Top official of ex-PM Khan’s party ‘missing’ as nearly 900 arrested in Islamabad protests

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party nominated Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Gandapur (C) addresses a protest against the alleged skewing in Pakistan's national election, in Peshawar on March 10, 2024. (AFP/File)
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Updated 06 October 2024
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Top official of ex-PM Khan’s party ‘missing’ as nearly 900 arrested in Islamabad protests

  • Hundreds of Khan supporters set out for Islamabad from various parts of the country on Friday to take part in a protest at D-Chowk square
  • Clashes erupted after the police tried to prevent caravans of Khan supporters from entering the capital, resulting in the killing of one cop

ISLAMABAD: Mystery continued to surround the whereabouts of a key official of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party as its protest entered a third day on Sunday, with at least one policeman killed in clashes and almost 900 demonstrators arrested.

Hundreds of Khan supporters set out for Islamabad from various parts of the country on Friday to take part in a protest at D-Chowk. Police tried to prevent the protesters from entering Islamabad, which led to violent clashes between the two sides over the course of two days. Authorities said at least one policeman was killed in the clashes and dozens of other law enforcers sustained injuries, whereas Khan’s party said the police heavily shelled its supporters with tear gas.

Khan’s party announced this week it was protesting the government’s proposed constitutional amendments that it claims are aimed at curtailing the independence of the judiciary, with the government repudiating the charge. The party has also been trying to mobilize supporters through protests and public gatherings to pressure the government for the release of Khan, who has been in prison since August last year on a slew of charges.

Tensions between the government and the PTI escalated on Saturday after the paramilitary Rangers force stormed KP’s administration office in Islamabad, with the party saying Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur, who led caravans of Khan supporters to Islamabad from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, had been “kidnapped.”

“Chief Minister KP Ali Amin Gandapur is neither in our [Islamabad Police] custody nor is he in the custody of any other Pakistani institution,” Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi told reporters in Islamabad after attending deceased police constable Abdul Hameed Shah’s funeral prayers, denying the PTI claims that Gandapur had been abducted by police or intelligence agencies. 

“He himself is on the run. Islamabad police will deal with him as per law as they are definitely searching for him.”

Naqvi said the capital police conducted three raids at various locations on Saturday night where they suspected Gandapur was present, adding that he was not found there.

“We still have blockades at certain points in the city and are actively searching for him,” Naqvi said. 

Speaking at a presser, Islamabad police chief Ali Nasir Rizvi said they had rounded up 878 suspects during the days-long violent protests, of whom “120 were Afghan nationals.”

“Tear gas were fired on us, [we were] pelted with stones, with protesters using slingshots to attack us,” he said, without offering any evidence to support his statement.

Shah, the deceased police constable, was posted at Chungi no. 26 from where he was abducted by protesters, according to Islamabad police spokesman Muhammad Taqi Jawad. A resident of the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, Shah joined Islamabad Police in 1988 and was serving in its investigation wing.

“Miscreants kept torturing police constable Shah after abducting him,” Jawad said, adding that Shah was set to retire in three months upon completing his service.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned Shah’s killing, blaming the PTI for the violent protests.

“PTI always adopted the path of violence under the guise of protest,” Sharif was quoted as saying by his office. “The prime minister has directed to bring all people involved in the incident to justice.”

CURRENT SITUATION IN ISLAMABAD


Normalcy started returning to the Pakistani capital on Sunday afternoon after a majority of roads and thoroughfares in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, which had been sealed with shipping containers on Friday, were reopened for traffic, and mobile phone services were largely restored, bringing a sigh of relief to residents of the twin cities.

Speaking of the present situation in the capital, the Islamabad police spokesperson said the protesters who had entered Islamabad with CM Gandapur had left and there was no sit-in protest going on in the city.

“No protesters are in Islamabad right now and the roads are partially opened,” he said.
An Arab News survey, however, revealed that few roads leading toward the capital’s Red Zone, home to key diplomatic and government offices, were still blocked off with shipping containers.

Khan’s party says it is facing an over-year-long crackdown since protesters allegedly linked to the PTI attacked and damaged government and military installations on May 9, 2023, after the former premier’s brief arrest the same day in a land graft case.

Hundreds of PTI followers and leaders were arrested following the riots and many remain behind bars as they await trial. The military, which says Khan and his party were behind the attacks, has also initiated army court trials of at least 103 people accused of involvement in the violence.

Khan, who has been in jail since last August, was ousted from the PM’s office in 2022 in a parliamentary vote of no confidence after what is widely believed to be a falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military, which denies being involved in politics.


Pakistani deputy PM to attend UAE’s Sir Bani Yas Forum from Nov. 15-17

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Pakistani deputy PM to attend UAE’s Sir Bani Yas Forum from Nov. 15-17

  • Three-day summit will host top decision-makers, experts for debates on regional issues
  • Ongoing war in Gaza is expected to feature prominently in discussions at Sir Bani Yas Forum

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar will attend the 15th Sir Bani Yas Forum in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from November 15-17, the foreign office in Islamabad said on Thursday, with the ongoing war in Gaza expected to be at the center of discussions. 

