ISLAMABAD: Foreign office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhri has said Pakistan had taken serious exception to an Israeli far-right politician posting a video on social media showing the image of a hospital in Pakistan while claiming it was a Hamas headquarter and “the largest medical complex in Gaza.”
Pakistan has launched a diplomatic onslaught since last month in support of Palestine and to mobilize international support against Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza strip. The attacks killed over 240 people in the Palestinian territory between May 10 and May 21 when a cease-fire was announced.
Israeli far-right politician and former war minister Naftali Bennett posted a video on May 20 showing an image of a hospital that he said was the “largest medical complex in Gaza” and a Hamas headquarter from where the group was “conducting terror actions against Israel.”
Social media users were quick to point out that the photo was of Shifa International Hospital in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
“We have seen the statement by Israel’s former war minister and we believe that it is casual misjudgment at best, and deliberate misrepresentation at worst,” foreign office spokesperson Zahid Hafeez Chaudhari told Arab News. “We also take serious exception to the fact that a Pakistani building was misquoted in the statement.”
Prime Minister Imran Khan’s special representative on the Middle East, Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, called Bennett’s video a deliberate attempt to mislead the world.
“Israel is frustrated due to Pakistan’s active role in highlighting the Palestinian issue and Israeli atrocities infant of the whole world,” Ashrafi told Arab News. “It is a deliberate attempt to mislead and deceive the world as Israel has destroyed actual health facilities in Gaza. We condemn this attempt to malign Pakistan.”
Ashrafi added: “Pakistan will continue it’s support for the Palestinian people till the formation of an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.”
Shuja Rauf, a spokesperson for Shifa, said it was “clear that the image of Shifa International Hospital (SIH) Islamabad has been shown mistakenly. SIH is Pakistan’s leading private sector hospital, accredited with Joint Commission, United States. The hospital has been providing quality health care services to Pakistanis for over 28 years. We accordingly emphasize to remove the said visual.”
Pakistan takes ‘serious exception’ to Israeli politician misusing Shifa hospital's image in social media video
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Pakistan takes ‘serious exception’ to Israeli politician misusing Shifa hospital's image in social media video
- Israeli politician Naftali Bennett posted a video on May 20 showing image of a hospital he said was a Hamas headquarter in Gaza
- Social media users were quick to point out the image was of Shifa International Hospital in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad
EU, Pakistan sign €60 million loan agreement for clean drinking water in Karachi
- Project will finance rehabilitation, construction of water treatment facilities in Karachi city, says European Investment Bank
- As per a report in 2023, 90 percent of water samples collected from various places in city was deemed unfit for drinking
ISLAMABAD: The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Pakistan’s government on Wednesday signed a €60 million loan agreement, the first between the two sides in a decade, to support the delivery of clean drinking water in Karachi, the EU said in a statement.
The Karachi Water Infrastructure Framework, approved in August this year by the EIB, will finance the rehabilitation and construction of water treatment facilities in Pakistan’s most populous city of Karachi to increase safe water supply and improve water security.
The agreement was signed between the two sides at the sidelines of the 15th Pak-EU Joint Commission in Brussels, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
“Today, the @EIB signed its first loan agreement with Pakistan in a decade: a €60 million loan supporting the delivery of clean drinking water for #Karachi,” the EU said on social media platform X.
Radio Pakistan said the agreement reflects Pakistan’s commitment to modernize essential urban services and promote climate-resilient infrastructure.
“The declaration demonstrates the continued momentum in Pakistan-EU cooperation and highlights shared priorities in sustainable development, public service delivery, and climate and environmental resilience,” it said.
Karachi has a chronic clean drinking water problem. As per a Karachi Water and Sewerage Corporation (KWSC) study conducted in 2023, 90 percent of water from samples collected from various places in the city was deemed unsafe for drinking purposes, contaminated with E. coli, coliform bacteria, and other harmful pathogens.
The problem has forced most residents of the city to get their water through drilled motor-operated wells (known as ‘bores’), even as groundwater in the coastal city tends to be salty and unfit for human consumption.
Other options for residents include either buying unfiltered water from private water tanker operators, who fill up at a network of legal and illegal water hydrants across the city, or buying it from reverse osmosis plants that they visit to fill up bottles or have delivered to their homes.
The EU provides Pakistan about €100 million annually in grants for development and cooperation. This includes efforts to achieve green inclusive growth, increase education and employment skills, promote good governance, human rights, rule of law and ensure sustainable management of natural resources.
