ISLAMABAD: A major Chinese business group unveiled its plan to set up textile parks in two Pakistani provinces during a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday, saying these “international-standard” facilities will help generate up to $5 billion in textile exports from the country.
China’s Ruyi Shandong Group, one of the largest textile and clothing manufacturers, has expanded globally over the past decade through acquisitions and investments. It has also benefited from the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in the past by investing in a coal power plant in the country.
The group’s chairman, Qiu Yafu, held a meeting with the prime minister to discuss the investment proposal and highlight its details.
“Ruyi Group will establish international-standard textile parks in Sindh and Punjab provinces, inviting around 100 major Chinese textile industries to invest,” he said in his briefing, according to an official statement circulated after the meeting.
“The primary focus of these textile parks is to boost Pakistan’s textile exports and make Pakistan a global hub for textiles and garments,” he continued.
The Chinese businessman added these parks will utilize solar energy, operate with zero carbon emissions and employ modern automated technology.
“In the first phase, these parks are expected to generate $2 billion in exports, with $5 billion anticipated in the second phase,” he noted. “The parks will create employment opportunities for 300,000 to 500,000 local individuals.”
According to the briefing, the foundation stone for the textile parks will be laid by the end of the year, with completion expected within three years.
Ruyi Group will also establish wholesale commodity centers in both Karachi and Lahore.
It was decided during the meeting to establish working groups in Islamabad and Beijing to advance matters between Pakistan and the Chinese business group.
“China has always stood by Pakistan in difficult times,” the prime minister said during the meeting. “Economic relations between China and Pakistan are growing stronger with each passing day.”
He also formed a special committee headed by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar to oversee the initiative.
A memorandum of understanding was signed between Pakistan’s Board of Investment and Ruyi Shandong Group regarding the establishment of the parks, with the prime minister in attendance.
Chinese group to set up textile parks in Pakistan, aiming for $5 billion boost in exports
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Chinese group to set up textile parks in Pakistan, aiming for $5 billion boost in exports
- Textile parks will utilize solar energy, modern automated technology and will operate with zero carbon emissions
- The foundation stone of the parks will be laid by the end of the year and they will employ up to 500,000 people
High-level Saudi delegation to visit Pakistan from Oct. 9-11 amid Islamabad’s investment push
- Saudi delegation’s visit aims to enhance bilateral cooperation, “mutually rewarding economic partnership,” says foreign office
- Condemns Israel’s “war crimes” in Middle East, urges world powers to impose an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza
KARACHI: Saudi Arabia’s Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih will visit Pakistan with a high-level delegation from Oct. 9-11, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson said on Monday, stressing that the visit would aim to enhance bilateral cooperation and economic partnership between the two allies.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia have been closely working in recent months to increase bilateral trade and investment deals, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman reaffirming the Kingdom’s commitment to expedite an investment package of $5 billion to the South Asian country earlier this year.
Pakistan has increasingly engaged with regional partners, especially Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Middle East, for mutually rewarding economic ties and partnerships. Islamabad sees lucrative foreign trade and investment deals as its key to escape a prolonged economic crisis that has drained its resources, triggered high inflation and weakened its currency.
“A high-level Saudi delegation led by Minister for Investment Engineer Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih will visit Pakistan from 9th to 11th of October 2024,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson, told reporters at a press briefing. She said Al-Falih’s delegation will comprise people from Saudi Arabia’s government agencies and private sector, which will meet Pakistan’s prime minister and president during the visit.
“This visit is aimed at lending positive impetus to enhanced bilateral cooperation and mutually rewarding economic partnership,” she added.
Separately, Baloch paid tribute to the 42,000 people killed by Israeli armed forces since its war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023. She said Pakistan remains “deeply concerned” about the people of Gaza and Palestine as they suffer starvation and genocide.
“The past year has seen Israel’s indiscriminate and horrifying attacks on civilian targets, including hospitals, schools, and shelters,” she noted.
