ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday he was optimistic that Saudi Arabia’s Makkah Route Initiative, which was recently launched in the federal capital to facilitate over 26,000 Pakistani pilgrims, would also be expanded to other cities next year.
The statement comes a day after Pakistan’s religious affairs minister Senator Talha Mahmood and Saudi ambassador Nawaf bin Said-Al Malki formally launched the project at the Islamabad International Airport.
The Makkah Route Initiative is part of Saudi Arabia’s Guests of God Service Program, which King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud inaugurated in 2019 under Vision 2030 to diversify the kingdom’s economy. Under the scheme, Hajj pilgrims go through immigration process at the airports of their own countries before departing for Saudi Arabia.
“Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday briefed the members of his cabinet on the details of the Road to Makkah agreement signed with Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, which will benefit a large number of Pakistani pilgrims,” said a statement released by the PM Office.
“The prime minister has expressed the hope that after its launch at the Islamabad airport yesterday, this facility, with the support of the Saudi government, will also be provided to pilgrims going to the kingdom from Lahore and Karachi next year.”
Following the launch of the initiative, Pakistan’s religious affairs minister said the immigration of pilgrims would take place in their own country, adding they would be able to exit Saudi airports upon arrival without having to go through the same process again.
Mahmood added the Saudi deputy interior minister, Dr. Nasser Al-Dawood, who visited Pakistan this week to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with officials in Islamabad, had promised to extend the Makkah Route Initiative to at least two to three more Pakistani cities.
“These include Lahore, Karachi, and Peshawar airports as they [Saudis] need time since a lot of preparation, including equipment and staff, is required for each airport,” he explained.
Mahmood also said the first Hajj flight would depart from Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi at 4:50 pm on May 21 and land in Madinah.
PM hopes Makkah Route Initiative will be expanded to Pakistani cities beyond capital
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PM hopes Makkah Route Initiative will be expanded to Pakistani cities beyond capital
- The initiative allows Hajj pilgrims to undergo immigration process in their home country before leaving for Saudi Arabia
- It was formally launched at the Islamabad airport where to help facilitate more than 26,000 pilgrims this Hajj season
Babar Azam, Fakhar Zaman lift Pakistan to 178-5 in fifth T20I against New Zealand
- Azam scored a 44-ball 69 while Zaman made a 33-ball 43 for Pakistan after they were sent in to bat by Black Caps
- New Zealand won the third and fourth matches while Pakistan took the second after the first one was abandoned
LAHORE: Skipper Babar Azam notched a solid half century to guide Pakistan to 178-5 in the fifth and final Twenty20 international against New Zealand in Lahore on Saturday.
Azam scored a 44-ball 69 while Fakhar Zaman made a 33-ball 43 for Pakistan after they were sent in to bat at Qaddafi Stadium.
Azam saw his opening partner Saim Ayub fall in the second over for just one but that did not deter him as he added 73 for the second wicket with Usman Khan who made a brisk 24-ball 31.
Azam hit six boundaries and two sixes in his 34th T20I half-century before he was bowled by pacer Ben Sears in the 15th over.
Zaman hit four boundaries and a six before he was smartly caught by Mark Chapman on the boundary off Zak Foulkes as Pakistan managed 55 in the last five overs.
Shadab Khan hit a six and a four in his five-ball 15 not out.
New Zealand made three changes as they brought back Tim Seifert, Cole McConchie and Foulkes while pace spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi returned for the home team.
New Zealand won the third and fourth matches while Pakistan took the second after the first in the series was abandoned.
New Zealand win toss, opt to bowl in 5th and final T20 against Pakistan
- Pakistan, looking to build-up for June’s T20 World Cup, are trailing 2-1 in the series
- Pakistan have brought in their ace fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi in place of Zaman Khan
LAHORE: New Zealand captain Michael Bracewell won the toss and elected to field in the fifth and final Twenty20 against Pakistan on Saturday.
Pakistan, looking to build-up for June’s T20 World Cup, are trailing 2-1 in the series as they tested their bench strength against the understrength Black Caps.
Pakistan made just one change from the team that lost the fourth match by four runs, bringing in their ace fast bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi in place of Zaman Khan.
New Zealand, touring Pakistan without their nine frontline T20 players who are in the Indian Premier League, made three changes.
