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Pakistan PM to visit Saudi Arabia Monday, reaffirm support for Palestine at international conference

Pakistan PM to visit Saudi Arabia Monday, reaffirm support for Palestine at international conference
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif address a ceremony in Gilgit-Baltistan region on November 6, 2024. (PID/File)
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Updated 17 min 54 sec ago
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Pakistan PM to visit Saudi Arabia Monday, reaffirm support for Palestine at international conference

Pakistan PM to visit Saudi Arabia Monday, reaffirm support for Palestine at international conference
  • Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh will bring together heads of state and governments from Muslim countries
  • Visit will be Sharif’s second trip to the kingdom within days, as both sides bolster economic collaboration
Updated 17 min 54 sec ago
Falak Mahmood Khan
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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will visit Saudi Arabia next week to attend the second Arab-Islamic Summit in Riyadh, the foreign office said on Thursday, where he will emphasize Pakistan’s unwavering support for Palestine.
The visit marks Sharif’s second trip to the kingdom within days, as Pakistan and Saudi Arabia strengthen economic ties, having recently signed 34 memoranda of understanding and agreements totaling $2.8 billion.
The summit, convened at Saudi Arabia’s initiative, will address escalating tensions in the Middle East, where Israel’s military operations in Gaza and Lebanon have intensified, while tensions between Iran and Tel Aviv have led to recent missile exchanges.
Foreign office spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch noted in her weekly briefing that the summit builds on the extraordinary gathering held on November 11, 2023, focused on Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif will visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to participate in the second joint Arab-Islamic Summit being held in Riyadh on 11th of November,” she said.
“Heads of state and government and senior officials from Arab League and OIC [Organization of Islamic Cooperation] member countries are expected to participate in the summit,” she added. “The prime minister will reiterate Pakistan’s full support for the Palestinian cause, calling for an immediate end to the genocide in Gaza.”
Sharif is expected to advocate for an urgent, unconditional ceasefire and a halt to Israeli military actions that threaten Middle Eastern security, according to the spokesperson.
Pakistan will also push for international protection for Palestinians and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the June 4, 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
“On the sidelines of the summit,” Baloch continued, “the prime minister is expected to hold bilateral meetings with leaders from other Arab League and OIC member states.”
Amid ongoing Middle Eastern conflicts, Pakistan has dispatched over a dozen relief consignments to Gaza and Lebanon and provided diplomatic support, urging the international community to hold Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government accountable for its actions in the region.

Topics: Pakistan foreign office

Pakistan smashes Indian record by creating largest human image of waving flag

Pakistan smashes Indian record by creating largest human image of waving flag
Updated 20 min 18 sec ago
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Pakistan smashes Indian record by creating largest human image of waving flag

Pakistan smashes Indian record by creating largest human image of waving flag
  • Over 10,000 students participate in activity held during Punjab government-backed youth festival in Lahore
  • Record was previously held by India where 7,368 students formed the waving flag image in March this year 
Updated 20 min 18 sec ago
Hasaan Ali Khan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan smashed India’s record by forming the world’s largest human image of a waving flag in the eastern city of Lahore city, with over 10,000 students participating in the activity this week, state-run media reported on Thursday. 

The new world record was made during the Lahore Youth Festival, organized by the provincial Punjab government and currently underway at the Fortress Stadium in Lahore.

“Pakistan has set a new world record by making the largest human flag,” Radio Pakistan said. “The record was achieved by the students of Army Public School Lahore who participated in the formation of the flag.”

The Guinness World Record website showed that the record for the largest human image of a waving flag was last held by India where 7,368 students formed the flag in March this year in Sonipat. 

State media in Pakistan widely reported on Thursday that Pakistan had now broken India’s record, with over 10,000 students from the Army Public School in Lahore forming the image of the nation’s flag. 

The national flag of Pakistan, also known as the Flag of the Star and Crescent, is made up of a green field with a stylized tilted white descending crescent moon, and five-pointed star at its center, and a vertical white stripe at its hoist-end. It was adopted by the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan Aug. 11, 1947, and became the official flag of Pakistan on Aug. 14, following independence from the British Empire. 

The flag is referred to in the third verse of Pakistan’s national anthem and is widely flown on several important days of the year, including Republic Day, Independence Day and Defense Day. It is also hoisted every morning at schools, offices and government buildings to the playing of the national anthem and lowered again before sunset.

