DUBAI: Pakistani residents of the United Arab Emirates who since March have not been able to return to their homes in the Gulf country, have lauded its government’s decision to allow them entry despite airspace closure.
Foreign residents with valid visas will now be allowed to return to the UAE starting from June 1, the UAE government announced late Monday.
Stranded UAE residents, including Pakistani nationals, who raised the issue on social media with the hashtag #bringbackUAEresidents, said they were elated to hear the news.
The UAE closed its airspace on March 21 to contain the spread of coronavirus, and while it has been repatriating its citizens from abroad, there is a large number of non-citizen residents who have settled down in the country and consider it home. Many of them were abroad when international travel was halted and have been separated from their families in the UAE ever since, unable to return to their workplaces.
While the Gulf country opened its airspace for special repatriation flights to Pakistan on April 24, only a handful of Pakistani residents registered with the Twajudi service of the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs received approval to return, promoting a group of some 1,000 of them to appeal to UAE authorities to allow them back home on humanitarian grounds.
Farheen Amjad, who has recently moved to the UAE after getting married but had to travel back to Islamabad to complete the last semester of studies for her bachelor’s degree, said her prayers had been answered.
“I am really happy about the update and you can say it is an Eid gift before Eid,” Farheen told Arab News on Tuesday. “I cannot wait to travel and join my husband and in-laws whom I haven’t seen for the past two months,” she said.
Ayesha Saad, a mother who is currently in Karachi and has been separated from her Dubai-based daughters and husband for the past two months, told Arab News that her family was super excited over the news.
“I have three daughters aged between two years to eight years. I had to bring my youngest to Karachi for a surgery after which I got stuck here. My other kids are now studying from home and my husband is managing, but it is very difficult for me to be away from them,” Ayesha told Arab News on Tuesday. “I am hoping to get the Twajudi approval as soon as possible,” she added.
Awais Amjad, who has partly brought the group of stranded Pakistanis on one platform, has been working in the UAE for the past five years and is currently stranded in Pakistan.
“Thank God there has been clear notification about the entry date from the UAE government even though there is confusion over the statement,” Amjad said.
“We have been asked to apply online for approval but many of us are failing to complete the forms as of yet,” he said.
In a letter to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, representatives of the group, including Amjad, asked the Pakistani government for assistance.
“We call the UAE our second home and have invested many of our years there, sent remittances to Pakistan, some of us are born and brought up there, own property and/or companies and have been working in the country hand in hand with the population and leadership of the UAE,” they wrote on May 8.
Amjad said that the stranded group also shared a list of dire cases, in which patients were unable to resume their treatment in Dubai or whose young children remained without care. They expressed their willingness to bear all costs and undergo quarantine should they be allowed to enter the UAE.
Requests were also sent to the UAE Embassy in Islamabad and to the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis which finally paid off, Amjad said.
'Eid gift': Pakistani residents laud UAE’s decision to allow their return from June 1
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'Eid gift': Pakistani residents laud UAE’s decision to allow their return from June 1
- At least 1,000 Pakistani residents of UAE stranded by lockdown pleaded their return on humanitarian grounds
- UAE closed its airspace on March 21 to contain the spread of coronavirus
Islamabad High Court halts government move to block phone SIMs of non-tax filers
- Pakistan’s tax collection body asked the country’s telecom authority to block over half a million SIMs last month
- The court issued a stay order until May 27 after a telecom firm challenged the decision and called it unconstitutional
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani court on Tuesday issued a stay order against a government directive to block cellphone SIMs of users who did not file their tax returns in 2023, as the lawyer of a telecom company argued the decision was taken in violation of the constitution.
Last month, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), the country’s tax collection body, ordered the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block over half a million SIMs belonging to people required to file taxes but who were not appearing on the active taxpayers’ list.
However, telecom companies were reluctant to implement the directives affecting so many subscribers, prompting the PTA to urge the FBR to revisit its directive.
The discussion continued until the telecom companies decided last Friday to initiate a manual process of disabling the SIMs in small batches. It was widely reported in the local media on Tuesday the Islamabad High Court (IHC) had stayed the implementation of the cellphone blockage until May 27.
“Blocking more than 500,000 SIMs will result in a loss of Rs1 billion annually,” Advocate Salman Akram Raja was quoted as saying by Pakistan’s Geo News channel.
Raja, who was representing Zong, told the court the decision taken by the government was in violation to Article 18 of the constitution, which guaranteed freedom of trade, business and profession.
Pakistan has traditionally faced the challenge of convincing people to file tax returns, but the government has now decided to implement stringent measures to address the problem, particularly in the context of negotiations for a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan program.
The IMF has urged Pakistan in the past to enhance revenue collection from non-filers as part of broader economic reforms to support social and development initiatives.
