In unprecedented protest, thousands of women march for rights in Pakistan’s Gwadar

Women march for rights in Gwadar, Balochistan, on November 29, 2021 (AN photo by Muhammad Sadaqat)
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Updated 01 December 2021
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In unprecedented protest, thousands of women march for rights in Pakistan’s Gwadar

  • Protests against lack of basic facilities have gone on for over two weeks under banner of “Give Gwadar its Rights”
  • Thousands of women joined the protests on Monday in what analysts have called "largest women’s rally in Balochistan’s history"

QUETTA: Thousands of women in Pakistan’s Gwadar marched on the streets of the port city this week demanding basic rights and action against illegal trawling in the Arabian Sea, which protesters say has rendered local fisherfolk and others jobless.
Gwadar is in Pakistan’s impoverished southwestern province of Balochistan, a sparsely populated, mountainous, desert region bordering Afghanistan and Iran. China is involved in the development of the Gwadar port on the Arabian Sea as part of a $60 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, which is itself part of China's Belt and Road infrastructure project.
But locals of the city have long complained that Chinese presence and investment in the area has done little to improve their lives, particularly with regards to water scarcity and jobs. Protests against the lack of basic facilities have gone on for over two weeks under the banner of “Give Gwadar its Rights,” but in an unprecedented development, thousands of women joined the protests on Monday, and also participated in a sit-in on Tuesday. 




Women march for rights in Gwadar, Balochistan, on November 29, 2021 (AN photo by Muhammad Sadaqat)

Social media and TV footage on Monday showed thousands of women on the streets in what analysts have called "the largest women’s rally in the history of Balochistan province."
“Thousands of women have poured into the streets of Gwadar because a majority of people in Gwadar have been turning jobless,” protester Sughra Wadela, 19, told Arab News. “Previously we used to earn enough money through the fishing industry as men in Gwadar only have fishing as a source of living, but illegal trawling has ruined the business which has been the profession of our ancestors for many decades.”
“Majority of people in Gwadar are starving because the sea in Gwadar is empty due to illegal trawling,” she added. 




Women march for rights in Gwadar, Balochistan, on November 29, 2021 (AN photo by Muhammad Sadaqat)

Maulana Hidayat-ur-Rehman, a cleric leading the protest movement, said the demonstrations would continue until the government took actions and met the demands for basic rights. Critics of the central government in the province have long complained Balochistan, which makes up 43 percent of Pakistan’s land mass, has received paltry royalties on its vast mineral, oil and gas resources, while remaining one of the country’s poorest regions. 
“We have been protesting against illegal trawling, restrictions of business on the Pakistan-Iran border, unnecessary security check-posts and the drugs’ trade in the city,” Rehman told Arab News. “The government has issued four notifications on our demands but we haven’t seen any action on the ground.”
He said the protesters would block the coastal highway connecting Gwadar to Pakistan’s financial hub of Karachi and other parts of the country from Friday if action was not taken by then. 
Masi Zeni, 57, who participated in Monday's rally said young people in Gwadar were taking to drugs as drug dealers and smugglers were being allowed to operate with full impunity. 
“Despite various complaints, the administration didn’t take any action against people involved in the drug trade,” she said. “Opium, poppy, marijuana and ice are being sold to our youth, which will destroy their future.”
According to a local fishermen union, 80% of the population in Gwadar is associated with the fishing sector and has few other job prospects.
A majority of family members of Sameera Siddique, 40, work as fishermen in Gwadar, she said, but were now “sitting empty handed because of illegal trawling." 
“Majority men in Gwadar have been taking loans to fulfil their daily financial needs,” she said. 
Zahoor Buledi, provincial minister for Planning and Development, who has been heading the government's negotiations committee, said the incumbent government in Balochistan believed the people of Gwadar should be given all basic rights, and said their demands would be addressed on priority. 
“The members provincial assembly from Makran Division have toppled the previous regime [of chief minister Jam Kamal Khan last month] because we had realized that the government was neglecting the people of Gwadar,” Buledi said at a press conference on Tuesday, “but the current regime is serious about giving all rights to people living in every corner of the province.”


Designated banks in Pakistan to receive Hajj applications on Saturday, Sunday

Updated 09 December 2023
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Designated banks in Pakistan to receive Hajj applications on Saturday, Sunday

  • Pakistan has invited Hajj 2024 applications under the government’s scheme till December 12 
  • The South Asian country has a quota of 89,605 individuals for the Hajj pilgrimage next year 

ISLAMABAD: Designated bank branches in Pakistan will remain open on Saturday and Sunday as Pakistan continues to receive applications for next year’s Hajj, Pakistani state media reported on Saturday. 

The Pakistani religious affairs ministry invited Hajj 2024 applications under the government’s scheme from November 27 and the process will continue till December 12. 

