Pakistan begins mandatory Hajj training by holding first session in Peshawar

Special Pakistan begins mandatory Hajj training by holding first session in Peshawar
Selected Pakistani pilgrims attend Hajj training workshop in Peshawar on January 18, 2025, ahead of the annual pilgrimage in June this year. (AN Photo)
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Updated 18 January 2025
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Pakistan begins mandatory Hajj training by holding first session in Peshawar

Pakistan begins mandatory Hajj training by holding first session in Peshawar
  • The country’s religious affairs ministry plans to hold the training sessions at 147 locations across Pakistan
  • These sessions will use audiovisual material and conclude before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan

PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry on Saturday initiated mandatory training sessions for pilgrims performing this year’s Hajj under the government scheme by holding the inaugural session in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Earlier this month, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia signed the annual Hajj agreement in Jeddah, which formally confirmed that the South Asian nation would send 179,210 people to perform the pilgrimage this year.
More than 200 pilgrims participated in the first session in Peshawar, held at a private educational institution in the city.
Muhammad Umair Butt, the ministry spokesperson, told Arab News that authorities have planned the mandatory Hajj training sessions at 147 locations across the country.
“According to the Saudi government’s instructions, we have to provide training to Hajj pilgrims to acquaint them with the administrative affairs and other Hajj rituals so they can complete their worship properly,” he said, adding the sessions were also designed to sensitize pilgrims on how to spend their time in Saudi Arabia.




Trainer briefs selected Pakistani pilgrims during Hajj training workshop in Peshawar on January 18, 2025, ahead of the annual pilgrimage in June this year. (AN Photo)

Butt said the training sessions would cover all required topics in two sittings.
“These sessions will be concluded before [the Muslim fasting month of] Ramadan,” he said. “The sessions will be held from January 18 to February 27 across the country in every province.”
The religious affairs ministry has taken several initiatives this year to facilitate pilgrims, including the launch of the Pak Hajj 2025 mobile application to guide them.
The app is available for both Android and iPhone users.




Selected Pakistani pilgrims attend Hajj training workshop in Peshawar on January 18, 2025, ahead of the annual pilgrimage in June this year. (AN Photo)

The ministry spokesperson said each sitting of the training session will last for about three hours, during which pilgrims will receive guidelines through audiovisual material.
Speaking to Arab News, participants of the training session expressed satisfaction with the information shared, saying multiple questions they had about the Hajj rituals had been answered.
“It is good that I attended the first session in which they provided detailed information about the app,” Mujib-ur-Rehman Bhatti, a resident of Peshawar’s Gulbahar neighborhood, said after participating in the training.




Trainer briefs selected Pakistani pilgrims during Hajj training workshop in Peshawar on January 18, 2025, ahead of the annual pilgrimage in June this year. (AN Photo)

He added the ministry had informed all the pilgrims in detail about how to overcome common problems reported during Hajj.
“The things they taught us were for our own ease and can save us from tension ahead,” Bhatti said.
Another participant of the session, Ali Khan, an official at the Civil Aviation who is planning to perform Hajj with his family, called it a “brilliant program.”
“Everything was explained quite well and in significant detail,” he said. “We gathered information from videos, YouTube and other sources. The session was very practical and important.”




Selected Pakistani pilgrims attend Hajj training workshop in Peshawar on January 18, 2025, ahead of the annual pilgrimage in June this year. (AN Photo)

 


Pakistan’s president says militant attacks won’t end friendship with China

Pakistan’s president says militant attacks won’t end friendship with China
Updated 11 sec ago
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Pakistan’s president says militant attacks won’t end friendship with China

Pakistan’s president says militant attacks won’t end friendship with China
  • Asif Ali Zardari meets President Xi Jinping, admits to ‘ups and downs’ in bilateral relations
  • President Xi says China is willing to work with Pakistan and ensure greater modernization

BEIJING: Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari said Wednesday that his country’s friendship with China has “gone through ups and downs” but it won’t be broken down by militant attacks.
“Pakistan and China will always be friends, all-weather friends,” he said at the opening of talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “No matter how many terrors, how many issues crop up in the world, I will stand, Pakistan people will stand with the people of China.”
Thousands of Chinese workers work in Pakistan on road and other infrastructure projects under China’s multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to improve trade routes and deepen China’s ties with the rest of the world. Chinese workers have been among those targeted in attacks in recent years, including seven who died last year in two separate attacks that raised renewed alarm in China.
Zardari arrived in China Tuesday on a four-day visit that will also take him to the wintry northeastern city of Harbin for the opening ceremony of the 9th Asian Winter Games.
He said that many forces are trying to disturb the relationship between the two countries by launching attacks on “Chinese brothers.”
Xi said that China and Pakistan have an enduring friendship and have set a model for relations between two countries by advancing the construction of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and cooperation in various fields.
A Chinese-funded $230 million airport, the largest in Pakistan, started operations last month in the coastal city of Gwadar in Balochistan province, where a separatist group has launched multiple attacks targeting many groups including Chinese.
A shipping port in Gwadar is the end of the envisioned economic corridor, which would cross the length of Pakistan to link the western Chinese region of Xinjiang with the Arabian Sea.
“The Chinese side is willing to work with the Pakistani side to move forward hand-in-hand on our respective paths of modernization,” Xi said.
The start of operations at the airport was delayed from last year after a surge in attacks in Balochistan.


