Thousands gather in northwest Pakistan as grand council of banned Pashtun groups is delayed

Special Thousands gather in northwest Pakistan as grand council of banned Pashtun groups is delayed
Thousands of peopole gather to attend a three-day grand council organized by the recently banned Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) in the Khyber tribal district in Pakistan’s northwest on October 11, 2024. (AN photo by Wasim Sajjad)
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Updated 11 October 2024
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Thousands gather in northwest Pakistan as grand council of banned Pashtun groups is delayed

Thousands gather in northwest Pakistan as grand council of banned Pashtun groups is delayed
  • PTM leaders say the ‘crackdown’ against them impeded the preparations for the Pashtun gathering
  • KP government says it allowed the gathering on condition that no anti-state slogans will be raised

PESHAWAR/ DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Thousands of people gathered in the Khyber tribal district in Pakistan’s northwest on Friday to attend a three-day grand council organized by the recently banned Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) to address issues in the volatile region, though proceedings were delayed due to insufficient arrangements.
The provincial administration of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) allowed PTM to hold the Pashtun National Jirga after extensive deliberations involving representatives of different political parties a day earlier.
The dialogue over the issue was arranged by KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur and took place after federal authorities in Pakistan banned PTM on charges of supporting the Pakistani Taliban militants and promoting anti-state narratives and activities.
The PTM leadership, which has consistently denied these allegations and claims it only advocates for Pashtun rights, said it would proceed with the jirga to discuss security challenges in the province. The group lost three of its supporters in a clash with police on Wednesday while preparing for the ethnic gathering.
“The arrangements were delayed as we had an issue [with the police] some two days ago and faced a crackdown that impeded the preparations,” Zakim Wazir, a member of PTM’s central committee, told Arab News.
“Around 80 camps had to be set up for the jirga, and we were only allowed to do that by the provincial authorities the night before,” he added.
PTM founder Manzoor Ahmad Pashteen also highlighted these challenges while speaking to those attending the gathering.
“The proceedings of the first day will be held tomorrow [Saturday] along with the second day’s proceedings,” he said.
Earlier, the KP administration released a statement saying it had imposed several conditions on PTM before allowing the gathering.
“There will be no anti-state or anti-military slogans during the three-day tribal council meeting,” Barrister Muhammad Ali Saif, the KP administration’s spokesperson, said. “No one will also be allowed to raise the flag of any other country.”
Founded in 2014, PTM has long advocated against extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of Pashtuns and other ethnic minorities, for which the state is sometimes blamed, though it has always denied the charge.
The KP spokesperson emphasized that the protection of public life and property, along with the restoration of peace and security in the province, were the top priorities of the provincial administration.


Deepfakes weaponized to target Pakistan’s women leaders

Deepfakes weaponized to target Pakistan’s women leaders
Updated 43 sec ago
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Deepfakes weaponized to target Pakistan’s women leaders

Deepfakes weaponized to target Pakistan’s women leaders
  • Sexualized deepfake videos being published to discredit role nation’s few female leaders, targeted politicians say
  • Deepfakes now prevalent across the world but Pakistan has legislation to combat their deployment in disinformation campaigns

LAHORE: Pakistani politician Azma Bukhari is haunted by a counterfeit image of herself: a sexualized deepfake video published to discredit her role as one of the nation’s few female leaders.
“I was shattered when it came into my knowledge,” said 48-year-old Bukhari, the information minister of Pakistan’s most populous province of Punjab.
Deepfakes — which manipulate genuine audio, photos or video of people into false likenesses — are becoming increasingly convincing and easier to make as artificial intelligence (AI) enters the mainstream.
In Pakistan, where media literacy is poor, they are being weaponized to smear women in the public sphere with sexual innuendo deeply damaging to their reputations in a country with conservative mores.
Bukhari — who regularly appears on TV — recalls going quiet for days after she saw the video of her face superimposed on the sexualized body of an Indian actor in a clip quickly spreading on social media.
“It was very difficult, I was depressed,” she told AFP in her home in the eastern city of Lahore.
“My daughter, she hugged me and said: ‘Mama, you have to fight it out’.”