Tim Seifert recovered from sore back and returns in place of Tim Robinson, who scored a half-century in the last game but was ruled out with a groin injury.
Cole McConchie and Zak Foulkes also made it to the playing XI replacing Dean Foxcroft and Jacob Duffy. Foxcroft was ruled out with a back injury.
The first game was abandoned because of rain before Pakistan bowled out New Zealand for 90 runs in the second game to win by seven wickets.
New Zealand made a comeback, winning the third match by seven wickets before edging out the home team in the last game at Qaddafi Stadium on Thursday.
Pro-Palestine protester claims manhandling after disrupting German ambassador’s speech in Lahore
- The envoy was criticized for ‘lecturing’ on civil liberties when Germany was punishing defenders of Palestinian rights
- One of the organizers of Asma Jahangir Conference says no one should ‘insult people by shouting or getting harsh’
ISLAMABAD: A pro-Palestine protester in Pakistan, who interrupted German Ambassador Alfred Grannas during his speech on civil liberties in South Asia at a rights conference in the eastern city of Lahore on Saturday, said he was ‘manhandled’ by the organizers who later forces him out of the hall.
Ali Abdullah Khan, who studies economics and is part of the Progressive Students Collective, disrupted the German envoy’s speech at the popular Asma Jahangir Conference while accusing the European state of “brutally abusing” those who have been agitating for Palestinian rights.
Germany has clearly sided with Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza after a surprise attack was launched by Hamas on Oct. 7 as a response to the deteriorating Palestinian condition living under Israeli occupation.
The conflict, which has led to the killing of over 34,000 Palestinians, has led to widespread criticism of the Israeli government, leading to protests in different parts of the world.
While countries like South Africa have accused the Jewish state of committing genocide in Gaza, German authorities have forcibly removed protest encampments and gone into people’s houses to arrest them for critical social media posts on charges of antisemitism.
“We were forced out of the place after we raised our voice during the German ambassador’s speech,” Khan said while speaking to Arab News. “The organizers manhandled us and banned our entry in the conference.”
He said it was “baffling” to see the German ambassador “lecturing” people on civil liberties in Pakistan after his country supplied arms and ammunition to Israeli military to kill Palestinian civilians and destroy hospitals and education institutions.
“Germany isn’t in a position to champion civil liberties and human rights when it is complicit in the killing of thousands of civilians in Palestine,” he continued. “We simply called out Germany’s hypocrisy by peacefully raising our voice in the conference that literally agitated the ambassador.”
Khan said he had peacefully expressed solidarity with the people of Palestine and would continue to do so until the western world remained “complicit in the brutal massacre of Palestinians.”
The Asma Jahangir Conference is named after a late Pakistani human rights lawyer and activist and brings together scholars, activists, legal experts and policymakers to discuss a wide range of issues affecting the lives of marginalized communities.
Responding to an Arab News query, Munizae Jahangir, one of the conference’s organizers and the daughter of Asma Jahangir, objected to the way Khan criticized the German envoy.
“Freedom of speech is everybody’s right, but there should be a decent way to ask questions or express your difference of opinion,” she said. “The purpose of the conference is to provide a platform to people to express their opinions, views and dissent, but one should not insult people by shouting or getting harsh.”
Jahangir, a prominent journalist and activist in her own right, said a special session on Gaza was held at the conference to highlight the issue that was attended by Shawan Jabarin, director of the Palestinian human rights organization Al Haq, and Francesca Albanese, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“We warmly welcome the difference of opinion at our platform but not the insult and disrespect to our honorable guests,” she added.
Earlier, Khan interrupted the German ambassador shortly after he began his speech.
“I am shocked by the audacity that you are here to talk about civil rights while your country is brutally abusing the people speaking for the rights of the Palestinians,” he shouted while standing at the back of hall.
Many people around him supported him by shouting “Free, Free Palestine” and “From the River to the Sea.”
The German envoy, who looked visibly perturbed by the development, responded by shouting back at him and pointing to the exit.
“If you, if you want to shout, go out,” he said. “There you can shout. Because shouting is not a discussion.”
Last year in November, a Pakistani classical dancer and human rights activist Sheema Kermani raised slogans for a ceasefire at a British Deputy High Commission event in Karachi and later complained of being “escorted out.”
