ISLAMABAD: Pakistani expatriates recently lamented the absence of voting rights for overseas communities and urged Pakistan’s election oversight body to devise a system that would enable their inclusion in the decision-making process at home.
National elections in the politically and economically troubled South Asian nation were initially supposed to be held on November 90, days after the dissolution of the lower house of parliament in August. However, the elections were postponed to February 8 due to the delimitation of constituencies following a new census.
Before the ouster of former prime minister Imran Khan in a parliamentary no-trust vote in April 2022, his administration had not only endorsed the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs) to enhance “transparency” and “inclusivity” in elections but it appeared to be taking practical steps in this regard, much to the delight of overseas Pakistanis.
But in May 2022, the coalition government of former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif passed the Election Amendment Act 2022, revoking overseas Pakistanis’ right to vote and prohibiting the use of EVMs in general elections.
While many overseas Pakistanis were hopeful that the upcoming election would bring stability to the South Asian country, few were skeptical about the transparency of the polls.
“Overseas Pakistanis here are quite hopeful that the elections will bring Pakistan out of this crisis of instability, turmoil, unrest and chaos,” Syed Kamran Akhtar Gilani, a Pakistani expatriate in Saudi Arabia, told Arab News from Riyadh.
He said almost every overseas Pakistani in the Kingdom was enthusiastic about the upcoming polls and was actively participating in election campaigns through “social media platforms.”
Qaiser Abbas, a Pakistani expatriate in the United Kingdom (UK), was skeptical of the possibility of a free and fair election taking place in Pakistan.
“Pakistan is already in financial crisis, and spending billions of public money in this useless process will add more burden on the ordinary people as overseas Pakistanis are not allowed to vote and members of the main opposition party are being denied their basic right to stand in the election,” Abbas told Arab News from London.
He said a free and fair election and a stable government elected by the people were the only solution to a “stable and durable” Pakistan.
Mazhar Abbasi, a United Arab Emirates-based expat, expressed dismay over their exclusion from the electoral process at home.
“It is very sad that overseas Pakistanis send so much remittances, is it not our right to play our role in the decisions of our country,” he asked.
Abbasi said the fate of Pakistan should be decided by the people of Pakistan.
“I want to go to Pakistan and cast a vote but in these circumstances, I am thinking that if I cast a vote in Pakistan, will the elections be fair,” he told Arab News from Dubai. “I do not think that the elections will be fair.”
When asked why overseas Pakistanis could not vote from the respective countries in which they are based, ECP spokesperson Syed Nadeem Haider referred to the Election (Amendment) Act 2022.
“If an expatriate is a registered voter and wishes to cast a vote, they must return to Pakistan and vote physically in their constituency,” Haider said.
“The Election Commission of Pakistan is bound to adhere to the current law, which explicitly mandates this requirement and ECP will follow the law accordingly if there will be any changes brought in it in the future.”
While the government has vowed to ensure a transparent election in the country, Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and a few other parties have levelled allegations of “pre-poll rigging” against the administration and demanded a “level playing field” to all parties.
Khan, a 71-year-old former cricket star, has been embroiled in a tangle of political and legal battles since he was ousted as prime minister. He has not been seen in public since being jailed for three years in August for unlawfully selling state gifts while in office from 2018 to 2022.
The ex-premier has been disqualified from contesting the national elections because of the corruption conviction, but he nevertheless filed nominations for the elections which were rejected. Khan, widely seen as the country’s most popular leader, says he is being targeted by the powerful military, which wants to keep him out of the polls. The military denies this.
On the other hand, the election commission accepted former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s nomination from two constituencies for the Feb. 8 election, weeks after a court overturned his two graft convictions. Khan’s party sees the recent judgments granting relief to Sharif as favors given to his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, which appears poised to once again take over the reins of the country.
Dubai-based Pakistani Maaz Amjad praised the former Khan administration for granting voting rights to overseas Pakistanis, but regretted the subsequent decision by the Shehbaz Sharif-led government to revoke that right.
“The biggest source of income for Pakistan is the overseas community but at the moment, they have taken away our rights and have stopped us from voting which is not a good move,” he said.
Imtiaz-ul-Hassan Bukhari, a Pakistani expatriate from the United States (US), said these polls were going to be distinct from the previous ones as they would determine the future of democracy in Pakistan.
“These are going to be very historical elections for the people of Pakistan,” he told Arab News from Connecticut.
“I am expecting that people will rise and stand up for their rights and they will elect the people who are for the people of Pakistan, not establishment-backed candidates.”