Topics: Pakistan flag human image of waving flag

‘Distinguished Icon’: Pakistan’s Mahira Khan honored with award by UK parliament

‘Distinguished Icon’: Pakistan’s Mahira Khan honored with award by UK parliament
Updated 24 min 30 sec ago
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‘Distinguished Icon’: Pakistan’s Mahira Khan honored with award by UK parliament

‘Distinguished Icon’: Pakistan’s Mahira Khan honored with award by UK parliament
  • Khan is one of the most popular and highest paid actresses of Pakistan, she has also worked in Bollywood 
  • In addition to acting, Khan promotes social causes including women and child rights, the refugee crisis
Updated 24 min 30 sec ago
Hasaan Ali Khan

ISLAMABAD: British Parliament has bestowed an ‘Award of Recognition’ on Pakistani superstar Mahira Khan for “remarkable contributions” to global cinema and her role as a cultural ambassador, with the star saying the recognition was a win for “women’s empowerment.”

Khan is one of the most popular and highest paid actresses of Pakistan where she is the recipient of several accolades, including seven Lux Style Awards and seven Hum Awards. She has also made a mark in international cinema with her performances in ‘The Legend of Maula Jatt’ (2022) and Bollywood flick ‘Raees’ (2017) alongside India’s Shah Rukh Khan. In addition to acting, Khan promotes social causes such as women’s rights, the refugee crisis, and is vocal about issues such as child abuse and sexual harassment. Khan has worked with UNICEF since 2019 and was appointed as the national and global UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Afghan refugees in Pakistan in 2019.

A gathering was hosted by MP Afzal Khan at the UK Parliament to present her with the award, which recognized her as a “distinguished icon in the world of entertainment.”

“I am a proud Pakistani sitting here receiving this award,” Khan said in her speech at the ceremony. 

“I am very happy at receiving the award because this award is for women empowerment,” she later told reporters. “For me, since I started to work, I have worked with the aim to open doors for other girls, make things easier for them, so that when they come they don’t face the difficulties I did.”

Khan said there had been a lot of advancement in Pakistan’s showbiz industry in the last few years with greater gender equality and pay parity.

“There are women now who charge more than men,” she said. “There is pay parity.”

Dr. Sarah Naeem, the wife of the Pakistan High Commissioner to the UK, said Khan had become a role model for women and young girls in Pakistan “through hard work, dedication to profession and championing women’s rights.”

“Mahira Khan has demonstrated, through her international career, that Pakistani women are able to prove their mettle across borders,” Dr. Naeem added. 

Topics: Mahira Khan

Pakistani province announces monetary rewards for whistleblowers exposing proxy ownership of assets

Pakistani province announces monetary rewards for whistleblowers exposing proxy ownership of assets
Updated 7 min 39 sec ago
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Pakistani province announces monetary rewards for whistleblowers exposing proxy ownership of assets

Pakistani province announces monetary rewards for whistleblowers exposing proxy ownership of assets
  • KP chief minister promises 40% share of value of assets to people who identify ‘benami’ properties
  • Despite several donor-supported reform attempts, tax-to-GDP ratio remains at about 10% of GDP
Updated 7 min 39 sec ago
REHMAT MEHSUD

PESHAWAR: In an effort to document the economy and broaden the tax net, a Pakistani provincial chief minister has announced a novel scheme this week: whistleblowers who assist the government in identifying ‘benami,’ in which property purchases conceal the identity of the true buyer, will be rewarded with 40% of the value of the asset.

Benami properties, or assets registered under another person’s name to disguise the actual owner’s identity, are often used to conceal movable or immovable assets for tax evasion or other purposes.

Addressing a ceremony on Wednesday evening, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur outlined his plan to introduce a whistleblower law.

“We will give 40% [of the amount] to the person who identifies and informs us that this item belongs to Ali Amin and is registered under his driver’s name,” Gandapur said, explaining the scheme.

“When someone won’t be able to show the money trail, which we refer to as benami or nameless, it will be established through the transaction that this person doesn’t have the capability to own a fuel station, this property, this building or this vehicle. Either he will reveal who the culprit is or if he won’t tell, the government will seize it. But whoever will point it out, they will get 40% [value of the asset].”

The chief minister said public cooperation was crucial to the government, which could not advance in its tax collection targets without their support.

Pakistan’s tax collection body, the Federal Board of Revenue, announced in 2019 it would confiscate vehicles and properties with proxy ownership, as well as fictitious bank accounts.

Despite public resistance, Pakistan is pushing ahead with plans for new taxes in line with ambitious revenue targets adopted to clinch a staff-level deal on a 37-month IMF program this September. Pakistani authorities have recently taken stringent measures to broaden the country’s tax net, including blocking mobile phone connections of individuals and registering retailers.

