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Pakistani journalists in Karachi march in solidarity with media workers killed in Gaza

Pakistani journalists in Karachi march in solidarity with media workers killed in Gaza
People hold Palestinian flags as they take part in a pro-Palestinian protest held to mark the first anniversary of the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Karachi on October 7, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 08 October 2024
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Pakistani journalists in Karachi march in solidarity with media workers killed in Gaza

Pakistani journalists in Karachi march in solidarity with media workers killed in Gaza
  • Israel’s military campaign has killed 175 journalists since Oct. 7, 2023, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office
  • Over 100 journalists demand end to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, “fair coverage” of war from Western media
Updated 08 October 2024
NAIMAT KHAN
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KARACHI: Over a hundred Pakistani journalists took part in a march this week in Karachi to express solidarity with media workers killed in Gaza, demanding an immediate ceasefire and an end to Israel’s military campaigns in the Middle East. 

Israel’s war on Gaza has resulted in the killing of 175 journalists, according to Gaza’s Government Media Office, while the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has said that at least 128 journalists and media workers are among over 41,000 killed in the densely populated area since Israel launched its ruthless war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023.

A large number of journalists marched from the Karachi Press Club in the city to the Governor House on Monday, holding banners denouncing Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and expressing support for the Palestinian people. Rallies in various parts of the country on Monday to mark the one-year anniversary of Israel’s war on Gaza. 

“This is actually an attempt to raise that voice for the Palestinian journalists, the people of Palestine, those unarmed people, who are being subjected to extreme brutalities, to stand with them and to make them realize that during such times, when you are being subjected to extreme brutalities, you are not alone,” journalist Nayyar Ali told a crowd of journalists at the march. 

“The entire Muslim world is with you.”

Reporter Aamir Latif said through extensive coverage, journalists have exposed “Israeli brutalities” in Gaza and Lebanon. 

“So, it is not something which we can say [is] the coincidence,” Latif told Arab News. “They are deliberately targeting journalists. Two days before, they have targeted the 175th journalist in Gaza since Oct. 7.”

Latif was referring to Palestinian journalist Hassan Hamad who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza on Oct. 6. Days earlier, the journalist had said he was warned by an Israeli officer to stop filming in Gaza. 

Veteran Karachi-based journalist and analyst Mazhar Abbas called on the Western media to provide “fair coverage” to Gaza and the Israeli military campaign in Beirut. 

“The policymakers of the Western media should revisit their policy, should give more respect to journalism, should give more respect to the fair coverage,” he said. 

Topics: Karachi Palestine

On International Human Rights Day, Pakistan urges world not to ‘turn a blind eye’ to Palestine

On International Human Rights Day, Pakistan urges world not to ‘turn a blind eye’ to Palestine
Updated 1 min 6 sec ago
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On International Human Rights Day, Pakistan urges world not to ‘turn a blind eye’ to Palestine

On International Human Rights Day, Pakistan urges world not to ‘turn a blind eye’ to Palestine
  • Pakistan does not recognize Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on ‘internationally agreed parameters’
  • President Asif Ali Zardari urges the international community to take ‘practical measures to end barbarism of Israel in Palestine’
Updated 1 min 6 sec ago
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has urged the world not to “turn a blind eye” to human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank, his office said on Tuesday, as the world marked the International Human Rights Day.
Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations in 1948, the International Human Rights Day is marked annually on Dec. 10 to remind all nations to adhere to protecting inviolable human rights and preserve human values.
In a statement issued from his office, Sharif said the South Asian country was fully cognizant of its regional and international commitments and had taken legislative, policy and programmatic measures for the promotion of human rights.
“While we commemorate International Human Rights Day, we should not forget the plight of the people of Palestine who are facing Israel’s brutal aggression in Gaza and the West Bank,” he said.
“The world should not turn a blind eye to the gravest human tragedies of our time and play its role to ask Israel to immediately cease the ongoing genocide of the people of Palestine.”
Sharif’s statement comes amid ongoing Israel’s military campaign in Gaza that has killed more than 43,000 people and injured thousands more since Oct 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas.
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters.” The South Asian country has dispatched several consignments of relief goods for Gaza, besides establishing the ‘Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for Gaza’ that aims to collect public donations for the war-affected people.
In his message on the International Human Rights Day, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari said they strongly condemned the “ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people” by Israel in Gaza and other occupied Palestinian territories.
“We urge the international community to take practical measures to end the barbarism of Israel in Palestine,” he said.
“On this day, let’s pledge to fulfil our shared responsibility to protect and promote human rights to create a society based on equality, justice and human dignity.”
 