Overseas Pakistanis advocate voting rights, call for ‘inclusivity’ ahead of national election
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Overseas Pakistanis advocate voting rights, call for ‘inclusivity’ ahead of national election
- The former Shehbaz Sharif administration, via Election Act 2022, revoked voting rights of overseas Pakistanis, prohibited e-voting machine use
- Overseas Pakistanis say they want a free and fair election and that a government elected by the people is crucial for stability in the South Asian nation
Massive fire at Karachi electronics market causes over $3.6 million in damages — union
- Large fire broke out at Aamir Electronics Market in Karachi’s Saddar area on Monday and destroyed over 40 shops and several warehouses
- Affected traders call for stronger enforcement of fire safety regulations and dedicated fire response units for high-density commercial zones
ISLAMABAD: A large fire that ripped through the Aamir Electronics Market in Karachi’s Saddar area this week and destroyed more than 40 shops and several warehouses has caused financial losses estimated at over Rs1 billion ($3.6 million), according to the president of a local association.
The blaze broke out unexpectedly on Monday afternoon and quickly engulfed large parts of the electronics hub, reducing inventories of batteries, solar panels, and other high-value goods to ashes. Traders said they were unable to save most of their merchandise as the fire spread rapidly.
“The government should immediately compensate the affected shopkeepers and work with the association to help them restart their businesses,” said MinHajj Gulfaam, President of the Karachi Mobile and Electronics Dealers Association (KMEDA).
“We also demand that trade associations be equipped with their own firefighting systems, just like some industrial associations. Preventive measures are urgently needed.”
Initial reports suggest an electrical short circuit may have caused the fire, though some eyewitnesses claimed it started in an adjacent empty plot where garbage was being burned and later spread to the market. Authorities have not issued an official cause.
Traders said fire brigade teams arrived late at the scene, by which time the blaze had intensified, adding that they tried to extinguish the flames themselves but the damage was already extensive.
Affected traders are calling for stronger enforcement of fire safety regulations and dedicated fire response units for high-density commercial zones.
Fires in commercial markets have become alarmingly common in Karachi. In April 2023, a fire at the city’s Cooperative Market destroyed dozens of shops, and in August 2022, a multi-story mobile phone market near Saddar also caught fire.
Many old commercial markets in Karachi have outdated electrical infrastructure and shopkeepers often add extra appliances, fans, lights, and unauthorized connections, leading to short circuits and electrical fires. Building codes and fire safety rules exist but are rarely enforced. Most markets don’t have proper fire exits, fire alarms, or functional extinguishers. Many are overcrowded with encroachments and illegally added stalls.
Karachi’s wholesale and retail markets, like Empress Market, Bolton Market, and Cooperative Market, often sprawl into narrow lanes with flammable goods stacked in unsafe conditions. Unauthorized mezzanines and storage units block escape routes and complicate firefighting.
Karachi’s fire brigade has also long struggled with outdated equipment, an insufficient number of vehicles, and poor access to congested market streets. Fires sometimes rage for hours before being brought under control.
Occasionally, traders or shop owners have also been suspected of starting fires intentionally to claim insurance money or erase debts, though proving this is challenging.
PIA repatriates 107 Pakistanis stranded in Iran as regional tensions ground flights
- Iranian airspace was shut to commercial traffic on June 13 following Israeli airstrikes on Iran and heightened fears of wider conflict
- Several international carriers, including PIA, suspended or rerouted flights passing through Iranian airspace, stranding visitors and expats
KARACHI: A special PIA flight carrying 107 Pakistanis who had been stranded in Iran landed in Islamabad early Tuesday, the national carrier said, after regional airspace disruptions forced days-long travel delays and overland detours.
Flight PK-9552, arranged under government instructions, departed from the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat and arrived at Islamabad International Airport at 3am, PIA said in a statement.
The passengers had crossed into Turkmenistan by road after being unable to depart directly from Iran due to ongoing airspace restrictions following the start of a war between longtime Middle Eastern enemies Israel and Iran since Friday. The two rivals launched new missile strikes at each other on Wednesday as the air war between them entered a sixth day despite a call from US President Donald Trump for Tehran’s unconditional surrender.
“Due to the closure of Iranian airspace, Pakistani nationals in Iran had to reach Turkmenistan through ground routes,” PIA said, adding that the repatriation was coordinated by Pakistan’s embassies in Tehran and Ashgabat.
“Our missions in Iran and Turkmenistan played a key role in facilitating this process,” PIA added.
Passengers stranded in Iran were mostly short-term visitors, religious pilgrims and workers caught in the fallout of recent regional hostilities.
Iranian airspace was shut to commercial traffic last week amid rising military tensions, following Israeli airstrikes on Iran and heightened fears of a wider conflict. Several international carriers, including PIA, suspended or rerouted flights passing through Iranian airspace. Pakistani citizens thus found themselves unable to return home through normal flight routes.