The quota for Pakistanis performing the pilgrimage under the government’s scheme next year is 89,605, with the pilgrimage expected to cost Rs1,075,000 [$3,769] per person. 

“The designated banks will remain open on Saturday and Sunday for the receipt of Hajj applications,” the state-run Radio Pakistani broadcaster reported, quoting a religious affairs ministry spokesperson. 

Hajj, an annual Islamic pilgrimage in practice for over 1,400 years, is one of the five pillars of Islam, and requires every adult Muslim to undertake a journey to the holy Islamic sites in Makkah at least once in their lifetime (if they are financially and physically able). 

This year, Saudi Arabia has also included Karachi in its Makkah Route Initiative, following successful operations in Islamabad. The initiative allows pilgrims performing Hajj under the government scheme the convenience of undergoing all immigration requirements to enter Saudi Arabia from their home countries’ airports. 

Applicants for next year’s Hajj would also not be required to submit COVID-19 immunization certificates as the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the disease no longer a public health emergency. 


Pakistan military exercise with special forces contingents from Bahrain, Iraq and Kuwait concludes

Updated 09 December 2023
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Pakistan military exercise with special forces contingents from Bahrain, Iraq and Kuwait concludes

  • The two-week exercise commenced on Nov. 27 at the National Counter Terrorism Center in northwest Pakistan 
  • The exercise, attended by contingents from Bahrain, Iraq and Kuwait, helped nurture joint employment concepts 

ISLAMABAD: Fajar Al Sharq-V, a multinational joint special forces exercise, concluded on Saturday at the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) in northwest Pakistan, the Pakistani military said, with participation from multiple Arab countries. 

The two-week exercise commenced on November 27 at the NCTC in Pabbi in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing. 

The exercise was attended by special forces contingents from Bahrain, Iraq and Kuwait. 

“The exercise was aimed at further harnessing the historic military to military relations among brotherly countries and helped nurture joint employment concepts against counter terrorism, besides identifying areas of mutual interest for future military collaborations,” the ISPR said in a statement. 

Besides the participating troops, officers from the brotherly nations also witnessed the closing ceremony on the final day of the exercise. 

Pakistan, which has proven its mettle in the field of counter-terrorism, routinely holds joint military exercises with friendly states to foster joint employment concepts. 

These exercises help the participating nations enhance their combat capabilities to thwart any threats and ensure peace in the region. 


Minister acknowledges threats to politicians ahead of Pakistan national elections

Updated 09 December 2023
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Minister acknowledges threats to politicians ahead of Pakistan national elections

  • The statement comes amid surge in militant attacks across in Pakistan’s western regions bordering Afghanistan 
  • Pakistan is scheduled to go to hold national elections on February 8 after months of delay and political uncertainty 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Caretaker Interior Minister Sarfaraz Bugti on Friday acknowledged that there were threats to political leadership in Pakistan as they gear up for national elections, scheduled to be held on February 8. 

The development comes amid a surge in militant attacks across in Pakistan’s western regions bordering Afghanistan ever since a fragile truce between Islamabad and the Pakistani Taliban broke down in November 2022. 

Recently, the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam Pakistan (JUI-F), a prominent religious party, urged the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) last month to delay polls till the security situation in the country improves and the cold in Pakistan’s northern areas dissipates. 

The interior minister agreed there was a “general threat” to public rallies in the country, but no specific threat to a political leader, except for the JUI-F chief. 

“Definitely, there are threats to the political leadership,” he said. “There is definitely a general threat to public rallies.” 

Bugti said the caretaker government had the “capacity and will” for the conduct of a peaceful election. 

Bugti’s statement came a day after the head of Pakistan’s election regulator said it would issue a schedule for the upcoming national elections “in few days.” 

A senior official of the ECP this week requested the government for the deployment of armed forces and other law enforcement agencies personnel at polling stations during the February 8 polls. 

“Whatever requirement the election commission would have with regard to paramilitary forces, we will provide that,” Bugti said at the press conference. 

“We will try providing maximum security.” 

He, however, said the deployment of army was a domain of the country’s defense ministry. 


Documented Afghan migrants in Karachi say suffering fallout of Pakistan’s deportation drive

Updated 09 December 2023
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Documented Afghan migrants in Karachi say suffering fallout of Pakistan’s deportation drive

  • Government says registered refugees can stay but many complain of losing jobs and homes, police intimidation
  • Top officials have openly said Afghans were behind terror attacks in Pakistan and a drain on the economy

KARACHI: Rubina Hidayatullah has seen it all since she moved to Pakistan from neighboring Afghanistan with her three-year-old son to seek medical treatment for her ailing husband in 2005.

She has lived the difficult life of a refugee in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi. Her husband passed away just a few years after she moved to Pakistan. She raised her three children, two of them born in Pakistan, alone. And she worked long hours as a housemaid to make ends meet.

