Muslims and Sikhs break bread together at Dubai’s only gurdwara in Ramadan

Sikh devotees wait for their food at the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 26, 2022. (AN photo by Asma Ali Zain)
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Updated 30 April 2022
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Muslims and Sikhs break bread together at Dubai’s only gurdwara in Ramadan

  • Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara started offering iftar to Muslims in 2012
  • The ritual resumed this year after a brief pause during the coronavirus pandemic

DUBAI: As the Islamic call to prayer begins to echo inside the only Sikh temple in Dubai, Muslims are drawn to the building to break their fast with dates and rose-flavored Rooh Afza drink.

The Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara, located in Jebel Ali, has been serving the evening iftar meal to Muslims since 2012.

On one corner of the enormous hall at the heart of the building, tables are adorned with iftar dishes.




This picture shows the building of the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 26, 2022. (AN photo by Asma Ali Zain)

Mats are also rolled out on the other end to welcome hundreds of Sikh devotees who come here to perform religious rituals before cherishing quality food.

“We started the gurdwara 10 years ago,” said Rajdeep Singh, the hospitality manager, while sharing the history of the initiative. “Since then, we started hosting iftar at least once during the holy month. However, we did it on all 30 days of Ramadan in 2018-19.”

As Sikhs gather around their holy scripture, Guru Granth Sahib, in the evening, Muslims prostrate behind their prayer leader in the designated building area during Ramadan.

Speaking to Arab News, Singh said the iftar ritual at the gurdwara had resumed after a gap of two years due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“People are not aware yet that the gurudwara has reopened, so we don’t have many people this year,” he continued.

He said all religions were welcome at Sikh temples.

“We respect all religions,” Singh said. “This place was given to us by the rulers of the UAE, and we believe that this is a milestone for other religions to follow as well. Such gatherings can only happen in Dubai.”

“Every religious place can feature harmony and peace,” he added.




An iftar table can be seen at the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 26, 2022. (AN photo by Asma Ali Zain)

The Iftar menu offers plenty of Middle Eastern and Punjabi dishes such as kababs, pakoras, vegetable biryani and kheer.

Shoaib Khan, a project coordinator from Pakistan’s eastern Lahore city, who has been living in Dubai for the last five years, said he was visiting the place for the first time at the insistence of a Sikh friend.

“Breaking the fast here was really an amazing experience for me,” he said. “I saw that my friends, both Sikhs and Muslims, were sitting together at one place which gave the message that the biggest religion is humanity.”

Khan said he would encourage others to visit the gurudwara as well to see the generous welcome and love on display.




Indian Muslim Irshad Ali prepares to break his fast at the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 26, 2022. (AN photo by Asma Ali Zain)

In 2017, the Sikh temple also set a world record by hosting the highest number of people from all nationalities for a continental breakfast. A whopping 600 people from 101 different nationalities attended the event.

Irshad Ali, an Indian loader who works at the Dubai Airport, said he had been to the place at least four times to have iftar.




An Imam leads the evening prayer for Muslims after iftar is served at the Guru Nanak Darbar Gurudwara in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on April 26, 2022. (AN photo by Asma Ali Zain)

“It’s a different feeling coming here,” he said. “While it’s a gurudwara, we pray here behind an imam after the prayer call. The iftar meal is also readied on time, and it’s like a feast that is enjoyed not only by Muslims but also people belonging to other religions.”


Meals in motion: Delivery rider races against time in Ramadan

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Meals in motion: Delivery rider races against time in Ramadan

  • Hajji Khan navigates Islamabad’s busy streets on an empty stomach in Ramadan, ensuring he delivers suhoor, iftar meals on time
  • Khan works for online food and grocery delivery platform Foodpanda, making $178.61 in Ramadan delivering around 25 orders a day

ISLAMABADL: Wearing his signature pink Foodpanda uniform, Hajji Khan stood waiting outside the white gate of a house in the Pakistani capital an hour before sunset would usher in the iftar meal in the holy month of Ramadan earlier this week. 