A PIA spokesperson said the national carrier took action “in continuation of its decades-long tradition of serving national interest in difficult times.”
While no official figures have been released on how many Pakistanis remain in Iran, foreign ministry officials have confirmed that further evacuations could be arranged if the situation worsens. The foreign ministry has also said diplomatic missions were “in close contact with local authorities” to ensure the safety of all nationals.
Pakistan says no new military cooperation with Iran, direct talks with US amid Israeli strikes
- Defense minister Khawaja M. Asif says Pakistan mobilizing China and Muslim countries to press for calm before conflict engulfs entire region
- Says Pakistan Army on high alert and nuclear security robust, warns Israeli government “will think many times before taking on Pakistan”
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said on Monday Islamabad had not engaged in any new military cooperation with Tehran since Israel launched attacks on Iran last week and had not held specific talks with the United States over the escalating crisis in the Middle East.
Iran, which borders Pakistan, has hit back with strikes against Israel after it unleashed waves of attacks on Friday at Iranian nuclear installations, missile stockpiles, scientists, and military generals, among other targets, sparking global alarm that the conflict could erupt into a regional war.
The latest escalation follows months of hostilities between Israel and Iranian-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen, which intensified after the war in Gaza was launched late in 2023. Regional powers fear a direct confrontation could spiral into a broader conflict involving major oil shipping lanes and global energy supplies. For Pakistan, a close Iranian neighbor and a longtime opponent of Israel, a prolonged conflict risks disrupting border security, inflaming sectarian tensions at home, and possibly putting it in a tight spot with other Arab allies and the West.
Speaking in an interview to Arab News, Asif said regular security cooperation was continuing with Iran along their shared border to combat militant groups, but no fresh operational coordination had been initiated in response to Israel’s attacks on Iranian territory since June 13.
“I don’t see any need of [it],” the defense minister said in response to a question on whether Pakistan’s military was coordinating with Iranian counterparts on the border or engaging in any fresh defense cooperation.
“We coordinate on a very regular basis as far as the Iran and Pakistan border is concerned because of terrorist activities… that sort of cooperation is already on. So I don’t see any new activity.”
Asked if Pakistan had held talks with Washington to discuss the fast-evolving situation, the defense minister said there had been no recent contact specifically on the crisis in the past five days:
“But we are in constant touch with the United States of America regarding the tense situation we have in this region.”
Asif said Pakistan’s leadership was instead focused on engagement with close partners like China and Muslim countries to press for calm, warning that the conflict risked engulfing the entire region.
“The countries who have religious affinity with us or geographical affinity, even China or other countries, because what we are pursuing is peace,” he said.
“And we would like to mobilize the countries of this region that this conflict can multiply and it can engulf the whole region into a situation which could be very, very disastrous.”
NUCLEAR FACILITIES “MILITANTLY GUARDED”
Diplomatic and security experts warn that the Israel-Iran hostilities could affect Pakistan by destabilizing its western border with Iran, threatening energy imports as oil prices surge, and creating new pressures in Pakistan’s relations with the US and Gulf partners if Islamabad is seen as tilting too far toward Tehran. On the other hand, if Tehran were to fall or be severely weakened, analysts say Pakistan would likely side with the United States and its allies — despite being Iran’s immediate neighbor — to protect its strategic and economic interests.
Addressing concerns over past remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that have drawn parallels between Iran and Pakistan as so-called “militant Islamic regimes” that needed to be deterred, Asif rejected any immediate threat to Pakistan from Tel Aviv but stressed Islamabad would remain vigilant.
“If we are threatened by Israel, which I will discount at the moment… what happens in the coming months or years I can’t predict, but at the moment I discount [a threat from Israel],” he said.
He described Israel as a state with “hegemonic intent” whose recent actions in Gaza and against Iran were “extremely dangerous to the immediate region,” and said global public opinion was turning against Israeli policies despite support or muted reactions from many Western governments.
Asif declined to comment on reports that Pakistan had scrambled fighter jets near its nuclear sites and the Iranian border in response to Israel’s initial strikes on Iran but insisted that its nuclear security remained robust.
In addition to the Middle East tensions, Pakistan faced a major military standoff with India last month in which the two nations exchanged missile, drone and artillery attacks. Islamabad claimed to have shot down six Indian jets and struck back at military positions, triggering fears of a wider conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals before a ceasefire was announced by the President Donald Trump administration on May 10.
When questioned about any direct threat to Pakistan’s national security or strategic assets as a result of the conflict in the Middle East, the defense minister said Pakistan’s armed forces were already on high alert following the latest confrontation with New Delhi, describing the country’s nuclear facilities as “very militantly guarded, very grudgingly guarded” and fully compliant with international safeguards.
