Revived Champions Trophy up for grabs with no clear favorite

Cars and motorcyclists drive past a billboard depicting portraits of the various cricketers in preparation for ICC Champions Trophy 2025, installed on a pedestrian bridge on a road in Karachi, Pakistan, Sunday, February 16, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 18 February 2025
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Revived Champions Trophy up for grabs with no clear favorite

  • Reigning ODI world champions Australia are among several countries sending weakened contingents 
  • Pakistan are defending champions and hosts as they stage a first global tournament since 1996 World Cup

The sprinkling of stardust over the Champions Trophy may appear somewhat thin on its return to the calendar after eight years but fans can expect a wide open one-day international tournament in the absence of an overwhelming favorite.
The tournament featuring the top eight teams in the ODI format was discontinued by the International Cricket Committee (ICC) after the eighth edition in 2017, when Sarfaraz Ahmed’s Pakistan beat India in the final.
Pakistan are therefore holders as well as hosts as they stage a first global tournament since the 1996 World Cup, even if political tensions mean India will play all their matches, including the March 9 final should they make it, in Dubai.
Reigning ODI world champions Australia are among several countries sending weakened contingents with Steve Smith standing in as captain of a squad featuring a second-string pace attack.
Regular skipper Pat Cummins, fellow quick Josh Hazlewood and all-rounder Mitchell Marsh were all ruled out by injury, while left-arm quick Mitchell Starc withdrew for personal reasons and all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has quit ODIs altogether.
Sri Lanka did not make the cut for the Champions Trophy but nevertheless handed the Australians a humbling reality check in the run-up to the tournament with a 2-0 series drubbing.
Reigning Twenty20 world champions India have made the finals of the last three ICC events and Rohit Sharma’s team signaled their fine form by winning seven of eight limited-overs matches against England.
Runners-up in the 2023 ODI World Cup on home soil, India boast one of the world’s most destructive batting lineups but will be without pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who has been laid low by a back injury.
Seamer Mohammed Shami’s impressive return to action in the home series against England was a big relief for Rohit, who will also expect vital contributions from spin all-rounders Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja.

SOUTHEE BACKS NZ

New Zealand will also fancy their chances of claiming the title having won the tri-nation trophy in Pakistan, beating the hosts in the final of a warm-up tournament also featuring 1998 champions South Africa.
Mitchell Santner’s Black Caps side went through the tournament unbeaten and now have a fair idea of the kind of conditions they will face in the Champions Trophy.
“If you look at the track record of New Zealand in ICC events, they are always there or thereabouts,” former New Zealand pace spearhead Tim Southee told the ICC.
“In a tournament like the Champions Trophy, if you get on a bit of a roll, anything can happen. I’d love to see the Black Caps there and hopefully lifting the trophy at the end.”
England were unable to defend to defend the T20 or ODI World Cup under Jos Buttler and are now licking their wounds after a tour of India where they were blanked 3-0 in the 50-overs matches.
They have already lost the services of Jacob Bethell through a hamstring injury, while their bowling trio of Brydon Carse (toe), Jamie Overton (hamstring) and Jofra Archer (hand) are all nursing fitness issues.
Giant-killers Afghanistan will make their Champions Trophy debut following their sixth place finish in the ODI World Cup in 2023, when they beat former champions England, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Pakistan, who face New Zealand in the tournament opener in Karachi on Wednesday, are hoping a successful Champions Trophy will pave the way open for more such tournaments as the country battles perceptions that it is not safe for visitors.
The icing on the cake would be if Mohammad Rizwan, a stumper-batter like Sarfaraz, could guide Pakistan to a first global title since their Champions Trophy triumph in England eight years ago.


