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Pakistan’s top economic body approves Hajj Policy 2023 — finance minister

Muslim pilgrims gather atop Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahma (Mount of Mercy), southeast of Makkah, Saudi Arabia, during the climax of the Hajj pilgrimage, on July 8, 2022. (APF/File)
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Updated 21 June 2023
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Pakistan’s top economic body approves Hajj Policy 2023 — finance minister

  • Finance, religion ministers express resolve to provide “maximum facilitation” to Hajj pilgrims
  • Religion ministry to present Hajj policy to cabinet for approval on Tuesday, confirms official
Updated 21 June 2023
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top economic body has approved the Hajj Policy for the year 2023, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar confirmed on Monday, saying the government has resolved to provide “maximum facilitation” to pilgrims.

The Hajj is an obligatory religious ritual for adult Muslims with physical and financial means, requiring them to visit the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah at least once in their lifetime. Muslims from all over the world undertake the journey to perform pilgrimage rites in Dhu Al-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic lunar calendar.

Dar met Pakistan’s religious affairs minister, Mufti Abdul Shakoor, on Monday to discuss the Hajj Policy 2023. During the meeting, the two “expressed resolve to provide max facilitation to Hujjaj [pilgrims] in order to make Hajj event blessed and peaceful,” the finance ministry said.

“Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet approved today the Hajj Policy for 2023,” the minister wrote on Twitter.

 

 

“The draft Hajj policy 2023 has been approved by the ECC today and it will be presented before the federal cabinet in its meeting tomorrow (Tuesday),” Muhammad Umer Butt, spokesperson of the religious affairs ministry, told Arab News.

“After its approval from the cabinet, we will officially announce the Hajj Policy most probably tomorrow (Tuesday),” he added.

In a statement shared later, the finance ministry said the ECC had agreed to provide a foreign exchange cover of $90 million. It added that the 179, 210 pilgrims quote would be distributed between government and private Hajj schemes in the 50:50 ratio.

“Out of the Government and Private Hajj Schemes, a quota of 50 percent each shall be reserved for sponsorship scheme,” the finance ministry said. “For the year 2023, tentative Hajj Package for Northern region is PKR 1,175,000/- and for the South Region is PKR 1,165,000/.”

Earlier, Saudi Arabia announced it had restored Pakistan’s pre-pandemic Hajj quota of 179,210 pilgrims and removed the upper age limit of 65.

According to officials of the religion ministry, the government expects to start receiving pilgrims’ Hajj applications from March 13.

Topics: Pakistan economy hajj Hajj pilgrims Pakistani Hajj pilgrims 2023 Hajj

Pakistan PM calls for national unity to address Balochistan crisis after train hijacking

Updated 13 March 2025
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Pakistan PM calls for national unity to address Balochistan crisis after train hijacking

  • PM Shehbaz Sharif chairs high-level meeting to review security situation in Balochistan 
  • Separatist BLA outfit stormed train in southwest Pakistan on Tuesday, held over 400 hostages 
Updated 13 March 2025
Shahjahan Khurram

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday called on political parties to forge unity to combat surging militancy in southwestern Balochistan province, a day after the military announced it had conducted a successful operation against separatists who hijacked a passenger train with over 400 people on board, rescuing hostages and killing 33 militants.

The separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) had bombed part of a railway track and stormed the train on Tuesday afternoon in Mushkaaf, a rugged area in the mountainous Bolan range of Balochistan.

Security forces had killed militant suicide bombers sitting among the hostages before swiftly executing the rescue operation and securing the Quetta-Peshawar-bound Jaffar Express on Wednesday night, the military said, adding that 21 hostages had been killed in the episode. 

Sharif chaired a high-level meeting in Balochistan’s provincial capital Quetta on Thursday to review the security situation in the province, with senior officials including Chief Minister Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti in attendance. 

“If there ever was a need for something more than before, it is national unity and national alliance,” Sharif told participants of the meeting in a televised address. 

“We will keep on doing our politics and keep on saying what we want to say but on this one issue, that we must save this country from these khawarij, this trial, this terrorism, we must become united,” he added. 

The prime minister said his government would “soon” convene a meeting to discuss the Balochistan crisis. He called for Pakistan’s political leadership to sit with the military to discuss the challenges that the country was facing.

Sharf said Pakistan can’t prosper until the pace of development in Balochistan catches up to that of other provinces. 

