Pakistan’s Sindh to grant over 52,000 acres of land to army-backed firm for corporate farming

Pakistan’s Sindh to grant over 52,000 acres of land to army-backed firm for corporate farming
In this file photo, taken on September 2, 2022, farmers plant paddy saplings in a field in Sukkur, Sindh province. (AFP/File)
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Updated 20 January 2024
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Pakistan’s Sindh to grant over 52,000 acres of land to army-backed firm for corporate farming

Pakistan’s Sindh to grant over 52,000 acres of land to army-backed firm for corporate farming
  • The provincial government has signed an agreement to grant land in six districts for a period of 20 years 
  • The pact is one of initiatives under Special Investment Facilitation Council’s umbrella to boost agriculture 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s southern Sindh province has formally agreed to grant more than 52,000 acres of barren land to an army-backed firm, M/S Green Corporate Initiative (Private) Limited, for corporate farming, the Sindh chief minister’s office said on Saturday, as part of efforts to boost agriculture in the South Asian country.
It was one of the initiatives under the umbrella of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), established in June last year, as part of which the federal and provincial governments, including the then-elected Sindh government, had decided to introduce the initiative of corporate agriculture farming (CAF) in all provinces, according to the Sindh CM’s office.
Considering an ongoing initiative decided at national and provincial levels, the statement of conditions (SoCs) for corporate agriculture farming was approved by the Sindh caretaker government on December 01, 2023 to ensure the continuity of the policy decisions of the previous elected governments both at federal and provincial levels.
“As a pilot project, concerned Deputy Commissioners have identified some pieces of barren land measuring approximately ‘52713’ Acres, for the pilot project of this initiative i.e., Khairpur 28,000 Acres, Tharparkar 10,000 Acres, Dadu 9305 Acres, Thatta 1000 Acres, Sujawal 3408 Acres and Badin 1000 Acres,” the Sindh CM’s office said in a statement.
“The barren land shall be handed over for 20 years after survey, demarcation and verification that such land is not located in prohibited areas, not under any pending litigations or court orders and also not included in any barrage land grants.”
The Sindh government said that it would ensure that no land was considered for this initiative that fell within the limits of any villages, katchi abadi, temporary shelters, grazing land, amenity, potential mining areas, motorways, roads, jails, railway lines, irrigation channels, wildlife sanctuaries, mountain ranges, heritage sites, religious sites, graveyards, forest, sea creeks, river deltas, port and sea shore.
“The Company shall spend 20 percent of the Net profit on Research and Development in the local area, while 40 percent of the Net Profit will be paid to the Sindh Government on an annual basis,” the statement read.
“The remaining 40 percent of the Company share shall also be spent on local infrastructures, irrigation channels, solar water supply schemes, schools, hospitals, development schemes and other facilities in areas where such projects will be executed in Sindh province.”
The land will not be granted as a title but only for cultivation purposes, while its ownership will remain with the Sindh government, according to the statement. A Board of Management has been established under the Sindh chief secretary that will take all decisions regarding the land management and issues, and the Sindh government will have the final authority in case any issues arise.
Agriculture contributes 23 percent to Pakistan’s GDP and employs 37.4 percent of the labor force but productivity is currently below par, with decreasing cultivation area, a population-production gap, and agricultural imports amounting to $10 billion.
The country is also facing a 4 million metric ton shortfall in wheat production against a total demand of 30.8 million metric tons, while cotton production has fallen by 40 percent to around 5 million bales in the last decade.
In July last year, Pakistan established a Land Information and Management System, Center of Excellence ((LIMS-CoE) to enhance modern agro-farming by utilizing over 9 million hectares of uncultivated state land, with a senior official saying that Saudi Arabia provided an initial $500 million investment to set up the facility.
Later in the same month, Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir, who is a member of the SIFC, and the then prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, inaugurated the nation’s first corporate farm as part of the initiative to modernize agricultural practices in the South Asian country.


