In Karachi, Pakistani Hindus marry in mass ceremony to cut costs
In Karachi, Pakistani Hindus marry in mass ceremony to cut costs/node/2437916/pakistan
In Karachi, Pakistani Hindus marry in mass ceremony to cut costs
Pakistani Hindu couples arrive for a mass marriage ceremony organised by the Pakistan Hindu Council, a non-profit organisation, in Karachi on January 7, 2024. (AFP)
In Karachi, Pakistani Hindus marry in mass ceremony to cut costs
Pakistan Hindu Council has been organizing mass wedding ceremonies for poor couples for the past 16 years
Around 4 million Hindus live in Pakistan, or about 1.9 percent of the country’s population, and 1.4 million are in Sindh
Updated 08 January 2024
AFP
ISLAMABAD: Over 120 Hindu couples tied the knot in the southern port city of Karachi on Sunday night, in a ceremony organized by the Pakistani Hindu Council (PHC) so that the poor can save mounting wedding expenses.
The Pakistan Hindu Council (PHC) has been organizing annual mass weddings for the past 16 years. For the purpose, they invite applications and shortlist the most deserving candidates based on income and social status.
Around 4 million Hindus live in Pakistan, or about 1.9 percent of the country’s population, and 1.4 million are in Sindh.
The 17th Combined Marriages Program as it was called, was held at Railway Ground at Pakistan’s busy I.I. Chundrigar Road where relatives of over 120 Hindu couples danced and sang to celebrate the festive occasion.
“I am getting married here because my parents are poor. They cannot afford the wedding expenses,” Kalpana Devi, one of the 122 brides chosen and financially supported by the minority NGO to get married in a mass wedding ceremony, told AFP.
“A wedding at home is the best but when a family chooses to hold a wedding here, they can give their daughter something better as a wedding gift.”
PHC head Ramesh Kumar Vankwani said the council selected 200 couples this year out of which it supported 122 couples “to the wedding day.” He added that the PHC received applications from all over the country.
“Our priority (in the selection) is given to fatherless couples or those whose father is physically disabled,” Vankwani told AFP.
Bosch, Jansen put South Africa on top against Pakistan
Bosch, batting at number nine, enabled South Africa to take a 90-run first innings lead
Bowlers made it count by taking three wickets before Pakistan could wipe out the deficit
Updated 1 min 29 sec ago
AFP
CENTURION: Debutant Corbin Bosch hit 81 not out and left-arm fast bowler Marco Jansen claimed two late wickets as South Africa took control on the second day of the first Test against Pakistan at SuperSport Park on Friday.
Bosch, batting at number nine, enabled South Africa to take a 90-run first innings lead — and the bowlers made it count by taking three wickets before Pakistan could wipe out the deficit.
Pakistan finished the day on 88 for three — still two runs behind.
South Africa would qualify for next year’s World Test Championship final for the first time with a victory in either match of this two-Test series.
The contest was evenly poised when opening batsman Aiden Markram was eighth man out for 89 with South Africa on 213 for eight — just two runs ahead of Pakistan’s first innings total of 211.
Four South African wickets had fallen for 35 runs either side of lunch, with Naseem Shah taking three in a fiery spell, and it seemed probable the sides would start the second innings almost on level terms.
But Bosch, who has a first-class batting average above 40, batted with freedom and a wide variety of strokes as he shared stands of 41 with Kagiso Rabada (13) and 47 with Dane Paterson (12) to turn a narrow lead into a substantial one.
Bosch hit 15 fours in a 93-ball innings.
“It was a huge momentum shift and it was probably worth more than a hundred,” said Markram, who captained Bosch and Rabada when South Africa won the Under-19 World Cup in Dubai in 2014.
It was the continuation of a remarkable debut for Bosch, 30, who took four for 63 in the first innings and was clocked at 147kmh, the fastest of any bowler in the match.
Bosch, whose Test cricketer father Tertius died when Corbin was five years old, was low on the list of potential Test fast bowlers at the start of the season.
But a lengthy list of injuries to bigger-name players, as well as good recent form, opened the door for him.
“He’s a really talented guy and in the last few years he’s really put his head down and worked to get his opportunity,” said Markram.
Bosch shared the new ball with Kagiso Rabada at the start of Pakistan’s second innings but did not take a wicket and left the field at the end of a three-over stint.
Saim Ayub and Shan Masood, who both made 28, put on 49 for the first wicket before Rabada bowled Ayub.
Jansen followed up by having Masood caught at third slip and first innings top-scorer Kamran Ghulam caught at gully for eight before bad light stopped play.
Markram said it was a typical Centurion pitch, providing assistance for the fast bowlers.
“While I was batting it did feel that at any time the ball could nip past your edge,” he said.