Minutes later, the gate opened, and a customer received his order and paid Khan, who hurriedly hopped back onto his bike and sped off to complete the next delivery for Foodpanda, a prominent online food and grocery delivery platform in Pakistan. 

The going gets a bit tough for Khan and other Foodpanda riders during the holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk and often order food through restaurants or home chefs for the iftar and pre-dawn suhoor meals. Because the timing of the fasting meals are set, there is no room to be late, and riders like Khan, 25, often have to break their fast on the go with water and a fried snack bought from a nearby food stall, or by sitting down for a quick, free meal at a roadside charity ‘dastarkhwan.’

“We do our best to ensure timely deliveries before iftar so that customers can break their fast peacefully,” Khan said this week as Arab News accompanied him on pre-sunset delivery runs. 

Haji Khan, a Foodpanda rider, picks up an order from a restaurant in Islamabad, Pakistan, on March 14, 2025. (AN Photo)

“We usually break our fast at free iftar dastarkhwans set up along the roadside. However, if I have many orders, then I break my fast while on the way to a delivery.”

The youngest of five brothers who left his home in the eastern Pakistani city of Sargodha four years ago to find work in Islamabad, Khan says he works in Ramadan from 2pm till the end of the suhoor meal at around 5am, making around Rs50,000 [$178.61] during the holy month, a modest income that barely covers basic expenses. 

GoNSave, a data company that serves leading gig platforms, said in a survey this month riders who worked during Ramadan and Eid cited personal financial needs, higher earnings from increased demand and incentives, and more job flexibility. At least 26.66 percent choose only to work during Ramadan.

’SMALL ACTS OF KINDNESS’

While there are few orders during the morning and afternoon, Ramadan rush hour begins at around 4pm, around two hours before iftar. Then, it is no doubt a challenge to navigate the city’s busy and traffic-snarled roads on an empty stomach, the aroma of food wafting from the delivery box.

“Normally the day passes smoothly while fasting, but it becomes very challenging in the afternoon, when we start delivering food orders and the smell of food intensifies our hunger,” Khan said. 

“This is our peak time, and fasting feels particularly difficult but we push ourselves to take as many orders as possible and deliver them before iftar.”

Haji Khan, a Foodpanda rider, prays at a local mosque in Islamabad, Pakistan, on March 14, 2025. (AN Photo)

Khan, who delivers around 25 orders per day, says generous customers sometimes invite him in to break his fast if it is close to iftar time. 

These “small acts of kindness,” as Khan described them, made “all the difference” and pushed him to keep performing his duties despite the challenges. 

“Sometimes, a kind customer invites me to break my fast with them or they hand me an iftar parcel,” he said, as he stopped at a mosque for Asr, the third of five obligatory prayers in Islam.

“But if there’s nothing, I stop at a roadside dastarkhwan and share a meal with strangers who for a moment feel like family.”
 


Pakistani journalist Farhan Mallick arrested by Federal Investigation Agency— family 

Updated 20 March 2025
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Pakistani journalist Farhan Mallick arrested by Federal Investigation Agency— family 

  • Mallick is the founder and chief executive officer of Pakistani online news media platform “Raftar“
  • FIA official says Mallick ran programs against Pakistan’s “security establishment,” says local media report

Islamabad: Pakistani journalist Farhan Mallick, the founder and chief executive officer of prominent online news media platform “Raftar,” was arrested by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) officials on Thursday without providing any justification, his son wrote on social media platform X. 

The former news director of Pakistani TV channel Samaa, Mallick heads Raftar which describes itself as a “dynamic platform dedicated to driving social change through the power of storytelling” on its social media platforms. Raftar, which has over 749,000 subscribers on YouTube, has released documentaries and videos critical of the Pakistani government and powerful military’s policies. 

A message posted from Mallick’s account on social media platform X by his son said FIA officials “barged” into his office on Wednesday night. The statement said the FIA officials verbally summoned him to their office on Thursday. 