Pakistan hopes Afghanistan joins other Islamic countries at girls’ education summit

Pakistan hopes Afghanistan joins other Islamic countries at girls’ education summit
Updated 49 sec ago
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Pakistan hopes Afghanistan joins other Islamic countries at girls’ education summit

Pakistan hopes Afghanistan joins other Islamic countries at girls’ education summit
  • Pakistan to host global conference on girls education in Islamabad from Jan. 11-12 
  • No justification for restricting women’s education in Islam, says education minister

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s education minister on Thursday hoped Afghanistan would join representatives from 47 other Islamic countries and attend the upcoming global conference on girls’ education in Muslim countries, scheduled to be held later this week in Islamabad. 
Pakistan’s education ministry will host the global conference titled: “Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities” from Jan. 11-12 in Islamabad. Pakistan’s foreign office said on Wednesday that 150 representatives from 47 countries, including education experts, religious scholars, diplomats, and politicians are expected to partake in the summit. 
Since the Afghan Taliban seized Kabul in August 2021, women and girls have been gradually barred from attending secondary school and university, undertaking most forms of paid employment, and attending public spaces such as public parks or gyms by the government there. 
“We have extended an invitation to Afghanistan to participate in this conference and hope that their delegation will attend, as it is a very important neighboring country,” Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui told reporters during a media briefing in Islamabad.
Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, at least 1.4 million Afghan girls have been denied access to secondary education, according to a report by the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) released in August last year.
The minister said everyone respects tribal customs and cultures, but all such practices must align with Islamic values in Muslim countries, adding that nothing holds precedence over them. 
“In Islam, there is no justification for restricting women’s education,” Siddiqui said. 
He said that while the conference will officially kick off on Saturday, a session of the world’s religious scholars on girls’ education, chaired by the religion minister, will take place on Friday.
Siddiqui said the Muslim World League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and key Islamic countries are actively participating in this event.
“Malala Yousafzai, a renowned activist for girls’ education, will also participate in this conference,” he said, adding that experts and representatives from diplomatic missions in Islamabad from non-Muslim countries will also attend the event.
Describing the objective of the conference, he said the primary aim of the conference is to stress the implementation of the Islamic message, which clearly states that both men and women have the right to education.
“By promoting girls’ education, we can build better homes, a better society and a stronger nation,” he said. 
He said education in Pakistan was currently in an emergency state as millions of children were out of school and needed important steps to deal with this situation. 
Siddiqui said that an “Islamabad Declaration” will be announced after the conference on Sunday. 
“This declaration will outline decisive steps to transform the trends of girls’ education in Islamic countries by mobilizing all available resources,” he said. 
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will inaugurate the event and deliver the keynote address at the opening session on Jan. 11. 
Pakistan’s foreign office said Sharif will reaffirm the nation’s commitment to promoting girls’ education and gender equality.


Pakistan province calls for inquiry after Baloch separatists attack remote southwestern town

Pakistan province calls for inquiry after Baloch separatists attack remote southwestern town
Updated 09 January 2025
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Pakistan province calls for inquiry after Baloch separatists attack remote southwestern town

Pakistan province calls for inquiry after Baloch separatists attack remote southwestern town
  • Balochistan Liberation Army fighters torched Levies station, NADRA office before security forces moved in
  • Strict action will be taken against district administration members found guilty of negligence, says official

QUETTA: The government in Pakistan’s Balochistan province on Thursday called for an impartial inquiry into an attack by armed fighters from the separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) group on a remote town in the country’s southwest before security forces regained control of it. 
The attack in Zehri, located 150 kilometers from Khuzdar city, occurred when BLA fighters stormed the Levies force station on Wednesday and the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) office, setting the buildings ablaze and robbing a private bank.
Khuzdar deputy commissioner told Arab News that security forces retaliated in a timely manner and regained control of the area. One soldier of the Frontier Corps was injured during the standoff as the armed men escaped. 
Shahid Rind, the spokesperson for the provincial government, said strict action would be taken against the district administration members found guilty of negligence during the attack and did not retaliate in a timely manner.
“Balochistan government has called for an impartial inquiry into the Zehri attack from all aspects,” Rind said in a statement, adding that the provincial home department had issued instructions to engage the civil administration in this regard. 