Despite several donor-supported reform attempts, Pakistan’s tax-to-GDP ratio continues to hover at around 10% of GDP. The inability to expand tax revenue contributes to significant public service delivery gaps: over 20 million people live without clean water, almost one in every three people do not have a decent toilet, and about 40% children under the age of five have stunted growth.

Topics: Pakistan Ali Amin Gandapur tax evasion Arab News Pakistan

Bomb and mortar attacks in northwest Pakistan kill four security officers, two schoolchildren

Bomb and mortar attacks in northwest Pakistan kill four security officers, two schoolchildren
Updated 07 November 2024
AP
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Bomb and mortar attacks in northwest Pakistan kill four security officers, two schoolchildren

Bomb and mortar attacks in northwest Pakistan kill four security officers, two schoolchildren
  • Pakistan has launched dozens of operations against militants, but they continue to carry out attacks
  • The bomb attack took place in South Waziristan while the children were killed by a mortar in Tirah valley
Updated 07 November 2024
AP

PESHAWAR: A roadside bomb exploded near a vehicle carrying security forces in northwestern Pakistan, killing four officers and wounding five others, officials said Thursday, while two schoolchildren also lost their lives when a mortar exploded nearby elsewhere in the region.

The roadside bombing happened Wednesday in South Waziristan district, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, local police officer Dilawar Khan said.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Pakistani Taliban, known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, has stepped up its assaults in the region since its ally the Afghan Taliban seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

Later the same day, a mortar fired by insurgents landed near a road in the Tirah valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday, killing two schoolchildren who was going to school on foot, police said.

The Pakistani military has launched dozens of operations against the Pakistani Taliban and other insurgents in South Waziristan and other former tribal regions nearby, but the militants continue to carry out frequent attacks.

On Thursday, Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi met with Chinese ambassador Jiang Zaidong in Islamabad to brief him about an investigation into an attack Tuesday in which a guard shot and wounded two Chinese nationals at a textile mill in the port city of Karachi, allegedly over a private dispute.

China has frequently demanded better security for its nationals who are in Pakistan to work for Beijing’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative.

Topics: Pakistan South Waziristan

Pakistan condemns Israeli efforts against operations of UN agency for Palestinian refugees

Pakistan condemns Israeli efforts against operations of UN agency for Palestinian refugees
Updated 07 November 2024
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Pakistan condemns Israeli efforts against operations of UN agency for Palestinian refugees

Pakistan condemns Israeli efforts against operations of UN agency for Palestinian refugees
  • Israel’s parliament voted last month to ban UNRWA from operating within Israel and occupied East Jerusalem
  • Almost all of Gaza’s population of more than two million people are dependent on aid and services from UNRWA
Updated 07 November 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Acting Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, Ambassador Usman Jadoon, has “strongly condemned” Israel’s attempts to dismantle the operations of the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), calling it a part of Israel’s “genocidal campaign” against the people of Palestine.

Israel’s parliament voted last month to ban the UNRWA from operating within Israel and occupied East Jerusalem, crippling its ability to work in Gaza and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Almost all of Gaza’s population of more than two million people are dependent on aid and services from the agency.

The move has faced widespread condemnation, with UNRWA warning the new law could see aid supply chains “fall apart” in the coming weeks. Israel has defended the move, repeating its allegation that a number of the agency’s staff were involved in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks last year, which killed 1,200 people.

“The adoption of the law by the Israeli parliament [is] a flagrant violation of the UN Charter, international law, provisional measures set by the International Court of Justice, and the ICJ’s advisory opinion issued on July 19,” Jadoon said while speaking at a UN General Assembly meeting, calling on the international community, in particular the UN Security Council, to hold Israel accountable for its actions and ensure unimpeded operations of UNRWA.

Jadoon demanded a stop to the “demonization and delegitimization” of UNRWA.

“By targeting the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, Israel not only obstructs vital humanitarian assistance but also threatens the collective effort to uphold the Palestinian people’s identity, rights and aspirations for justice and peace,” Jadoon added.

Founded in 1949, UNRWA works in Gaza, the West Bank, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, initially caring for the 700,000 Palestinians who were forced from or fled their homes after the creation of the state of Israel. Over the decades, the agency has grown to become the biggest UN agency operating in Gaza.

Since the war in Gaza began in October last year, the agency says it has distributed food parcels to almost 1.9 million people and also offered nearly six million medical consultations across the enclave over the course of the conflict.

More than 200 UNRWA staff have been killed in Israeli attacks since October 2023 in the course of those duties, according to the agency.
 

Topics: UNRWA UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) Pakistan Palestine Ambassador Usman Jadoon Arab News Pakistan

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