Topics: International Human Rights Day Pakistan Palestine

Pakistan top court rejects government’s plea allowing military court verdicts in May 2023 riot cases

Pakistan top court rejects government’s plea allowing military court verdicts in May 2023 riot cases
Updated 46 min 50 sec ago
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Pakistan top court rejects government’s plea allowing military court verdicts in May 2023 riot cases

Pakistan top court rejects government’s plea allowing military court verdicts in May 2023 riot cases
  • The case pertains to the trial of over 100 civilians for allegedly attacking army installations in protests over ex-PM Khan’s arrest
  • The attacks occurred a year after Khan fell out with Pakistan’s powerful military, blaming the institution for his ouster from office
Updated 46 min 50 sec ago
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan’s constitutional bench on Monday rejected the federal government’s plea to allow military courts to announce verdicts in cases of civilians allegedly involved in May 9, 2023 riots.
The case pertains to the trial of more than 100 civilians for their alleged role in attacks on army installations during the violent protests that followed former prime minister Imran Khan’s arrest in a graft case on May 9, 2023.
On October 23 last year, a five-member SC bench had unanimously declared that trying the accused civilians in military courts violated the constitution, but on Dec. 13, 2023, another top court bench suspended the Oct. 23 ruling as it heard a set of 37 intra-court appeals against it.
In March this year, the top court conditionally allowed military courts to pronounce reserved verdicts in the May 9 cases, modifying its Dec. 13 injunction and ordering military courts to commence trials but barring them from convicting or acquitting any accused until a decision on intra-court appeals.
On Monday, a seven-member constitutional bench, led by Justice Aminuddin Khan, resumed hearing the appeals and rejected the government plea allowing the military courts to verdicts of trials of civilians, observing that giving permission to announce verdicts would mean recognizing the authority of military courts.
“We want to hear the case on a daily basis and announce a decision on it,” Justice Aminuddin remarked during the hearing.
In his remarks, Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail urged lawyers of all petitioners to cooperate with the bench for an early verdict in the case.
The bench resumed hearing of the case on Tuesday, during which Additional Attorney-General (AAG) for Pakistan Amir Rehman requested the court for an adjournment, citing the unavailability of Ministry of Defense Khawaja Haris due to health issues. The court granted the request.
Several cases against Khan and his party related to the May 9, 2023 violence were registered by the government, which also cracked down on his supporters allegedly involved in the riots. Khan’s party has distanced itself from the protests and accused the country’s intelligence agencies of framing his party for the violence. The military denies the accusations.
The attacks took place a little over a year after Khan fell out with Pakistan’s powerful military, blaming the institution for colluding with his rivals to oust him from office in a parliamentary vote in April 2022, a charge denied by the military.
Khan, who remains a popular figure in Pakistan despite several court cases against him, has led a campaign of unprecedented defiance against the country’s powerful military. He has also accused the military of rigging the February 8 election in collusion with the election commission and his political rivals to keep him from returning to power. The military, election commission and Khan’s rivals deny the allegation.