“Like any law-abiding citizen, he went— only to be made to wait for hours without cause,” the statement said. “Then, at 6 PM, they arrested him. No explanation. No justification. Nothing.”

Pakistani English language newspaper Dawn quoted FIA Cyber Crime Reporting Center Additional Director Shahzad Haider as saying that an inquiry was initiated against Mallick around three months ago.
According to Dawn, the official said Mallick had run “several programs against the security establishment,” adding the Raftar founder was arrested on Thursday after the inquiry against him was formally completed.
In a statement, Raftar confirmed Mallick had been arrested but said they were not informed why. The platform said it was deeply concerned about the “blatant intimidation of independent journalism” in Pakistan. 
“We demand immediate clarity on Mr. Mallick’s arrest and call for the protection of journalists and media professionals from unjust harassment,” it said. 
Successive governments in Pakistan have enacted different laws and introduced amendments in existing laws to enhance their control over social media content and discourage dissent by filing cases against journalists and activists for violating the laws. The government says it has enacted these laws to ensure data protection, privacy and to ensure people’s safety on social media. 
In recent years, journalists in Pakistan have complained of increasing government and military censorship, intimidation and harassment as well as digital abuse. Authorities deny they persecute journalists. Last year was a dangerous one for the press in Pakistan, with at least six journalists killed in direct or suspected relation to their work, the CPJ said in October 2024.
A recent report by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) ranked Pakistan as the 12th-worst country for press freedom in South Asia. According to the CPJ, 103 journalists and media workers have been killed in Pakistan between 1992 and 2024.


Pakistan and UK discuss security cooperation, adopting joint strategy against ‘terrorism’

Updated 20 March 2025
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Pakistan and UK discuss security cooperation, adopting joint strategy against ‘terrorism’

  • Pakistan PM’s adviser Rana Sanaullah meets British High Commissioner Jane Marriott, says state media 
  • Both discuss reinforcing intelligence sharing and operational cooperation in counter terrorism efforts

ISLAMABAD: Rana Sanaullah, adviser to the prime minister on political affairs, met British High Commissioner Jane Marriott on Thursday to discuss enhancing security cooperation between the two countries and adopting a joint strategy against “terrorism,” state-run media reported.

Pakistan and the United Kingdom (UK) share a long-standing relationship built on strong diplomatic, economic and security ties. Over the years, the militaries of both countries have maintained robust cooperation, particularly in the fields of counterterrorism and professional training.

The meeting between the two officials took place amid Pakistan’s struggle to contain surging militancy, particularly in its southwestern Balochistan province, where separatist militants last week hijacked a train and held hundreds hostage before the army launched a rescue operation. The military said it killed all 33 militants while 31 Pakistani soldiers, staff and civilians were killed. 

“The discussion also focused on adopting a joint strategy against terrorism, increasing security cooperation, and taking collaborative measures to ensure regional peace and stability,” state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported about the meeting between Sanaullah and Marriott.

“Both dignitaries agreed on reinforcing intelligence sharing and operational cooperation in counter terrorism efforts.”

The APP said both also spoke about strengthening economic partnerships, enhancing trade relations and exploring new avenues of mutual cooperation between Pakistan and the UK.

“Additionally, cultural exchanges and the promotion of people-to-people ties were discussed to further strengthen relations between the two nations,” the statement said. 

Pakistan and the UK have a long and multifaceted relationship, with the latter hosting a large Pakistani diaspora community. Pakistan is also a member of the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of 56 countries out of which the vast majority are former British territories.