Pakistan health workers kick off polio drive despite snow in Kashmir

Pakistan health workers kick off polio drive despite snow in Kashmir
Updated 54 min 8 sec ago
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Pakistan health workers kick off polio drive despite snow in Kashmir

Pakistan health workers kick off polio drive despite snow in Kashmir
  • There has been no polio case in the mountainous Himalayan region of Kashmir for 24 years
  • Pakistan recorded at least 73 polio cases in 2024, a sharp increase from six cases a year before

SURGAN, Pakistan: Health workers are braving freezing temperatures this week to administer polio vaccinations in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after cases surged nationwide last year.
Pakistan and neighboring Afghanistan are the only countries where polio is endemic, and militants have for decades targeted vaccination teams and their security escorts.
A police officer guarding polio vaccinators in the northwest was shot dead by militants on Monday, the first day of the annual campaign that is due to last a week.
In Kashmir, health worker Manzoor Ahmad trudged up snowy mountains as temperatures dipped to minus six degrees Celsius (21 degrees Fahrenheit) to administer polio vaccinations in the region.
“It is a mountainous, hard area... we arrive here for polio vaccination despite the three feet of snowfall,” Ahmad, who heads the polio campaign in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, told AFP.

A health worker marks a child's finger after administering polio drops during a vaccination drive in Pakistan-administered Kashmir's Neelum Valley on February 4, 2025. (AFP

Social worker Mehnaz, who goes by one name and has been helping the vaccinators since 2018, said the difficult climate poses a huge risk to the vaccination teams.
“We have no monthly salary... we come here to give polio shots to the children despite the glaciers and avalanches,” she told AFP.
“We risk our lives and leave our children at home.”

Health workers sit on snow during a polio vaccination drive in Pakistan-administered Kashmir's Neelum Valley on February 4, 2025. (AFP)

The challenge is larger this year for the country with a population of 240 million, after it recorded at least 73 polio cases in 2024 — a sharp increase from just six cases the year before.
Health workers aim to vaccinate approximately 1,700 children within a week in the town of Surgan, around 150 kilometers (90 miles) north of Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
“Our target is to give polio shots to 750,000 children below the age of five. There are 4,000 polio teams that visit house-to-house,” Ahmad said.

A health worker administers polio drops to a child during a door-to-door vaccination campaign amidst heavy snow in the Bakwali-Surgan area of Pakistan-administered Kashmir's Neelum Valley, on February 4, 2025. (AFP)

“There have been no polio cases in Kashmir for the last 24 years,” he added with pride.
Polio can easily be prevented by an oral vaccine, but in the past some conservative religious leaders have falsely claimed that the vaccine contains pork or alcohol, declaring it forbidden for Muslims to consume.


Pakistan and China agree to boost intelligence sharing in high-level security talks in Beijing

Pakistan and China agree to boost intelligence sharing in high-level security talks in Beijing
Updated 05 February 2025
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Pakistan and China agree to boost intelligence sharing in high-level security talks in Beijing

Pakistan and China agree to boost intelligence sharing in high-level security talks in Beijing
  • Both nations share concerns over militant violence, particularly due to attacks on Chinese nationals in Pakistan
  • The two countries also discuss border security and advancing high-quality development under CPEC projects