In this photograph taken on November 20, 2024, Azma Bukhari (C), Information Minister of Pakistan’s province of Punjab, speaks with media after attending her deepfake video case hearing in Lahore. (AFP)

After initially recoiling she is pressing her case at Lahore’s High Court, attempting to hold those who spread the deepfake to account.
“When I go to the court, I have to remind people again and again that I have a fake video,” she said.
In Pakistan — a country of 240 million people — Internet use has risen at staggering rates recently owing to cheap 4G mobile Internet.
Around 110 million Pakistanis were online this January, 24 million more than at the beginning of 2023, according to monitoring site DataReportal.
In this year’s election, deepfakes were at the center of digital debate.
Ex-prime minister Imran Khan was jailed but his team used an AI tool to generate speeches in his voice shared on social media, allowing him to campaign from behind bars.
Men in politics are typically criticized over corruption, their ideology and status. But deepfakes have a dark side uniquely suited to tearing down women.
“When they are accused, it almost always revolves around their sex lives, their personal lives, whether they’re good mums, whether they’re good wives,” said US-based AI expert Henry Ajder.
“For that deepfakes are a very harmful weapon,” he told AFP.
In patriarchal Pakistan the stakes are high.

In this photograph taken on October 21, 2024, staff members work at the Digital Rights Foundation (DRF), an NGO aims to strengthen protections for human rights defenders in digital spaces, in Lahore. (AFP

Women’s status is typically tied to their “honor,” generally defined as modesty and chastity. Hundreds are killed every year — often by their own families — for supposedly besmirching it.
Bukhari describes the video targeting her as “pornographic.”
But in a country where premarital sex and cohabitation are punishable offenses, deepfakes can undermine reputations by planting innuendo with the suggestion of a hug or improper social mingling with men.
In October, AFP debunked a deepfake video of regional lawmaker Meena Majeed showing her hugging the male chief minister of Balochistan province.
A social media caption said: “Shamelessness has no limits. This is an insult to Baloch culture.”
Bukhari says photos of her with her husband and son have also been manipulated to imply she appeared in public with boyfriends outside her marriage.
And doctored videos regularly circulate of Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif — Bukhari’s boss — showing her dancing with opposition leaders.
Once targeted by deepfakes like these, women’s “image is seen as immoral, and the honor of the entire family is lost,” said Sadaf Khan of Pakistani non-profit Media Matters for Democracy.
“This can put them in danger,” she told AFP.
Deepfakes are now prevalent across the world, but Pakistan does have legislation to combat their deployment in disinformation campaigns.
In 2016, a law was passed by Bukhari’s party “to prevent online crimes” with “cyberstalking” provisions against sharing photos or videos without consent “in a manner that harms a person.”
Bukhari believes it needs to be strengthened and backed up by investigators. “The capacity building of our cybercrime unit is very, very important,” she said.

In this photograph taken on October 21, 2024, Nighat Dad, a Pakistan-based digital rights activist, works on her laptop during an interview with AFP in Lahore. (AFP)

But digital rights activists have also criticized the government for wielding such broad legislation to quash dissent.
Authorities have previously blocked YouTube and TikTok, and a ban on X — formerly Twitter — has been in place since after February elections when allegations of vote tampering spread on the site.
Pakistan-based digital rights activist Nighat Dad said blocking the sites serves only as “a quick solution for the government.”
“It’s violating other fundamental rights, which are connected to your freedom of expression, and access to information,” she told AFP.


Over 54,000 applications received as Pakistan government Hajj scheme concludes today

Over 54,000 applications received as Pakistan government Hajj scheme concludes today
Updated 39 min 52 sec ago
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Over 54,000 applications received as Pakistan government Hajj scheme concludes today

Over 54,000 applications received as Pakistan government Hajj scheme concludes today
  • Deadline to file Hajj applications is Dec. 3, draw under government scheme will be held on Dec. 6
  • Saudi Arabia has allotted Pakistan a quota of 179,210 pilgrims for upcoming Hajj pilgrimage