Gunmen abduct judge in Pakistan’s northwest amid surge in militant violence
- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chief minister says ‘emergency measures’ must be taken to bring back the judge
- Police say a heavy contingent has gone to the area to gather evidence and identify the armed men
PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen abducted a district and sessions court judge in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province on Saturday as he was traveling from his hometown of Tank to the southern Dera Ismail Khan district, according to a police official.
The incident has alarmed the legal community and coincides with a resurgence of militant violence in KP and Balochistan provinces, following the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)’s termination of a fragile truce with the government in November 2022.
“Shakirullah Marwat, the district and sessions judge in South Waziristan, was kidnapped near Bagwal, a dusty town between Tank and Dera Ismail Khan,” said Muhammad Ibrahim, a police spokesman. “The kidnappers released Marwat’s driver but took the judge with them.”
Ibrahim added that a heavy police contingent was dispatched to the area immediately after the incident to collect evidence and search for the armed men.
Earlier this month, an attack in Dera Ismail Khan resulted in the death of six people, including five customs department officials, with another person wounded when gunmen targeted their vehicle.
Shah Fahad Ansari, a high court advocate and the divisional president for the People Lawyers’ Forum, condemned the abduction, saying that courts across the region should be locked down in protest to draw attention to the deteriorating law and order situation.
“The provincial government has completely failed to maintain security in the area,” Ansari added. “You can imagine the sense of insecurity among people at a time when the state cannot even protect its judges.”
Reacting to the development, KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur instructed the police to ensure the safe recovery of the judge.
“Emergency measures must be taken to recover the judge, and all available resources should be utilized for this purpose,” he said in a statement.
Gandapur maintained the people who were behind the incident would not be able to escape the law.
The recent weeks have also seen attacks on police officials in KP.
Earlier this month, a policeman was shot dead in North Waziristan. In related incidents, an official from the provincial counterterrorism department and a senior cleric affiliated with the Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam religious party were fatally shot in target killings in the area.
While no group has claimed responsibility for these attacks, suspicion has fallen on the TTP, whose leadership is said to be based in neighboring Afghanistan.
The Afghan deputy interior minister, Mohammad Nabi Omari, urged Pakistan and the banned militant network to resume negotiations earlier this month, but Pakistani authorities rejected this idea, calling on the administration in Kabul to act against militants operating from its soil.
‘The audacity’: German envoy’s speech disrupted by pro-Palestinian protester at Lahore rights conference
- Ambassador Grannas was speaking on safeguarding civil rights in South Asia when his speech was interrupted
- The protester said Germany was ‘brutally abusing’ those speaking in favor of the rights of Palestinian people
ISLAMABAD: German Ambassador to Pakistan Alfred Grannas was challenged by a pro-Palestine protester on Saturday shortly after he began his speech on safeguarding civil rights in South Asia at a high-profile conference held in the eastern city of Lahore.
Germany has clearly sided with Israel since the beginning of the war in Gaza after a surprise attack was launched by Hamas on Oct. 7 as a response to the deteriorating Palestinian condition living under Israeli occupation.
The conflict, which has led to the killing of over 34,000 Palestinians, has led to widespread criticism of the Israeli government, leading to protests in different parts of the world.
While countries like South Africa have accused the Jewish state of committing genocide in Gaza, authorities in Germany have forcibly removed protest encampments and gone into people’s houses to arrest them for critical social media posts on charges of antisemitism.
“I am shocked by the audacity that you are here to talk about civil rights while your country is brutally abusing the people speaking for the rights of the Palestinians,” the young protester standing at the back of the hall shouted at him.
Many people around him supported him by shouting “Free, Free Palestine” and “From the River to the Sea.”
The German envoy, who looked visibly agitated by the development, responded by shouting back and pointing to the exit.
“If you, if you want to shout, go out,” he said. “There you can shout. Because shouting is not a discussion.”
The incident happened at the Asma Jahangir Conference that focuses on dialogue and advocacy for human rights issues in Pakistan and its broader neighborhood.
Last year in November, a Pakistani classical dancer and human rights activist Sheema Kermani raised slogans for a ceasefire at a British Deputy High Commission event in Karachi and later complained of being “escorted out.”
