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PIA initiates departmental action against ex-army chief’s brother over ‘bogus’ degree

PIA initiates departmental action against ex-army chief’s brother over ‘bogus’ degree
People stand in queue as they wait their turn to buy flight tickets outside Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) office in Islamabad on July 1, 2020. (AFP/File)
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Updated 04 August 2024
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PIA initiates departmental action against ex-army chief’s brother over ‘bogus’ degree

PIA initiates departmental action against ex-army chief’s brother over ‘bogus’ degree
  • Javed Iqbal Bajwa has been serving as PIA’s deputy station manager in Birmingham
  • He is brother of Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and is accused of faking high school certificate
Updated 04 August 2024
NAIMAT KHAN
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KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has initiated departmental action against an employee who is the brother of a former army chief over a “bogus” degree and warned him of termination if he fails to prove his credentials as valid, an airline spokesperson said on Sunday.
Javed Iqbal Bajwa, the brother of former army chief General (retired) Qamar Javed Bajwa, is a PIA deputy station manager in Birmingham, United Kingdom. A PIA source confirmed to Arab News that Bajwa is the brother of former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who retired in Nov. 2022 after completing a six-year tenure as head of Pakistan’s all-powerful army.
In a show-cause notice issued on July 30, PIA told Bajwa his high school certificate, bearing the roll number 25703, had been declared “bogus” by the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education, Lahore, after the airline authorities sent the documents for verification. The airline has given Bajwa seven days to respond and explain why disciplinary action should not be initiated against him.
“Departmental action is being taken against Javed Iqbal Bajwa,” Abdullah Khan, a PIA spokesperson, told Arab News. “If his degree is found to be fraudulent, he will face disciplinary measures, including potential termination of employment.”
The airline noted that sharing false information about one’s name, age, educational or professional qualifications at the time of joining the service or during the service constituted “misconduct” under the PIA Employees Disciplinary Policy.
There has been no immediate comment from Bajwa on the development.
Marred by financial crises, the PIA suffered a major setback when a fake pilot license scandal emerged in June 2020, prompting the airline to ground a third of its 434 pilots on suspicion that they hold “dubious” licenses and flying certificates and unleashing concern from international safety and transport bodies.
The recent revelation of Bajwa’s fake degree comes as another blow to the loss-making airline, which the government is struggling to privatize this year.
News of action against Bajwa also comes amid unprecedented criticism of the army for its role in politics and society in Pakistan, where the military has ruled for nearly half of the country’s history. Even when not directly ruling after coups, the army is widely seen as the invisible guiding hand in politics. The current military regime says army intervention in politics is a thing of the past.
In recent years in particular, Pakistan’s army has come under intense criticism from followers of former prime minister Imran Khan, who blamed generals for siding with his rivals to oust him in a parliamentary no-trust vote in 2022. The army denies the charge.

Topics: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa Fake Degree

Traders across Pakistan on strike today over power bills, new taxes, inflation

Traders across Pakistan on strike today over power bills, new taxes, inflation
Updated 28 August 2024
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Traders across Pakistan on strike today over power bills, new taxes, inflation

Traders across Pakistan on strike today over power bills, new taxes, inflation
  • Most public markets across Pakistan closed on Wednesday, pharmacies and grocery stores selling basic food items remained open
  • Stores were shuttered in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Lahore, Karachi, partial strike in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces
Updated 28 August 2024
AAMIR SAEED 

ISLAMABAD: Traders in Pakistan went on strike today, Wednesday, shutting down their businesses in all major cities and urban areas to protest a rise in electricity costs, new taxes imposed on shop owners and brisk inflation.

A major Pakistani religio-political party, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), as well as the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, have thrown their weight behind the traders’ nationwide strike call.

Most of the public markets across Pakistan were closed on Wednesday, though pharmacies and grocery stores selling basic food items remained open. Stores were shuttered in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, the nearby garrison city of Rawalpindi, as well as in the city of Lahore, the country’s culture capital, and the main economic hub of Karachi.

