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  • As Arab News turns 45, find out how its Pakistan edition was launched


As Arab News turns 45, find out how its Pakistan edition was launched

Journalists working in the Arab News Pakistan Edition newsroom in Islamabad Feb 2, 2020 (AN photo)
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Updated 20 April 2020
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As Arab News turns 45, find out how its Pakistan edition was launched

  • Our online edition launched on Feb. 8, 2018
  • It has been hailed as an example of fair and balanced journalism
Updated 20 April 2020
Sib Kaifee

ISLAMABAD: Arab News launched its online Pakistan edition on Feb. 8, 2018. Two years later, it has become the Riyadh-based newspaper’s most successful digital expansion project.

It has been hailed by leading officials in Islamabad, academics and journalists as a shining example of fair and balanced journalism. As its parent title in Saudi Arabia celebrates the 45th anniversary of its launch, messages of congratulation have been pouring in from Pakistan.

“Arab News, I feel, will set new trends, with new commitment and new priorities in the region linked with the national interest of Pakistan,” said Firdous Ashiq Awan, a special assistant to the prime minister for information and broadcasting.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said: “We have 4 million Pakistanis living in the Middle East and in the Gulf states, so connecting with them through Arab News (is) very useful.”

Sen. Faisal Javed Khan, who is a member of Pakistan’s ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf party and oversees its social media operation, said: “Arab News is doing a lot of credible work. We share your website (links) on our Twitter handles.”

The promotion of quality over quantity, fact debunking fiction, and attracting readers without sensationalizing stories are the bedrocks on which Arab News was built. It was the Kingdom’s first English-language daily, and the Pakistan edition carries on this tradition through the practice of ethical journalism, while diligently navigating the country’s complexities and its vibrant media landscape.

“The difference between Arab News and other media is that it doesn’t believe in sensationalism,” said Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, who inaugurated the Arab News Pakistan bureau last year. “It is focusing on serious issues. This is what we expect from a serious media group like Arab News.”

Arab News arrived on the Pakistani media landscape as part of the newspaper’s ongoing global and digital expansion. With the aim of reporting news from across Asia, it hired a team of skilled journalists and assembled a network of freelance contributors.

During its short life so far it has delivered several scoops, published important investigative reports, brought intriguing and public-interest stories to the fore, and helped bridge the information gap between the Middle East and Pakistan. All of this while highlighting the rich, diverse cultures of both regions for a growing readership, and maintaining an impeccable, untainted track record of credibility.

Arab News Asia Bureau Chief Baker Atyani said: “Stories about the Middle East and Arabs have always appeared in Pakistan’s media. But what’s new here is we are trying to present it through our own eyes and not through the eyes of the international media.”

He also highlighted the technical innovations that the Pakistan edition is implementing.

“The second thing we are trying to introduce in the market is to digitalize the news story in a new (video) format (and present it) in less than 90 seconds,” he said.

The instant success of Arab News Pakistan, spearheaded by its bureau chief, encouraged bosses in Saudi Arabia to launch a second international edition. This went live in Japan in October last year, in both English and Japanese editions.

“The way that officials, and even the prime minister’s office, have (embraced) our content says a lot about the veracity of our news,” said Arab News Pakistan Managing Editor Javeriah Abbasi.

The backbone of Arab News Pakistan’s success is its talented team of reporters, editors and social media producers who sort through the news, checking facts and covering developments as they happen. It resists the temptation to publish news stories based on existing media reports from other outlets, instead striving to carve out a niche of its own in a challenging media landscape.

“I think there is a lot of information out there. There is a lot of clutter,” said senior online editor Wajahat Ali. “What Arab News is trying to do is bring clarity out of that clutter. We are trying to find information gaps and provide information to our readers that is as authentic as possible.”

Muhammad Ishtiaq, also a senior online editor, added: “Arab News always looks toward a story with an objective eye.”

Reporter Aamir Saeed said: “Arab News has allowed reporters to explore fresh angles that the local media usually ignores.”

Social media producer Sehrish Ghaffar, a core member of the publishing team, said that Arab News Pakistan “is encouraging women to participate in the field of social media, which is the front line of any news network in this digital world.”