Smoke billows from the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) office in Zehri, a small town in Pakistan's restive Balochistan province, on January 8, 2025. (Balochistan Police)

Rind said law enforcement agencies are monitoring the situation in Zehri while the government has strengthened security arrangements in the entire province.
“The government has been taking concrete measures to uplift the performance of the civil administrations in the entire Balochistan to prevent attacks like Zehri in the future,” the spokesperson said. 
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest and resource-rich province, has long been plagued by a low-level insurgency led by ethnic Baloch separatist groups like the BLA. They accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources, such as gold and copper, while neglecting the local population.
Pakistan rejects these allegations, asserting that the federal government has prioritized Balochistan’s development by investing in health, education and infrastructure projects.
The BLA has become a significant security threat in recent years, carrying out major attacks in Balochistan and Sindh provinces targeting security forces, ethnic Punjabis and Chinese nationals working on development projects.
Violence by Baloch separatist factions, primarily the BLA, killed about 300 people over the past year, marking an escalation in the decades-long conflict.


South Africa urged by minister to boycott Afghanistan match in Pakistan

South Africa urged by minister to boycott Afghanistan match in Pakistan
Updated 09 January 2025
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South Africa urged by minister to boycott Afghanistan match in Pakistan

South Africa urged by minister to boycott Afghanistan match in Pakistan
  • Minister criticizes Taliban’s decision to ban women’s sport, disband women’s cricket team
  • Proteas are scheduled to play Afghanistan on Feb. 21 in group match in Karachi, Pakistan

PRETORIA: South Africa’s sports minister has joined public calls for the Proteas to boycott the Champions Trophy game against Afghanistan next month and criticized the International Cricket Council for not upholding its own rules.
Gayton McKenzie said on Thursday he felt “morally bound to support” a match boycott because the Taliban government has banned women’s sport and disbanded the national women’s cricket team.
“It is not for me as the sports minister to make the final decision on whether South Africa should honor cricketing fixtures against Afghanistan. If it was my decision, then it certainly would not happen,” McKenzie said in a statement.
“As a man who comes from a race that was not allowed equal access to sporting opportunities during apartheid, it would be hypocritical and immoral to look the other way today when the same is being done toward women anywhere in the world.”
The Proteas are scheduled to play Afghanistan on Feb. 21 in a group match in Karachi, Pakistan.
England was also urged to forfeit its match against Afghanistan on Feb. 26 by more than 160 UK politicians on Monday.
McKenzie believed the ICC was also being hypocritical for not upholding its own mandates that member nations develop men’s and women’s cricket.
McKenzie noted Sri Lanka Cricket was suspended by the ICC from November 2023 to January 2024 for government interference.
“This does not happen in the case of Afghanistan, suggesting that political interference in the administration of sport is being tolerated there,” McKenzie said.
“Cricket South Africa, the federations of other countries and the ICC will have to think carefully about the message the sport of cricket wishes to send the world,and especially the women in sports.
“I hope that the consciences of all those involved in cricket, including the supporters, players and administrators, will take a firm stand in solidarity with the women of Afghanistan.”


Pakistan central bank chief expects inflation rate to fluctuate in coming months

Pakistan central bank chief expects inflation rate to fluctuate in coming months
Updated 09 January 2025
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Pakistan central bank chief expects inflation rate to fluctuate in coming months

Pakistan central bank chief expects inflation rate to fluctuate in coming months
  • Inflation rate to stabilize within 5-7 percent range by end of 2025, says central bank governor
  • Pakistan’s inflation rate slowed to 4.1 percent in December after aggressive policy rate cuts by state bank