However, traders in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern Balochistan provinces observed a partial strike, keeping some stores open while closing others.

“We are holding a nationwide strike tomorrow [Wednesday] to …. extend relief to the public as early as possible,” top JI leader Liaqat Baloch told Arab News on Tuesday.

“If the government fails to listen to the genuine demands of the public and extend relief, we will be left with no option to start a long march toward Islamabad.”

A labourer pulls a hand cart past closed shops at a market in Rawalpindi on August 28, 2024, amid a nationwide strike by trade organizations against high electricity bills, excessive taxes and absence of business-friendly policies. (AFP)

“STRUGGLING BUSINESSES”

A two-week-long sit-in by the JI in Rawalpindi to pressure the government to cut electricity bills and retract new taxes imposed in the budget 2024-25 was called off earlier this month after the party reached an agreement with the federal government. 

As per the deal, the government promised to form a mechanism to reduce electricity prices and review contracts with independent power producers (IPPs) within 45 days. IPP agreements have come under scrutiny in recent weeks as households have received steep electricity bills. Many members of the public and independent policy analysts say Pakistan has been saddled with electricity bills it has no possibility of paying because of faulty contracts signed with IPPs, which produce expensive power. 

Tough measures that are part of a 37-month $7 billion loan program IMF bailout deal signed last month, such as raising tax on agricultural incomes and raising electricity prices, have also prompted concerns about poor and middle class Pakistanis grappling with rising inflation and the prospect of higher taxes.

Baloch said his party had given “ample time” to the federal government to negotiate with IPPs to bring down electricity prices and review other options to reduce inflation and cut taxes, especially on the salaried class.

“We postponed our fourteen-day sit-in in Rawalpindi following the government’s promise to extend relief to the public,” Baloch said. “If the government fails to keep the promise, we will resume our nationwide protests.”

A labourer sits in a closed market area during a nationwide strike called by trade organizations against the high electricity bills, excessive taxes, and the absence of business-friendly policies, in Lahore on August 28, 2024. (AFP)

Traders said they were protesting “hefty taxes” imposed on retailers through a Tajir Dost Scheme, a voluntary tax compliance program under which businesses can declare their assets and incomes and potentially receive benefits like reduced tax rates and simplified tax compliance procedures.

“Our businesses have reduced around seventy percent in a year due to the deteriorating economy while the government is imposing heavy taxes on traders who are struggling to keep afloat,” Ajmal Baloch, President of Markazi Anjuman Tajran Pakistan, a traders’ union, told Arab News.

“We have been demanding the government to withdraw these regressive tax measures that would adversely affect the economic growth in the country.”

Ajmal said traders would march toward Islamabad if their demands were not met after Wednesday’s strike.

 “Every businessman in Pakistan is already paying hefty taxes,” he added, “so the government should immediately withdraw these additional tax measures.”

The government raised power prices 26 percent during the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, before tacking on another 20 percent increase on July 13. Officials say the increases were needed to meet conditions set by the International Monetary Fund for a $7 billion loan deal reached last month.

The government has also added a confusing bevy of taxes on top of the base price, adding up to a bill that has more than doubled for some Pakistanis.

- With inputs from AP

Topics: Pakistan traders protest Strike Inflation tax electricity bills Arab News Pakistan Jamaat-e-Islami JI

Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal among world’s most polluted nations — report

Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal among world’s most polluted nations — report
Updated 28 August 2024
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Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal among world’s most polluted nations — report

Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal among world’s most polluted nations — report
  • Impact of “particulate pollution” on life expectancy in these nations substantially higher than other health threats
  • South Asia tops pollution charts, accounting for 45 percent of total life years lost globally, Air Quality Life Index report says
Updated 28 August 2024
Hasaan Ali Khan

ISLAMABAD: Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan are among the most polluted nations in the world, according to a new annual report by Air Quality Life Index, which said South Asia accounted for 45 percent of the total life years lost globally due to high pollution.

