Italian aircraft carrier arrives in Pakistan on maiden voyage to boost defense cooperation

The picture shared by the Pakistan Navy on October 15, 2024, shows the Italian aircraft carrier Cavour arriving at Karachi port. (Pakistan Navy)
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Updated 15 October 2024
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Italian aircraft carrier arrives in Pakistan on maiden voyage to boost defense cooperation

  • Three-day visit to enhance maritime collaboration between both navies, says Pakistan Navy
  • Pakistan Navy regularly conducts defense agreements, training and joint exercises with counterparts

ISLAMABAD: The Italian Navy’s Carrier Strike Group comprising an aircraft carrier and a frigate arrived in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi this week, the navy confirmed, for a three-day visit to enhance regional maritime security and defense cooperation between the two countries. 

The visiting Italian fleet comprises aircraft carrier Cavour and the Alpino frigate, which arrived in Karachi on Monday. The group was welcomed by Pakistan Navy’s senior officials and Italian Ambassador to Pakistan Marilina Armellin upon their arrival.

The visit marks the first ever by an Italian aircraft carrier to Pakistan. 

“The Italian Navy Carrier Strike Group comprising Aircraft Carrier Cavour and frigate Alpino arrived in Karachi on a three-day visit followed by a bilateral exercise,” the Pakistan Navy said in a statement on Monday. 

A delegation led by Armellin and Rear Admiral Stefano Barbieri called on Pakistan Fleet Commander Rear Admiral Abdul Munib to discuss “matters of mutual interest including interoperability and avenues for future collaboration,” the Pakistan Navy said. 

Karachi Commander Vice Admiral Muhammad Faisal Abbasi also visited Cavour where he was briefed about the aircraft carrier’s capabilities by Italian Commanding Officer Captain Francesco Fagnani. 

During the media brief, the Italian officials “endorsed the role of Pakistan Navy in regional maritime security and highlighted the importance of interoperability between the two navies,” Pakistan Navy said. 

The Italian defense industries’ capabilities were also showcased in a Defense Industries Exhibition held aboard the warship Alpino. 

In September, Italian Navy ship Morosini visited Karachi to conduct a bilateral exercise with the Pakistan Navy to bolster interoperability between the two forces. 


Pakistan PM to attend Arab-Islamic Summit on Gaza and Lebanon today 

Updated 11 sec ago
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Pakistan PM to attend Arab-Islamic Summit on Gaza and Lebanon today 

  • Israel has killed over 43,000 people in Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023, through relentless air and ground offensives
  • Pakistan's deputy PM on Sunday urged international community to hold Israel accountable for its "war crimes"

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the extraordinary Arab–Islamic summit meeting between the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) scheduled to be held today, Monday, in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss Israel's ongoing wars in Gaza, Lebanon and the Middle East situation.
Sharif arrived in Riyadh on Sunday night to join various Muslim leaders in the Saudi capital who will attend the summit called to discuss Israel's relentless military campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon. Israel has waged war in Gaza since October last year, killing over 43,000 people and rendering the strip of land almost uninhabitable.  Last month, it also invaded Lebanon, killing 3,000 people since.
"Landed in Riyadh where I will join the leaders of the Muslim Ummah at the Joint Arab Islamic Summit being convened to discuss the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza and speak with one voice for the rights of the Palestinian people and reaffirm our collective call for regional peace," Sharif wrote on social media platform X.

In this handout photo, taken and released by Pakistan’s Press Information Department on November 11, 2024, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif speaks during a meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Governor of Riyadh Region Prince Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Abdulaziz at the Royal terminal of Riyadh International Airport in Riyad on November 10, 2024, ahead of the Arab–Islamic summit in Saudi capital to discuss Israel's ongoing wars in Gaza, Lebanon and the Middle East situation. (Photo courtesy: PMO)

Sharif's office earlier said the prime minister was also expected to meet with world leaders on the sidelines of the summit.
The summit today will be a follow-up to the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit held in November 2023 in Riyadh, according to the Pakistani foreign ministry. Sharif will reiterate Pakistan's full support to the Palestinian cause in his address at the gathering.
On Sunday, Pakistan's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, attended a meeting of the OIC's Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Riyadh, wherein he called on the world to hold Israel accountable for its "war crimes" in Gaza.
"[Dar] expressed alarm at Israeli adventurism in the Middle East that is endangering peace and security in the region," the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement. "[He] called on the international community to bring an end to Gaza genocide."
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on "internationally agreed parameters."
Islamabad has also dispatched more than 1,300 tons of relief goods for Gaza and Lebanon, besides establishing the 'Prime Minister's Relief Fund for Gaza and Lebanon' that aims to collect public donations for the war-affected people.
After attending the summit on Monday, the Pakistani prime minister will visit Baku, Azerbaijan on Tuesday to participate in a two-day World Leaders Climate Action Summit being held as part of the 29th UN Climate Change Conference.
"The prime minister will make a robust call for climate solidarity and climate justice, based on the established principles of equity," state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.


