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Pakistan deploys mobile air monitoring stations in Lahore amid toxic smog

Pakistan deploys mobile air monitoring stations in Lahore amid toxic smog
A motorcyclist rides past a mobile automatic air quality monitoring station parking along a roadside to mentor air quality index, in Lahore on November 14, 2024. (AP)
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Updated 15 November 2024
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Pakistan deploys mobile air monitoring stations in Lahore amid toxic smog

Pakistan deploys mobile air monitoring stations in Lahore amid toxic smog
  • Each station costs over $322,000, equipped for real-time air quality data
  • Smog has enveloped Lahore, Pakistan’s cultural capital, since last month
Updated 15 November 2024
Hasaan Ali Khan
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ISLAMABAD: Authorities in Pakistan’s populous Punjab province have deployed five mobile air quality monitoring stations in Pakistan’s eastern Lahore city, each costing over Rs90 million ($322,000), amid worsening smog conditions, state-run media reported on Thursday.
Lahore, consistently ranked as the world’s most polluted city in live IQAir rankings in recent weeks, is facing hazardous air quality due to cold atmospheric conditions trapping dust, vehicle emissions and smoke from illegally burned fires.
The toxic smog, which has spread to 17 other districts in Punjab, has caused over 40,000 cases of respiratory illnesses this month, according to health officials, prompting authorities to close schools until November 17.
“The Punjab government has established five mobile air quality monitoring stations in Lahore to track the city’s air quality index,” Radio Pakistan reported.
It quoted the Punjab Environment Protection Department official Farooq Alam as saying the mobile stations had been placed in highly polluted areas, such as the Defense Housing Authority, Model Town, Gulberg, Bhatta Chowk and near Shimla Pahari.
Alam told Radio Pakistan that “each mobile monitoring station costs over ninety million rupees,” adding that they are equipped with advanced technology to collect real-time air quality data.
The Punjab administration official, however, did not mention any sustainable solution to the worsening smog condition, which has become a regular feature during the winter season.
Meanwhile, Punjab’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority has urged people to wear face masks as a precautionary measure against smog and to avoid venturing out unnecessarily.
The United Nations children’s agency has warned that the health of 11 million children in Punjab is at risk due to air pollution.
According to a study by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute last year, pollution could reduce life expectancy in the region by more than five years.

Topics: Pakistan Smog

Official statistics show militant violence in Pakistan’s southwest killed 296 people in 2024

Official statistics show militant violence in Pakistan’s southwest killed 296 people in 2024
Updated 1 min 35 sec ago
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Official statistics show militant violence in Pakistan’s southwest killed 296 people in 2024

Official statistics show militant violence in Pakistan’s southwest killed 296 people in 2024
  • Balochistan witnessed a rise in separatist violence, reporting 563 attacks in which over 500 were injured
  • Security analysts say only genuine political process can establish long-term peace in restive Balochistan
Updated 1 min 35 sec ago
SAADULLAH AKHTER

QUETTA: Pakistan’s volatile Balochistan province witnessed a dramatic surge in militant violence in 2024, as government data exclusively obtained by Arab News on Wednesday revealed nearly 300 people, including civilians and soldiers, were killed in over 550 attacks reported across various districts of the province this year.

Most attacks were carried out by Baloch separatist groups, primarily the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), which also launched coordinated assaults, including suicide bombings, targeting Pakistani security forces and Chinese nationals in the southern region of the country.

Balochistan, sharing porous borders with Afghanistan to the north and Iran to the west, has experienced a low-level insurgency by Baloch separatist and other armed groups for the last two decades.

These groups accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s mineral resources without benefitting its people, claims the government denies, asserting it has initiated several development projects to bring the region on par with other provinces.

“296 people including the civilians and soldiers of Pakistan’s armed forces were killed and more than 500 were injured in 563 attacks reported in Balochistan from January 1st to December 20th, 2024,” the provincial home department’s annual report, exclusively obtained by Arab News, said.