Topics: Military Court Pakistan May 9 riots Imran Khan PTI supreme court Arab News Pakistan

Pakistan’s largest conglomerate Engro Corp. eyes tower sharing expansion with Veon tie-up

Pakistan’s largest conglomerate Engro Corp. eyes tower sharing expansion with Veon tie-up
Updated 10 December 2024
Reuters
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Pakistan’s largest conglomerate Engro Corp. eyes tower sharing expansion with Veon tie-up

Pakistan’s largest conglomerate Engro Corp. eyes tower sharing expansion with Veon tie-up
  • The companies plan expanding coverage to other operators and looking into other use cases, including electronic vehicle charging and drone landing
  • Under the partnership, Engro will pay Jazz, Veon’s digital operator in Pakistan, $188 million and guarantee repayment of Deodar’s $375 million debt 
Updated 10 December 2024
Reuters

KARACHI: Pakistan’s largest conglomerate Engro Corp, through it’s strategic partnership with Veon, is eyeing expanding telecom tower-sharing coverage in Pakistan and exploring different use cases in telecom infrastructure.
“Pakistan is a very large market in terms of telecom, which keeps growing larger,” Samad Dawood, vice chairman of Dawood Hercules Corp, which owns 40 percent of Engro Corp, told Reuters.
“This infrastructure business, with scale, allows us to utilize telecom infrastructure better in Pakistan and eventually also serve international markets as well,” said Dawood, identifying countries from “the Atlantic coast of Morocco all the way to Central Asian states” as potential markets.
Engro and Dutch telecommunication and digital services company Veon announced last week plans to pool and manage their infrastructure assets in Pakistan.
The companies plan expanding tower sharing coverage to other operators and looking into to other use cases, which could include electronic vehicle charging and drone landing.
Under the partnership, Engro will pay Jazz, Veon’s digital operator in Pakistan, $188 million and will guarantee the repayment of Deodar’s intercompany debt of $375 million.
This remains subject to corporate and regulatory approvals.
Deodar, under Veon, has a total tower count of 10,500 in Pakistan, while Engro’s existing tower count under Engro Enfrashare is 4,063 towers according to Topline Securities.
Earlier this year, Engro’s Dawood said restructuring would allow the firm to tap into broader economic opportunities, citing a challenging macroeconomic environment as a reason for the company’s restructuring.
Pakistan is navigating a challenging economic recovery path, having completed a $3 billion IMF bailout in April and now undertaking a $7 billion, 37-month bailout, approved in September, to ensure macroeconomic stability.
However, Dawood now says that things have changed, which have led to Engro’s largest transaction in Pakistani rupee terms.
“The actions taken in Pakistan over the last few quarters, along with hard decisions for macroeconomic stability, have led to this deal,” he said, adding that interest rates and inflation falling, combined with Pakistan’s ongoing IMF program, have also helped.”
Pakistan slashed interest rates to 15 percent in November from a record high of 22 percent earlier this year. Inflation has slowed down to 4.9 percent in November, from a multi-decade high of almost 40 percent in 2023.
“The incoming macro stability and IMF’s seal of approval has a huge impact on foreign financiers to look at Pakistan as an invest-able market,” Dawood said.

Topics: Engro Corp. Pakistan Veon

Pakistan urges global cooperation at unprecedented climate hearings at top UN court

Pakistan urges global cooperation at unprecedented climate hearings at top UN court
Updated 10 December 2024
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Pakistan urges global cooperation at unprecedented climate hearings at top UN court