Militant attack on Pakistani border leaves 5 security forces dead, Iran says

Updated 35 min 15 sec ago
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Militant attack on Pakistani border leaves 5 security forces dead, Iran says

  • No group claims responsibility for attack that took place in Iran's Saravan city in southeast
  • Sistan-Baluchestan province has been site of clashes involving militant groups, armed drug smugglers

TEHRAN: A militant attack near the Pakistani border with Iran left five Iranian forces dead, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Sunday.
The report said the dead were ethnic Baloch members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer Basij force and were killed in Saravan city in Sistan and Baluchestan province. Saravan is some 1,400 km (870 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Earlier in the day, state TV reported that Revolutionary Guard forces killed three "terrorists" and arrested nine others in a military operation. The report did not specify which group the suspects belonged to.
Last month, unknown gunmen killed four people, including the chief of the Revolutionary Guard in the province.
In September, gunmen killed four border guards in Sistan and Baluchestan province in two separate attacks. The militant group Jaish al-Adl, which seeks greater rights for the ethnic Baloch minority, claimed responsibility for one attack in which one officer and two soldiers were killed.
The province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been the site of occasional deadly clashes involving militant groups, armed drug smugglers and Iranian security forces. It is one of the least developed parts of Iran. Relations between the predominantly Sunni Muslim residents of the region and Iran’s Shiite theocracy have long been strained.


Pakistan's record smog triggers anguish and anxiety

Updated 50 min 57 sec ago
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Pakistan's record smog triggers anguish and anxiety

  • Lahore, a city of 14 million people on the border with India, regularly ranks among world's most polluted cities
  • Schools in main cities of Punjab province, of which Lahore is capital, have closed until Nov. 17 due to the smog

LAHORE: On the streets of Pakistan's second biggest city, smog stings eyes and burns throats. Inside homes, few people can afford air purifiers to limit the damage of toxic particles that seep through doors and windows.
Lahore -- a city of 14 million people stuffed with factories on the border with India -- regularly ranks among the world's most polluted cities, but it has hit record levels this month.
Schools have closed in the main cities of Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital, until November 17 in a bid to lower children's exposure to the pollution, especially during the morning commute when it is often at its highest.
"The children are constantly coughing, they have constant allergies. In schools we saw that most of the children were falling sick," said Rafia Iqbal a 38-year-old primary school teacher in the city that borders India.
Her husband Muhammad Safdar, a 41-year-old advertising professional, said the level of pollution "is making daily living impossible".
"We cannot move around, we cannot go outside, we can do nothing at all," he told AFP.
According to the international Air Quality Index Scale, an index value of 300 or higher results is "hazardous" to health and Pakistan has regularly tipped over 1,000 on the scale.
In Multan, another city of several million people some 350 kilometres away, the AQI level passed 2,000 last week -- a staggering height never seen before by incredulous residents.
Access to parks, zoos, playgrounds, historic monuments, museums and recreational areas will be banned until November 17 and tuk-tuks with polluting two-stroke engines, along with restaurants that operate barbecues without filters have been banned in Lahore "hot-spots".
Air purifiers are luxury for most families, with the cheapest priced at around $90, with the added cost of replacing filters every few months in such extreme pollution.
Safdar and Iqbal do not have air purifiers and instead try to contain their children to one room.
"Preventive measures should have been taken. It's a yearly occurrence," Safdar said of the government.
"Obviously there is something missing in their solution."
A mix of low-grade fuel emissions from factories and vehicles, exacerbated by agricultural stubble burning, blanket the city each winter, trapped by cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds.
The WHO says that air pollution can trigger strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.
It is particularly punishing for children and babies, and the elderly.
Last year, the Punjab government tested artificial rain to try to overcome the smog, and this year, trucks with water cannons sprayed the streets -- with no results.
Special smog counters to triage patients have been established at clinics across the province, with 900 people admitted to hospital in Lahore alone on Tuesday.
Doctor Qurat ul Ain, a hospital doctor for 15 years, witnesses the damage from an emergency rooms in Lahore.
"This year smog is much more than previous years and the number of patients suffering from its effects is greater too," she told AFP.
Many arrive with laboured breathing or coughing fits and reddened eyes, often the elderly, children and young men who have breathed in the toxic air while on the back of motorbikes.
"We tell people not to go out and otherwise to wear a mask. We tell them not to touch their eyes with their hands, especially children," she adds.
For days the concentration of polluting micro-particles PM2.5 in Punjab has been dozens of times higher than that deemed tolerable by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Doctor Alia Haider, also a climate activist, is calling for awareness campaigns for patients who often do not know the dangers of smog.
Children from poor neighborhoods, she said, are the first victims because they live all year round with pollutants of different types.
"We are stuck in our own poison," she said. It's like a cloud of gas over the city."