Markram cautioned South Africa would need to bowl well to press home their advantage on Saturday.
“If you’re not going to land the ball in the right areas it’s still going to be nice to bat on,” he said.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Friday expressed grief over the death of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, praising his leadership for prioritizing dialogue and mutual understanding to address regional issues, which improved ties between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Singh, an economist and the first Sikh to serve as India’s premier, passed away on Thursday at the age of 92. Born in Gah, a village in what is now Pakistan’s Chakwal district, Singh’s family migrated to India following the partition in 1947.
He studied at Oxford and Cambridge, earning recognition as a scholar before spearheading economic reforms that lifted India out of a financial crisis in the early 1990s.
“His approach to regional issues reflected his belief that mutual understanding, dialogue, and cooperation were essential for collective progress,” Dar said in a social media post on X, formerly Twitter. “He played a notable role in improving Pakistan-India bilateral relations during his tenure as Prime Minister.”
Saddened by the passing of Dr. Manmohan Singh, former Prime Minister of India.
Born in a village in Pakistan’s Chakwal district, Dr. Singh was a distinguished economist and political leader. He will be remembered for his wisdom and gentle demeanor.
He added “the people and the Government of Pakistan extend their heartfelt condolences to Dr. Manmohan Singh’s family, and to the people and the Government of India.”
The deputy prime minister’s statement comes at a time of strained diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan, with both countries having downgraded their bilateral relations in 2019 following India’s revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status.
Regular border skirmishes and accusations of cross-border militancy have further exacerbated tensions.
Singh is widely regarded as a key architect of India’s economic liberalization, credited with steering the country through a severe balance-of-payments crisis in 1991 as finance minister.
His tenure as prime minister was characterized by steady economic growth and efforts to improve relations with neighbors, though his critics cite challenges in domestic and foreign policy toward the end of his term.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has installed its first locally designed smog cleaning tower in Lahore, a city that frequently ranks among the most polluted in the world during the winter season, the Environmental Protection Agency of Punjab announced this week.
Smog towers are large-scale air purifiers designed to reduce pollution by filtering out fine particulate matter and other harmful pollutants. Using fans, the towers draw in polluted air, which passes through high-efficiency filters to capture PM2.5 and PM10 particles, which pose severe health risks. The cleaned air is then released back into the surrounding area, improving local air quality.
While smog towers offer potential short-term relief, their efficacy in addressing large-scale urban air pollution remains debated.
“Pakistan’s first locally designed Smog Cleaning Tower installed in Lahore,” the provincial environmental agency said in a social media post this week. “A 15-day field test will be conducted to assess its performance for further installations.”
Pakistan's first locally designed Smog Cleaning Tower installed in Lahore.
— Environmental Protection Agency, Punjab (@EPCCDpunjab) December 26, 2024
The smog tower, located in Mehmood Booti, is capable of purifying 50,000 cubic meters of air per hour and is designed to reduce harmful PM2.5 particulate matter.
Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, suffers from severe air pollution during the winter, largely due to the phenomenon of smog. A combination of vehicle emissions, industrial output and crop burning in Punjab contributes to hazardous levels of fine particulate matter, with the city often topping global rankings for poor air quality.
Residents endure weeks of poor visibility, health warnings and respiratory illnesses as the Air Quality Index (AQI) frequently exceeds 300, categorized as “hazardous” by international standards. This year, the AQI reached unprecedented levels in several cities of Punjab, rising well over 1,000.
Smog towers can create localized zones of improved air quality, especially in high-density urban areas. However, they are expensive to build and maintain, with limited coverage areas.
ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been in jail for well over a year, said in a social media post on Friday he rejected a house arrest deal, as he also urged Pakistanis abroad to boycott remittances in protest against the country’s political situation.
Khan’s statement comes only a few days after the government began formal negotiations with his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to address mutual differences and ease the country’s growing political polarization.
Talks began after Khan threatened civil disobedience, urging overseas Pakistanis to halt remittances unless the government freed PTI political prisoners and formed judicial commissions to probe violent protests on May 9 and Nov. 26, blamed on his supporters.
His latest message hints at a backchannel offering “a deal,” without naming interlocutors.
“The proposal I received for a deal was: ‘Negotiate with us, and we will give your party political space, but you will be placed under house arrest and moved to [your] Bani Gala [residence],’” read a message posted from Khan’s account on X, formerly Twitter.
“My response was that all other political prisoners must first be released. I would rather stay in jail than accept any deal. I will neither go into house arrest nor to any jail in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he added, referring to the province ruled by his party.
Khan doubled down on his call for overseas Pakistanis to boycott remittances, framing it as part of a campaign for “true freedom and the restoration of democracy.” It is not clear how his stance might affect the ongoing negotiations between his party and the government.