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s central bank chief said on Thursday that the country will experience fluctuations in inflation in the next four to five months before it stabilizes within the five to seven percent range toward the end of the year. 
Pakistan’s consumer inflation rate slowed to 4.1 percent year-on-year in December 2024. The reductions came at the back of the State Bank of Pakistan’s (SBP) move to cut the key policy rate by 200 basis points to 13 percent in December, the fifth straight reduction since June, bringing cumulative rate cuts for 2024 to 900 basis points.
The reduction in the inflation rate has brought some relief for the masses, which bore the brunt of record high inflation which peaked at 38 percent in May 2023, as Pakistan faced a prolonged economic crisis. 
“At the moment it [inflation] has decreased a lot and in the month of January, it will come down a bit further but will then witness fluctuation later,” SBP Governor Dr. Jameel Ahmed said at a news conference. 
“But as per our [central bank’s] assessment by the end of 2025, it will stabilize within the target range of five to seven percent, according to the medium-term target by the state bank and the government of Pakistan,” he added. 
Ahmed said a collective effort to achieve the medium-term target of five to seven percent will bring relief to Pakistani businesses and the common man.
“But god forbid if there is any volatility in this which we are unable to control then we have seen the disruptions caused to businesses and even the common man in the past,” he said.
The South Asian country is navigating a challenging economic recovery path buttressed by a $7 billion facility from the International Monetary Fund granted in September. 
Pakistan’s finance minister has lauded the government’s fiscal measures but warned that the country needs long-term financial reforms to ensure sustainable growth and avoid future IMF bailout programs.


Gunmen abduct over a dozen workers from ‘atomic and mining projects’ in Pakistan’s northwest

Gunmen abduct over a dozen workers from ‘atomic and mining projects’ in Pakistan’s northwest
Updated 09 January 2025
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Gunmen abduct over a dozen workers from ‘atomic and mining projects’ in Pakistan’s northwest

Gunmen abduct over a dozen workers from ‘atomic and mining projects’ in Pakistan’s northwest
  • The incident took place in the volatile Lakki Marwat district, a hotspot for TTP's militant activities
  • A local analyst says the incident has raised serious questions about the state’s writ in KP province

PESHAWAR: A group of armed men on Thursday abducted more than a dozen people working on “atomic and mining projects” in Lakki Marwat, a highly volatile district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, a police official said.
Lakki Marwat is situated on the edge of the tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where the proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has frequently targeted police precincts and checkpoints, killing several law enforcement personnel in the past.
Pakistani authorities have often accused the Afghan administration in Kabul of aiding TTP militants in their cross-border attacks, an allegation Afghanistan denies.
Speaking to Arab News, Shahid Marwat, the district’s police spokesperson, said armed men kidnapped “17 civilians,” including the driver of the team working on the mining project.
“This unfortunate incident took place on Dara Tang Road this morning,” he said. “The kidnapped individuals worked on atomic energy's mining projects. A heavy police contingent has also been dispatched to locate the kidnappers.”
Marwat did not share further details, but the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), a government agency responsible for the nuclear energy program, operates mining projects in various parts of the country.
Lakki Marwat has been a hotspot of militant activity that witnessed unprecedented protests last September, when police officers, joined by civil society members and tribal elders, staged sit-ins and blocked the Indus Highway.
The demonstrations followed a spate of militant attacks that killed several policemen, prompting members of the force to demand greater involvement and autonomy in counterterrorism operations.
While no group has officially claimed responsibility for the incident, some media outlets reported the TTP acknowledged its involvement.
Riaz Bangash, a Peshawar-based expert on the region’s security affairs, told Arab News the incident had raised serious questions about the state’s writ in the province.
“The southern districts of KP are totally neglected and are at the mercy of criminals amid vanishing government writ,” he said. “This is despite the fact that at this time all three top provincial officials, including the chief minister, governor, and inspector general of police, belong to these districts. Still, the region is in chaos.”
Bangash emphasized the importance of avoiding politicization of the region’s security issues and urged all political parties to unite and work out a joint strategy to address the “growing insecurity.”
This is not the first time such kidnappings have taken place in the region.
Last June, unidentified gunmen abducted 13 laborers from the southern Tank district of KP, who were later released. In November, armed men also abducted seven policemen from a check post in the northwestern district of Bannu, who were released after mediation by tribal elders.
So far, the government has not issued a statement about the incident.