The three-day annual retreat will bring together top decision-makers and experts to debate pressing Middle Eastern issues such as regional peace and security and economic transformation.

“At the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar will participate in the 15th Sir Bani Yas Forum being held from Nov. 15-17 in the UAE,” foreign office Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said at a weekly news briefing in Islamabad.

“At the forum, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister will engage in high-level dialogue with global leaders and experts addressing critical issues of regional security, economic cooperation and sustainable development.”

Dar will highlight Pakistan’s “strategic perspective on fostering diplomatic solutions to complex regional challenges and advancing collective prosperity,” Baloch added. 

The war in the Gaza Strip is expected to feature prominently in discussions at the Sir Bani Yas Forum. 

Israel invaded the enclave last year after Hamas-led gunmen attacked communities in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people, according to Israeli authorities, and abducting more than 250 as hostages. Since then, the Israeli campaign has killed more than 43,500 people, according to Gaza health authorities, and destroyed much of the enclave’s infrastructure, forcing most of the 2.3 million population to move several times.

The issue was also at the center of the agenda at the recently concluded Joint Arab-Islamic Summit hosted by Saudi Arabia, with Baloch welcoming the resolution adopted by the summit, which, among other issues, called on the UN Security Council to impose an arms embargo on Israel and asked it to set up an independent investigation committee to investigate Israeli crimes including genocide, forced disappearances, torture and ethnic cleansing.

Commenting on recently signed investment agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) worth over $2.8 billion between Pakistani and Saudi companies, the spokesperson said the deals were crucial for “sustaining economic and investment collaboration” between the two close allies. 

“They [MoUs] are a reflection of the enhanced cooperation between our two countries in the economic domain,” Baloch added.

In response to a question about reports that the UAE had implemented a visa ban for Pakistanis, the spokesperson said:

“First, I would like to reiterate that according visa to any individual is the sovereign right and decision of the country concerned and secondly, we do not subscribe to this impression that there is a ban on visa for Pakistani nationals.”

The spokesperson’s comments follow widespread media reports of a decline in visas for Pakistanis by the UAE and a decrease in overall overseas employment for nationals of Pakistan, allegedly due to their lack of respect for local laws and customs and for participating in political activities and sloganeering while abroad.

“If there are any issues that arise with respect to issuance of visas and stay of Pakistani nationals in the UAE,” Baloch said, “that are important agenda items between Pakistan and the UAE and we continue to discuss them.”


Lahore most polluted city on earth, Agra’s toxic smog hides Taj Mahal

Updated 23 min 27 sec ago
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Lahore most polluted city on earth, Agra’s toxic smog hides Taj Mahal

  • Smog obscured India’s famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal, and Sikhism’s holiest shrine, Golden Temple in Amritsar
  • Delhi flights faced delays, with tracking website Flightradar24 showing 88 percent departures and 54% of arrivals were delayed

NEW DELHI: Toxic smog obscured India’s famed monument to love, the Taj Mahal, as well as Sikhism’s holiest shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar, and delayed flights on Thursday, becoming too thick to see through in several places.

The city of Lahore in neighboring Pakistan ranked as the world’s most polluted in winter’s annual scourge across the region, worsened by dust, emissions, and smoke from fires burnt illegally in India’s farming states of Punjab and Haryana.

In the city of Agra, the Taj Mahal was barely visible from the gardens in front of the 17th-century monument, while dense fog wreathed worshippers at the Golden Temple in Punjab, television images showed.

Delhi flights faced delays, with tracking website Flightradar24 showing 88 percent of departures and 54 percent of arrivals were delayed.

Officials blamed high pollution, combined with humidity, becalmed winds and a drop in temperature for the smog, which cut visibility to 300 m (980 ft) at the city’s international airport, which diverted flights in zero visibility on Wednesday.

More patients flocked to hospitals, particularly children.

“There has been a sudden increase in children with allergies, cough and cold ... and a rise in acute asthma attacks,” Sahab Ram, a paediatrician in Punjab’s Fazilka region, told news agency ANI.

Delhi’s minimum temperature fell to 16.1 degrees Celsius (61°F) on Thursday from 17 degrees C (63 degrees F) the previous day, weather officials said.

Its pollution ranked in the ‘severe’ category for the second consecutive day, with a score of 430 on an index of air quality maintained by the top pollution panel that rates a score of zero to 50 as ‘good’.

Pollution in New Delhi is likely to stay in the ‘severe’ category on Friday, the earth sciences ministry said, before improving to ‘very poor’, or an index score of 300 to 400.

The number of farm fires to clear fields in northern India has risen steadily this week to almost 2,300 on Wednesday from 1,200 on Monday, the ministry’s website showed.

Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s eastern province of Punjab, was rated the world’s most polluted city on Thursday, in live rankings kept by Swiss group IQAir. Authorities there have also battled hazardous air this month. 


Pakistan court rules out Imran Khan acquittal in new state gifts case, will frame charges

Updated 14 November 2024
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Pakistan court rules out Imran Khan acquittal in new state gifts case, will frame charges

  • Case involves jewelry worth over €380,000 gifted to ex-first lady by foreign dignitary when Khan was PM from 2018-2022
  • Huband-wife duo is accused of undervaluing the gift and buying it at a lesser price from the state repository

ISLAMABAD: A trial court has dismissed an acquittal petition and will frame charges against jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan and his wife in a case relating to gifts acquired from a state repository, the ex-premier’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said on Thursday.