“Since our short war with India [in May], we have been on alert so we have not lowered guards… We can never take the risk of any attack on our nuclear facility from anywhere, that is something which is a lifeline as far as our defense is concerned,” he said
Asif said Pakistan’s performance in the recent fight with India was evidence of the country’s defense capability and national resolve, which would deter Israel from any adventurism.
“We have just had a bout with India and we clearly established our superiority, the superiority of our armed forces, Air Force, Pakistan Army, Pakistan Navy and the determination of our people, the way the nation stood behind the armed forces,” the defense minister said.
“So I think Netanyahu or his people or his government will think many times before taking on Pakistan.”
Pakistan evacuates diplomats’ families, non-essential staff from Iran as Israel conflict worsens
- Pakistan’s embassy in Tehran, consulates will continue to remain functional, confirms official
- Israel and Iran have been locked in conflict since last Friday, trading missiles and air strikes
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has started evacuating families of its diplomats and staff, as well as members of some non-essential staff from Iran, a senior foreign ministry official confirmed on Tuesday as Tehran’s military conflict with Israel intensifies.
Thousands of residents of Iran’s capital Tehran are reportedly fleeing their homes and stockpiling essential supplies out of fear that Israel will intensify its strikes against regional foe Iran in the coming days.
Iran and Israel have been locked in military conflict since Friday when the latter attacked the former’s nuclear facilities and military leadership in a bid to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. Israel’s strikes have killed at least 224 people in Iran while Tehran has retaliated by launching more than 370 missiles and hundreds of drones at Israel. So far, 24 people have been killed in Israel and more than 500 wounded.
“The foreign ministry is moving out families of diplomats and staff and some non-essential staff from Iran,” the official, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to media, said in a statement.
“However Pakistan embassy in Tehran and our consulates will continue to remain functional.”
Pakistan has been repatriating hundreds of its citizens from Iran and Iraq since the conflict began last week. Thousands of Pakistani zaireen (pilgrims) travel annually to Iran and Iraq to visit holy sites there. Many were left stranded since Friday as airspaces closed following Israel’s attacks.
Pakistan repatriated 268 nationals from Iraq via two flights on Monday while on Sunday, it evacuated 450 nationals from Iran.
Pakistan has condemned Israel’s strikes, calling them an unjustified violation of Iranian sovereignty, and has urged the international community to help de-escalate tensions through dialogue.
Pakistan says resolved over 30,000 Hajj pilgrims’ complaints
- Pakistani pilgrims were assisted in travel, lost tickets, accommodation, food and other issues, says religion ministry
- Multiple channels were provided to pilgrims for complaints, including call center, WhatsApp and toll-free numbers
ISLAMABAD: A facilitation center set up by the Pakistani government in Makkah for this year’s Hajj resolved over 30,000 complaints filed by pilgrims, the religion ministry said on Tuesday.
This year’s Hajj took place from June 4 to June 9, drawing millions of pilgrims to the holy cities in Saudi Arabia. Pakistan sent over 115,000 pilgrims under both the government and private schemes.
Ayesha Ijaz, the person in charge of the facilitation center in Makkah, told Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry that the center has been specially set up to help Pakistani pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.
“The facilitation center established by the Government of Pakistan in Makkah to provide exemplary facilities to Pakistani pilgrims during and after Hajj 2025 has successfully resolved over 30,000 complaints,” the Ministry of Religious Affairs (MoRA) said.
It said thousands of Pakistani Hajj pilgrims were provided immediate assistance related to travel issues, lost tickets, accommodation, food and other important matters.
“The center operates round the clock and has various special departments, including the Departure Cell, Zong Desk, Maktab Desk, Madinah Departure Cell, Complaints Cell and 24/7 Call Center,” Ijaz said.
Hafiz Obaidullah Zakaria, who is in charge of the Complaints Cell, said 30,147 complaints have been registered so far related to Hajj 2025.
“Of these, 2,446 complaints were resolved within 24 hours, 113 are under process, while 580 complaints were declared inauthentic,” he was quoted as saying by the religion ministry.
The religion ministry said this year, multiple channels were provided to pilgrims for registering complaints, including a 24-hour call center, WhatsApp, toll-free numbers and other platforms.
It said the number of complaints had been reduced significantly, which reflected impressive arrangements undertaken by the government.
“The timely actions of the facilitation center and effective complaint management have set a new precedent for Hajj operations, which has been appreciated not only by the authorities but also by the pilgrims,” the ministry said.
The last Pakistani flight carrying Hajj pilgrims back to the country is scheduled to arrive on July 10.
