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Pakistan hopes for ‘agricultural revolution’ after training of 1,000 local experts in China

Pakistan hopes for ‘agricultural revolution’ after training of 1,000 local experts in China
Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal chairs a review meeting with regard to training of Pakistani experts in China, at the Ministry of Planning and Development in Islamabad on September 4, 2024. (Photo courtesy: X/@PlanComPakistan)
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Updated 05 September 2024
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Pakistan hopes for ‘agricultural revolution’ after training of 1,000 local experts in China

Pakistan hopes for ‘agricultural revolution’ after training of 1,000 local experts in China
  • Agriculture is the largest sector in Pakistan, contributing about 24 percent of the GDP and accounting for half of the employed labor force
  • In June, PM Shehbaz Sharif said he was looking forward to exploring new avenues to benefit from China’s agricultural prowess, ‘modernization’
Updated 05 September 2024
Arab News Pakistan
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ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday expressed his hopes for an “agricultural revolution” in the country following the training of 1,000 local experts in China, Pakistani state media reported.
The statement came during a meeting presided over by Iqbal with regard to training of these experts in China as part of collaboration between the two friendly countries, the state-run APP news agency. The report did not mention a timeline of the training program.
Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and constitutes its largest sector. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), agriculture contributes about 24 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for half of the employed labor force in the country.
During the meeting, Iqbal said Pakistan is sending its agricultural experts to China to get training and transform the sector on modern lines, adding that Pakistan has the best resources and minds but needed to acquaint its experts with modern technology and techniques to boost production.
“Developing agriculture on modern lines is the need of the hour,” he was quoted as saying. “Promoting research and education in this sector is among the top priorities of the government.”
The meeting was attended by National Food Security Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain and other senior officials, according to the report.
Tanveer reaffirmed the government’s commitment to developing the agricultural sector and adopting latest agricultural methodologies to achieve bumper crops and to change old harvesting methods.
Pakistan, which has been faced with an economic crisis, is currently looking to boost its agricultural production and exports to earn precious foreign exchange to support its economy.
In June this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had said that he was looking forward to exploring new avenues to benefit from China’s agricultural prowess and “modernization.” The statement came after the premier arrived in the Chinese city of Xi’an in the third leg of his five-day visit to China
“Looking forward to learning about China’s agricultural modernization and innovation from the world class facilities of this great city,” the prime minister said on X, after landing in Xi’an.
“Keen to explore new avenues of cooperation and further deepen our linkages in agriculture to enhance Pakistan’s food productivity and quality.”

Topics: Ahsan Iqbal Ministry of Planning and Development Pakistan China Ties

As traces of Pakistani megacity’s past vanish, one flamboyant pink palace endures

As traces of Pakistani megacity’s past vanish, one flamboyant pink palace endures
Updated 48 sec ago
AP
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As traces of Pakistani megacity’s past vanish, one flamboyant pink palace endures

As traces of Pakistani megacity’s past vanish, one flamboyant pink palace endures
  • Karachi’s iconic Mohatta Palace was built during the 1920s by Hindu entrepreneur Shivratan Mohatta
  • Dozens of communities competing for space mean there’s little effort to protect city’s historic sites
Updated 48 sec ago
AP

KARACHI: Stained glass windows, a sweeping staircase and embellished interiors make Mohatta Palace a gem in Karachi, a Pakistani megacity of 20 million people. Peacocks roam the lawn and the sounds of construction and traffic melt away as visitors enter the grounds.
The pink stone balustrades, domes and parapets look like they’ve been plucked from the northern Indian state of Rajasthan, a relic of a time when Muslims and Hindus lived side by side in the port city.
But magnificence is no guarantee of survival in a city where land is scarce and development is rampant. Demolition, encroachment, neglect, piecemeal conservation laws and vandalism are eroding signs of Karachi’s past.
The building’s trustees have fended off an attempt to turn it into a dental college, but there’s still a decades-long lawsuit in which heirs of a former owner are trying to take control of the land. It sat empty for almost two decades before formally opening as a museum in 1999.
The palace sits on prime real estate in the desirable neighborhood of Old Clifton, among mansions, businesses and upmarket restaurants.
The land under buildings like the Mohatta Palace is widely coveted, said palace lawyer Faisal Siddiqi. “It shows that greed is more important than heritage.”
Karachi’s population grows by around 2 percent every year and with dozens of communities and cultures competing for space there’s little effort to protect the city’s historic sites.

