Pakistani soldiers keep vigil next to border fencing along with Afghan's Paktika province border in Angoor Adda in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal agency on Oct. 18, 2017. (AFP/File)
The bombing happened when the troops were providing protection to road construction teams in North Waziristan
According to a recently released UN report, more than 6,000 Pakistani insurgents are hiding in Afghanistan
Updated 03 September 2020
AP & ARAB NEWS PAKISTAN
PESHAWAR: A powerful roadside bomb targeted a military vehicle in northwestern Pakistan, a former Taliban stronghold, killing three soldiers and injuring four others, the military's public relations wing, ISPR, said in a statement. The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack, which is raising fears the militants are regrouping in the region.
The bombing happened when the troops were providing protection to road construction teams in North Waziristan, which lies in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said the ISPR statement.
Mohammad Khurasani, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, is a separate insurgent group from the Afghan Taliban.
North Waziristan served as a base for Pakistani and foreign militants until recent years, when the military claimed it cleared the region.
The Pakistani Taliban have been targeting the military and civilians across the country for decades and has carried out numerous attacks, including a brutal assault on an army-run school in the city of Peshawar in 2014 that killed 140 children and several teachers.
Pakistan’s militant groups are often interlinked with those across the border in Afghanistan.
According to a recently released UN report, more than 6,000 Pakistani insurgents are hiding in Afghanistan, most belonging to the outlawed Pakistani Taliban, which has stepped up attacks on troops in recent weeks in the region.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will address today, Monday, the closing plenary of a special meeting of the World Economic Forum being held in Riyadh and meet a number of top Saudi officials, state-run APP news agency said.
Sharif arrived in Riyadh on Saturday for the World Economic Forum’s Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development on April 28-29. The conference has convened more than 700 participants, including key stakeholders from governments and international organizations, business leaders from the World Economic Forum’s partner companies, as well as Young Global Leaders, experts and innovators.
“Sharif is scheduled to address the closing plenary of the Special Meeting of the World Economic Forum titled ‘Rejuvenating Growth,’ on the third day of his visit to the Kingdom,” APP said.
“The third-day agenda of the prime minister’s visit also consists of his meetings with Saudi ministers for trade, energy, environment and agriculture. He is also likely to meet with the Malaysian counterpart.”
On Sunday, Sharif attended a Special Dialogue and Gala Dinner hosted by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman where they discussed bilateral ties as well as regional issues including the war in Gaza.
Sharif’s meeting with the crown prince took place less than a week after a high-powered delegation, headed by Saudi Foreign Minister Minister Faisal bin Farhan, visited Pakistan to discuss investments.
“To continue the discussion, the Prime Minister said that he has brought with him a high-powered delegation to Riyadh, including key ministers responsible for investment, so that follow-up meetings could take place between relevant officials,” the Pakistani Prime Minister’s Office said.
Sharif reiterated his invitation to the Saudi crown prince for an official visit to Pakistan at his earliest convenience, the PMO added.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong trade, defense and cultural ties. The Kingdom is home to over 2.7 million Pakistani expatriates and serves as the top source of remittances to the cash-strapped South Asian country.
Both Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been closely working to increase bilateral trade and investment deals, and the Kingdom recently reaffirmed its commitment to expedite an investment package worth $5 billion.
Separately, Sharif met Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) co-chair Bill Gates on the sidelines of the WEF meeting on Monday, the PMO said, and discussed efforts to eradicate polio in Pakistan, one of two countries globally where the virus is still endemic. The two leaders also discussed progress on ongoing activities between Pakistan and the BMGF in immunization, nutrition, and financial inclusion, the PMO said.
PESHAWAR: A district and sessions judge who was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen from Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Saturday has been recovered, a senior police official and a relative of the judge both confirmed on Monday.
Unidentified gunmen abducted Shakirullah Marwat near the dusty town of Bagwal on Saturday while he was traveling from his hometown city of Tank toward the Dera Ismail Khan district in KP. The incident alarmed Pakistan’s legal community and coincides with a resurgence of militant violence in KP and Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, following the Pakistani Taliban or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP) termination of a fragile truce with Islamabad in Nov. 2022.
Security forces and police conducted two separate operations in Tank and Dera Ismail Khan districts “soon” after Marwat was abducted and killed six militants in the exchange, Regional Police Officer (RPO) Nasir Hussain Satti said.
“Police and security forces were jolted into action the moment the judge was picked up,” Satti told Arab News. “The forces choked all entry and exit points of the two restive districts, leaving no room for kidnappers to keep the judge with them. Finally, they had to set him free,” he added.