“Peace can’t be established in Pakistan until terrorism is completely eliminated in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan,” he said. 

Balochistan, Pakistan’s biggest in terms of landmass, has long been the site of a low-level insurgency, with separatist groups accusing the government of exploiting the province’s natural resources while leaving its people in poverty. 

Government officials deny the allegation and say they are developing the province through multibillion-dollar projects, including those backed by China.

Topics: Jaffar Express

One paramilitary soldier, 12 militants killed during attack in northwestern Pakistan 

Updated 13 March 2025
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One paramilitary soldier, 12 militants killed during attack in northwestern Pakistan 

  • Militants carry out suicide blast at Frontier Corps headquarters in northwestern Tank district
  • No group has claimed responsibility for attack but suspicion likely to fall on Pakistani Taliban 
Updated 13 March 2025
REHMAT MEHSUD

PESHAWAR: One paramilitary soldier and 12 militants were killed during a gunbattle in Pakistan’s northwestern Tank district on Thursday after militants carried out a suicide blast at the Frontier Corps (FC) headquarters in the area, a police official with direct knowledge of the development said. 

The attack took place in district Tank’s Tehsil Jandola, located in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province bordering Afghanistan. 

No group has claimed responsibility for the incident but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban or the Tehreek-e-Talban Pakistan (TTP). 

“An officer on duty shot the suicide bomber driver of an explosive-laden vehicle which detonated the blast,” the Tank district police officer told Arab News on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media. 

“One soldier was martyred, twelve terrorists were killed, two FC personnel injured while four civilians have sustained normal injuries during the clearance operation,” he added.

The police officer said the situation was “under control” following the FC’s clearance operation. 

The attack takes place amid rising militant attacks in Pakistan, especially in KP province bordering Afghanistan. KP has suffered a surge in militant attacks since November 2022 when a fragile truce between the state and the TTP collapsed. 

Pakistan says the takeover of Kabul by the Afghan Taliban in 2021 has emboldened the group as it is able to operate out of and launch attacks from safe havens in neighboring Afghanistan, whose government denies the charges.

The TTP has carried out some of the deadliest attacks against Pakistan’s security forces and civilians since 2007 in its bid to impose its strict version of Islamic law in the country.

Topics: Militancy

Karachi man arrested in child pornography case involving US minors — Pakistani investigators 

Updated 13 March 2025
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Karachi man arrested in child pornography case involving US minors — Pakistani investigators 

  • Suspect Agha Sarwar Abbas was arrested on Mar. 11 on complaint of US Consulate in Karachi
  • Court in Karachi has granted Federal Investigation Agency five-day physical remand of Abbas
Updated 13 March 2025
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: A Pakistani man has been arrested in Karachi on charges of possession of child pornography and blackmailing minors in the United States following a complaint from the American consulate in the port city this week, a Pakistani official said on Thursday

The suspect, Agha Sarwar Abbas, was arrested on Mar. 11 following a complaint filed by a special agent of the US Department of State that alleged he was in possession of child pornography and was extorting US minors by using material obtained through various online platforms, the First Information Report (FIR) filed by police said. After a request from the US Consulate in Karachi, a case was registered under Sections 16, 22 and 24 of Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) 2016, which criminalizes offenses related to child pornography and online exploitation.

“Agha Sarwar Abbas has been arrested on a complaint from the US consulate for his alleged involvement in child pornography and blackmailing minors in the US,” Ameer Ali, an investigation officer with the cybercrime wing of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), told Arab News. “The court granted us a five-day physical remand for further questioning.”

The US Consulate said it could not comment on an ongoing legal case. 

On Wednesday, FIA informed Judicial Magistrate East Karachi that Abbas had admitted to creating a fake online identity and was pretending to be a US citizen named Brandon Liechier to gain the trust of minors. 

According to the FIR, the suspect has confessed during interrogation “to using personal data for the purposes of blackmail and threats based on recorded videos of US minor citizens.” 

The agency said it had raided Abbas’s residence in Karachi’s New Rizwia Society and seized multiple devices, including a laptop and an iPad, that allegedly contained child pornographic material. Investigators said they had also identified several online platforms, including Whereby.com, Google Meet, Snapchat, and 411.com, that the suspect was using to establish contact with victims. Through these platforms, he engaged in video calls and text chats, allegedly forcing minors to share personal and objectionable content.

