Bodies of three Pakistani climbers retrieved after nine years from Sarwali Peak in Azad Kashmir 

Bodies of three Pakistani climbers retrieved after nine years from Sarwali Peak in Azad Kashmir 
Undated file photo of missing climbers Imran Junaidi, Usman Khalid, and Khurram Shehzad. (Photo courtesy: Alpine club of Pakistan)
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Updated 07 September 2024
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Bodies of three Pakistani climbers retrieved after nine years from Sarwali Peak in Azad Kashmir 

Bodies of three Pakistani climbers retrieved after nine years from Sarwali Peak in Azad Kashmir 
  • The missing climbers, Imran Junaidi, Usman Khalid, and Khurram Shehzad, embarked on a journey to summit Sarwali Peak in Neelum district in August 2015
  • The bodies of the missing climbers were spotted by two trekkers last month, after which a mission involving two dozen volunteers was launched on Sept. 3

KHAPLU: A team of Pakistani climbers and porters has retrieved bodies of three local mountaineers who had gone missing on 6,326-meter Sarwali Peak in Azad Kashmir nine years ago, an official and volunteers said on Saturday.

Sarwali Peak, also known as Dabbar Peak, in Azad Kashmir’s Neelum District is believed to be one of the few unconquered mountain peaks in the region, with no confirmed ascent till date.

The missing climbers, Imran Junaidi, Usman Khalid and Khurram Shehzad, had embarked on a journey to summit the Peak in August 2015, but went missing while attempting a push on the right saddle of the mountain.

A comprehensive search operation was launched on September 7, 2015 to locate the missing climbers, but no trace of them could be found.

“The bodies of all three missing climbers were spotted last month by two trekkers,” Akhtar Ayoub, in-charge of the Azad Kashmir State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) in Neelum district, told Arab News. 

“A special rescue team was formed to retrieve the bodies and today, their bodies and remains were retrieved from the advance base camp side.”

Two dozen volunteers, including climbers, rescuers and porters, took part in the mission and brought down the bodies from a height of 16,000 feet, according to the official. The team departed on the mission on Sept. 3 and retrieved the bodies today, Saturday.

“We found the bodies near the advance base camp at the right saddle of the mountain,” Imran Arif, a member of the recovery team, told Arab News, adding that all three had been identified.

Arif said he and his fellow had spotted the bodies while trekking on the mountain on August 12.

“We preserved the bodies and came back to Kel Valley. Four days ago, we went for the rescue mission and today their dead bodies have been shifted to a hospital of Kel Valley,” he said.

“State Disaster Management Authority, district administration, Rescue 1122 and Alpine Club of Pakistan played a good role in this mission.”

Ikram Junaidi, bother of late climber Imran Junaidi, told Arab News they would now find a final resting place for his brother.

“Many attempts were made to find them in the past. But after nine years, we got news about the retrieval of dead bodies. Being a brother and a Muslim, it was our dream to offer funeral prayers for him. Now we will get a chance,” he said. “What matters is the quality of life instead of quantity. My brother went for expeditions on unclimbed peaks.”

Ikram said his mother had lost all hopes of finding Junaidi’s body, but she would now find solace in the fact that her son’s body had finally been recovered.


Two Chinese nationals among three killed in attack near airport in Pakistan’s Karachi

Two Chinese nationals among three killed in attack near airport in Pakistan’s Karachi
Updated 25 sec ago
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Two Chinese nationals among three killed in attack near airport in Pakistan’s Karachi

Two Chinese nationals among three killed in attack near airport in Pakistan’s Karachi
  • Convoy carrying Chinese staff of Port Qasim Electric Power Company targeted, Beijing confirms
  • Separatist BLA says used vehicle-borne improvised explosive device to target Chinese nationals

KARACHI: Two Chinese nationals were among three people killed and 10 injured late on Sunday night in a “terrorist attack” near the airport in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi, the Chinese embassy and local officials said on Monday.

The separatist militant group, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), claimed the attack in a statement sent to media, saying a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device had targeted the Chinese nationals.

