ISLAMABAD: A new China-Pakistan air cargo route was launched this week to enhance bilateral trade and connectivity, state-run media said, with the new route linking China’s southwestern Guizhou province to Pakistan’s largest city of Karachi.
This is the first air route that links Guizhou and Pakistan, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) said in a report on Wednesday, adding that it is also the first air freight route connecting the province with a Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) country.
To mark the official start of the route, an all-cargo plane carrying six tons of freight comprising clothing, electronic products and other commodities, took off from Guiyang, Guizhou’s capital, on Tuesday morning, APP said. It arrived in Karachi within six hours.
“This is the first air route linking Guizhou and Pakistan, and it is also the first air freight route connecting the province with a Belt and Road Initiative country,” APP said.
Officials said the new air route will help build Guiyang into a cargo distribution center in southwest China, the report said. It added the route would also reduce the time for Pakistan’s quality fresh products to reach Guizhou.
In January, the two countries launched an air cargo route connecting Ezhou Huahu Airport in central China’s Hubei province with Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore.
Pakistan’s ambassador to China, Khalil Hashmi, had said the Lahore-Hubei route would help spur bilateral trade and termed it a significant step forward in the “bilateral connectivity spectrum.”
China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan. The two countries collaborate on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a flagship project under China’s BRI, with more than $65 billion pledged for road, rail, and other infrastructure developments in the South Asian nation.
Pakistan, China launch new air cargo route to enhance bilateral trade
https://arab.news/55vmv
Pakistan, China launch new air cargo route to enhance bilateral trade
- Air cargo route connects China’s Guizhou province to Pakistan’s largest metropolis Karachi
- All-cargo plane carrying six tons of freight arrived from Guizhou’s capital to Karachi on Tuesday
Tens of thousands flee northwest Pakistan over fears of military operation
- More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled remote Tirah region bordering Afghanistan
- Government says no military operation underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
BARA, Pakistan: More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan over uncertainty of a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and officials said Tuesday.
Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has denied the claim by residents and provincial authorities. He said no military operation was underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, he said harsh weather, rather than military action, was driving the migration. His comments came weeks after residents started fleeing Tirah over fears of a possible army operation.
The exodus began a month after mosque loudspeakers urged residents to leave Tirah by Jan. 23 to avoid potential fighting. Last August, Pakistan launched a military operation against Pakistani Taliban in the Bajau r district in the northwest, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.
Shafi Jan, a spokesman for the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, posted on X that he held the federal government responsible for the ordeal of the displaced people, saying authorities in Islamabad were retracting their earlier position about the military operation.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, whose party is led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has criticized the military and said his government will not allow troops to launch a full-scale operation in Tirah.
The military says it will continue intelligence-based operations against Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Though a separate group, it has been emboldened since the Afghan
Taliban returned to power in 2021. Authorities say many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and that hundreds of them have crossed into Tirah, often using residents as human shields when militant hideouts are raided.
Caught in the middle are the residents of Tirah, who continued arriving in Bara.
So far, local authorities have registered roughly 10,000 families — about 70,000 people — from Tirah, which has a population of around 150,000, said Talha Rafiq Alam, a local government administrator overseeing the relief effort. He said the registration deadline, originally set for Jan. 23, has been extended to Feb. 5.
He said the displaced would be able to return once the law-and-order situation improves.
Among those arriving in Bara and nearby towns was 35-year-old Zar Badshah, who said he left with his wife and four children after the authorities ordered an evacuation. He said mortar shells had exploded in villages in recent weeks, killing a woman and wounding four children in his village. “Community elders told us to leave. They instructed us to evacuate to safer places,” he said.
At a government school in Bara, hundreds of displaced lined up outside registration centers, waiting to be enrolled to receive government assistance. Many complained the process was slow.
Narendra Singh, 27, said members of the minority Sikh community also fled Tirah after food shortages worsened, exacerbated by heavy snowfall and uncertain security.
“There was a severe shortage of food items in Tirah, and that forced us to leave,” he said.
Tirah gained national attention in September, after an explosion at a compound allegedly used to store bomb-making materials killed at least 24 people. Authorities said most of the dead were militants linked to the TTP, though local leaders disputed that account, saying civilians, including women and children, were among the dead.
