Pakistan’s envoy to Tehran announces enhanced border facilities to bolster ties with Iran
Updated 45 min 21 sec ago
Pakistan’s envoy to Tehran announces enhanced border facilities to bolster ties with Iran
- Last month, the two countries decided to operate the Taftan-Gabd border between them 24/7 for improved flow of goods
- Pakistan and Iran have also intensified efforts to expand trade by establishing border markets, implementing barter mechanism
Updated 45 min 21 sec ago
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s envoy to Iran, Ambassador Muhammad Mudassir Tipu, mentioned on Saturday enhanced trade and immigration facilities on the border crossing point between the two countries to facilitate increased movement of entrepreneurs and pilgrims, expressing optimism that their bilateral ties were on a positive trajectory.
Last month, the Pakistani diplomat announced that the two countries had decided to operate the Taftan-Gabd border between them 24/7 to improve the bilateral flow of goods and expand economic opportunities.
Pakistani people, including Zaireen or pilgrims and traders, frequently travel overland between the two countries, with religious devotees mostly visiting holy sites like Mashhad and Qom.
The movement of people and goods contributes to the cultural, economic and social ties between the neighboring states.
“Absolutely delighted to share that to facilitate Zaireen, business [community] & promote bilateral trade immigration facilities at Taftan-Gabd border terminals have been substantially beefed up,” the Pakistani envoy announced in a social media post. “Now 4-6,000 passengers can cross both points everyday. [Pakistan-Iran] ties to see promising future.”
https://x.com/AmbMudassir/status/1806987097867161837
Pakistan and Iran have intensified efforts to expand bilateral trade through initiatives like establishing border markets and implementing barter trade mechanisms.
These developments aim to facilitate smoother economic activities and are part of broader attempts to increase bilateral trade to $10 billion over the next five years.
Pakistan and Iran have also been working to develop closer political ties, the late Iranian President Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi visiting Pakistan earlier this year in April.
‘Spies vs jurists’ row: Lahore court directs PM to bar intel agencies from contacting judges
Updated 29 June 2024
‘Spies vs jurists’ row: Lahore court directs PM to bar intel agencies from contacting judges
- In recent months many judges have accused ISI officials of harassing them and trying to meddle in judicial matters
- Army has so far refrained from commenting on any accusations regarding ISI’s alleged interference and intimidation
Updated 29 June 2024
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani high court on Saturday directed the Prime Minister’s Office to instruct all military and civil intelligence agencies against “contacting or approaching” any judges or members of their staff, amid accusations of interference and intimidation by spies in judicial decisions.
The interim order by the Lahore High Court in the central Pakistani province of Punjab comes in the background of several senior judges accusing the military’s premier spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), of meddling in judicial proceedings to influence verdicts. The army denies it interferes in political matters. It has so far refrained from commenting on any accusations regarding the ISI’s alleged interference and intimidation.
In the most high-profile accusations, six Islamabad High Court judges earlier this year wrote a letter to the Supreme Judicial Council watchdog and accused the ISI of intimidating and coercing them over legal cases, particularly “politically consequential” ones. The judges provided various examples of alleged interference, including a case concerning Pakistan’s imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan. The letter also mentioned incidents where the judges said their relatives were abducted and tortured and their homes were secretly surveilled, aiming to coerce them into delivering favorable judgments in specific cases.
In the case in which the LHC issued the latest interim order, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) judge in the city of Sargodha had filed a complaint alleging harassment by ISI personnel after he refused a meeting in his chambers.
“Instructions shall go out by the Prime Minister’s Office to all civil or military agencies including the Intelligence Bureau as well as ISI regarding strict instructions not to approach or contact any judge whether of the superior judiciary or sub-ordinate judiciary or any member of their staff in future,” a four-page order by the court, seen by Arab News on Saturday, read.
“Such instruction in clear words and writing shall be placed before this court on the next date of hearing.”
The court also directed all ATC judges across the Punjab province to download call recording applications on their mobile phones.