People visit at historical building “Mohatta Palace,” which was built in 1920s and has since been turned into a museum, in Karachi on May 24, 2024. (AP)

For most Pakistanis, the palace is the closest they’ll get to the architectural splendor of India’s Rajasthan, because travel restrictions and hostile bureaucracies largely keep people in either country from crossing the border for leisure, study or work.
Karachi’s multicultural past makes it harder to find champions for preservation than in a city like Lahore, with its strong connection to the Muslim-dominated Mughal Empire, said Heba Hashmi, a heritage manager and maritime archaeologist.
“The scale of organic local community support needed to prioritize government investment in the preservation effort is nearly impossible to garner in a city as socially fragmented as Karachi,” she said.
Mohatta Palace is a symbol of that diversity. Hindu entrepreneur Shivratan Mohatta had it built in the 1920s because he wanted a coastal residence for his ailing wife to benefit from the Arabian Sea breeze. Hundreds of donkey carts carried the distinctively colored pink stone from Jodhpur, now across the border in India.
He left after partition in 1947, when India and Pakistan were carved from the former British Empire as independent nations, and for a time the palace was occupied by the Foreign Ministry.
Next, it passed into the hands of Pakistani political royalty as the home of Fatima Jinnah, the younger sister of Pakistan’s first leader and a powerful politician in her own right.

Motorcyclists drive on a road with old buildings in downtown Karachi on August 29, 2024. (AP)

After her death, the authorities gave the building to her sister Shirin, but Shirin’s passing in 1980 sparked a court fight between people saying they were her relatives, and a court ordered the building sealed.
The darkened and empty palace, with its overgrown gardens and padlocked gates, caught people’s imagination. Rumors spread of spirits and supernatural happenings.
Someone who heard the stories as a young girl was Nasreen Askari, now the museum’s director.
“As a child I used to rush past,” she said. “I was told it was a bhoot (ghost) bungalow and warned, don’t go there.”
Visitor Ahmed Tariq had heard a lot about the palace’s architecture and history. “I’m from Bahawalpur (in Punjab, India) where we have the Noor Mahal palace, so I wanted to look at this one. It’s well-maintained, there’s a lot of detail and effort in the presentations. It’s been a good experience.”

A man walks past an old building in downtown Karachi on August 28, 2024. (AP)

But the money to maintain the palace isn’t coming from admission fees.
General admission is 30 rupees, or 10 US cents, and it’s free for students, children and seniors. On a sweltering afternoon, the palace drew just a trickle of visitors.
It’s open Tuesday to Sunday but closes on public holidays; even the 11 a.m.-6 p.m. hours are not conducive for a late-night city like Karachi.
The palace is rented out for corporate and charitable events. Local media report that residents grumble about traffic and noise levels.

People visit the historical Empress Market in Karachi on August 29, 2024. (AP)

But the palace doesn’t welcome all attention, even if it could help carve out a space for the building in modern Pakistan.
Rumors about ghosts still spread by TikTok, pulling in influencers looking for spooky stories. But the palace bans filming inside, and briefly banned TikTokers.
“It is not the attention the trustees wanted,” said Askari. “That’s what happens when you have anything of consequence or unusual. It catches the eye.”
A sign on the gates also prohibits fashion shoots, weddings and filming for commercials.

People walk past an old building in downtown Karachi on August 29, 2024. (AP)

“We could make so much money, but the floodgates would open,” said Askari. “There would be non-stop weddings and no space for visitors or events, so much cleaning up as well.”
Hashmi, the archaeologist, said there is often a strong sense of territorialism around the sites that have been preserved.
“It counterproductively converts a site of public heritage into an exclusive and often expensive artifact for selective consumption.”

A view of a residential area is seen with skyscrapers in the background in Karachi on August 29, 2024. (AP)

 

Topics: Karachi heritage sites Mohatta Palace

Parliament ‘supreme’ institution, says Pakistan PM ahead of key judicial legislation

Parliament ‘supreme’ institution, says Pakistan PM ahead of key judicial legislation
Updated 15 September 2024
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Parliament ‘supreme’ institution, says Pakistan PM ahead of key judicial legislation