Her colleague, Farheen Fatima, said that it has empowered women by expanding the media spotlight.

 

Topics: Arab News Pakistan Arab News Anniversary

Survivor recalls ‘chaos’ after suicide bomber struck Islamabad mosque

Updated 5 sec ago
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Survivor recalls ‘chaos’ after suicide bomber struck Islamabad mosque

  • Witnesses say worshippers were bowing in prayer when blast tore through imambargah
  • Authorities blame Daesh network, say attack planned and bomber trained in Afghanistan
Updated 5 sec ago
NAIMAT KHAN

ISLAMABAD: Hamza Ali Naqvi was bowing with his hands on his knees during Friday prayers when the first shot rang out. The 21-year-old university student initially mistook the sharp crack for distant fireworks. Seconds later, a second shot, much louder and much closer, resounded through the Qasr-e-Khadijatul Kubra mosque.

“We were prostrating,” Naqvi recalled, his eyes still showing signs of fear as he described the moment the floor beneath him shook from the force of the blast. “I immediately got up, looked around and [saw that] chaos had broken out.”

Friday’s suicide bombing in the Tarlai Kallan area on the outskirts of Islamabad has left 32 people dead and over 150 injured, marking the deadliest assault on the Pakistani capital in nearly two decades. On Saturday, a police officer was killed and four suspects, including an “Afghan Daesh mastermind” behind the attack, were arrested in overnight raids in Peshawar and Nowshera, according to a statement released by Pakistan’s Interior Ministry on social media.

For the survivors, everything else is secondary to the carnage they witnessed in the moments that followed the blast. Naqvi, who had been standing near the door in the fifth or sixth row, said that he stepped over the bodies to reach the epicenter of the explosion.

“When I reached there, I saw a severed head,” he said. “I found out later that it was the head of the attacker.”

“Because people were prostrating, most injuries were to the legs and backs,” he added. “When we lifted the injured, their legs were broken. Those whom I personally helped had broken legs. As we were lifting them, they were screaming and crying.”

Among the screams was the voice of a child, no older than 10, standing over the body of his father, Naqvi recalled as he prayed for the departed souls at the graves of those laid to rest on Saturday.

“I have become an orphan,” he said, quoting the boy who was screaming.

“We were helpless,” he added. “There was nothing we could do.”

While Naqvi was trying to help the injured, 24-year-old Malik Aon Abbas did not survive the attack. Abbas, who had just been engaged and was set to be married later this year, is being hailed as a hero by his family who say he prevented an even higher death toll.

His younger brother, Muntazir Mehdi, said Abbas was in the back rows when two attackers stormed into the mosque. One of them reportedly fled, but the other, already wounded by gunfire from security guards, rushed toward the main congregation.

“The attacker continued firing inside, but my brother abandoned his prayer and caught him,” Mehdi said. “He restrained him and grabbed him. As soon as my brother took hold of him, the attacker detonated himself.”

Mehdi, who shared a deep bond with his brother through their mutual love of religious gatherings and Abbas’s hobby of going live on TikTok, said the family stood between grief and pride.

“Because of my brother, had he, God forbid, not stopped this man, a very major tragedy would have occurred,” Mehdi continued. “He has raised all our heads with pride.”

Pakistan’s interior ministry said on Saturday the attack was carried out by Daesh, with its planning and the bomber’s training being done in Afghanistan.

“The nexus of terrorism under Afghan Taliban patronage remains a serious threat to regional peace,” it said in a social media post, adding that a law enforcement official was killed during the raids carried out to capture the facilitators of the attacker.

Taliban’s Afghan government has denied any role in the attack advising Pakistani authorities to “fulfil their obligations, responsibly review their policies, and adopt a constructive approach based on positive engagement and cooperation.”

For survivors like Naqvi, the horror of that Friday is far from over.

“I went to university, but even there, the same images kept coming back,” he said. “It keeps replaying in my mind. It is difficult to come out of it.”

Topics: Pakistan Islamabad Mosque Blast imambargah

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