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Pakistan approves free visas for 126 countries to boost business, tourism

Pakistan approves free visas for 126 countries to boost business, tourism
In this handout photograph, taken on July 23, 2024, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chairs the National Export Development Board meeting in Islamabad. (Photo courtesy: PMO)
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Updated 24 July 2024
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Pakistan approves free visas for 126 countries to boost business, tourism

Pakistan approves free visas for 126 countries to boost business, tourism
  • Shehbaz Sharif says the government has taken the number of countries exempt from visa fees to 126
  • He says the decision will make Pakistan an attractive destination, further boost its forex reserves
Updated 24 July 2024
Shahjahan Khurram
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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday Pakistan had made positive changes to its visa policy to enhance ease of doing business as the country strives to strengthen its economy by attracting foreign investment and exploring more trade opportunities.
Pakistan has faced a prolonged economic crisis that led the country to seek financial assistance from friendly nations and global lenders like the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Earlier this month, Pakistan secured a staff-level agreement with the IMF for a $7 billion bailout facility to strengthen macroeconomic gains made over the last year, during which the country bolstered its forex reserves and brought down inflation from 38 percent to a little over 12 percent.
However, the government has also actively pursued economic diplomacy in the region by seeking more investment and enhancing trade and regional connectivity.
Addressing the cabinet meeting, the prime minister mentioned consultations with his team about two weeks ago, during which the visa policy came up for discussion.
“We have brought a major change in the visa regime, taking the number of countries exempt from visa fees to 126,” he said. “Tourists, businessmen, and other travelers from these 126 countries will not be charged visa fees.”
He pointed out this would lead to a loss of few million dollars, but would be instrumental in promoting investment in the country.
“It was mutually agreed that we should take this quantum jump to ensure ease of doing business in Pakistan,” he added.
The prime minister expressed hope the new visa policy would make Pakistan an attractive destination for foreigners.
He announced that visas would be issued within 24 hours to visitors planning to come to Pakistan.
Sharif noted this step would lead to a significant increase in large-scale economic activities in the country and further boost Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves.
While acknowledging the security challenges faced by the country, he added the coalition government was making concerted efforts to address the situation.

Topics: Prime Minsiter Shehbaz Sharif

Pakistan calls for end of violence in Bethlehem, birthplace of Christ

Pakistan calls for end of violence in Bethlehem, birthplace of Christ
Updated 24 sec ago
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Pakistan calls for end of violence in Bethlehem, birthplace of Christ

Pakistan calls for end of violence in Bethlehem, birthplace of Christ
  • Palestinian city is venerated by Christians as birthplace of Jesus and now sits in Israeli-occupied West Bank
  • Violence has surged across the hilly land since the start of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza in October last year
Updated 24 sec ago
Muhammad Ibrahim

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday called for an end to violence in Bethlehem, the Palestinian city venerated by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus and which now sits in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Since the 1967 war between Israel and neighboring Arab countries, Israel has occupied the West Bank, which Palestinians want as the core of a future independent state. Israel has built Jewish settlements across the territory and several of its ministers live in settlements and favor their expansion.
Violence has surged across the hilly land since the start of the Hamas-Israel war in Gaza in October last year. Hundreds of Palestinians — including suspected armed fighters, stone-throwing youths and civilian bystanders — have died in clashes with Israeli security forces, while dozens of Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks, Israeli authorities say.
“The place [Bethlehem] where Prophet Isa [Jesus] was born, his birthplace, today there is a raging market of bloodshed and violence there,” Sharif said as he addressed a church service in Islamabad.
“I believe that on this occasion [of Christmas], wherever in the entire world that Christians live, we should try our best to end this bloodshed in Palestine. And Prophet Isa, who was a peace messenger, for the success of his mission, we need war to end there.”
The West Bank has been transformed by the rapid growth of Jewish settlements over the past two years, with strident settlers pushing to impose Israeli sovereignty on the area.
Far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said on X in October that since the start of the Gaza conflict more than 120,000 firearms had been distributed to Israeli settlers to protect themselves.