Satti said the judge had been recovered without paying ransom money. “Absolutely not, the judge was recovered without paying any ransom or making any deal with the abductors,” he said.
Farooq Khan, Marwat’s relative who is also a lawyer, confirmed the judge reached home safely on Sunday night.
“Thank God Shakirullah has reached home safely,” he told Arab News.
In a brief video message that was released on Sunday, the judge said he was kidnapped by the Pakistani Taliban and that his release was impossible if his kidnappers’ demands were not met. He was speaking from an undisclosed location and it wasn’t clear whether he was talking under duress.
“I request the federal and provincial governments, the honorable chief justice of Peshawar High Court, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the government of Pakistan and the chief justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan to accept their (Taliban) demands and ensure my release,” Marwat had said.
Shah Fahad Ansari, a high court advocate and divisional president for the Peoples Lawyers’ Forum, said the legal fraternity appreciated the swift response by police and security forces to ensure the judge’s safe recovery.
“But we demand the authorities adopt all measures to ensure security in the province and discourage recurrence of these kinds of incidents in the future,” Ansari said.
Earlier this month, an attack in Dera Ismail Khan resulted in the death of six people, including five customs department officials, with another person wounded when gunmen targeted their vehicle.
The recent weeks have also seen attacks on police officials in KP.
Earlier this month, a policeman was shot dead in North Waziristan. In related incidents, an official from the provincial counterterrorism department and a senior cleric affiliated with the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam religious party were fatally shot in target killings in the area.
While no group has claimed responsibility for these attacks, suspicion has fallen on the TTP, whose leadership is said to be based in neighboring Afghanistan.
Pakistan benchmark share index extends rally, breaches 73,000
Pakistan’s benchmark index has surged 75.4% over past year, is up 12.5% year-to-date
South Asian country’s central bank will announce a policy rate decision later in the day
Updated 31 min 58 sec ago
Reuters
KARACHI: Pakistan’s benchmark share index breached the key level of 73,000 to trade at a record high of 73,300 in early trade on Monday, according to data from the Pakistan Stock Exchange website.
The index has surged 75.4 percent over the past year and is up 12.5% year-to-date.
The Central Bank’s monetary policy will announce a policy rate decision later in the day, and the International Monetary Fund’s executive board will meet on Monday to decide on releasing the final tranche of $1.1 million to the cash-strapped nation.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities kicked off a week-long campaign to vaccinate 24 million children against poliovirus in 91 selected districts on Monday, the state-run Radio Pakistan reported, as Islamabad tries to eliminate the potentially fatal disease from the country.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only two countries in the world where the poliovirus, which causes paralysis and can be a life-threatening disease, is endemic.
“The campaign is being held in ten districts of Punjab, 24 districts of Sindh, 26 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), 30 districts of Balochistan, and the federal capital Islamabad,” Radio Pakistan said, adding that 24 million children under the age of five would be administered the vaccine in these districts.
Dr. Malik Mukhtar Ahmed Bharath, coordinator to the prime minister on National Health Services, said the government is committed to ensuring that all children are protected from poliovirus.
“Poliovirus has been detected in multiple sewage samples in the country in recent months which means this virus remains a serious threat to children’s wellbeing,” Dr. Bharat was quoted as saying by the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) on Sunday.
He said the only way to protect children from the disease is to vaccinate them against it. “We are sending polio teams to your homes, so make sure to open your door to vaccinators and get your child vaccinated,” he added.
Dr. Shahzad Baig, coordinator of the National Emergency Operations Center for Polio Eradication described it as a “critical campaign” being held in districts with a high risk of poliovirus spread.
“We have detected the virus in over 31 districts this year, which is why we are continuing to implement regular vaccination campaigns in all high-risk districts to ensure that children have the immunity to fight off polio infection,” he said.
Pakistan’s efforts to contain polio have often been met with opposition, especially in the country’s northwestern KP province, where militants have carried out attacks against vaccinators and the security teams guarding them.
Many believe in the conspiracy theory that polio vaccines are part of a plot by Western outsiders to sterilize Pakistan’s population.
Pakistani masses’ doubts regarding polio campaigns were exacerbated in 2011 when the US Central Intelligence Agency set up a fake hepatitis vaccination program to gather intelligence on former Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.
Afghans who made Pakistan home to escape war now hide from deportation
Pakistan has forcibly deported some 600,000 undocumented Afghans since October 2023
Afghans in hiding find it difficult to earn money, rent accommodation or get medical help
Updated 29 April 2024
AP
KARACHI, Pakistan: Born and raised in Pakistan to parents who fled neighboring Afghanistan half a century ago, an 18-year-old found himself at the mercy of police in Karachi who took his cash, phone and motorbike, and sent him to a deportation center.