The foreign office spokesperson called on the United Nations Security Council to act decisively and impose an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, calling for Israel to be held accountable for its “war crimes” in the Middle East.
Baloch criticized Israel’s foreign minister’s statement banning UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres from entering Israel, saying Islamabad condemns measures that hinder the functioning of the UN and its agencies in occupied Palestine.
“And in that respect, we urge the international community to take measures to protect that role of the United Nations,” she said. “We also welcome the decision by the UN Security Council condemning the latest measure regarding the UN Secretary-General by the Israeli occupation authorities.”
Party to file plea against ban on meeting ex-PM Khan, wife in prison until Oct. 18
- Pakistan is expected to host foreign dignitaries in Islamabad from Oct. 15-16 for SCO summit
- Khan’s party has called on supporters to continue anti-government protests in the capital
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said on Monday it would appeal the Punjab government’s decision to ban meetings with him and his wife in prison until Oct. 18 citing security reasons, saying that seeking legal consultation was the incarcerated former premier’s right.
The government’s decision to ban prisoner visits until Oct. 18 in Rawalpindi’s central prison, where Khan and his wife are incarcerated, takes place after the PTI urged supporters to continue anti-government protests in the capital. PTI supporters arrived in Islamabad and tried to congregate at the D-Chowk square on Friday to press for Khan’s release and agitate against the ruling coalition, which the party says is planning to pass constitutional amendments to curtail the independence of the judiciary. The government denies it aims to suppress the judiciary. One police constable was killed while 31 cops were injured in clashes between the two sides over the weekend.
Pakistan has bolstered security in the capital, as it gears up to host the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Islamabad on Oct. 15 and 16 in which several high-profile foreign dignitaries are expected to participate from member states. The government has already deployed the army in Islamabad, whose top officials will oversee the city’s security until Oct. 17.
“Legal team is going to court, requesting lifting ban on meetings with Imran Khan & Bushra Bibi,” the PTI said in a statement, pointing out that Islamabad High Court (IHC) judge Sardar Ijaz had ordered authorities recently to allow prison meetings via video link.
“Given the amount of cases the Former Prime Minister has to deal with, legal consultation is a given and, therefore should be provided,” the party concluded.
The government had previously called on the PTI to delay any gathering until after diplomatic engagements in the city. Pakistan is also expecting a delegation from Saudi Arabia later this month and preparing for a visit by the Chinese premier.
Khan, the main rival of the coalition government led by PM Sharif, has been in prison for more than a year in connection with over 150 criminal cases. He remains a popular figure despite the cases, which critics and his party say are politically motivated. He was ousted in 2022 through a no-confidence vote in parliament and arrested in 2023 after a court handed him a three-year jail sentence in a graft case. Sharif came into power for his second term after the Feb. 8 vote which Khan says was rigged.
Sharif’s government says Khan’s party wants to weaken the country’s economy by staging violent protests despite the threat posed by the Pakistani Taliban and other militants, who have stepped up attacks in recent years. On Sunday, two Chinese nationals were killed in a separatist attack in the southern port city of Karachi.
Islamabad rejects Afghanistan’s ‘unacceptable, frivolous’ statement on Pakistan’s political tensions
Islamabad rejects Afghanistan’s ‘unacceptable, frivolous’ statement on Pakistan’s political tensions
- Afghanistan had expressed alarm at rising tensions between Pakistan’s government, opposition over weekend protests in Islamabad
- Pakistan urges Afghanistan to focus on “fixing its own domestic problems” such as militancy and lack of rights for women and girls
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson on Monday rejected Afghanistan’s “unacceptable” and “frivolous” statement expressing alarm over rising political tensions in the country following protests in Islamabad last week, urging Kabul to focus on its domestic issues instead.