“They shall be bound to record all such calls which they receive and about which the learned judges have apprehensions that they have been made to influence any judicial proceedings before them,” the interim order said.
In February 2019, the Supreme Court delivered a scathing verdict on the military and intelligence agencies exceeding their mandate and meddling in politics over their handling of protests in 2017 by a religious-political party.
The Supreme Court had been investigating the “Faizabad protest,” which saw a hard-line group paralyze the capital Islamabad over accusations of blasphemy against a sitting minister. The inquiry also looked at the role of security agencies, including in ending the standoff through mediation.
Seven people were killed and nearly 200 wounded when police initially tried but failed to remove protesters.
The military is widely seen to have disagreed with civilian authorities at the time over how to handle the protests. The army’s role particularly came under criticism after video footage shared on social media showed a senior officer from the ISI giving cash to protesters after a deal was struck to end the blockade.
“The involvement of ISI and of the members of the Armed Forces in politics, media and other ‘unlawful activities’ should have stopped,” Supreme Court Justices Mushir Alam and Qazi Faez Isa, now the chief justice of Pakistan, said in their verdict.
“Instead when (protest) participants received cash handouts from men in uniform, the perception of their involvement gained traction.”
In the past, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has also accused the ISI of intimidating court decisions, including those that led to convictions of his elder brother Nawaz Sharif after his ouster from the prime minister’s office in 2017. Ex-PM Imran Khan and his party have also alleged harassment by intelligence agencies.
The powerful army plays an oversized role in Pakistani politics. The country has been ruled by military regimes for almost half its history since independence from Britain in 1947. Khan and the elder Sharif both have alleged that they were ousted by the military after they fell out with the generals. The army denies this.
Gunmen abduct 13 laborers, release 9 in northwestern Pakistani district of Tank
Updated 29 June 2024
Gunmen abduct 13 laborers, release 9 in northwestern Pakistani district of Tank
- Police say whereabouts of four laborers unknown, all laberers were from central Pakistani province of Punjab
- In the past, ethnically-motivated attacks against Punjabis have mostly taken place in Balochistan province
Updated 29 June 2024
PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen abducted 13 laborers on Friday in the northwestern Pakistani district of Tank but released nine, police said on Saturday, amid a surge in militancy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the rest of the country.
Attacks against security targets and the assassination of police and government officials have been on the rise in recent months in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, with most assaults claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP).
In the latest incident, 13 laborers, all from the central Pakistani province of Punjab, were kidnapped in Tank district. No group has as yet claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
“The laborers were hired from a private company and were repairing the poles of a 132KV transmission line in Tatoor village located in Shaheed Mureed Akbar Police Station,” District Police Officer Abdus Salam Khalid told Arab News.
The officer said the gunmen drove off with the 13 laborers but then dropped off nine on a roadside while the whereabouts of four were unknown. He did not specify why the nine workers were released.
“No call for ransom has been received yet and the search operation is underway to locate the persons.”
In April this year, a session judge of the South Wazirstan court, Shakir Ullah Marwat, was abducted by unidentified gunmen from the Dl Khan-Tank road. He was recovered days later with the intervention of local jirga and said he had been abducted by the TTP.
In the past, ethnically-motivated attacks against Punjabis have mostly taken place in the southwestern Balochistan province.
Last month, unidentified gunmen stormed into a house near Gwadar city in Balochistan and killed seven workers in an apparent ethnic attack. All the laberers were from Punjab. A month earlier, the Balochistan Liberation Army sepratist group had claimed responsibility for killing several Punjabi workers who were abducted from a bus on a highway in Balochistan.
Islamabad’s ties with Washington in ‘best place’ in years, US official says
Updated 29 June 2024
Islamabad’s ties with Washington in ‘best place’ in years, US official says
- Ties between Islamabad and Washington, once close allies, have just started to warm after years of frosty relations
- Analysts widely believe US not seek broadening of ties with Pakistan, will remain mostly focused on security cooperation
Updated 29 June 2024
ISLAMABAD: US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Elizabeth Horst has said relations with Pakistan were in the “best place” they had been in years, days after a US congressional resolution calling for a probe into alleged election irregularities drew a strong reaction from Islamabad.