Scared and bewildered, he spent three days there before he was sent back to Afghanistan, a place he has never been to, with nothing but clothes on his back.
The youth is one of at least 1.7 million Afghans who made Pakistan their home as their country sank deeper into decades of war. But they’ve been living there without legal permission, and are now the target of a harsh crackdown on migrants who Pakistan says must leave.
Some 600,000 Afghans have returned home since last October, when the crackdown began, meaning at least a million remain in Pakistan in hiding. They’ve retreated from public view, abandoning their jobs and rarely leaving their neighborhoods out of fear they could be next for deportation.
It’s harder for them to earn money, rent accommodation, buy food or get medical help because they run the risk of getting caught by police or being reported to authorities by Pakistanis.
The youth, who had been working as a mechanic in an auto shop since he was 15, spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of arrest and deportation.
He has applied for the same documentation that his family has, but he won’t get it. Pakistan isn’t issuing paperwork for Afghan refugees or their children.
“My life is here. I have no friends or family in Afghanistan, nothing,” the young man told The Associated Press. “I wanted to come back (to Pakistan) sooner, but things had to calm down first,” he said, referring to the anti-migrant raids sweeping the country at the time.
A police officer checks the document of a resident during a search operation against illegal immigrants at a neighborhood of Karachi, Pakistan, on November 3, 2023. (AP)
Taliban authorities gave him 2,500 afghanis ($34) once he entered Afghanistan to start a new life. They dispatched him to northeastern Takhar province, where he slept in mosques and religious schools because he knew nobody to stay with. He passed his time playing cricket and football, and borrowed other people’s phones to call his family.
Six weeks later, he traveled from Takhar to the Afghan capital, Kabul, then to eastern Nangarhar province. He walked for hours in the dark before meeting up with human smugglers hired by his brother in Pakistan. Their job was to get him to Peshawar, the capital of Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, for the price of $70.
He is relieved to be reunited with his family. But he is vulnerable.
Police have daubed numbers on homes in his neighborhood to show how many people live there and how many have documentation. Hundreds of Afghan families have fled the area since the operation began. There are fewer people to hide among.
Such neighborhoods in Karachi are easily home to tens of thousands of Afghans. But they have no drainage systems, health care or education facilities. There are few women on the streets, and those who venture out wear burqas, often the blue ones more commonly seen in Afghanistan.
Lawyer Moniza Kakar, who works extensively with the Afghan community in Karachi, said there are generations of families with no paperwork. Without it, they can’t access basic services like schools or hospitals.
Afghans were already under the radar before the crackdown, and rumors abound that Pakistan wants to expel all Afghans, even those with documentation. Pakistan says no such decision has been made.
In another Karachi neighborhood with a mostly Afghan population, people scatter when police arrive, disappearing into a maze of alleys. A network of informants spread news of the visits.
Kakar despairs at the plight of Afghans who remain in Pakistan. “Sometimes they don’t have food so we appeal to the UN to help them out,” she said. To earn money or get medical help, they would have previously traveled from such neighborhoods into the heart of Karachi, but they can’t afford these journeys anymore. They’re also likely to be arrested, she added.
Some show Kakar their ID cards from the time of Gen. Zia Ul-Haq, the military dictator whose rule of Pakistan coincided with the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. “They wonder why they don’t have citizenship after 40 years. They don’t share their location. They don’t go out. They live in property rented in someone else’s name.”
There are children who were born in Pakistan who have grown up and have children of their own. “The children don’t have any identity paperwork. All of them have an undecided future,” said Kakar.
Syed Habib Ur Rehman works as a media coordinator at the Afghanistan Consulate General in Karachi. He spends a lot of time in these communities.
“There are empty homes, empty shops,” Rehman said. “Markets are empty. The Pakistanis we know don’t agree with what is happening. They say they have spent a good life with us. Their business has gone down because so many Afghan families have left.”
The Afghans interviewed by the AP had different reasons for never securing their status. Some said they were overseas working. Others didn’t have time. Nobody thought Pakistan would ever throw them out.
Mohammad Khan Mughal, 32, was born in Karachi and has three children. Before the crackdown started, the Afghan ran a tandoor business. Police told him to close down.
“My customers started complaining because they couldn’t buy bread from me,” he said. He and his family went to the southwestern city of Quetta in Baluchistan province to escape the raids.
He returned to Karachi a few days later, and has no intention of leaving.
“This is my home,” he said, with pride and sadness. “This is my city.”
