French authorities have charged and detained four Pakistanis suspected of links to a meat cleaver attack by a compatriot outside the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo weekly that wounded two people, the national counter-terrorism prosecutor’s office said Friday.
The four male suspects, aged 17 to 21, were in contact with the attacker, said a source familiar with the case.
They are suspected of being aware of the attacker’s plot and inciting him to carry it out, according to another judicial source close to the investigation.
Three of them were charged on Friday with taking part in a terrorist conspiracy and placed in pre-trial detention. The fourth had already been charged on Wednesday.
Two were arrested in the southwest Gironde department, a third in the northern port city of Caen and the last in the Paris region.
“They share his ideology and one of them expressed his hatred of France a few days before the action,” said one of the sources.
News of the charges comes two days after a Paris court convicted 13 accomplices of the gunmen who massacred Charlie Hebdo staff in January 2015.
To mark the start of that trial in early September, the magazine had in typically provocative style reprinted cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Three weeks later, a Pakistani man wounded two people outside the weekly’s former offices, hacking at them with a cleaver.
The assailant, named Zaheer Hassan Mahmoud, 25, was arrested after September’s attack on terror charges and remains in custody.
He told investigators that prior to the attack he had watched “videos from Pakistan” concerning the satirical magazine’s decision to republish the cartoons.
On October 16, a young Chechen refugee beheaded teacher Samuel Paty, who had shown some of the caricatures to his pupils.
Less than two weeks later, three people were killed when a young Tunisian recently arrived in Europe went on a stabbing spree at a church in the Mediterranean city of Nice.
President Emmanuel Macron’s government has introduced legislation to tackle radical activity in France, a bill that has sparked anger and protests in some Muslim countries.
France charges four Pakistanis over attack on former Charlie Hebdo offices
https://arab.news/9z48c
France charges four Pakistanis over attack on former Charlie Hebdo offices
- News of charges comes two days after court convicted 13 accomplices of gunmen who massacred magazine staff in 2015
- President Macron has introduced controversial legislation to tackle radical activity in France leading to protests in some Muslim countries
Pakistan plans 3,000 EV charging stations as green mobility push gathers pace
- Roadmap unveiled by energy efficiency regulator and a private conglomerate amid early-stage EV rollout
- New EV Policy and related plans aim to install 3,000 EV stations by 2030, including 240 stations in current fiscal year
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s energy efficiency regulator and a private conglomerate have unveiled an approved roadmap to establish 3,000 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations across the country, state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported on Tuesday.
The announcement comes as Pakistan looks to build out basic EV charging infrastructure, which remains limited and unevenly distributed, largely concentrated in major cities. Despite policy commitments to promote electric mobility as part of climate and energy-efficiency goals, the absence of a nationwide charging network has slowed broader EV adoption.
Pakistan’s EV ecosystem is still at a formative stage, with progress constrained by regulatory approvals, grid connectivity issues and coordination challenges among utilities, regulators and fuel retailers. Expanding charging infrastructure is widely seen as a prerequisite for scaling electric transport for both private and commercial use.
According to APP, the roadmap was presented during a meeting between Malik Group Chief Executive Officer Malik Khuda Baksh and National Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority Managing Director and Additional Secretary Humayon Khan.
“Baksh ... in a meeting with Khan, unveiled the approved roadmap for establishing 3,000 electric vehicle charging stations across Pakistan,” APP reported. “Khan reaffirmed the authority’s full institutional backing and pledged to expand the initiative to 6,000 EV charging stations nationwide.”
The discussion reviewed hurdles delaying the rollout, including EV charger imports, customs duties, regulatory documentation and inter-agency coordination.
APP said Khan welcomed the proposal and sought recommendations for “internationally compliant EV charger brands,” while asking for a detailed “issue-and-solutions report within three days” to facilitate timely implementation of the national green mobility initiative.
Despite the issuance of 13 licenses by NEECA and the arrival of five EV charging units at designated sites, progress has been slowed by procedural bottlenecks, officials said. These include delays in electricity connections, prolonged installation of separate meters and pending no-objection certificates from power distribution companies and oil marketing firms, which continue to stall operational readiness.
Pakistan’s electric vehicle ecosystem is still in its early stages, with charging infrastructure far behind levels seen in more advanced markets. The government’s New Energy Vehicle Policy and related plans aim to install 3,000 EV charging stations by 2030, including 240 stations planned in the current fiscal year, but actual deployment remains limited and uneven, mostly clustered in major cities and along key urban corridors.
Despite regulatory backing, including the 2024 Electric Vehicles Charging Infrastructure and Battery Swapping Stations framework, progress has been slow. Many proposed stations have yet to become operational due to delays in grid connections and approvals, and public maps of nationwide charging coverage are not yet available.
Private players are beginning to install more chargers, and there are over 20 public EV charging points reported in urban centers, offering both slower AC chargers and faster DC options. However, such infrastructure is still sparse compared with the growing number of electric vehicles and the government’s long-term targets.