The Air Quality Life Index, or AQLI, produced by the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago, converts air pollution concentrations into their impact on life expectancy. From this, the public and policymakers alike can determine the benefits of air pollution policies in perhaps the most important measure that exists: longer lives.

“South Asia remains the world’s most polluted region, accounting for 45 percent of the total life years lost globally due to high pollution,” the report said. “Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan where 23.3 percent of the global population lives are among the most polluted countries in the world.”

Pakistan’s air quality has been a significant concern for years, with high pollution levels in many cities, particularly Lahore, which often ranks among the world’s most polluted. 

The country’s average concentration of PM2.5, which describes fine inhalable particles, was 14.7 times higher than the World Health Organization’s annual air quality guideline value in 2023. Breathing in unhealthy levels of PM2.5 can increase the risk of health problems like heart disease, asthma, and low birth weight.

To tackle the problem, the government of Pakistan has implemented measures like installing pollution monitors and also shut down factories in highly polluted districts during the winter months when the energy demand for heating is high. But experts say more needs to be done. 

The AQLI report said the impact of “particulate pollution” on life expectancy in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Nepal was substantially higher than that of other large health threats. 

“The average resident of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan is exposed to particulate pollution levels that are 22.3 percent higher,” the report said.

There are numerous causes of pollution across the major cities of Pakistan, with some of them being more of a year-round constant, such as the pollution put out by vehicles and factories, and others being seasonal such as the stubble burning taking place in the winter months, compounded by the cold air being trapped on ground level unable to disperse. 

Other operations that emit large volumes of pollution would be Pakistan’s steel mills, which rely on fossil fuels such as coal to provide energy. The burning of fossil fuel leads to large amount of highly dangerous pollutants. The emissions from these factories are often unregulated, leading to companies and manufacturing plants running their operations with little regard for the environment, which can have catastrophic effects to not only air pollution, but also to the surrounding wildlife and water areas, with large amounts of industrial effluence making their way into bodies of water and damaging ecosystems, killing off vast swathes of vegetation and thus wreaking havoc on the environment.

Lastly, the open burning of fires on streets can add an additional level of toxic pollution, with a number of materials such as wood, garbage, synthetic and man-made materials such as plastic all being burnt and releasing a myriad of their own poisonous fumes. 

Topics: Pakistan India Bangladesh world’s most polluted nations Air Quality Life Index Arab News Pakistan

Pakistan recall spinner Abrar for final test against Bangladesh

Pakistan recall spinner Abrar for final test against Bangladesh
Updated 28 August 2024
Reuters
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Pakistan recall spinner Abrar for final test against Bangladesh

Pakistan recall spinner Abrar for final test against Bangladesh
  • Pakistan succumbed to first ever test defeat against Bangladesh on Sunday after fielding attack that did not contain a single frontline spinner
  • Abrar, who has 38 wickets from six tests, has been added to the squad along with uncapped spin bowling all-rounder Kamran Ghulam
Updated 28 August 2024
Reuters

LAHORE: Pakistan recalled leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed on Wednesday for the second and final test against Bangladesh after their decision to play an all-pace attack on a slow track backfired in the series opener in Rawalpindi last week.

Pakistan succumbed to their first ever test defeat against Bangladesh on Sunday after fielding an attack, which did not contain a single frontline spinner.

On a slow track, their pacers toiled with little success, while spinners Shakib Al Hasan and Mehidy Hasan Miraz shared seven wickets between them as they bowled Bangladesh to a memorable 10-wicket victory.

Abrar, who has 38 wickets from six tests, has been added to the squad along with uncapped spin bowling all-rounder Kamran Ghulam.

All-rounder Aamer Jamal has also been recalled but his participation was subject to fitness clearance, the PCB said in a statement.

The final test, also in Rawalpindi, begins on Friday.