Pakistan Railways suspends Quetta train operations for four days after deadly bombing

Updated 58 min 18 sec ago
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Pakistan Railways suspends Quetta train operations for four days after deadly bombing

  • The suicide bombing at Quetta Railway Station killed 26 people and injured 64 others on Saturday morning
  • This was the deadliest attack since coordinated assaults in August that killed over 50 people in Balochistan

KARACHI: Pakistan Railways has suspended train operations from the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta to other parts of the country for four days, it said on Sunday, a day after a deadly bombing at Quetta Railway Station killed more than two dozen people.
At least 26 people were killed and 64 others injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at the crowded railway station early on Saturday morning in Pakistan’s restive Balochistan province, according to officials.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent of separatist groups in Balochistan, claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest since a string of coordinated assaults on Aug. 25-26 in which more than 50 people, civilians and security officials, were killed in the region.
On Sunday, Aamir Ali Baloch, chief executive officer of Pakistan Railways, announced the suspension of train operations in view of security concerns and in the interest of passenger safety.
“Operations will resume as soon as clearance is granted,” Pakistan Railways said in a statement on Sunday night.
Train service from Quetta to other cities remained suspended for more than a month after separatist militants blew up a key bridge in the southwestern Balochistan province on August 26.
Built in 1887, the five-span bridge was the second such link constructed by the British Army at the Bolan Pass after reaching an agreement with the then Khan of Kalat, Meer Khuda-e-Dad Khan, to extend the railway network to Quetta and Chaman near the Afghan border.
Baloch said Pakistan Railways had successfully restored Quetta’s connection with the rest of the country and such incidents would not weaken their resolve. He said compensation would be provided to the families of the deceased and to the injured according to the railways insurance policy.
“Fifty injured individuals are currently being treated in trauma centers, where Pakistan Railways’ medical teams are present to provide care,” he said, commending the Quetta division team of railways for the immediate relief operations.
Balochistan is Pakistan’s most impoverished province where separatist militants have been fighting what they see as the unfair exploitation of the province’s mineral and gas wealth by the federation at the center. The province is home to major China-led investment projects such as a strategic port and a gold and copper mine.
The Pakistani government and military deny they are exploiting Balochistan and have long maintained that neighbors such as India, Afghanistan and Iran foment trouble in the remote province and support and fund the insurgency there to impede its development potential.


Pakistan PM arrives in Riyadh to attend Arab-Islamic summit on Gaza, Middle East situation

Updated 10 November 2024
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Pakistan PM arrives in Riyadh to attend Arab-Islamic summit on Gaza, Middle East situation

  • Saudi Arabia is hosting the extraordinary summit to discuss Israeli military actions in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East
  • Muslim countries have called on Israel to stop its military campaigns that have raised fears of a wider conflict in the region

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday arrived in the Saudi capital of Riyadh to attend an Arab-Islamic summit on the situation in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East, Sharif’s office said on Sunday, amid ongoing Israeli military campaigns in the region.
Saudi Arabia will host the extraordinary Arab–Islamic summit between the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Monday to address Israel’s bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza and Lebanon.
Upon arrival at the airport, Prince Mohammed bin Abdurrahman bin Abdulaziz, deputy governor of the Riyadh region, and Pakistani diplomatic officials in Saudi Arabia received the prime minister, according to Sharif’s office.
“Landed in Riyadh where I will join the leaders of the Muslim Ummah at the Joint Arab Islamic Summit being convened to discuss the rapidly deteriorating situation in Gaza and speak with one voice for the rights of the Palestinian people and reaffirm our collective call for regional peace,” Sharif said on X.
Sharif’s office earlier said the prime minister was also expected to meet with world leaders on the sidelines of the summit.
Since Oct 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas, Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has killed over 43,000 people and injured thousands more. Israeli strikes on Lebanon, Iran and Syria have also heightened fears of a wider war in the Middle East.
Muslim countries have called on Israel to announce an immediate ceasefire in the Middle East.
Monday’s summit in Riyadh will be a follow-up to the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit held in November 2023 in Riyadh, according to the Pakistani foreign ministry. PM Sharif will reiterate Pakistan’s full support to the Palestinian cause in his address with the gathering.
On Sunday, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, attended a meeting of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Riyadh, wherein he called on the world to hold Israel accountable for its “war crimes” in Gaza.
“[Dar] expressed alarm at Israeli adventurism in the Middle East that is endangering peace and security in the region,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement. “[He] called on the international community to bring an end to Gaza genocide.”
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters.”
The South Asian country has also dispatched more than 1,300 tons of relief goods for Gaza and Lebanon, besides establishing the ‘Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for Gaza and Lebanon’ that aims to collect public donations for the war-affected people.