“Currently, the government is playing ‘committee after committee’ regarding our demands,” he said, adding that the boycott campaign would be halted if negotiations produced positive results.
Khan also assured his supporters that the coming year would bring better prospects for democracy in the country while pledging to remain steadfast.
Criticizing military trials and recent sentencing of his party supporters arrested in the wake of the May 9 protest last year, Khan said they had violated basic rights of civilians and caused international embarrassment for Pakistan.
“If these trials had been conducted in open courts, the video footage of the events of May 9 would have had to be presented,” he said, adding transparent trials were also guaranteed in Pakistan’s constitution.
Hundreds of people carrying flags of Khan’s party attacked government and military installations last year on May 9 after he was briefly detained on corruption charges.
The government is yet to react to the former premier’s statement.
KARACHI: Pakistan is using both political engagement and military action to counter militant groups operating from Afghanistan, analysts said on Friday, after Afghan authorities reported airstrikes conducted by Pakistani forces this week that killed 46 people.
The strikes, which targeted alleged hideouts of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), came amid allegations by Pakistani officials of cross-border militant attacks, as extremist violence targeting civilians and security forces has surged more recently.
Afghan authorities claimed the victims included residents from Pakistan’s border regions, who were uprooted during military operations against TTP fighters in recent years, as the United Nations expressed concern over civilian casualties and urged an investigation.
Residents gather near a damaged house two days after air strikes by Pakistan in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province on December 26, 2024. (AFP)
While Pakistan has not officially confirmed the airstrikes, with both the foreign office and the military’s media wing declining to comment, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the TTP cross-border attacks constituted a “red line” for his government, asking Afghan authorities to take action against militants using their soil.
The reported airstrikes coincided with a visit to Kabul by Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, to discuss trade and regional ties.
“It seems that Pakistan wants to continue to talk to the Taliban while also flexing its military muscle, just as the Taliban did once they engaged in talks with the US,” Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador, told Arab News.
He maintained that Pakistan’s military leadership believed its past support for the Afghan Taliban, when the US-led international forces were still operating in Kabul, would shield it from violent attacks, adding these armed groups did not consider any Muslim country “exempt from imposition of their extreme ideology.”
However, Sami Yousufzai, an Afghan political analyst, highlighted the delicate nature of Pakistan-Afghanistan ties, saying such strikes were viewed as a direct affront by Kabul.
A Taliban security personnel stands guard at the site two days after airstrikes by Pakistan in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province on December 26, 2024. (AFP)
“Afghanistan is particularly sensitive to invasions or attacks within its borders,” he told Arab News, acknowledging that the airstrikes resulted from growing pressure on Pakistan due to the surge in TTP attacks.
However, he maintained Pakistan had made errors of judgment relating to the timings of the attack, as one of its senior diplomats, Ambassador Sadiq, was in Afghanistan, and the number of civilian casualties.
Yousufzai informed that Afghan authorities had recently taken confidence-building measures at Pakistan’s request by relocating 200 TTP families from border areas to central Afghanistan, adding that the move had been undermined by the airstrikes.
“Afghanistan has little to lose, but as a more stable nation, Pakistan should avoid irresponsible actions,” he continued. “Such attacks will not eliminate the TTP. Instead, it will likely increase their support.”
He maintained the real issue was the TTP presence in Pakistan, adding that its fighters were even residing in districts like Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, which do not share border with Afghanistan, though they have experienced several deadly attacks.
A Taliban security personnel keeps watch from a helicopter two days after air strikes by Pakistan in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province on December 26, 2024. (AFP)
Mehmood Jan Babar, a Peshawar-based journalist specializing in Afghan and tribal affairs, argued the strikes did not derail diplomacy, as evidenced by continued meetings between Sadiq and Afghan officials, including Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Asked about Afghan warning of consequences to Pakistan, he said: “Such speeches and statements are often for public consumption.”
Syed Khalid Muhammad, a security expert in Islamabad, dismissed the claims of civilian casualties, arguing that militants deliberately use civilian populations as shields.
“The key thing to understand about the Pakistani airstrikes on the TTP is that the militants have hidden themselves among the civilian population, much like every terror group globally, which serves a greater purpose for them,” he added. “It allows them to manufacture an alternative narrative to gain sympathy.”
Residents gather near a damaged house two days after air strikes by Pakistan in the Barmal district of eastern Paktika province on December 26, 2024. (AFP)
Meanwhile, Pakistani military’s spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said his country had repeatedly pointed out to the Afghan government on state level that the TTP and other militants had been launching cross-border attacks in Pakistan in a news conference earlier today.
“Pakistan will leave no stone unturned in dismantling terrorist networks and safeguarding its citizens against terrorism,” he told the media without confirming the airstrikes.