Gunmen kill four laborers in Pakistan’s restive southwest amid renewed militant violence

Updated 22 March 2025
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Gunmen kill four laborers in Pakistan’s restive southwest amid renewed militant violence

  • The incident happened in Balochistan’s Kalat district where a group of agriculture workers were shot
  • According to a senior official in the area, the laborers belonged to Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province

QUETTA: At least four laborers belonging to Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province were killed on Saturday after unidentified gunmen targeted them some 40 kilometers from the Mangochar area, situated in Balochistan’s Kalat district, according to a senior government functionary.
This is not the first time laborers from Punjab have been targeted in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, which shares porous borders with Iran and Afghanistan and has experienced a low-scale insurgency by Baloch separatist groups against the Pakistani state.
Baloch nationalists have long accused the Pakistani government and the country’s most prosperous Punjab province of monopolizing profits from Balochistan’s abundant natural resources, saying it has led to their political marginalization and economic exploitation.
Pakistani administrations have denied these allegations, however, citing several development initiatives launched in the province to improve local living conditions.
“Five laborers were drilling on private agricultural land in Mangochar when armed men targeted them with gunshots, killing four laborers at around 2:30 in the afternoon today,” Ali Gul Umrani, Assistant Commissioner Mangochar, told Arab News.
“One laborer survived the attack and the unidentified gunmen fled the area,” he added.
So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. However, last month, seven Punjab-based passengers were killed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), whose militants intercepted a passenger bus and off-boarded those passengers after checking their national identity cards in Barkhan district.
“The laborers targeted today belonged to Punjab’s Sadiqabad district,” Umrani informed, adding their bodies were being shifted to their native villages.
The latest attack against Punjabi laborers comes days after BLA militants hijacked a Peshawar-bound passenger train in the rugged and mountainous Bolan region, killing more than 30 passengers, including Pakistan Army soldiers.
The BLA took hundreds of passengers captive, and the situation persisted for nearly 36 hours before security forces launched a rescue operation in which all 33 militants were killed.
Reacting to the Mangochar attack, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the killing of the laborers and prayed for their departed souls.
“In this hour of grief, we stand with the families of these poor, hardworking laborers,” he said.
“Those who target laborers and working-class individuals are enemies of humanity,” he added. “We will not rest until all forms of terrorism are eradicated from the country.”


Health authorities confirm first mpox case in Pakistan’s Sindh

Updated 22 March 2025
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Health authorities confirm first mpox case in Pakistan’s Sindh

  • The 29-year-old patient has no recent travel history, raising suspicion of local transmission
  • Provincial health official says the patient is kept in isolation, with contact tracing in progress

KARACHI: Pakistan’s southeastern province of Sindh on Saturday reported its first mpox case, with health authorities saying the patient, in his late 20s, had no recent travel history and was being kept in isolation at a local hospital.
Pakistan reported eight cases last year and five this year of mpox, which causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Children, pregnant women, and people with weakened immune systems face a higher risk of complications from the infection.
Mpox can spread through close contact with an infected person, such as skin-to-skin touching or cuts, sexual activity, mouth-to-mouth contact, or by breathing in infectious respiratory particles.
The Sindh health department’s announcement highlighting the lack of travel history raises suspicion of a locally transmitted case.
“Saturday 22nd March 2025, the lab confirmed the first case of Monkeypox in Sindh,” Meeran Yousuf, the provincial health department spokesperson, said in a brief statement.
“The 29-year-old male, resident of District Malir, has no recent travel history,” he continued. “His first symptom onset was on 15th March 2025. The patient is currently in isolation at a public hospital and contact tracing is currently being conducted by the health department.”
Last month, Pakistan reported two new mpox cases in the northwestern city of Peshawar, one of which was said to be the country’s first locally transmitted case.
The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency in 2024 over the spread of a new, more dangerous mutated strain of mpox, named clade I. The strain first emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo and spread to several countries, prompting increased monitoring and preventive measures worldwide.
Pakistan has so far not reported any cases of the new mutation.