China is a major ally and investor in Pakistan, having pledged over $65 billion in road, infrastructure and development projects under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. 

“We have received the dead body of two Chinese nationals and the mutilated remains of an unidentified body,” chief surgeon for Karachi police, Dr. Sumaiyya Syed, told Arab News. “We have performed the autopsy of all three.”

Syed said 10 people were being treated for injuries at the Jinnah Hospital in Karachi, which included one child.

The Chinese Embassy in Pakistan said in a statement a convoy of the Port Qasim Electric Power Company was targeted in an attack near the Karachi airport around 11:00pm on Sunday night. Two Chinese nationals were killed and one was injured, the statement said, adding that the Chinese side was working with Pakistani authorities in the aftermath.

“The Chinese Embassy and Consulates General in Pakistan remind Chinese citizens, enterprises and projects in Pakistan to be vigilant, pay close attention to the security situation, strengthen security measures, and make every effort to take safety precautions,” the statement concluded.

The Pakistani foreign office condemned the attack and said the country’s security and law enforcement agencies would make every effort to arrest the perpetrators and their facilitators. 

“This barbaric act will not go unpunished,” the foreign office warned. 

Sunday night’s attack is the latest by the BLA, the most prominent of a number of separatist groups fighting for independence for Pakistan’s gas-and-mineral-rich Balochistan province, where a low-lying insurgency has been ongoing for the past two decades. Baloch militants blame Pakistan’s state for exploiting the province’s resources, a charge the Pakistani state denies.

The BLA also accuses Beijing of helping Islamabad exploit the province and has attacked Chinese interests and projects in the past, in particular the strategic port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea. It has previously killed Chinese citizens working in the region and attacked Beijing’s consulate in Karachi. 

In March this year, a suicide bombing killed five Chinese engineers and a Pakistani driver in northwestern Pakistan as they headed to the Dasu Dam, the biggest hydropower project in the country. In 2022, three Chinese educators and their Pakistani driver were killed when an explosion ripped through a van at the University of Karachi.

Sunday’s airport attack followed a deadly day of coordinated attacks in August, most claimed by the BLA, that killed more than 50 people in Balochistan and which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other leaders had said sought to harm Chinese-funded investment and development projects.


KSrelief starts distributing relief items among 4,000 flood-affected families in Pakistan’s northwest

KSrelief starts distributing relief items among 4,000 flood-affected families in Pakistan’s northwest
Updated 50 min 46 sec ago
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KSrelief starts distributing relief items among 4,000 flood-affected families in Pakistan’s northwest

KSrelief starts distributing relief items among 4,000 flood-affected families in Pakistan’s northwest
  • Relief items distributed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan, Mansehra, Kohistan and Chitral districts
  • Heavy rains from July to September killed 347 in Pakistan, out of which 99 casualties were reported in KP 

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) has started distributing relief items among four thousand flood-affected families in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, state-run media reported on Sunday. 

Heavy monsoon rains from July to September killed at least 347 people in Pakistan and damaged thousands of homes in the South Asian country. At least 99 people were killed and 147 injured in KP province alone. 

Pakistan is recognized as one of the world’s most vulnerable countries due to climate change effects where floods in 2022 killed over 1,700 people, damaged critical infrastructure and washed away large swathes of crops. 

“King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center has started distribution of shelters and relief items among four thousand flood affected families in five districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Radio Pakistan reported. 

The state media said relief items include solar panels, plastic mats, blankets, water coolers, kitchen sets and anti-bacterial soaps, adding that these are being distributed in KP’s Dera Ismail Khan, Mansehra, Kohistan, Upper and Lower Chitral districts. 

KSrelief has one of the largest humanitarian budgets available to any aid agency across the world, which has allowed its officials to undertake a wide variety of projects in more than 80 countries.

Pakistan is the fifth largest beneficiary of its aid and humanitarian activities and has greatly benefited from its assistance since last year’s monsoon floods.
 