Pakistan urges global cooperation at unprecedented climate hearings at top UN court
  • The International Court of Justice will craft an advisory opinion to provide clarity on international law with regards to climate change
  • But critics say the opinion, expected to take months, will lack teeth as it is non-binding upon states and has no means of enforcement
Updated 10 December 2024
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has urged global cooperation to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change at historic hearings at the United Nations (UN) top court in The Hague in a case concerning advisory opinion on the obligations of states, the Pakistani foreign office said on Tuesday.
The hearings, opened this month at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), broadly concern the obligations of states with respect to climate change and their legal consequences. The advisory opinion, which will provide clarity on international law with regards to climate change, may in turn influence any multilateral processes involving climate action.
The development comes weeks after several countries, including Pakistan, took turns rejecting a new but vague draft text which attempted to form the spine of any deal reached at the UN climate talks, or COP29, on money for developing countries to transition to clean energy after the draft failed to detail how much wealthy nations would pay to poor countries.
Pakistan, one of more than 100 countries and organizations at the UN top court, was represented by Attorney-General Mansoor Usman Awan, who highlighted the South Asian country’s vulnerability to climate change at the hearings initiated as a follow-up to a resolution passed by the UN General Assembly in March 2023.
“It [Pakistan’s presentation] underscored the need for international cooperation to mitigate the negative impacts of climate change, based on the established principles of Equity and Common But Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.
“Pakistan’s participation in these proceedings demonstrates its strong commitment to continue working with the international community to address the challenge of climate change.”
Pakistan is ranked as the 5th most vulnerable country to climate change, according to the Global Climate Risk Index. In 2022, devastating floods affected over 33 million people and caused economic losses exceeding $30 billion, highlighting the country’s high susceptibility to extreme weather events.
Due to rising temperatures, extreme climatic phenomena, including droughts, cyclones and heatwaves, have been occurring more frequently and with greater intensity across the South Asian country, which is one of the most severely threatened nations especially in the context of its dependency on climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, natural resources and the environment, and socio-economic issues such as poverty
Critics say the advisory opinion, which is expected to take months to finalize, will lack teeth as it is non-binding upon states and there is no means of enforcement, while others hope the ICJ will lay down a legal precedent that will influence domestic climate legislation and litigation.
Negotiators at last month’s UN climate talks in Baku tried to close the gap between the $1.3 trillion the developing world says is needed in climate finance, but poor nations blasted both rich nations and the host Azerbaijan presidency for a “completely unbalanced” deal.
“We would like to correct the balance. It is completely tilted,” Pakistan delegate Romina Khurshid Alam said.

Saudi Arabia remains top contributor as Pakistan workers remittances increase 29% year on year

Saudi Arabia remains top contributor as Pakistan workers remittances increase 29% year on year
Updated 10 December 2024
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Saudi Arabia remains top contributor as Pakistan workers remittances increase 29% year on year

Saudi Arabia remains top contributor as Pakistan workers remittances increase 29% year on year
  • Pakistan received $2.9 billion in remittances during November, with $729 million sourced from Saudi Arabia
  • Cumulatively, Workers’ remittances increased by 33.6% from July till November, with an inflow of $14.8 billion
Updated 10 December 2024
KASHIF IMRAN

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan recorded an increase of 29.1% year on year in workers remittances in the month of November, the Pakistani central bank said on Monday, with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressing his gratitude to overseas Pakistanis for sending a record $2.9 billion.
Remittances bring billions of dollars annually from overseas Pakistanis and are vital to Pakistan’s economy. These inflows bolster foreign exchange reserves, stabilize the balance of payments, and support the Pakistani currency.
Remittance inflows in November were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($729.2 million), United Arab Emirates ($619.4 million), United Kingdom ($409.9 million) and the United States ($288.2 million), according to the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).
“Overseas Pakistanis are our precious asset, who are highlighting Pakistan’s name in the entire world through their talent and potential,” Sharif said in a statement issued from his office.
Cumulatively, with an inflow of $14.8 billion, workers’ remittances increased by 33.6% from July till November, compared to $11.1 billion received during the same period last year, the SBP said.
Sharif said the surge in remittances was welcoming and would yield “promising results” for the economy.
The South Asian country narrowly avoided a sovereign default last year by clinching a last-gasp $3 billion loan program from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Pakistan has made some economic gains since then, most notably slowing the annual consumer inflation to 4.9% in November, lower than the government’s forecast and the lowest in nearly six years. This was down from 38% in May last year.
Data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics also supported positive investor sentiment as the trade deficit narrowed by 7.39% during the first five months (July-November) of the current fiscal year, standing at $8.651 billion, compared to $9.341 billion during the same period last year.
Exports rose by 12.57% to hit $13.69 billion, while imports increased by 3.90% to $22.342 billion during this period. November’s trade deficit narrowed even further, dropping by 18.60% year-on-year to $1.589 billion compared to $1.952 billion in November 2023.
Pakistan’s government has vowed to undertake economic reforms mandated by the IMF which include tightening fiscal policies, privatizing loss-making state-owned enterprises and enhancing tax revenues.

Topics: Pakistan Saudi Ties Saudi remittances Pakistan economy

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