Pakistan’s special envoy visits Afghanistan amid deepening tensions over militancy

Updated 22 March 2025
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Pakistan’s special envoy visits Afghanistan amid deepening tensions over militancy

  • The Pak-Afghan ties have remained tense in recent months due to a mix of security, political and border issues
  • Pakistan has deported over 800,000 Afghans since Nov. 2023 and plans to repatriate more in the coming days

ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani diplomat designated to exclusively deal with Afghanistan-related matters is on a three-day visit to the neighboring country, the foreign office announced on Saturday, as bilateral ties between the two nations hit a low point amid a surge in militant attacks in Pakistan.
Pakistan-Afghanistan relations have remained tense in recent months due to a mix of security, political and border issues, with Islamabad accusing the Taliban-led interim government in Kabul of providing safe haven to anti-Pakistan militant groups facilitating cross-border attacks. Kabul has denied the allegations.
The friction escalated after a recent targeting of a passenger train in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, claimed by the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA).
Pakistani officials said the BLA fighters remained in contact with “handlers” based in Afghanistan during the attack that lasted for two days and involved hundred of hostages.
“At the direction of Deputy Prime Minister / Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar @MIshaqDar50, Special Representative for Afghanistan, Amb. Muhammad Sadiq Khan, is undertaking an official visit to Afghanistan from 21-23 March 2025 to discuss Pakistan-Afghanistan bilateral relation,” the foreign office said in a social media post, without providing further details.
Pakistan launched a nationwide deportation campaign targeting undocumented foreigners, mostly Afghans, in November 2023, shortly after a series of deadly suicide bombings that officials blamed on Afghan nationals.
The move, which added to diplomatic tensions between the two countries, has so far led to the repatriation of more than 800,000 Afghans. Many of them had lived in Pakistan since fleeing the Soviet invasion of their country in 1979.
The Pakistani government earlier this month also directed Afghanistan Citizen Card holders to leave the country by March 31, warning they would face deportation if they failed to comply.


Baloch rights group says top leader arrested in police raid in southwestern Pakistan

Updated 22 March 2025
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Baloch rights group says top leader arrested in police raid in southwestern Pakistan

  • Baloch Yakjehti Committee says Dr. Mahrang Baloch was arrested amid a province-wide wheel-jam strike
  • Provincial authorities blame BYC activists for trying to snatch the bodies of militants who targeted Jaffar Express