ISLAMABAD: More than 54,000 applications have been received from across Pakistan under the Hajj scheme run by the federal government, the religious affairs ministry said, as the process to apply ends today, Tuesday.
Saudi Arabia has allotted Pakistan a total quota of 179,210 pilgrims for the upcoming Hajj pilgrimage, to be divided equally between the government and private schemes. Around 15 designated Pakistani banks started receiving applications for Hajj 2025 from intending pilgrims on Nov. 18. The deadline to file Hajj applications is Dec. 3 while the draw for the government scheme will be held on Dec. 6.
“Tomorrow [Tuesday] is the last day for receiving Hajj applications in the government scheme,” a spokesman for the religious affairs ministry said in a statement. “More than 54,000 applications have been received from across the country so far.”
The religious affairs ministry announced the country’s Hajj 2025 policy last month, under which pilgrims can pay fees for the annual pilgrimage in installments for the first time.
Under the government scheme, the first installment of Hajj dues, Rs200,000 ($717), must be deposited along with the Hajj application, while a second installment of Rs400,000 ($1,435) has to be deposited within ten days of the balloting. The remaining amount has to be deposited by Feb. 10 next year.
Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry has launched the “Pak Hajj 2025” mobile application to guide and facilitate pilgrims. The app is available for both Android and iPhone users.
The Pakistan government has also announced a significant reduction in airfares for Hajj 2025, with a Rs14,000 drop in ticket prices. Pilgrims enrolled in the federal program will now pay Rs220,000 for airfare, down from last year’s Rs234,000. National carrier Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Saudi Airlines, and other private airlines have agreed to the relief package, according to the Pakistan government.


Pakistani PM says prioritizing participation in leadership roles for people with disabilities

Pakistani PM says prioritizing participation in leadership roles for people with disabilities
Updated 44 min 18 sec ago
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Pakistani PM says prioritizing participation in leadership roles for people with disabilities

Pakistani PM says prioritizing participation in leadership roles for people with disabilities
  • 2024 theme for International Day Of Persons With Disabilities is ‘Amplifying leadership of persons with disabilities’
  • As many as 27 million people in Pakistan may be living with disabilities, both intellectual and physical, HRW says

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan is prioritizing the participation in leadership roles of people with disabilities, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said as he joined the international community in commemorating the International Day Of Persons With Disabilities today, Tuesday.
The 2024 theme for the annual day is ‘Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future,’ connoting the basic requirements of participation, representation and inclusion and calls for persons with disabilities to actively shape the conditions of their lives.
People with disabilities can play important roles in leadership, and their unique perspectives can lead to better services for people with disabilities, rights bodies say. They can also help ensure that organizations are accountable for actions that affect people with disabilities.
“This year’s theme, ‘Amplifying the Leadership of Persons with Disabilities for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future,’ highlights a vital truth: the journey toward a more inclusive world must be led by those who understand its challenges firsthand,” Sharif said in a statement. 
“We are prioritizing their participation in leadership roles, ensuring that their perspectives guide our national development strategies, and building a society that values their contributions as leaders, innovators, and changemakers.”
An estimated 1.3 billion people – about 16 percent of the global population – currently experience significant disability. As many as 27 million people in Pakistan may be living with disabilities, both intellectual and physical, according to Human Rights Watch.
Sharif said initiatives such as enhancing access to assistive technologies, improving inclusive infrastructure, and ensuring the implementation of disability-friendly laws were central to Pakistan’s vision.
“We are taking meaningful steps to ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with equal opportunities in education, employment, health care, and public life. Our government is working diligently to implement comprehensive policies that address accessibility, empower individuals with disabilities, and break down societal barriers that hinder their full participation.”
Sharif also highlighted the need to acknowledge the invaluable contributions of caregivers, advocates, and organizations working to support persons with disabilities.
“I urge our institutions, businesses, and civil society to play their role in breaking down barriers and fostering environments where persons with disabilities can contribute as leaders,” the PM added. 
“We must also make conscious efforts to challenge behaviors and attitudes that perpetuate stigma and discrimination, replacing them with understanding and respect.”