But nothing could have prepared her for the challenge that came two months ago. 

Just as her two sons both got jobs and she hoped she would get a chance at some respite in life, the Pakistan government on Oct. 3 announced a deportation drive against “illegal immigrants,” calling on them to leave voluntarily by Nov. 1 or face forcible expulsion. Although the government says the policy is targeted at all undocumented foreigners, it has disproportionately hit Afghans, who form the largest number of migrants to Pakistan. Since the announcement of the expulsion drive, over 370,000 have returned to their country or been deported.

Many of those who have left have told Arab News they had documents but were fleeing out of fear of arrest and persecution. Many Afghans who have stayed behind have gone underground. Reports of police harassment and arrests have been widespread, while many Afghans say they have been sacked from their jobs or asked by landlords to leave their homes.

“I had one boy working in a restaurant, and the other, at the age of nine, became an apprentice at a workshop,” Hidayatullah, 50, a registered refugee, told Arab News, at her tiny apartment in Karachi. “Since the Afghan [deportation] issue began, both of them have been laid off from their jobs.”

Many Afghans have also lost their homes.

Maulana Ikramullah Khan, another registered refugee, said he had lived in the city’s Ancholi neighborhood for nearly a decade before losing his home and moving to the Sohrab Goth slum.

“The landlord came and asked for my identity card,” Khan said. “When I showed him my [refugee] card, he said, ‘You are an Afghan, and we will not rent the house to Afghans.’ So, he told me that the month was almost ending, and I should vacate the house.”

“It is very distressing for a person to live in one place for 31 years, where you get married, have children, and then, after 31 years, you face a situation where you’re treated in a manner where [you’re told], ‘Leave from here, we will not give you a house, or evacuate our house’.”

The already precarious state of education for refugee children has also been hit.

“Our school has been impacted, we had 300 students enrolled, and now the number has dwindled to less than a hundred,” Syed Mustafa, principal of the Jamal Uddin Afghani School in Karachi, said. “Most landlords are not renting to Afghans now.”

The difficulties come against the background of various government officials, including the prime minister and the army chief, openly saying Afghans were behind terror attacks in Pakistan and a drain on the economy. The interior minister has accused Afghan nationals of being involved in organized crime and responsible for 14 out of 24 suicide attacks in Pakistan this year. Last month Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar said the move to expel hundreds of thousands of undocumented Afghans was a response to the unwillingness of the Taliban-led administration in Kabul to act against militants using Afghanistan to carry out attacks in Pakistan.

Hajji Abdullah, the chairman of the refugee council in Karachi, confirmed Afghan nationals were losing jobs and facing midnight raids due to the government’s new policy. 

“Afghan refugees who were legal and used to work in companies, those companies have now sacked them, saying that the government has urged [Pakistanis] not to employ Afghans,” he told Arab News. 

“Unemployed, they are now sitting at home hungry … They should be allowed to resume their work and earn for their children.”

The Sindh home ministry could not be reached for comment despite multiple attempts. A spokesperson for Karachi Police, Abrar Hussain Baloch, said the state was only fulfilling its responsibility to “act against Illegal immigrants.”

He denied “any sort of action which may cause harm or affect the lives of legal refugees.”

In the meantime, refugees like Hidayatullah continue to live in uncertainty and fear. 

“I have neither gone to Afghanistan, nor can I go there,” she said when asked if she would be leaving for Afghanistan because of the difficulties created by the expulsion drive.

“I don’t have anyone whom I would visit … I have no brothers in Afghanistan and no father.”


Storm cuts short Pakistan warm-up ahead of Australia Tests 

Updated 09 December 2023
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Storm cuts short Pakistan warm-up ahead of Australia Tests 

  • The Prime Minister’s XI trailed the tourists by 24 runs at 367-4 on day three of the four-day fixture 
  • The storm blew covers off the Manuka Oval pitch, exposing it to rain, with umpires abandoning clash 

SYDNEY: Pakistan’s only warm-up match ahead of their three-Test series against Australia was cut short Saturday after a freak storm prevented further play. 

The Prime Minister’s XI trailed the tourists by 24 runs at 367-4 on day three of the four-day fixture when an electrical storm lashed Canberra late Friday. 

It blew the covers off the Manuka Oval pitch, exposing it to rain, with the umpires abandoning the clash as a draw without any further action on Saturday. 

The decision denied Australia’s Matt Renshaw the chance to build on his unbeaten 136 in the race to replace opener David Warner when he quits Test cricket. 

Pakistan had declared at 391-9 on the back of skipper Shan Masood’s 201 not out. 

The first Test starts in Perth on Thursday before moving to Melbourne and then Sydney, where 37-year-old Warner has indicated he plans to draw the curtain on his long Test career.