Topics: War on Gaza Pakistan Palestine Bethlehem Occupied West Bank Hamas-Israeli War 2023

Pakistan’s Christians call for protection, more rights amid Christmas celebrations in capital

Pakistan’s Christians call for protection, more rights amid Christmas celebrations in capital
Updated 21 min 59 sec ago
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Pakistan’s Christians call for protection, more rights amid Christmas celebrations in capital

Pakistan’s Christians call for protection, more rights amid Christmas celebrations in capital
  • Christianity is the third-largest religion in Pakistan with the 2023 census recording over three million Christians
  • Christians face institutionalized discrimination in Pakistan, including being targeted with blasphemy accusations
Updated 21 min 59 sec ago
Falak Mahmood Khan

ISLAMABAD: Church leaders and Christian residents of Islamabad on Wednesday called on the Pakistan government to improve the condition of religious minorities as Christmas was celebrated in the federal capital and around the country with prayer services, parties and feasts.
One of the main services in Islamabad was held at the Our Lady of Fatima Church, which was decorated with Christmas ornaments, and had on display a nativity scene, a depiction of the birth of Jesus, often exhibited during the Christmas season around the world. Festivities at the church included a prayer service late on Christmas eve and services in the morning and during the day.
“We want the government to solve the problems of Christians,” Sylvester Joseph, the parish priest at Fatima Church, told Arab News after the morning prayer service. “We are a minority. We have problems with jobs, we have problems with discrimination. We want this to be solved.”
Christianity is the third-largest religion in Pakistan, with results from the 2023 census recording over three million Christians, or 1.3% of the total population in Pakistan. The majority of Christians in Pakistan are members of the Catholic Church or the Church of Pakistan.
Christians face institutionalized discrimination in nearly all walks of life in Pakistan and are often the target of violence by religious hard-liners and militant groups. Christians are also reserved for low-status jobs, such as working in sewers or as cleaners in homes and offices. 
Historical churches in Pakistan are monitored and have been targeted with bomb attacks on multiple occasions.
“There are many challenges here,” Sarfaraz John, a church elder, told Arab News. “We have only one job which is cleaning. We don’t get jobs according to our education.”
He said the community was also “scared” of violence and mob attacks, referring to an incident in August 2023 when vigilantes attacked the Christian community in the city of Jaranwala after falsely accusing two Christian residents of desecrating the Qur’an. 
“We are afraid of what will happen. Our communities are afraid of what will happen,” John added. “There have been incidents like Jaranala. We are scared.”
In May this year, at least 10 members of a minority Christian community were rescued by police after a Muslim crowd attacked their settlement over a blasphemy accusation in eastern Pakistan. 
In 2017, two suicide bombers stormed a packed church in southwestern Pakistan just days before Christmas, killing at least nine people and wounding up to 56. An Easter Day attack in a public park in 2016 killed more than 70 people in the eastern city of Lahore. In 2015, suicide attacks on two churches in Lahore killed at least 16 people, while a pair of suicide bombers blew themselves up outside a 130-year-old Anglican church in the northwestern city of Peshawar after Sunday Mass in 2013, killing at least 78 people in the deadliest attack on Christians in the predominantly Muslim country.
Minister for Law, Justice and Human Rights, Azam Nazeer Tarar, announced this month Pakistan would “soon” establish the National Commission for the Rights of Minorities, who constitute about three percent of Pakistan’s estimated population of 240 million people. In October, the chief minister of Pakistan’s Punjab, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, announced cash cards for minorities in the province, where the most number of the country’s Christians live, and vowed to double the amount for uplifting their places of worship and graveyards.
Some Christians at the Islamabad service also said things had improved for the community in recent years. 
“We celebrate Christmas at the government level, it is much better now,” Joseph, the pastor-in-charge, said. “Our Muslim brothers meet us and wish us ‘Merry Christmas’. The situation is improving now.”
John said security arrangements by the government had also improved in recent years. 
“The government gives us security. They work with us,” he said. “There are more than 50 troops on duty at the church today. Traffic police, [paramilitary] Rangers, Islamabad police , they all work with us on Christmas.”
Naveed Arif, a banker, said the situation of minorities had “improved a lot with time.”
“Now minorities are given their rights in a proper way, I am a banker myself,” he said. “In festivals like Christmas and Easter, we are given special holidays. We are given proper provisions at other events as well … there have been a lot of changes and improvements.”