Demoralized Pakistan look to reverse fortunes in first Test against England today 

Demoralized Pakistan look to reverse fortunes in first Test against England today 
Updated 07 October 2024
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Demoralized Pakistan look to reverse fortunes in first Test against England today 

Demoralized Pakistan look to reverse fortunes in first Test against England today 
  • Pakistan have not won the last 10 Test matches at home, with their last victory taking place in February 2021 
  • Green shirts have included Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Aamer Jamal and Abrar Ahmed in playing XI

ISLAMABAD: A demoralized Pakistan cricket team that has not won a single Test match on home soil since February 2021 will look to reverse its cricket fortunes when it locks horns with a strong England side during the first of the three-match series in Multan today, Monday. 

The last three-and-a-half years for Test cricket have been brutal for Pakistan, with the green shirts remaining winless in their last 10 home Tests. To add insult to injury, Shan Masood’s side suffered a humiliating 2-0 home defeat to Bangladesh last month.

England skipper Ben Stokes, who led his team to an emphatic 3-0 Test series victory during the team’s last tour in 2022, has been ruled out of the first Test match due to injury. 

“The first test match between Pakistan and England will begin at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Monday,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. 

On the eve of the first Test, Masood warned that even without Stokes, England were a dangerous side. 

“England’s strength will not lessen with one individual (missing),” he warned. “They are still very competitive.

“If you look at their playing eleven then it’s very balanced with all-rounders, and they have two spinners and three fast bowlers with deep batting, so their loss is that of an individual.”

England’s stand-in skipper Ollie Pope said though Pakistan had remained winless at home for quite a while, the visitors will be wary of them. 

“They’ve obviously not had their strongest run recently, but we still see them as a highly skilled side,” he said at a press conference on Sunday. “They are a team we don’t take lightly.”

Pakistan named their team with a bowling attack of two fast bowlers in Shaheen Shah Afridi and Naseem Shah, medium-pacer Aamer Jamal and frontline spinner Abrar Ahmed.

The second match is also in Multan, from Oct. 15, with the final Test in Rawalpindi beginning Oct. 24.

Squads

Pakistan: Shan Masood (captain), Saud Shakeel, Saim Ayub, Abdullah Shafique, Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Salman Ali Agha, Aamir Jamal, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Abrar Ahmad

England: Ollie Pope (captain), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jack Leach, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes
 


Pakistan observes Palestine Solidarity Day today to mark one year of Israeli invasion

Pakistan observes Palestine Solidarity Day today to mark one year of Israeli invasion
Updated 07 October 2024
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Pakistan observes Palestine Solidarity Day today to mark one year of Israeli invasion

Pakistan observes Palestine Solidarity Day today to mark one year of Israeli invasion
  • Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on pre-1967 borders
  • PM Shehbaz Sharif will also host an All Parties Conference to raise a voice against the ongoing oppression of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is observing Palestine Solidarity Day today, Monday, to mark one year of relentless Israeli strikes on Gaza that have killed more than 41,800 Palestinians, Pakistani state media reported.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took the decision to observe the day during a meeting with Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the Jamaat-e-Islami chief Naeem-ur-Rehman in Islamabad. 
The war in Gaza broke out after Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths nearly 1,200 people, according to official Israeli figures. Israel launched a blistering military campaign in Gaza that has since killed 41,825 people, the Palestinian health ministry says.
The nationwide day of solidarity is being observed to express solidarity with the innocent Palestinians facing the worst Israeli brutalities, the state-run Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will also host an All Parties Conference to raise a voice against the ongoing oppression of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza and to support the Palestinian brothers and sisters,” the report read.
Pakistan has condemned Israel’s war on Gaza on various international forums, calling for an immediate ceasefire and accountability for Israel’s “war crimes.”
On Sunday, thousands rallied on Sunday in the country’s commercial capital of Karachi to protest the ongoing “genocide” of the Palestinians in Gaza, ahead of the anniversary of one year of Israeli invasion of the Palestinian territory.
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters” and the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza, Pakistan has repeatedly raised the issue at the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and other multilateral platforms and demanded international powers and bodies stop Israeli military actions in Gaza.
The South Asian country has also dispatched several aid consignments for the Palestinians.