28 cases of chikungunya virus reported in northwest Pakistan in 2024 — officials

28 cases of chikungunya virus reported in northwest Pakistan in 2024 — officials
Updated 03 December 2024
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28 cases of chikungunya virus reported in northwest Pakistan in 2024 — officials

28 cases of chikungunya virus reported in northwest Pakistan in 2024 — officials
  • Chikungunya virus spreads to people through bite of an infected mosquito
  • Fourteen cases of chikungunya reported in Peshawar in the last one week

PESHAWAR: Fourteen cases of the chikungunya virus have been reported in the northwestern Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the last one week, health officials said, bringing the total tally of cases to 28 for the year 2024. 
Chikungunya virus spreads to people through the bite of an infected mosquito. The most common symptoms of infection are fever and joint pain. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling or a rash. 
The health department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, of which Peshawar is the capital, ordered preventive measures in September this year after more than a dozen cases of chikungunya were reported in Mansehra district.
“In the past one week, we have received at least 14 cases of chikungunya in the Shamshato Camp of the Ormur neighborhood in Peshawar,” the spokesperson for the Public Health Department, Atta Ullah, told Arab News on Monday. “Total 28 cases of chikungunya have been reported in 2024.”
Habib Ullah Safi, whose 11-year-old daughter had the virus, said she experienced “pains and high temperature.”
“When the tests were conducted, we came to know that she had this disease,” he told Arab News, saying the symptoms continued for at least 5 days but his daughter was feeling well now.
“Chikungunya isn’t a new disease for us, it was a notifiable disease and once we got the reports we timely approached and responded,” Dr. Arsalan Manzoor, a surveillance officer for the chikungunya virus in Peshawar, told Arab News.
“On the instruction of the health department, we immediately went to Shamshato Camp of Ormur and collected the samples and more cases were reported.”
He said a “large number of larvae” had been identified in the locality and awareness sessions were thus conducted “to sensitise locals about prevention.”
“After several visits to the locality, we also held a free medical camp last week,” Manzoor added.
KP province reported 4,034 dengue cases this year with three death, while 747 dengue cases were reported in 2023 and no deaths.
Manzoor explained that chikungunya symptoms were similar to dengue but milder.
“Chikungunya patient recovers a bit better than dengue,” he said. “It takes 4 to 7 days to recover from chikungunya while dengue recovery can take up to two weeks even.”


‘Beyond imagination,’ Pakistani PM says as November inflation slows to 4.9% year-on-year

‘Beyond imagination,’ Pakistani PM says as November inflation slows to 4.9% year-on-year
Updated 02 December 2024
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‘Beyond imagination,’ Pakistani PM says as November inflation slows to 4.9% year-on-year

‘Beyond imagination,’ Pakistani PM says as November inflation slows to 4.9% year-on-year
  • Sharif says inflation rate lower than government’s forecast, lowest in nearly six years
  • Last year Pakistan struggled through inflation as high as 38%,historic depreciation in currency

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said it was “beyond imagination” that Pakistan’s annual consumer inflation had slowed to 4.9% in November, lower than the government’s forecast and the lowest in nearly six years.

The finance ministry had projected inflation would slow to 5.8%-6.8% in November and ease to 5.6%-6.5% in December, it said in its monthly economic report published last week. The South Asian country slashed interest rates by 250 basis points earlier in November to help revive a sluggish economy amid a big drop in the rate of inflation.

Consumer inflation cooled from 7.2% in October, a sharp drop from a multi-decade high of nearly 40% in May 2023. Consumer prices in November rose +0.5% from October, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.

“After 70 months, the inflation rate in Pakistan in November is at its lowest level. In 2018, it was 3.5% during the era of [Prime Minister] Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif, this month, it has reached 4.9%,” Sharif told his cabinet in televised comments.

“This is a great grace of God. It is beyond imagination. Because inflation is the only tool that increases poverty or brings relief. This is a record after 70 months, this decrease will reduce the burden on the poor.”

Pakistan's annual consumer price inflation rate slowed to 9.6% in August, the first single-digit reading in almost three years.

A last-minute IMF rescue package last summer had helped Pakistan avert a sovereign default but, to secure it, the country had to revise its budget, and raise interest rates, taxes, and electricity and gas prices.

As a result, during the period, Pakistan struggled through inflation as high as 38%, historic depreciation in its currency, and contraction of the economy.

A new 37-month $7 billion loan bailout was approved for Pakistan by the IMF in September.