“44 percent of the total attacks were reported against Pakistan’s armed forces operating in Balochistan including the Pakistan Army, Frontier Corps (FC) Balochistan, Police, Levies, and Pakistan Coast Guards, while 81 settlers (people from other provinces) and 37 civilians were killed in dozens of attacks this year,” it added.

The official data revealed that February and August, months when Pakistan held general elections and celebrated its independence, were the deadliest, with 187 attacks of varying nature and scale reported across Balochistan, claiming 119 lives.

Last month, Pakistan announced a “comprehensive military operation” against Baloch separatists and their hideouts in the mountainous region following a deadly suicide bombing at the crowded railway station in Quetta, which killed more than two dozen people, including Pakistan Army soldiers.

Shahid Rind, the provincial spokesperson, confirmed the annual number of attacks and casualties while speaking to Arab News.

“The provincial government has been implementing the decisions made in the federal apex committee meeting in November alongside the objectives of its own provincial action plan to counter this new wave of terrorism in Balochistan,” he said.

“The provincial administration, together with federal and provincial law enforcing agencies, will move as the whole of the government to impart a sense security among the masses, foreign investors and business community,” he continued.

POLITICAL PROCESS

Speaking to Arab News, Abdul Basit, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, called 2024 a year of offensive guerrilla warfare from defensive guerrilla warfare by the Baloch militant groups.

“The separatist groups showed a new trend of coordinated attacks and taking over the provincial highways for hours,” he said.

“Balochistan needs a genuine political process for long-term peace because the ethnic Baloch nation has lost trust in the political process,” he continued. “Instead of empowering dummy leadership in Balochistan, the state has to work with genuine leadership that has roots in the masses.”

Safdar Sial, a research analyst at the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies (PIPS), agreed with him, pointing out that the Pakistani authorities had mainly relied on “kinetic operations” and the frequency of military actions was likely to intensify further.

However, he added that it was important to adopt the political approach to prevent recruitment by the militant organizations.

“Government should take soft and political measures to alienate Baloch insurgents from the Baloch masses,” he said.

Topics: militancy in Pakistan

Afghanistan summons Pakistan envoy over reported airstrikes killing 46 in border town

Afghanistan summons Pakistan envoy over reported airstrikes killing 46 in border town
Updated 26 December 2024
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Afghanistan summons Pakistan envoy over reported airstrikes killing 46 in border town

Afghanistan summons Pakistan envoy over reported airstrikes killing 46 in border town
  • Kabul accuses Pakistan military of creating distrust when civilian officials are in talks with Afghanistan
  • Afghan authorities reported the strikes days after TTP claimed a raid on Pakistani outpost, killing 16 soldiers
Updated 26 December 2024
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Afghan authorities in Kabul said on Wednesday they summoned the Pakistani chargé d’affaires after reported airstrikes by Pakistan in Paktika province that killed at least 46 people, warning such actions undermined bilateral trust and highlighting Afghanistan’s history of defending its sovereignty against major global powers.

The airstrikes reportedly targeted Afghanistan’s eastern district of Bermal, days after Pakistan claimed it thwarted a cross-border incursion by a banned militant network, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), whose leadership is said to be based on Afghan soil.

The incident comes amid escalating militant attacks in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, with TTP recently claiming responsibility for an overnight raid on a Pakistani military outpost that killed 16 soldiers.

Pakistan has accused Afghanistan of facilitating such attacks, a charge denied by Kabul.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) summoned the Charge d’Affaires of the Pakistani Embassy in Kabul this afternoon and delivered a letter of strong protest regarding the bombing by Pakistani military aircraft near the Durand Line, in the Bermal district of Paktika province, Afghanistan,” the Afghan foreign ministry said in a statement.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which has a long history of struggle to defend the country against great powers, will never accept the violation of the nation’s sovereignty and is resolutely prepared to defend the country’s independence and territorial integrity,” it added.