Afghanistan’s foreign ministry expressed alarm on Sunday over the weekend protests by former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party in Islamabad. Hundreds of Khan supporters arrived in the capital on Friday to protest against the government’s proposed constitutional amendments and to demand his release from prison. All major routes leading to Islamabad were blocked with shipping containers while mobile phone services were suspended from Friday to Sunday afternoon as police clashed with Khan supporters.
One police constable was killed while 31 other cops were injured during the clashes, police said, adding that they had rounded up over 870 protesters. Afghanistan’s foreign office expressed alarm over the rising tensions, saying that they could “adversely impact” the region. Kabul had urged Pakistan to address the “legitimate demands of the people” through negotiations and understanding.
“Pakistan categorically rejects the frivolous statement made by spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Afghanistan yesterday,” Mumtaz Zahra Baloch, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson, said in a statement.
“The statement constitutes an unacceptable and deplorable interference in the domestic affairs of Pakistan.”
Baloch said that instead of lecturing Pakistan, Afghanistan should “focus on fixing its own domestic problems” which included granting women and girls the right to education rather than “curtailing their rights through misguided interpretation of religion.”
“The AIG should also deliver on the commitments given to the international community by denying space to terror groups which are seriously threatening peace and security in neighboring countries; and by preventing Afghanistan from becoming once again the center of global terrorism,” she added.
Baloch said Islamabad remains committed to peace, dialogue and cooperation in the region. She said Pakistan expects all states, including Afghanistan, to adhere to “basic norms of responsible international conduct and interstate relations.”
Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained strained since the Afghan Taliban seized Kabul in August 2021. Pakistan has suffered a surge in militant attacks carried out by the Pakistani Taliban, or the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) outfit in its northwestern province bordering Afghanistan since November 2022.
Pakistan blames Afghanistan for sheltering TTP militants and has urged Kabul to take decisive action against terror outfits it says use Afghan soil to launch attacks against Pakistan. Afghanistan rejects Pakistan’s allegations and has urged its neighboring country to resolve its security challenges domestically.
Tensions between the two countries reached a head in March when Pakistan conducted airstrikes into Afghanistan on what it said were militant targets. Kabul said the airstrikes killed six civilians, warning Islamabad against conducting similar actions in future.
Bilateral relations further soured last year when Islamabad blamed Afghan nationals for being involved in militant activities in Pakistan, before launching a deportation drive against undocumented immigrants in the country that affected mostly Afghan refugees in the country. Since last year, Pakistan has expelled over 700,000 Afghans from the country as part of the deportation drive.
Shooting starts in UK for Pakistani superstar Fawad Khan’s Bollywood comeback ‘Abir Gulaal’
- After political disputes, there has been an unofficial ban since 2016 on Pakistani artists working in Indian films
- In 2023, Bombay High Court dismissed a petition seeking to officially ban Pakistani artists from working in India
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani superstar Fawad Khan and Bollywood’s Vaani Kapoor have started shooting their upcoming romantic comedy film “Abir Gulaal” at locations in and around London, Variety reported on Monday.
The film, which will be shot in the UK over October and November, is directed by Aarti S. Bagdi and produced by Indian Stories, A Richer Lens and Aarjay Pictures. Its producers include Vivek B. Agrawal, Avantika Hari and Rakesh Sippy.
“The film explores the journey of two individuals who unintentionally help each other heal, with love blossoming as an unexpected consequence,” Bagdi told Variety.
Khan enjoys heartthrob status in both Pakistan and India and has played the lead in Bollywood hits “Khoobsurat” (2014) and “Kapoor & Sons” (2016). He also starred in “Ms. Marvel” (2022) and “The Legend of Maula Jatt” (2022), Pakistan’s biggest hit of all time. The Indian release of “Maula Jatt” is currently on hold after a right-wing fringe group objected to it. Khan is also the lead of hit Zindagi series “Barzakh,” which debuted at Series Mania in 2023.
Kapoor, who won critical acclaim playing a transgender character in film “Chandigarh Kare Aashiqui” (2021), is also the lead in upcoming Netflix crime thriller series “Mandala Murders” and coming-of-age Bollywood drama-comedy “Badtameez Gill.”
