KARACHI: Pakistani immigration authorities on Friday arrested two Iranian nationals for traveling to the United Arab Emirate (UAE) on fake Pakistani travel documents, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) told Arab News.
The suspects, Amir Ali and Abdul Samad, were traveling to Sharjah from the Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport via a foreign airline.
Documents of the suspects seen by Arab News showed they had single-entry tourist visa of the Emirates on their fake Pakistani passports.
“Two Iranian nationals using fake Pakistani traveling documents have been arrested from Karachi airport,” the FIA spokesperson told Arab News.
“Both have been shifted to the Anti-Human Traffic Circle (AHTC), Karachi.”
In September last year, the FIA had arrested ten Iranians in what the agency said was a “comprehensive crackdown” in different parts of the southern port city of Karachi.
The FIA statement said the foreign nationals had been able to obtain Pakistan identity cards and travel documents with the help of Pakistani and Iranian agents and were traveling to Qatar.
In 2018, 11 Iranian nationals were arrested at the Turbat airport in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province for possessing fake Pakistani identity cards and passports, which they had been using to travel to the Middle East since 2014.
Investigation agency arrests Iranians traveling to UAE on fake Pakistani passports
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Investigation agency arrests Iranians traveling to UAE on fake Pakistani passports
- Pakistani immigration authorities stopped both suspects while traveling to Sharjah from Karachi via a foreign airline
- In 2021, Pakistan nabbed 10 Iranians who were traveling to Qatar on fake Pakistani identity cards, travel documents
Pakistan, China sign agreements to facilitate industrial cooperation
- Economic affairs minister urges Chinese entrepreneurs to set up industrial units in Pakistan
- Development takes place as Pakistan eyes foreign investment in key economic sectors
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s state-owned bank and the China-Pakistan International Silk Road Industry Investment Management Company Limited this week signed an agreement to facilitate investment in key projects to promote industrial cooperation and establish special economic zones, state-run media reported on Sunday.
Islamabad views Beijing as one of its most reliable foreign partners in recent years, which has invested over $65 billion in energy and infrastructure projects in Pakistan as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The development takes place as Pakistan eyes foreign investment in key economic sectors whilst it grapples with a macroeconomic crisis. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has repeatedly said his government wants to break the “begging bowl” and is targeting mutually beneficial economic partnerships with allies.
The agreement between the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and China-Pakistan International Silk Road Industry Investment Management Company Limited was signed on Saturday at the Pakistan embassy in Beijing in the presence of Aslam Chaudhry, Pakistan’s minister of economic affairs.
“He [Chaudhry] informed that special economic zones are being established across Pakistan where the Chinese enterprises could relocate their industry and export products to different countries taking advantage of preferential agreements signed by Pakistan with various countries,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
The minister said Pakistan, with a population of over 225 million people, is itself a “big market” and that Chinese companies could benefit from it.
Chaudhry urged Pakistan urged Chinese entrepreneurs to set up their industrial units in Pakistan.
“He opined that the MoU would help the Chinese companies for investment in different projects and promote industrial cooperation between the two countries,” Radio Pakistan said.
Pakistan has been making efforts to attract foreign investment since last year when it set up the Special Investment Facilitation Center (SIFC). The hybrid civil and government body was formed last year to attract investment in key economic sectors including tourism, agriculture, minerals and others.
Pakistan battles another forest fire in Margalla Hills amid heat wave
- Fire erupted on Saturday night in Margalla Hills part located in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, says Islamabad deputy commissioner
- Part of the Himalayan foothills, Margalla range experiences bush fires relatively often in summer months as temperatures soar
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani authorities were busy dousing another forest fire in the city’s Margalla Hills Saturday night as South Asia continues to remain in the grip of a severe heat wave.
The Margalla range, part of the Himalayan foothills, has experienced bush fires relatively often in the summer months. There have also been multiple fires during this month, largely attributed to the extreme heat wave affecting the region.
Authorities on Saturday said they doused a fire that had erupted in three separate locations. However, erupted again in the part of the hills located in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Saturday night, Islamabad Deputy Commission Irfan Memon said.
“The Capital Development Authority (CDA) teams are present to douse the flames,” Memon said in a statement. “Thirty-six firefighters are busy battling the flames.”
Memon said authorities have formed a firewall to prevent the flames from reaching the capital city, adding that the Islamabad administration is undertaking joint efforts with the KP government to douse the fire.
Parts of Pakistan have seen temperatures as high as 52.2 degrees Celsius (126 F) over the last week with South Asia sweltering in a hotter summer this year — a trend scientists say has been worsened by human-driven climate change.
Pakistan is seen by global organizations as one of the most vulnerable countries to extreme weather and climate change. In 2022, floods wreaked havoc in the country, killing over 1,700 people and displacing millions.
In India, at least 15 people died of suspected heat-stroke on Thursday with the region gripped by a debilitating heat wave expected to continue until Saturday.
Over 62,140 Pakistani pilgrims arrive in Saudi Arabia for this year’s Hajj
- Pakistan welcomes 46,648 pilgrims under government scheme, 15,500 under private scheme
- This year 179,210 Pakistani pilgrims are expected to perform annual Islamic pilgrimage
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Hajj Mission (PHM) has so far welcomed 62,148 pilgrims in the cities of Makkah and Madinah under both government and private schemes since May 9, an official of the country’s religion ministry said this week.