Topics: Pakistan christian community Christmas 2024 Christmas celebrations

Taliban officials say Pakistan airstrikes in Afghanistan kill 46

Taliban officials say Pakistan airstrikes in Afghanistan kill 46
Updated 25 December 2024
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Taliban officials say Pakistan airstrikes in Afghanistan kill 46

Taliban officials say Pakistan airstrikes in Afghanistan kill 46
  • Afghan defense ministry condemns the latest strikes as “barbaric, clear act of aggression”
  • Media reports say Pakistan had hit militant hideouts, no official comment from Islamabad
Updated 25 December 2024
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: At least 46 people including women and children were killed in Pakistani airstrikes in Afghanistan’s eastern border province of Paktika, Afghan officials said on Wednesday, while there was no comment from Islamabad on the latest attack.
Pakistani security forces targeted multiple suspected hideouts of the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), inside neighboring Afghanistan on Tuesday, dismantling a training facility and killing several insurgents, the Associated Press reported, citing Pakistani security officials.
Suhail Shaheen, head of the Afghan Taliban’s political office in Doha, confirmed the strikes. 
“Around 46 innocent people have been killed and several others injured, which we strongly condemn,” he told Arab News.
Border tensions between the two countries have escalated since the Taliban government seized power in 2021, with Pakistan battling a resurgence of militant violence in its western border regions.
Islamabad has accused Kabul’s Taliban authorities of harboring militant fighters, allowing them to strike on Pakistani soil with impunity. Kabul has denied the allegations.
The Afghan defense ministry also issued a statement late on Tuesday condemning the latest strikes, calling them “barbaric” and “a clear act of aggression.”
“Mostly civilians, who are Waziristani refugees, were targeted, and a number of civilians including children were martyred and injured as a result of the bombings,” the statement read.
“The Pakistani side should know that such arbitrary actions are not the solution to the problems,” the statement added, vowing that the Taliban government would not let the “act of cowardice” go unanswered.
Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch did not respond to requests seeking comment and the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), declined to confirm the airstrikes.
The banned TTP group said in a statement the strikes had hit “the homes of defenseless refugees” on Tuesday evening, killing at least 50 civilians, including 27 women and children.
Deadly air strikes by Pakistan’s military in the border regions of Afghanistan in March that the Taliban authorities said killed eight civilians had prompted skirmishes on the frontier.
The latest strikes coincided with a visit to Kabul by Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, to discuss bilateral trade and regional ties. Sadiq met Sirajuddin Haqqani, Afghanistan’s acting interior minister, to offer condolences over the Dec. 11 killing of his uncle, Khalil Haqqani, the minister for refugees and repatriation, in a suicide bombing claimed by the regional affiliate of the Daesh group. 
In a post on X, Sadiq said he also met Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi and held “wide-ranging discussions,” with both sides agreeing “to work together to further strengthen bilateral cooperation as well as for peace and progress in the region.”

Topics: Pakistan Afghanistan border Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)

Free Pakistan’s Imran Khan, let him run for office — Trump nominee Richard Grenell

Free Pakistan’s Imran Khan, let him run for office — Trump nominee Richard Grenell
Updated 25 December 2024
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Free Pakistan’s Imran Khan, let him run for office — Trump nominee Richard Grenell

Free Pakistan’s Imran Khan, let him run for office — Trump nominee Richard Grenell
  • Grenell has called for the release of Khan from jail in multiple social media posts in recent weeks
  • Remarks have sparked interest in Pakistan since Trump nominated Grenell as special envoy
Updated 25 December 2024
Hasaan Ali Khan

ISLAMABAD: Richard Grenell, president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee as envoy for special missions, has called on the Joe Biden government to use its last days in power to push for the release of jailed Pakistani former premier Imran Khan so he could run for office in the South Asian nation.
There has been a spotlight on Grenell in Pakistan since last month when he started posting on X about Khan. In one post on Nov. 26, Grenell said “Released Imran Khan!” as the jailed leader’s supporters held protests in the Pakistani capital to demand he be freed from prison. In a second post, he said, “Watch Pakistan. Their Trump-like leader is in prison on phony charges … Stop the political prosecutions around the world!” Grenell has posted in support of Khan a number of times since.
Khan has been in jail since August 2023 on charges he says are trumped up by the government and the all-powerful military to keep him away from politics. Both deny the charge.
Speaking to Newsmax TV, an American conservative television channel, Grenell said on Tuesday Khan had a “very good relationship” with Trump during his first term as US president, when the former was prime minister of Pakistan from 2018-22.
“He’s currently in prison, a lot of the same allegations just like President Trump where the ruling party [in Pakistan] put him in prison and created some kind of corruption allegations, false allegations,” Grenell said. 
He urged the President Biden administration, which is in the last legs of its reign before Trump takes over in January, to “make progress” on Pakistan, an issue he said his government had ignored for four years. 
Referring to a recent statement by State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller raising concerning about the trial of civilians in military courts in Pakistan, Grenell said: 
“What Matt Miller … really meant was free Imran Khan. And so I just became adamant, ‘Why don’t you just say this, instead of pretending that you care about all these processes, the judicial processes, just say what you mean,’ which is to let the guy [Khan] out of prison, who actually wants to run for office and let the [Pakistani] people decide.”