In response, the FBR is taking steps like blocking the SIM cards and considering other punitive measures to enforce tax compliance and widen the tax net.
Pakistan Hajj Mission hires seven catering companies to provide meals to pilgrims in Madinah
- At least 9,844 Pakistani pilgrims have arrived in Madinah since May 9 ahead of Hajj pilgrimage in June
- Catering companies selected through competitive and transparent process, Pakistan Hajj Mission says
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Hajj Mission has hired seven catering companies in Madinah to oversee food arrangements for pilgrims, state media said on Tuesday, as people arrive in Saudi Arabia’s holy cities from around the world for the upcoming annual pilgrimage in June.
Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and requires every adult Muslim to undertake the journey to the holy Islamic sites in Makkah at least once in their lifetime if they are financially and physically able.
Pakistan has a Hajj quota of 179,210 pilgrims this year, of which 63,805 people will perform the pilgrimage under the government scheme, while the rest will use private tour operators.
This year’s pilgrimage is expected to run from June 14-19. Pakistani state media reported on Monday that over 9,844 pilgrims had arrived in Madinah via 40 flights since Hajj air operations were launched on May 9.
“Pakistan’s Hajj Mission in Madinah Munawwarah has selected the top seven catering companies to provide three-time meals to the intending Hajj pilgrims,” Radio Pakistan reported.
Pakistan Hajj Mission Director Zia-ur-Rehman Khan told Radio Pakistan the mission had selected seven catering companies out of 29 after a competitive and transparent bidding process. The hiring process started in November 2023 after the mission received approval from Pakistan’s federal cabinet. A five-member committee headed by the director-general of Hajj in Jeddah was subsequently formed to scrutinize bidders and select the best catering companies, Radio Pakistan said.
Umer Rasheed, the production manager of the Bahar Harr catering service, said the company was preparing meals for 2,800 Pakistani pilgrims currently and the number was likely to swell to 4,000 during peak Hajj season.
“He said inspection teams from 5-6 Saudi departments, including Food and Drugs, the Firefighting department and the Commerce Ministry, conducted regular visits to their production sites and kitchen, showing zero tolerance for any kind of negligence,” Radio Pakistan said.
Pakistan, China vow to accelerate key infrastructure projects amid discussions on next CPEC phase
- The two sides discussed the issue during Ishaq Dar’s meeting with a senior Chinese minister in Beijing
- Both countries reaffirmed support to each other on issues of core concerns to their governments, people
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China have agreed to expedite work on key infrastructure development schemes as the two countries strive to proceed to the next phase of the multibillion-dollar economic corridor project launched in April 2015, the foreign office announced in a release issued in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Last week, Pakistan sent Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal to conduct a series of meetings in Beijing to set the tone for the second phase of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Currently, the country’s newly appointed Deputy Prime Minister, Ishaq Dar, is visiting China, where he met with Liu Jianchao, Minister for the International Department of the Communist Party of China (IDCPC), to discuss various dimensions of CPEC.
“The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of the All-Weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership between Pakistan and China and to further reinforce mutually beneficial collaboration,” the foreign office said. “They also expressed joint determination to accelerate progress on all CPEC projects including ML-I [Main Line 1] upgradation, Gwadar Port and KKH [Karakoram Highway] realignment.”
The three projects are central to CPEC, with ML-I upgradation, a major railway project, involving the dualization of the existing railway track from Karachi to Peshawar. The development of Gwadar Port and KKH realignment are also vital to enhance trade and connectivity within and beyond the region.
Dar reaffirmed Pakistan’s support to China on its core issues. The Chinese minister also said that Beijing would always support Pakistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and socioeconomic development.
The Pakistani deputy prime minister expressed over the killings of Chinese nationals in a suicide attack in Shangla earlier this year. He noted the Pakistani authorities had a firm resolve to counter extremist violence in all its forms and manifestations and bring perpetrators of the Shangla attack to justice.
Dar also invited the Chinese minister to visit Pakistan to co-chair the next meeting of the CPEC Joint Consultative Mechanism of Political Parties this year.
In blow to ruling coalition, Pakistan’s electoral watchdog suspends 77 lawmakers elected on reserved seats
- Ruling follows top court overruling earlier verdict that party aligned with ex-PM Khan backed candidates not eligible for reserved seats
- Suspension of lawmakers means ruling coalition has lost two-thirds majority in National Assembly, which is required to amend constitution
Pakistan’s election regulator has suspended 77 lawmakers elected on reserved seats, dealing a blow to the fragile ruling coalition led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif which has lost the third-thirds parliamentary majority needed to make constitutional amendments.
