two neighbors have escalated.