Parliament ‘supreme’ institution, says Pakistan PM ahead of key judicial legislation
  • Government plans to introduce constitutional amendment in parliament to increase retirement age of apex court judges
  • Matters concerning the naton should be resolved through the parliament, says Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif
Updated 15 September 2024
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif this week described the parliament as the country’s “supreme institution” through which important matters should be resolved, as the government gears up to introduce key legislation to extend the retirement age of Supreme Court judges. 
Sharif’s weak coalition government is planning to get a constitutional amendment passed from parliament to allegedly give an extended term to the country’s top judge. The amendment requires a two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament. 
The country’s main opposition party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), has criticized the move, alleging that it was designed to favor the country’s chief justice. Former prime minister Imran Khan, the PTI’s founder, this week warned of nationwide protests if the amendment was approved. 
“The parliament is the country’s supreme institution,” Sharif said while hosting a dinner for legislators on Saturday night, according to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO). 
“To ensure the sanctity of the parliament is maintained, it is necessary that legislation in the national and public’s interest takes place.”
The Pakistani premier said matters concerning the nation should be resolved through the parliament. 
The dinner was attended by federal ministers and lawmakers of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Balochistan Awami Party, National Party and Pakistan Muslim League-Zia, the PMO said. 
Sharif’s coalition government is trying to muster the support of enough lawmakers for a two-thirds majority to get the constitutional amendment passed, fearing it can lose a portion of its existing number of seats after an earlier ruling by the Supreme Court on the reserved seats for women and minorities in parliament. 
In a verdict on July 12, a 13-member bench of the court declared the PTI eligible for the reserved seats after the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) forced the party’s candidates to contest the Feb. 8 polls as independents.
The ECP took the decision after the PTI lost its election symbol in the wake of a prolonged legal battle for not holding proper intra-party polls. Subsequently, the election body refused the reserved seats to the PTI on technical grounds, saying they were only meant for political parties instead of independent candidates.
The Supreme Court overturned the ECP decision, saying it had misconstrued an earlier verdict related to the election symbol by depriving the PTI of the reserved seats. Instead of giving the seats to the party, however, the election body filed a petition, seeking guidance on the matter and questioning the validity of the party’s organizational structure under the circumstances.
In a short order on Saturday, the apex court censured the election regulatory authority for its “dilatory tactics” to avoid the implementation of the judgment. 
As per the official tally, the ruling coalition is short of at least 13 lawmakers in the National Assembly and nine in the Senate to gain the required two-thirds majority.

Topics: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif

Around 150 Pakistani companies take part in international trade fair in China 

Around 150 Pakistani companies take part in international trade fair in China 
Updated 15 September 2024
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Around 150 Pakistani companies take part in international trade fair in China 

Around 150 Pakistani companies take part in international trade fair in China 
  • Over 2,000 companies from 107 countries are taking part in fair scheduled to run till Sept. 20 
  • Pakistani minister says trade fair to serve as “excellent opportunity” for investment in country
Updated 15 September 2024
Aamir Saeed

ISLAMABAD: Around 150 Pakistani companies are taking part in an international service trade fair being held in China, Pakistan’s privatization minister said this week, announcing that the event would serve as an “excellent opportunity” to enhance investment in the South Asian country. 
The China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS) 2024 kicked off in Beijing on Sept. 12, Thursday. Scheduled to run till Sept. 20, over 2,000 companies from 107 countries around the world are taking part in the international event. The fair reflects China’s eagerness to work with the international community to seize opportunities in a fast-evolving global economy.
China is an important trade and investment partner for Pakistan. Chinese investment and financial support since 2013 have been key for Pakistan’s struggling economy, including the rolling over of loans so that Islamabad is able to meet external financing needs at a time when its foreign reserves are critically low.
In his virtual address to the fair, Pakistan’s Investment and Privatization Minister Abdul Aleem Khan spoke about the “ample scope” for investment in agriculture, livestock, food processing and minerals sectors in Pakistan.
“Abdul Aleem Khan said that this international event will be an excellent opportunity and positive step for investment [in Pakistan] with great expectations,” Pakistan’s privatization ministry said in a press release. 
It said that Pakistan would ensure all possible support for investments from China, adding that the country was keen on availing opportunities offered by special economic and export processing zones. 
Khan noted that Pakistani companies were getting more opportunities to increase their business-to-business activities with China to establish or shift industries to Pakistan. 
“He indicated that under CPEC, transport, infrastructure, energy and communication in Pakistan has been developed visibly and there has been a significant improvement in these sectors,” the ministry said, referring to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor project. 
CPEC is a flagship of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative through which it has pledged over $60 billion in investment projects in Pakistan. Various power and infrastructure projects have already been built in the South Asian country under CPEC but the implementation of various projects has slowed in recent months.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif visited China in June on a five-day trip. Sharif’s visit was aimed at upgrading and enhancing CPEC projects, strengthening bilateral ties and fostering stronger ties between the business communities of the two countries.