Topics: Pakistan Abrar Bangladesh Abrar Ahmed Cricket Arab News Pakistan

Days after deadly attacks, separatists attempt to capture key highway in southwestern Pakistan

Days after deadly attacks, separatists attempt to capture key highway in southwestern Pakistan
Updated 28 August 2024
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Days after deadly attacks, separatists attempt to capture key highway in southwestern Pakistan

Days after deadly attacks, separatists attempt to capture key highway in southwestern Pakistan
  • Separatist militants killed over 50 people after launching string of coordinated attacks in Balochistan on Sunday night
  • Eyewitnesses described fighting between militants and security forces that lasted through the night and into the next day
Updated 28 August 2024
SAADULLAH AKHTER

QUETTA: Militants tried to capture a key highway in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Tuesday night, officials said, days after a string of deadly attacks in the region killed over 50 people, including 19 security officials. 

On Sunday night, separatist militants in Balochistan took control of a highway and shot dead 23 people, mostly laborers from Punjab province. They also blew up a railway bridge that connects Balochistan to the rest of Pakistan and tried to separately storm camps of the paramilitary Frontier Corps and Levies forces in Bela and Kalat respectively. 

The assaults were the most widespread in years by ethnic militants fighting a decades-long insurgency to win secession of the resource-rich province, home to major China-led projects such as a port and a gold and copper mine. The Pakistani state denies it is exploiting Balochistan and says it is working for the uplift of the region through development schemes.

On Tuesday evening, insurgents tried to take over the Quetta-Karachi highway in Mastung district, about 52 kilometers from the provincial capital of Quetta, and had started stopping vehicles.

“Levies [paramilitary] and other law enforcing agencies timely retaliated and the armed militants escaped into the mountains in the dark,” Sana Ullah, a spokesperson in the Levies’ control room in Mastung, told Arab News over the phone.

“The highway has been restored for traffic and additional security has been deployed at the vital N-25 highway.”

Separatists in Balochistan have in the past blocked highways and pulled out of vehicles and killed workers from the country’s eastern Punjab province, who they see as outsiders exploiting the province.

Speaking to Arab News, a resident of Bela, who lives close to the FC camp that was targeted by militants on Sunday night, called the attacks a “horrific” experience for people who live in the city in Balochistan’s Lasbela District. 

“We heard a powerful explosion at 11 PM [on Sunday night] that was followed by another blast and then intense firing that lasted for the whole night and during much of the next day,” he said on condition of anonymity over the phone, fearing for his safety if he was named.

“We witnessed the vehicles of the security forces heading toward the camp being attacked by terrorists and saw ambulances going to Karachi.”

He added that “normalcy” had returned to the city today, Wednesday, and schools and business activities were now.

Arab News also reached out to the family of 40-year-old Nazir Ahmed, a resident of Multan in Punjab province, who was among 23 people killed on the highway near Musa Khel which armed men blocked, marching passengers off vehicles, and shooting them after checking their identity cards.

Ahmed was on a truck carrying fruits. 

“Nazir used to travel to Balochistan with fruit and vegetable trucks because he was a laborer and a loader,” his uncle, Ahmed Bukhsh, said over the phone from Multan. “Like him, many poor laborers travel to Balochistan to make a living.”

“After Nazir’s death, there is no one in his family to take care of his wife and two little children.”

Pakistan’s federal government has ruled out a military operation against separatists after Sunday’s attacks but vowed a targeted response.

Many independent analysts say groups like the Baloch Liberation Army, among the most prominent separatists operating in Balochistan, have taken an “extreme approach” in recent months because authorities are solely using force to suppress the two-decade conflict instead of seeking political solutions. 

The army has recently repeatedly referred to an ethnic rights movement in Balochistan being led by young people and women a “terrorist proxy.” The protesters have been calling for an end to what they describe as a pattern of enforced disappearances and human rights abuses by security forces, which deny the charge.