Last week, Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif downplayed Grenell’s recent posts in support of Khan, saying the government did not expect the remarks to have any “repercussions” once Trump came to power on Jan. 20. 
“I don’t think there is any pressure involved,” Asif said in an interview to Independent Urdu last Monday when asked if the Pakistan government expected pressure from the US on Khan’s release after Grenell’s appointment.
“In American politics, there are different considerations that different people and parties have and according to that they express their views, but as far as government to government relations go, their expression or interpretation through any tweets, or such statements, is far-fetched … I don’t think there will be any repercussions of [Grenell’s tweets] at any level.”
Khan, who was ousted from office after a parliamentary vote in April 2022, has since waged an unprecedented campaign of defiance against the country’s powerful military, which is thought to be aligned with the coalition government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The military denies it interferes in politics.
Khan continues to remain popular among the masses, with his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party’s rallies drawing thousands of people from across the country. The PTI has held several rallies over the past few months to build public pressure to secure his release from prison. 
Four troops and 12 PTI supporters were killed in the latest protest in Islamabad last month after security forces raided the protest site to disperse demonstrators who had gathered at a square that is in the federal capital’s heavily-policed red zone, home to key government and diplomatic buildings as well as the Supreme Court.
Khan’s party was also barred from Pakistan’s general election on Feb. 8 2024, but the would-be candidates stood as independents.
Despite the ban and Khan’s imprisonment for convictions on charges ranging from leaking state secrets to corruption, millions of the former cricketer’s supporters voted for him. Independent candidates from his party won the highest number of seats but not enough to form a government on their own. Khan cannot be part of any government while he remains in prison.

 

Topics: Imran Khan Imran Khan and Donald Trump Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party Richard Grenell

‘Deeply saddened,’ says Pakistani PM as Azerbaijani airliner crashes in Kazakhstan

‘Deeply saddened,’ says Pakistani PM as Azerbaijani airliner crashes in Kazakhstan
Updated 37 min 7 sec ago
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‘Deeply saddened,’ says Pakistani PM as Azerbaijani airliner crashes in Kazakhstan

‘Deeply saddened,’ says Pakistani PM as Azerbaijani airliner crashes in Kazakhstan
  • Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near city of Aktau
  • Kazakh authorities say 62 passengers and five crew on board, 28 people had survived
Updated 37 min 7 sec ago
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday expressed condolences as an Embraer passenger plane flying from Azerbaijan to Russia crashed near the city of Aktau in Kazakhstan with 62 passengers and five crew on board, Kazakh authorities announced, saying that 28 people had survived.

Unverified video of the crash showed the plane, which was operated by Azerbaijan Airlines, bursting into flames as it hit the ground and thick black smoke then rising. Bloodied and bruised passengers could be seen stumbling from a piece of the fuselage that had remained intact.

“Deeply saddened by the news of the tragic crash of an Azerbaijani airliner near Aktau, Kazakhstan,” Sharif said on X.

“My heartfelt condolences to my dear brother President Ilham Aliyev and the people of Azerbaijan over the loss of precious lives in this incident. Our thoughts are with the families of the deceased and we wish a swift recovery to the injured.”

Kazakhstan’s emergencies ministry said in a statement that fire services had put out the blaze and that the survivors, including two children, were being treated at a nearby hospital. The bodies of the dead were being recovered.

Azerbaijan Airlines said the Embraer 190 jet, with flight number J2-8243, was flying from Baku to Grozny, capital of Russia’s Chechnya region, but had been forced to make an emergency landing around 3 km (1.8 miles) from Aktau in Kazakhstan. The city is on the opposite shore of the Caspian Sea from Azerbaijan and Russia.

Authorities in Kazakhstan said a government commission had been set up to investigate what had happened and its members ordered to fly to the site and ensure that the families of the dead and injured were getting the help they needed.

Kazakhstan would cooperate with Azerbaijan on the investigation, the government said.

Russia’s aviation watchdog said in a statement that preliminary information suggested the pilot had decided to make an emergency landing after a bird strike.

Following the crash, Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, was returning home from Russia where he had been due to attend a summit on Wednesday, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader of Chechnya, expressed his condolences in a statement and said some of those being treated in hospital were in an extremely serious condition and that he and others would pray for their rapid recovery.

With inputs from Reuters

Topics: Azerbaijan Airlines pakistan azerbaijan ties

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