Topics: Pakistan china Pakistan China trade China International Fair for Trade in Services

Five coal miners die of suffocation from hazardous gas in southwest Pakistan

Five coal miners die of suffocation from hazardous gas in southwest Pakistan
Updated 15 September 2024
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Five coal miners die of suffocation from hazardous gas in southwest Pakistan

Five coal miners die of suffocation from hazardous gas in southwest Pakistan
  • The incident took place in Balochistan’s Harnai district where 12 miners were killed in an explosion in March
  • The province’s chief mines inspector says the laborers who lost their lives due to asphyxiation were Afghans
Updated 15 September 2024
SAADULLAH AKHTER

QUETTA: Five coal mine laborers died of suffocation on Saturday after the mine filled with hazardous gas in the Shah Rag area of Harnai district, located in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province, according to the province’s chief mines inspector.
Balochistan, known for its rich mineral resources, has a history of such accidents, reflecting the region’s unsafe mining practices. Earlier this year, in March, a gas explosion in a coal mine in the same district claimed the lives of 12 laborers due to gas buildup and a lack of proper safety protocols.
While provincial authorities said they were taking notice of the development, workers in many mines across the province still lack adequate protective gear amid an absence of essential safety protocols.
“Five coal laborers suffocated to death due to a lack of oxygen in the mine, while one managed to survive,” Abdul Ghani Baloch, Balochistan’s chief mines inspector, told Arab News. “The workers were 400 feet inside the coal mine when oxygen deficiency took place for unknown reasons.”
He said the area where the incident occurred is located about 137 kilometers from the provincial capital Quetta, adding that the miners who had died belonged to Afghanistan.
“The bodies of the coal mine workers have been reprieved and shifted to their native villages in in the neighboring country,” he continued.
“The provincial mining teams have visited the area and commenced an investigation to know the causes of the incident,” he added.

Topics: Coal miners killed Coal miners

Chinese military officials vow ‘unfettered commitment’ to Pakistan in meeting with top general

Chinese military officials vow ‘unfettered commitment’ to Pakistan in meeting with top general
Updated 15 September 2024
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Chinese military officials vow ‘unfettered commitment’ to Pakistan in meeting with top general

Chinese military officials vow ‘unfettered commitment’ to Pakistan in meeting with top general
  • General Sahir Shamshad holds separate meetings with the top officials of China’s Central Military Commission
  • The Chinese generals acknowledge progress related to bilateral strategic partnership and defense cooperation
Updated 15 September 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Two top Chinese military officials highlighted their country’s “unfettered commitment” to standing in solidarity with Pakistan, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said on Saturday, as they met with Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Sahir Shamshad Mirza during his visit to Beijing.
China and Pakistan’s strategic partnership, rooted in decades of close ties, has expanded beyond defense cooperation to encompass infrastructure development and regional connectivity. Through projects like the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the administration in Beijing has bolstered Pakistan’s economy by billions of dollars of investment.
Simultaneously, Pakistan remains firmly committed to the One-China policy, underscoring its support to Beijing on key issues like Taiwan and Tibet, while China continues to deepen its defense ties with Pakistan, to serve mutual security interests.
“General Sahir Shamshad Mirza ... on an official visit to [the] People’s Republic of China held separate meetings with General He Weidong, Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), and General Liu Zhenli, Chief of CMC Joint Staff Department, and delivered a talk in 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum on the Role of Pakistan toward regional peace and stability,” the ISPR said.
It informed that both sides appreciated the deep and historic relationship between Pakistan and China in multiple domains and acknowledged progress related to bilateral strategic and defense cooperation.
“The Chinese leadership ... reaffirmed their unfettered commitment to support Pakistan on its territorial integrity and sovereignty,” the ISPR added.
Just a day ago, the Pakistani general told a major forum in Beijing that CPEC was not just beneficial for his country’s economy but also a “stabilizing force” for South Asia.
He also maintained that the strategic cooperation between the two countries was “a cornerstone for peace and stability” for a region fraught with security challenges.

Topics: ISPR General Sahir Shamshad Mirza Pakistan China Ties

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