“Unfortunately, Pakistani media and the security establishment still make fun of Baloch claims that their loved ones are missing,” said Malik Siraj Akbar, who covered the insurgency in Balochistan as a journalist for many years but has lived in exile in the US since 2010.

He said young Baloch people were joining armed groups because they could see no “justice” in sight and the government had failed to find a “political solution” to the separatist conflict.

Addressing his cabinet on Tuesday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said his government would “completely eliminate” militants and others taking up arms against the state.

“People who believe in dialogue, who want to see Pakistan’s green and white flag raised high, who have complete trust in the constitution,” Sharif said, “the doors of communication are always open for them.”

Topics: Pakistan Quetta Balochistan Attacks BLA

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Pakistan PM seeks firm action against separatist militants as Saudi Arabia condemns Balochistan attacks

Pakistan hunts separatist militants who killed dozens

Pakistan hunts separatist militants who killed dozens
Updated 28 August 2024
AFP
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Pakistan hunts separatist militants who killed dozens

Pakistan hunts separatist militants who killed dozens
  • No arrests have been made so far and no additional militants have been killed, provincial government spokesman Shahid Rind says
  • Analysts say authorities are solely using force to suppress the decades-long separatist insurgency instead of seeking political solutions
Updated 28 August 2024
AFP

QUETTA: Pakistani forces hunted separatist militants Tuesday who killed dozens when they pulled passengers off buses, blew up a bridge and stormed a hotel earlier this week.

Militants in Balochistan province took control of a highway and shot dead 23 people, mostly laborers from neighboring Punjab, and attacked the hotel and a railway bridge that connects Balochistan to the rest of Pakistan.

Security forces have been battling sectarian, ethnic and separatist violence for decades in impoverished Balochistan, but the coordinated attacks that took place in several districts throughout the province were one of the worst in the region’s history.

The sites hit were cordoned off Tuesday as the search for assailants went on.

“But no arrests have been made so far, and no additional militants have been killed,” provincial government spokesman Shahid Rind said.

Monday’s death toll includes 34 civilians and 15 members of the security forces, while the military said troops killed 21 militants.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the attacks were “deplorable.”

“In Balochistan, the doors for negotiation are always open to those who believe in Pakistan and accept its constitution and flag,” he said Tuesday as he addressed a cabinet meeting.

The Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most active militant separatist group in the province, said it was responsible for the attacks. The BLA has in the past also targeted Chinese investment interests in the province.

Sharif said their “sole aim is to halt Pakistan’s progress, sabotage the development projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), and create divisions between Pakistan and China.”

The BLA is waging a war of independence against the state, which it accuses of unfair exploitation of resources by outsiders in the mineral-rich region.
Pakistan’s close ally Saudi Arabia, which hosts a massive Pakistani migrant population, issued a statement condemning the attacks “in the strongest terms.”

Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, is Pakistan’s poorest province, despite an abundance of untapped natural resources, and lags behind the rest of the country in education, employment and economic development.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) has seen tens of billions of dollars funnelled into massive transport, energy and infrastructure projects.

But the safety of its citizens is becoming an increasing concern for Beijing.

Baloch separatists have intensified attacks on Pakistanis from neighboring provinces working in the region in recent years, as well as foreign energy firms, including deadly attacks on Chinese citizens.

Punjabis are the largest of the six main ethnic groups in Pakistan and are perceived as dominating the ranks of the military.

Eleven Punjabi laborers were killed when they were abducted from a bus in the city of Naushki in April, and six Punjabis working as barbers were shot in May.

Kiyya Baloch, an analyst and former journalist tracking violence in Balochistan, said authorities are solely using force to suppress the two-decade conflict instead of seeking political solutions.

“This approach has led to increased retaliation from the youth and has caused the insurgency to gain momentum rather than diminish,” he told AFP.

“Never before have so many coordinated attacks occurred simultaneously across multiple districts of Balochistan,” he said.

Topics: Pakistan Balochistan Attacks BLA

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