QUETTA: A leading Baloch ethnic rights group announced on Saturday its top leader was arrested along with several of her colleagues in southwestern Balochistan after police raided their protest camp at dawn in the provincial capital of Quetta.
Dr. Mahrang Baloch has long campaigned for the rights of the ethnic Baloch community, which claims to be subjected to extrajudicial harassment, arrests and killings by security forces in the province.
The Pakistani state, however, denies the allegation, saying its forces are combating separatist militants who target armed forces personnel and foreign nationals in the mineral-rich province that borders Iran and Afghanistan.
The Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) said its leader’s arrest came amid a province-wide wheel-jam strike that followed an alleged police attack on a protest in Quetta that killed three people on Friday evening. BYC said its leader and other supporters began a sit-in with the bodies of the deceased when authorities intervened and detained them.
“At around 5:30 this morning, police and other state agencies attacked the protest sit-in, seized the bodies of the martyrs from the demonstrators, and arrested Baloch Yakjehti Committee’s central leader, Dr. Mahrang Baloch, along with her companions,” Sammi Deen Baloch, another BYC leader, said in a social media post.
“The bodies of the slain youth were also forcibly taken into custody,” she added. “In addition, a crackdown was carried out against women and children as well.”
Balochistan’s provincial authorities accused the BYC of getting into a confrontation with police after some of its members allegedly tried to snatch the bodies of deceased militants involved in the hijacking of a passenger train in the province from a mortuary last week.
The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), a separatist group, had targeted the Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express in the mountainous Bolan region on March 11, taking hundreds of passengers captive.
The siege, which lasted for two days, ended after a military operation that killed 33 militants. The attack, which also claimed the lives of over 30 civilians and security personnel, was one of the deadliest train assaults in the country’s history.
A senior police official confirmed to Arab News on condition of anonymity that Baloch and seven other BYC activists had been arrested in this morning following the attempt to take militants’ bodies with them.
“Police have lodged an FIR [first information report] against Dr. Mahrang and other protesters who attempted to snatch militants’ bodies from the Civil Hospital on Wednesday to glorify the terrorists,” he said. “They also snatched two bodies yesterday from the families who wanted to bury their loved ones and didn’t want to be part of the police and BYC clash.”
A statement released by the office of the commissioner Quetta division during the day also maintained the BYC initiated a protest seeking the recovery of the bodies of militants who targeted the passenger train.
“The protest quickly turned violent as BYC protesters and their armed accomplices resorted to stone-pelting, indiscriminate firing and attacks on law enforcement personnel,” the statement continued. “During the unrest, three individuals lost their lives due to the firing by armed elements accompanying BYC leadership.”
The statement added civil authorities and police emphasized the deceased individuals’ bodies required examination to ascertain the actual circumstances of their deaths, but the BYC refused to hand them over.
“On the request of the deceased’s families, police successfully recovered the bodies from the unlawful custody of BYC supporters and ensured their respectful handover to the respective families,” the statement informed.
“Legal proceedings have been initiated against BYC leaders and their armed associates for inciting and abetting unlawful activities,” it added. “They have been booked under relevant laws for attacking the Civil Hospital, instigating violent protests and other serious offenses.”
Meanwhile, Sabiha Baloch, a senior BYC member, conducted a news conference in which she presented a list of demands to the government.
“The [Balochistan] chief minister, inspector general of police, commissioner and deputy commissioner of Quetta must be sacked for killing three unarmed protesters,” she said. “All detained members of BYC, including Dr. Mahrang Baloch, must be released immediately.”
The authorities restored the cellphone service in Quetta on Saturday evening after suspending it for 16 hours amid the BYC protests. However, the cellphone Internet service continues to remain suspended even after three days.


Pakistan Railways reduces train fares for travel on Eid Al-Fitr

Updated 22 March 2025
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Pakistan Railways reduces train fares for travel on Eid Al-Fitr

  • Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis travel via airplanes, trains, buses to their hometowns to celebrate Eid with family and friends
  • This week, Pakistan’s government announced a three-day holiday from Mar. 31 to Apr. 2 on account of the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Fitr

KARACHI: Pakistan Railways has reduced fares for passenger for travel during Eid Al-Fitr holidays, it announced on Saturday.
Eid Al-Fitr marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan for Muslims worldwide. Ramadan began in Pakistan on Mar. 2, a day after most other Muslims nations, and the Eid Al-Fitr festival at end of the holy month is expected to fall on Mar. 31.
Pakistan’s government this week announced a three-day holiday from Mar. 31 to Apr. 2 on account of the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Fitr.
“The competent authority has been pleased to grant 20 percent concession in fares of all mail and express, intercity and passenger trains in all classes (managed by PR only) on account of the auspicious occasion of Eid Al-Fitr,” the railways department said in a notification.
“This concession will be allowed on current booking only on 1st, 2nd and 3rd days of Eid Al-Fitr.”
Eid Al-Fitr is one of two major Muslim festivals, the other being Eid Al-Adha, which is marked by the slaughtering of animals such as sheep and goats whose meat is shared among family and friends and donated to the poor. This year, Eid Al-Adha is expected to fall on June 6 or 7, marking the culmination of the Hajj pilgrimage.
Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis travel via airplanes, trains, buses to their hometowns from far-flung cities and abroad to celebrate the joyous occasions with families and friends each year.
Pakistan Railways also runs special trains on both Eids to facilitate passengers.
“No person or party will be allowed to avail two or more concessions at one time,” the notification read. “Concessional fares shall not be applicable to the Eid special trains.”