According to the police report, the investigation had so far revealed that Abbas used personal data, including home addresses, to threaten victims with the release of “compromising material” unless they complied with his demands. Abbas also allegedly accessed adult websites to facilitate his activities, with a digital forensic analysis confirming the presence of child pornographic content and extortion messages on his seized devices.

On Wednesday, the FIA sought a 14-day police remand for Abbas from a local magistrate who only granted five days, until Mar. 18. 

Child pornography is illegal in Pakistan. Suspects convicted in child pornography cases can be subject to up to 20 years in prison and large fines. 

Topics: child pornography minors

Pakistan dismisses US travel ban reports as ‘speculative’

Updated 13 March 2025
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Pakistan dismisses US travel ban reports as ‘speculative’

  • Foreign Office says Pakistan has not received any such indication in this regard so far
  • A media report said last week a travel ban by Trump could prevent Pakistanis from entering the US
Updated 13 March 2025
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan on Thursday rejected reports of a US travel ban on Pakistani nationals as “speculative,” saying that Islamabad had received no such indication so far.
A Reuters report last week, citing sources, suggested that a new travel ban under US President Donald Trump could bar travelers from Afghanistan and Pakistan based on a government review of security and vetting risks.
Amid the speculation, Pakistani Ambassador to Turkmenistan K.K. Ahsan Wagan was detained and denied entry into the US this week. However, the Foreign Office clarified that he was traveling for personal reasons, was not eligible for diplomatic immunity and that officials were looking into the matter.
“As of now, this is all speculative and hence does not warrant a response,” Khan said in response to a question at the weekly media briefing.
“So far we have not been given any indication of such a ban on the Pakistan nation.”
He added the foreign ministry and Pakistan’s mission in Washington were in constant contact with relevant US authorities to obtain further details on the matter.
On Jan. 20, Trump issued an executive order mandating intensified security vetting for foreigners seeking admission to the US.
The order instructed US cabinet members to submit a list by March 12 of countries from which travel should be partially or fully suspended due to inadequate vetting and screening information.
The Reuters report also said the new ban could affect tens of thousands of Afghans who had been cleared for resettlement in the US as refugees or on Special Immigrant Visas, adding these people were at risk of Taliban retribution for working for the US during a 20-year war in their home country.
 

Topics: Trump US Ban Pakistan MOFA briefing

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Pakistan urges Afghanistan to bring militant masterminds to justice after deadly train attack

Updated 13 March 2025
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Pakistan urges Afghanistan to bring militant masterminds to justice after deadly train attack

  • Separatist militants took over 200 passengers hostage in Balochistan after targeting a passenger train
  • Pakistan says it is taking a ‘multifaceted approach’ involving diplomacy, military action to deal with the threat
Updated 13 March 2025
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Thursday called on the interim administration in Afghanistan to bring to justice the masterminds behind a militant attack on a passenger train in Balochistan, asking Afghan authorities to take action against those responsible for orchestrating the assault since they were based on its soil.
The attack, which took place in the southwestern Bolan region, saw separatist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) militants bomb a railway track and storm the Jaffar Express, taking over 200 passengers hostage.
This was followed by a security forces rescue operation, which led to the killing of 33 BLA fighters who had stationed suicide bombers near civilians to prolong the standoff.
The separatist group accuses the government of exploiting Balochistan’s natural resources while leaving its people in poverty. Government officials deny the allegation and say they are developing the province through multibillion-dollar projects, including those backed by China.
“Terrorists were in direct communication with Afghanistan-based planners throughout the incident,” foreign office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said during his weekly news briefing. “Pakistan has repeatedly asked the interim Afghan government to deny the use of its soil for a terrorist group like BLA to attack Pakistan.”
“We urge Afghanistan to hold perpetrators, organizers and financiers of this reprehensible act of terrorism accountable and cooperate with the government of Pakistan to bring all those who are concerned with this attack, including the real sponsors of terrorism, to justice,” he added.
Pakistan has frequently attributed the recent surge in militant violence in the country to cross-border attacks originating from Afghanistan, alleging that such incursions are “facilitated” by authorities in Kabul. The Afghan government has denied these allegations.
The foreign office spokesperson said Pakistan was addressing the threat through a multifaceted approach, combining military action, intelligence-based operations and diplomatic efforts to expose foreign sponsors of terrorism.
“So it’s a complex and multifaceted approach,” he said. “This is not a one-track approach.”

Topics: train hijack Pakistan Bolan Balochistan BLA

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