The reference, popularly called the new Toshakhana case, was filed in July and involves a jewelry set worth over €380,000 gifted to the former first lady by a foreign dignitary when Khan was prime minister from 2018-2022. The couple is accused of undervaluing the gift and buying it at a lesser price from the state repository.

Before the new case was filed, the ex-premier, who has been in jail since last August, was convicted in four cases. Two of the cases have since been suspended, including an original one relating to state gifts, while he was acquitted in the remaining two.

“The trial court has dismissed the acquittal petition of Imran Khan & Bushra Bibi from Toshakhana Case 2. On Nov. 18, the court will frame charges,” the PTI said in a statement to reporters. 

“This case doesn’t merit proceedings as the prosecution admitted that Imran Khan did not gain any personal benefit from the case, neither do the proceedings meet the law.”

Khan’s convictions had ruled the 71-year-old out of the Feb. 8 general elections as convicted felons cannot run for public office under Pakistani law.

Arguably Pakistan’s most popular politician, Khan says the cases against him are “politically motivated” and aimed at keeping him from returning to power. Pakistani authorities deny this.

The ex-premier is also facing multiple cases relating to May 9, 2023 protests, which saw his supporters attack government and military installations over his brief arrest in another graft case.

On Wednesday, the PTI announced that Khan had called a ‘long march’ protest movement to the capital, Islamabad, over alleged rigging in general elections and to call for the release of political prisoners and the independence of the judiciary.

The PTI is demanding that the government rollback recent constitutional amendments like the 26th amendment that it says are an attempt to curtail the independence of the senior judiciary. 

The party is also calling for the release of all political prisoners, including Khan, and a return of “the public mandate” following what it believes was a rigged general election. 

Pakistan’s government denies being unfair in Khan’s treatment and its election commission denies the elections were rigged. The government also says the recent amendments related to the judiciary are meant to smooth out its functioning and tackle a backlog of cases.


Pakistan says UAE eyeing investments in Sindh’s desalination, transport, construction sectors

Updated 14 November 2024
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Pakistan says UAE eyeing investments in Sindh’s desalination, transport, construction sectors

  • UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trade partners and main source of foreign investment
  • UAE-Pakistan trade volume rose to $7.9 billion in 2023, up by 12 percent from 2022

KARACHI: A spokesman for the chief minister of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province said on Thursday the UAE was interested in investing in a desalination plant in the port city of Karachi as well as in transport and construction projects.

The announcement came after a meeting between CM Murad Ali Shah and the UAE Consul General in Karachi, Bakhit Atiq Al Rimithiki, on the occasion of the National Day of the Emirates. 

The UAE is one of Pakistan’s largest trading partners and a major source of foreign investment, valued at over $10 billion in the last 20 years, according to the UAE ministry of foreign affairs. The UAE-Pakistan trade volume rose to $7.9 billion in 2023, up 12 percent from 2022.

“Discussions were also held on the investment of UAE companies in various projects in Karachi,” the CM’s office said. “UAE companies are interested in investing in Karachi’s desalination plant, transport and road and bridge construction sectors.”

The spokesman said Shah was also arranging meetings between the provincial investment department and relevant officers of the UAE.

In May this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz said the UAE had committed $10 billion to invest in promising economic sectors in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, Pakistan signed four MoUs with the AD Ports Group, a major investor in Pakistan, to explore opportunities in the maritime, air and rail sectors as well as in logistics and digital services.

With UAE partner Kaheel Terminals, AD Ports Group is already developing, operating, and managing container, bulk, and general cargo operations at the Port of Karachi, Pakistan’s major port, where it has agreed to invest almost $400 million over 15 years. 

The joint venture has agreed to invest $75 million over the next two years in superstructure and equipment, followed by $100 million within five years to increase efficiency and capacity by 75 percent, enabling the terminal to handle up to 14 million tones per annum.

Pakistan has been pushing for foreign investment in recent months in a bid to shore up its $350 billion economy as it navigates a tough reforms agenda mandated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).


Premature blast kills suicide bomber in northwest Pakistan, harms no one else — police 

Updated 14 November 2024
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Premature blast kills suicide bomber in northwest Pakistan, harms no one else — police 

  • Suicide bomber riding a motorcycle set off an explosive device prematurely on a deserted road in Charsadda district 
  • Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, often target security forces in KP province with suicide bombings

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle set off an explosive device prematurely on a deserted road in northwest Pakistan on Thursday, killing himself but harming no one else, police said.

Local police official Masood Khan said the blast happened in Charsadda district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, where Pakistani Taliban and other insurgents often target security forces.

Khan said the intended target was unclear and bomb disposal experts and police were still investigating whether the man was wearing the explosives or they were attached to his motorcycle.

The Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, often target security forces in the province with suicide bombings and other violence. 

TTP are separate from the Afghan Taliban but have been emboldened by the group’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021.