The “Abir Gulaal” producers said:
“Fawad has a massive global fan base, and we anticipate that audiences and his fans will wholeheartedly embrace this film, as it showcases him in his most endearing role yet,” Abir Gulaal producers said in a statement. “The chemistry between Fawad and Vaani is expected to light up the screen with their captivating performances and undeniable charm.”
Since 2016, there has been an unofficial ban on Pakistani artists working in Indian films, following political disputes between the two countries. However, in 2023, the Bombay High Court dismissed a petition seeking to officially ban Pakistani artists from working in India.
“Arts, music, sports, culture, dance, and so on are the activities which rise above nationalities, cultures, and nations and truly bring about peace, tranquility, unity, and harmony in nation and between nations,” the court had said in its ruling.
Ex-PM Imran Khan’s party tells supporters to continue protests in Pakistani capital
- Protesters from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf arrived in Islamabad and tried to congregate at D-Chowk square on Friday
- They are pressing for Khan’s release and agitating against ruling coalition’s plans to pass constitutional amendments
ISLAMABAD: The party of jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan told supporters on Monday to continue a protest in the federal capital, Islamabad, in which one policeman has been killed and over 30 injured since last week.
Defying a government ban on congregations, supporters of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) arrived in Islamabad and tried to congregate at the D-Chowk square on Friday to press for Khan’s release and agitate against the ruling coalition, which the party says is planning to pass constitutional amendments to curtail the independence of the judiciary. The government denies it aims to suppress the judiciary.
The capital has been in near lockdown since Friday, with heavy deployment of police and paramilitary forces, entry and exit points to the city shut down and main roads blocked off with shipping containers. On Sunday, the city began to return to some normalcy, though some roads and areas that house government and diplomatic buildings remain sealed.
“Join the protest in groups as per instructions of Founder Chairman Imran Khan,” the PTI said in an advisory on X, calling on supporters to keep the protests going. “Be wary of suspicious persons in your ranks and remain calm despite provocations.”
The call to continue protests comes despite strict warnings from the government and police.
“No one will be allowed to take any illegal course for causing instability in the country,” PM Shehbaz Sharif said after a meeting with Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Sunday.
In a press conference earlier that day, the head of Islamabad police said 31 policemen had been injured in the protests, while police had arrested nearly 900 “miscreants.” Local media widely reported that Lahore police had registered cases against PTI founder Imran Khan and 200 other party leaders, supporters and lawyers on charges of sedition, terrorism, among others. Three additional cases were lodged against hundreds of PTI leaders and supporters for violating the Section 144 provision against public gatherings imposed by the Punjab government last week.
The government had previously called on the PTI to delay any gathering until after diplomatic engagements in the city, including a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting on Oct. 15-16 which will be attended by delegations, including from China, Russia and India. Pakistan is also expecting a delegation from Saudi Arabia later this month and preparing for a visit by the Chinese premier.
Pakistani authorities announced they would deploy the army in the capital starting Saturday to secure the SCO meeting. India’s foreign ministry confirmed Friday that its external affairs minister, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, will attend.
Khan, the main rival of the coalition government led by PM Sharif, has been in prison for more than a year in connection with over 150 criminal cases. He remains a popular figure despite the cases, which critics and his party say are politically motivated. He was ousted in 2022 through a no-confidence vote in parliament and arrested in 2023 after a court handed him a three-year jail sentence in a graft case. Sharif came into power for his second term after the Feb. 8 vote which Khan says was rigged.
Sharif’s government says Khan’s party wants to weaken the country’s economy by staging violent protests despite the threat posed by the Pakistani Taliban and other militants, who have stepped up attacks in recent years. On Sunday, two Chinese nationals were killed in a separatist attack in the southern port city of Karachi.
Pakistan, which recently received a $7 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, has also been struggling to overcome an economic crisis.