The reported airstrikes coincided with a visit to Kabul by Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, to discuss trade and regional ties.

During the visit, Sadiq met Afghanistan’s acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, to offer condolences over the Dec. 11 killing of his uncle, Khalil Haqqani, in a suicide bombing claimed by Daesh.

Sadiq also held talks with Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi, describing the discussions as “wide-ranging” and focused on strengthening cooperation and fostering peace.

The Afghan foreign ministry maintained that while representatives of Pakistan’s civilian government were engaged in dialogue with Afghan officials in Kabul, the actions of Pakistani military aimed “to create distrust between the two countries.”

“Furthermore, it was made clear to the Pakistani side that the protection of Afghanistan’s national sovereignty is a red line for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, and such irresponsible actions will undoubtedly have consequences,” it continued.

Earlier this year in March, airstrikes by Pakistan’s military in Afghan border regions prompted skirmishes on the frontier.

No statement has yet been issued by Pakistan’s military or foreign office regarding the strikes.

Topics: Pakistan Afghanistan Bermal Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Arab News Pakistan

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Two paramilitary troops guarding Qatari hunting team killed in attack in southwest Pakistan 

Two paramilitary troops guarding Qatari hunting team killed in attack in southwest Pakistan 
Updated 26 December 2024
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Two paramilitary troops guarding Qatari hunting team killed in attack in southwest Pakistan 

Two paramilitary troops guarding Qatari hunting team killed in attack in southwest Pakistan 
  • IED blast took place as 10-member Qatari hunting team was passing through Zarren Bug locality in Balochistan 
  • Qatar royal family members often visit Pakistan on hunting expeditions, especially in pursuit of the houbara bustard
Updated 26 December 2024
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Two paramilitary soldiers were killed and four were wounded in an IED attack in the southwestern Balochistan province, officials said on Wednesday, as they were guarding a visiting group of Qatari hunters who remained unhurt.

Qatar royal family members often visit Pakistan on hunting expeditions, especially in pursuit of the houbara bustard, a rare bird whose meat is prized by Arab sheikhs. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists the bustard as a vulnerable species with a global population ranging from 50,000 to 100,000. It has almost vanished on the Arabian peninsula.

“This was an IED attack on the Frontier Corps [paramilitary force] while they were providing security to Qatari nationals, two soldiers have been martyred,” local assistant commissioner Abdul Hameed said.

He said the attackers struck in the Zarren Bug locality in Turbat in the southwestern Balochistan province. 

A second official from a local paramilitary force confirmed that two soldiers had been killed.

“The 10-member delegation of the Qatari hunting party led by Sheikh Talal was visiting district Kech to hunt the houbara bustard,” the official added. “The Qatari team was not hurt in the attack and safely passed the area.”

To seek favor with communities on whose land they pursue prey, hunters from Arab nations have built roads, schools and mosques in places like Balochistan and the province of Helmand in neighboring Afghanistan, while residents also benefit from the international-standard airstrips that can spring up. New four-wheel-drive vehicles brought in for the hunt are sometimes left behind as gifts for regional leaders.

But critics say that hunting with falcons is a reckless hobby that threatens the houbara and other species. 

In December 2015, about 100 gunmen kidnapped at least 26 Qataris from a desert hunting camp in Iraq near the Saudi border. A member of Qatar’s ruling family was freed in April 2016, along with an accompanying Pakistani man.

Topics: Pakistan Pakistan Qatar ties

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

Pakistan calls for end of violence in Bethlehem, birthplace of Christ
Updated 25 December 2024
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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 25 December 2024
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 25 December 2024
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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 25 December 2024
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. 

Pakistani Christian community gathers to pray on the occasion of Christmas, at the Our Lady of Fatima Church in Islamabad on December 25, 2024. (AFP)

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 Jaranwala. 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.

Pakistani Christian community gathers to pray on the occasion of Christmas, at the Our Lady of Fatima Church in Islamabad on December 25, 2024. (AFP)

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

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