The Election Commission of Pakistan’s ruling comes a week after the Supreme Court overruled a verdict by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) that a party aligned with candidates backed by former premier Imran Khan was not eligible for reserved seats in the legislature.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party couldn’t contest the Feb. 8 elections under its traditional electoral symbol, a cricket bat, which it was denied on technical grounds, and subsequently struck an alliance with another party, the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC), in a bid to secure reserved seats for women and minorities in parliament. Under Pakistan’s election rules, political parties are allotted reserved seats in proportion to the number of parliamentary seats they win in the election. This completes the National Assembly’s total strength of 336 seats.
The Election Commission had ruled in March that the SIC was not eligible for reserved seats, a decision the alliance had appealed in the Peshawar High Court, which rejected the petition. The SIC then approached the Supreme Court to appeal the high court’s decision, which last week suspended the PHC’s ruling.
“Pursuant to the order on 6th May, 2024 passed by the honorable Supreme Court of Pakistan, the notifications of the following returned candidates against under mentioned categories of reserved seats are hereby suspended till further orders,” the ECP’s notification read.
With the ECP’s notification, the strength in the National Assembly of PM Sharif’s ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has reduced from 121 to 107 while that of its main coalition partner Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is down from 72 to 67.
This means the ruling coalition has lost its two-thirds majority in the National Assembly, with its numerical strength decreasing to 209 from 228. In the 336-member National Assembly, the figure to attain two-thirds majority is 224, without which the government cannot enact reforms or amend laws.
Sharif formed a weak coalition with other parties after February general elections produced a hung parliament. The PML-N’s 79 and the PPP’s 54 seats together made a simple majority in parliament to form a government and they also roped in smaller parties in the coalition.
Candidates backed by Khan won the most seats, 93, but did not have the numbers to form a government. Khan and his party have rejected the results of the elections, alleging widespread rigging.
According to the breakdown of the 77 suspended lawmakers, 44 belong to Sharif’s PML-N party, 15 to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), 13 to the Jamiat Ulama-e-Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), and one each to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Muslim League Quaid (PML-Q) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Parliamentarians (PTI-P).
The 77 suspended lawmakers include 22 legislators elected on reserved seats in the National Assembly, 25 in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Assembly, 27 in the Punjab Assembly, and three in the Sindh Assembly.
Azad Kashmir demonstrators call off protests as government cuts electricity, wheat prices after violent protests
- Protests began on May 11 and lasted for days until the Pakistan government approved $83 million in subsidies
- One police officer and three young demonstrators were killed as protests turned violent in the Himalayan region
ISLAMABAD: An alliance of civil rights groups on Tuesday called off a protest that had lasted for several days across Azad Kashmir and led to serious clashes with police and paramilitary Rangers after the government met its demand to reduce electricity and wheat prices in the region.
The Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) organized the protests that started on May 11, seeking subsidized wheat flour and a reduction in electricity tariffs to bring them in line with the hydropower generation cost in Azad Kashmir.
The demonstrations led to four deaths, including one police officer who was reportedly killed by protesters in gunfire, while three demonstrators lost their lives in clashes with Rangers in Muzaffarabad.
Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Prime Minister Anwar-ul-Haq Chaudhry said at a news conference on Monday his government had notified reduced wheat and electricity prices after the Pakistani government approved Rs23 billion ($83 million) in subsidies.
“On the appeal of the Awami Action Committee, it has been decided to end the ongoing lockdown and wheel-jam strike across Azad Kashmir,” Amjad Ali Khan, a member of the JAAC core committee, told Arab News on Tuesday.
He said JAAC demanded compensation for the three young demonstrators killed in clashes with Rangers. He also informed that a day of mourning and a shutter-down strike would be held today across Kashmir to honor the three demonstrators.
Speaking about the details of JAAC’s agreement with the government, Khan said the authorities had agreed to drop all the cases and release the arrested individuals.
“The Awami Action Committee demanded the formation of a judicial commission to investigate police violence in the Mirpur Division and Muzaffarabad,” he added, saying the judicial commission’s investigation should be made public and those responsible should be punished.
Abdul Majid Khan, a spokesperson for the AJK government, said the authorities had shown utmost restraint to pacify the situation.
“All the demands of the protesters have been fulfilled, and the situation will hopefully return to normalcy now,” he told Arab News.
Pakistan’s information minister, Attaullah Tarar, said the situation in Azad Kashmir had been addressed after the federal government approved the grant to deal with people’s concerns.
“With the grant given by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the issue has been resolved to meet the people’s demands,” he told the media in Islamabad.
He mentioned Azad Kashmir’s special status, pointing out that its affairs were managed with the grants of Pakistan’s federal government.
“The government will look after the police personnel who fell victims of the protests,” he added.
The Himalayan territory of Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947, with both countries ruling part of the territory but claiming it in full.
The western portion of the larger Kashmir region is administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entity, while India rules the southern portion as a union territory.
While the Indian portion has faced an ongoing insurgency for decades and multiple armed attempts by the state to quell it, the Pakistani side has remained relatively calm over the decades, though it is also highly militarized.