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China discussed security cooperation on Wednesday, agreeing to enhance intelligence sharing to address growing threats during a high-level meeting in Beijing, according to an official statement circulated by the interior ministry.
The two nations share concerns over militant violence, particularly due to attacks on Chinese nationals working on the multibillion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects in various Pakistani cities. Such incidents have prompted Beijing to call for enhanced security measures.
Last year, several Chinese nationals lost their lives in deadly suicide bombings, the most recent of which occurred in October 2024, killing two Chinese engineers near Karachi airport just days before the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in the federal capital.
Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, who is currently accompanying President Asif Ali Zardari on a five-day visit to China, met with his Chinese counterpart, Qi Yanjun, in Beijing to discuss concrete measures to bolster security and strengthen intelligence-sharing mechanisms.
“The meeting focused on improving intelligence coordination between the two countries,” said the official Pakistani statement.
It noted that discussions included an exchange on modern technology for police and paramilitary forces, as well as a detailed discussion on acquiring advanced equipment from China for law enforcement agencies.
The talks further covered border security cooperation, including measures to safeguard key routes and infrastructure projects. Both sides expressed a commitment to deeper collaboration in law enforcement and counterterrorism efforts.
Beyond security cooperation, the two countries are also working to establish special economic zones and encourage private sector partnerships to deepen economic ties. The development of these zones is a key component of CPEC, aiming to boost industrialization and economic growth in Pakistan.
President Zardari also met with Zhao Leji, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, to reaffirm the enduring friendship between Pakistan and China.
Both officials emphasized strategic mutual trust and discussed advancing CPEC’s high-quality development, focusing on cooperation in science and technology, renewable energy, infrastructure and agriculture.


Saudi cabinet approves memorandum of understanding with Pakistan to combat financial crimes

Saudi cabinet approves memorandum of understanding with Pakistan to combat financial crimes
Updated 05 February 2025
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Saudi cabinet approves memorandum of understanding with Pakistan to combat financial crimes

Saudi cabinet approves memorandum of understanding with Pakistan to combat financial crimes
  • The development signifies deepening strategic relations between the Kingdom and the South Asian state
  • MoU was signed between Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit and Saudi Department of Financial Investigation

ISLAMABAD: Saudi Arabia’s cabinet, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has approved a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit (FMU) to enhance cooperation in combating money laundering, terrorist financing and related crimes, the Saudi Press Agency reported this week.
Pakistan has faced significant challenges with money laundering and terrorist financing in recent years, leading to its placement on the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) grey list in June 2018.
After implementing comprehensive reforms to strengthen its financial system, the country was removed from the grey list in October 2022.
The FMU, established under the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2010, serves as Pakistan’s financial intelligence unit, responsible for analyzing suspicious transaction reports and coordinating with international counterparts.
“[The cabinet approved] a memorandum of understanding between the General Department of Financial Investigation at the Presidency of State Security in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Financial Monitoring Unit in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan regarding cooperation in exchanging investigations related to money laundering, terrorist financing, and related crimes,” the SPA reported.
The MoU signifies the deepening strategic relations between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. A significant Pakistani diaspora resides in the Kingdom, and numerous Pakistani businesses have established a presence there.
Saudi Arabia has been a key supporter of Pakistan’s economy, bolstering its reserves with substantial deposits in the State Bank of Pakistan and offering deferred oil payment facilities.
The Saudi cabinet also highlighted the Kingdom’s hosting of the INTERPOL Regional Bureau as a significant step, saying it underscored international recognition of the Kingdom’s pivotal role in combating extremism and other crime in their different forms.


PM Sharif condemns deadly Sweden school shooting that left 11 dead

PM Sharif condemns deadly Sweden school shooting that left 11 dead
Updated 05 February 2025
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PM Sharif condemns deadly Sweden school shooting that left 11 dead

PM Sharif condemns deadly Sweden school shooting that left 11 dead
  • The incident, which took place at an adult education school, is Sweden’s deadliest attack in recent history
  • Police say the motive of the attack remains unclear, with Swedish PM calling it a ‘painful day’ for his country

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday condemned a deadly shooting at a school in Örebro, Sweden, that left eleven people dead, expressing grief over the tragic act of gun violence and extending condolences to the victims and their families.
The shooting, which took place on Tuesday at the Risbergska school for adult education, is Sweden’s deadliest gun attack in recent history.
Police said the gunman was believed to be among those killed, while authorities continued their search for other possible victims. The motive for the attack remains unclear.
“Deeply saddened by the tragic act of gun violence at a school in Örebro, Sweden, that claimed so many innocent lives,” Sharif said in a social media post on X, formerly Twitter.
“My thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the entire community during this painful time,” he added.
The Risbergska school serves adults who did not complete their formal education or failed to attain the necessary grades for higher education.
Located on a shared campus with children’s schools, it is a key part of Sweden’s adult education system, which includes many immigrants striving to improve their qualifications and find employment while learning Swedish.
Sweden has been grappling with a surge in shootings and bombings linked to gang violence, making it the European Union’s most gun-violence-affected country per capita in recent years. However, fatal attacks at schools remain rare in the Nordic nation.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called it a “painful day,” acknowledging the shock and sorrow felt across the country as authorities investigated the incident.

-With input from Reuters