Ties between Islamabad and Washington, once close allies, have just started to warm after some years of frosty relations, mostly due to concerns about Pakistan’s alleged support of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan has always denies this support.
Relations strained further under the government of former prime minister Imran Khan, who ruled from 2018-22 and antagonized Washington throughout his tenure, welcoming the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 and later accusing Washington of being behind his ouster from power in a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in April 2022. Washington has dismissed the accusation.
PM Shehbaz Sharif, now in his second term as premier since Khan’s ouster, has tried to mend ties but analysts widely believe the United States is not seeking a significant broadening of ties with Islamabad in the near future but will remain mostly focused on security cooperation, especially on counterterrorism and Afghanistan.
“I just want to note that the US-Pakistan relationship is in the best place it’s been in years, in part, in large part to what Ambassador Masood Khan has done to represent Pakistan and to build bridges between Islamabad and Washington,” Horst said on Friday night at a farewell dinner for the outgoing Pakistani envoy.
“You should know you depart Washington leaving the relationship between Pakistan and the US better than when you came and the strongest it has been in a long time.”
The two countries had held “new dialogues” and identified new areas of cooperation on trade, health, energy and climate in recent years, Horst said.
“And of all that is because you Masood have been an extraordinarily representative of the Pakistani people and the government … And like any long-standing relationship, there is always a little bit of friction at times but because of you we know how we can talk through this through a framework.”
On Friday, Pakistan’s Foreign Office confirmed the appointment of senior bureaucrat Rizwan Saeed Sheikh as the country’s new ambassador to the US.
Pakistan orders ‘strict’ implementation of anti-dengue plan ahead of monsoons next week
Updated 29 June 2024
Pakistan orders ‘strict’ implementation of anti-dengue plan ahead of monsoons next week
- Nine dengue cases reported in capital city, Islamabad chief commissioner says
- First dengue-related death reported on June 3 in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province
Updated 29 June 2024
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday ordered that dengue prevention standard operating procedures be “strictly” implemented, with at least nine cases reported so far in the Pakistani capital ahead of the monsoon season that starts next week.
There is currently no cure or vaccine for dengue fever, which is spread by mosquitoes and in its most severe form can lead to death. Dengue fever often results in intense flu-like symptoms, severe headaches, pain behind the eyes, full-body aches, high fever, nausea, vomiting, swollen glands and rashes.
This year’s first dengue-related death was reported on June 3 in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.
“The anti-dengue plan formulated should be implemented diligently,” the interior minister was quoted in a statement as telling the chairman of the Capital Development Authority and the Islamabad chief commissioner on Saturday. “Ensure rapid drainage of rainwater from low-lying areas.”
The CDA chairman informed Naqvi an anti-dengue working group was being established in the boundary areas of Islamabad and Rawalpindi and the administrations of the two cities would work “as a team” for dengue prevention.
Dengue fever is endemic to Pakistan, which experiences year-round transmission with seasonal peaks.
An advisory published by Pakistan’s National Institute of Health in 2023 said a total of 52,929 cases and 224 deaths from dengue were reported in the country in 2021, while there were approximately 79,007 confirmed cases of dengue with 149 deaths in 2022, with the surge in cases following unprecedented flooding that began in mid-June 2022. In 2023, Pakistan reported 3,019 suspected cases and 8 deaths from dengue.
Nine cases have so far been reported in Islamabad, according to the Islamabad chief commissioner.
The virus has been surging worldwide, helped by climate change. In barely six months, countries in the Americas have already broken calendar-year records for dengue cases.
The World Health Organization declared an emergency in December, and Puerto Rico declared a public health emergency in March.
Dengue remains less common in the continental United States, but in the 50 states so far this year there have been three times more cases than at the same point last year.