Former Pakistan coach Bradburn fined after discriminatory conduct during Glamorgan stint 

Updated 20 March 2025
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Former Pakistan coach Bradburn fined after discriminatory conduct during Glamorgan stint 

  • Bradburn was sacked by Glamorgan in December following internal investigation into his behavior
  • Bradburn allegedly asked players from Asian background what their “real age” was, implying they lied

LONDON: Former Glamorgan coach Grant Bradburn has been fined and warned about his future conduct after admitting to discriminatory conduct during his spell with the Welsh county cricket side.
Bradburn was sacked by Glamorgan in December following an internal investigation into the New Zealander’s behavior.
A Cricket Discipline Commission (CDC) found the former Scotland and Pakistan coach twice made comments with “racist connotations” and also made a remark with “sexist connotations.”
The 58-year-old has been ordered to attend an educational course and fined £500 ($648), in addition to the reprimand.
In its written reasons for the sanction, the CDC said it was alleged Bradburn asked players from an Asian background what their “real age” was, implying they do not tell the truth about their age.
It was also alleged he said during a pre-season team meeting that when making cricket selection decisions in Pakistan, players would pick their friends or cousins or pick names out of a hat.
Bradburn allegedly used the phrase “this isn’t Western Storm” (a former women’s team) during a fielding practice session when he considered that male players were demonstrating a lack of intensity, “throwing like girls.”
Bradburn, a former New Zealand off-spinner, coached Scotland from 2014 to 2018.
He worked as Pakistan’s fielding coach, subsequently taking over as head coach in 2023 — a role he left after less than a year, prior to joining Glamorgan in January 2024.


At least 1,141 Pakistanis killed and injured due to ‘terrorism’ from Jan. 1 to Mar.16— minister 

Updated 20 March 2025
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At least 1,141 Pakistanis killed and injured due to ‘terrorism’ from Jan. 1 to Mar.16— minister 

  • Tallal Chaudry says three law enforcement personnel, two civilians are killed daily across Pakistan due to “terrorism”
  • Minister of state for interior urges opposition to support government in its war against surging militancy in country 

ISLAMABAD: At least 1,141 Pakistanis have been killed and injured from Jan. 1 to Mar. 16 in “terrorism” incidents, Minister of State for Interior Tallal Chaudry said on Thursday, urging provinces to support the central government in its battle against militants. 

Pakistan has seen a surge in militant attacks in its western provinces bordering Afghanistan and Iran in recent days, especially Balochistan, where separatist militants last Tuesday stormed a train and held hundreds of passengers hostage before the army launched a rescue operation. The army killed all 33 militants while a final count showed 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers had died in the attack.

Days later on Sunday, five people including three paramilitary soldiers were killed in a blast in Balochistan’s Nushki district. A top parliamentary panel met on Tuesday to discuss the prevalent security situation in the country, calling for national consensus and political unity to battle militancy. 

“From the previous [month], Jan. 1 to Mar. 16, the figures say that 1,141 casualties of terrorism have taken place. This includes both the martyred and the injured,” Chaudry said during a news conference. “Out of this, 1,127 alone are from KP and Balochistan.”

He said on a daily basis, three law enforcement agencies’ personnel are killed and seven are injured while two civilians are killed and four injured across Pakistan. 

The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which is in power in KP province, boycotted the parliamentary panel on national security’s meeting this week and said it would not support any fresh military operation in the country. 

Chaudry criticized the PTI, saying that it would not be possible to eliminate “terrorism” from the country if both KP and Balochistan provinces did not join the state in battling militants. The minister blamed the PTI for creating controversies to undermine Pakistan’s war against militancy. 

“We are not starting a new operation neither has there been talk of a new operation,” Chaudry clarified. “But whether it is Azm-e-Istehkam or the National Action Plan, they will be implemented, and it will be ensured that they are implemented,” he said, referring to Pakistan’s previous initiatives against militancy. 

Pakistan ranks as the second-most affected country by terrorism, according to The Global Terrorism Index 2025. Militancy-related deaths surged by 45 percent, rising from 748 in 2023 to 1,081 in 2024, marking one of the steepest global increases.

Pakistan’s security forces are battling the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) or Pakistani Taliban militants in KP province. Islamabad accuses Kabul of sheltering TTP militants, an allegation the Afghan Taliban deny strongly.

In Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest province by land but its poorest by almost all social and economic indicators, separatist militants have been fighting security forces for decades for a greater share in the natural resources of the province. Pakistan’s federal government and military point to various education and health initiatives undertaken in Balochistan, reiterating their resolve to bring about progress in the province.