Top official of ex-PM Khan party resurfaces in provincial assembly session after going missing in Islamabad

Top official of ex-PM Khan party resurfaces in provincial assembly session after going missing in Islamabad
Updated 06 October 2024
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Top official of ex-PM Khan party resurfaces in provincial assembly session after going missing in Islamabad

Top official of ex-PM Khan party resurfaces in provincial assembly session after going missing in Islamabad
  • Ali Amin Gandapur, who heads the government of Khan's party in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, went missing after leading thousands of Khan supporters to Islamabad
  • In a surprise turn of events, CM Gandapur resurfaced during a session of the KP assembly on Sunday evening amid cheers and applause from members of House

ISLAMABAD: Ali Amin Gandapur, a key official of former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) opposition party, resurfaced during a session of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial assembly on Sunday, after having gone missing during his party’s protest in Islamabad a day ago.

Gandapur, who heads the government of Khan’s party in KP, went missing after leading thousands of Khan supporters to the Pakistani capital to protest the government’s proposed constitutional amendments that the PTI claims are aimed at curtailing the independence of the judiciary, the government denies this. The PTI also aimed to mount pressure for the release of its leader who is in jail since August last year.

Mystery continued to surround the whereabouts of Gandapur on Sunday as the PTI protest entered its third day, with at least one policeman killed in clashes and almost 900 demonstrators arrested. The PTI alleged that CM Gandapur had been “kidnapped,” while Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi denied the PTI’s claims that the KP chief minister had been abducted by the Islamabad police or intelligence agencies.

In a surprise turn of events, Chief Minister Gandapur resurfaced during a session of the KP assembly on Sunday evening, amid cheers and applause from members of the House. Shortly afterward, he launched into a fiery speech in which he criticized the federal authorities for the road blockades and “torture” to prevent Khan supporters from entering Islamabad.

“We were protesting peacefully, they blocked the roads and tortured the workers,” he said. “Worst violence and shelling was done in Pathargarh, Burhan and other places. They used to say that we could not reach the D-Chowk [in Islamabad], but we reached there. Our protest was not a sit-in, we recorded the protest successfully.”

The KP chief minister accused the Islamabad Inspector-General Ali Nasir Rizvi of “attacking” the KP House, the provincial administration office in Islamabad where Gandapur had arrived on Saturday, with the help of police and paramilitary Rangers.

“When I reached KP House, IG Islamabad entered the KP House with police and Rangers. KP House is part of the KP province, the attack on it was an attack on the province,” he said. “IG Islamabad broke the windows of government vehicles and damaged property. He must be made accountable for damaging KP government property.”

Clashes erupted in Islamabad and nearby cities on Friday and Saturday as police tried to prevent Khan supporters protesters from entering the Pakistani capital, with federal officials accusing protesters accompanying Gandapur of firing tear gas at police. They said Gandapur was accompanied by serving police officers as well as heavy machinery to remove road blockades.

Earlier in the day, Interior Minister Naqvi said CM Gandapur was on the run and the Islamabad police would “deal with him as per law as they are definitely searching for him.”

Pakistan’s federal government has also constituted an inquiry committee to probe the use of resources of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provincial government for this week’s protest in Islamabad by Khan’s party, the Pakistani interior ministry said on Sunday.

Khan’s party says it is facing an over-year-long crackdown since protesters allegedly linked to the PTI attacked and damaged government and military installations on May 9, 2023, after the former premier’s brief arrest the same day in a land graft case.

Hundreds of PTI followers and leaders were arrested following the riots and many remain behind bars as they await trial. The military, which says Khan and his party were behind the attacks, has also initiated army court trials of at least 103 people accused of involvement in the violence.

Khan, who has been in jail since last August, was ousted from the PM’s office in 2022 in a parliamentary vote of no confidence after what is widely believed to be a falling out with Pakistan’s powerful military, which denies being involved in politics.