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and requires every adult Muslim to undertake the journey to the holy Islamic sites in Makkah at least once in their lifetime if they are financially and physically able.
Pakistan has a Hajj quota of 179,210 pilgrims this year, of which around 70,000 people will perform the pilgrimage under the government scheme, while the rest will use private tour operators.
This year’s pilgrimage is expected to run from June 14 till June 19.
“So far, 46,648 pilgrims have arrived via 185 flights under the government scheme, while 15,500 have arrived under the private scheme,” Muhammad Umar Butt, a spokesperson for Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) said on Saturday.
An additional 22,090 Pakistani pilgrims are expected to arrive in Makkah over the next nine days, Butt said. This year, the PHM will host over 70,105 pilgrims under the government scheme and more than 80,000 under the private scheme.
He said the PHM is making use of two toll-free helplines and four WhatsApp numbers to address pilgrims’ complaints.
“Additionally, the spokesman said two central hospitals and a dozen dispensaries in the Haram are providing medical facilities to pilgrims, with 322 doctors and medical staff on duty,” the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said.
A total of 511 Hajj Moavineen or facilitators, including Pakistani civilians and uniformed personnel, are working to provide pilgrims with travel, accommodation, and food facilities.
Pakistan cricket team arrive in Dallas as T20 World Cup kicks off
- Pakistan play first T20 World Cup 2024 match against United States on June 6
- Pakistan arrive in US to compete for World Cup after disappointing 2-0 loss to England
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan men’s national cricket team, led by skipper Babar Azam, arrived in Dallas on Saturday night to take part in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.
Azam and his side arrived in the United States after a disappointing series in England, where they lost 2-0 to the 2022 world champions in the four-match series. Two of the four matches in the series were abandoned by rain.
Pakistan also faced Ireland in a three-match T20I series last month during which they lost one match to the minnows but managed to win the series 2-1.
“The Pakistan team will take part in a practice session tomorrow evening from 4:00-7:00 p.m.,” the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said in a statement on Saturday.
“Pakistan cricket team’s first match in the T20 World Cup is against America on June 6.”
In a video uploaded on social media platform X, Azam could be seen chatting with Indian cricket icon Sunil Gavaskar briefly after the Pakistani team landed in Dallas.
Pakistan’s second match against arch-rivals India on June 9 in New York will be one of the most anticipated matches of the tournament.
Political tensions mean the nuclear-armed arch-rivals rarely travel to each other’s countries for an international bilateral series. Rather, they play against each other at “neutral venues” and only at international tournaments.
Meanwhile, the 20-team World Cup kicked off today, June 2, with Canada facing the United States at the Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas.
Economists skeptical of Pakistan’s projected 3.6 percent growth rate for next fiscal year
- Government is expected to present the annual budget on June 10, as it hopes the inflation to drop to 12 percent
- Economists say poverty, unemployment will increase amid tight fiscal and monetary policies, high interest rates
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani economists on Saturday expressed skepticism over the government’s claim it would be able to accelerate economic growth to 3.6 percent in the next fiscal year from 2.4 percent in the outgoing financial year, warning that employment and poverty rates could increase further in the coming months.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s administration is expected to present the annual budget on June 10, at a time when the country is facing an economic crisis with double-digit inflation and struggling to secure funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The government on Friday approved a 3.6 percent growth target for the 2024-25 budget, boosting the development allocation to Rs1.2 trillion ($4.3 billion) from Rs950 billion ($3.4 billion) in the outgoing fiscal year, which has now been slashed to Rs717 billion ($2.6 billion) due to fiscal constraints.
“Looking at the economic indicators including agricultural and large-scale manufacturing growth, it seems the government may hardly be able to achieve around three percent growth rate,” Sajid Amin, economist and deputy executive director at the Sustainable
Development Policy Institute (SDPI) in Islamabad, told Arab News.
“The governments usually budget a high growth target and then revise it down,” he said, referring to the outgoing fiscal year’s growth rate as the government had targeted 3.5 percent but achieved only 2.4 percent.
Amin said that around nine million youth were entering the labor market annually and Pakistan would require at least a five percent growth rate to create job opportunities for them.
“Even if the government achieves the growth target, the unemployment and poverty rate would unfortunately increase,” he said.
According to a recent Planning Commission report, the government expects inflation to moderate to 12 percent in the next fiscal year while admitting that growth prospects “hinge upon political stability, exchange rate, macroeconomic stabilization under IMF’s program and expected fall in global oil and commodity prices.”
Ali Khizar, an economist, said the country was faced with gross financing gaps and development would remain in check with real interest rates to stay positive.
“Pakistan’s current account is expected to stay close to zero until the foreign exchange reserves build,” he told Arab News, adding that commercial financing revenues would remain low and with all this Pakistan would not be able to achieve the targeted growth rate.
“Even 3.6 percent growth rate is not a good number to create job opportunities and bring people out of poverty,” he continued, adding that Pakistan would have to ensure tight fiscal and monetary policies with high interest rates to secure the IMF loan program.
These, he pointed out, would slow down the economy.
