‘Business must cooperate’: Russia seeks to double $1.8 billion trade with Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has condemned Israel’s ongoing military actions in Syria, calling them “dangerous and deliberately destabilizing,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported  on Friday.

Israel has ramped up airstrikes over the past week against military and strategic sites in Damascus and southern Syria.

According to Syrian and regional monitoring groups, these strikes have resulted in civilian casualties and extensive infrastructure damage. The intensifying campaign has prompted rebukes from Syria’s government and other UN Security Council members.

“Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad called for the immediate cessation of all violations of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Radio Pakistan reported after he addressed a national statement during the UN Security Council briefing on the situation in Syria, 

Violence in Syria pitting the Islamist-led government against members of the Druze community has put a spotlight on the small but influential minority.

Straddling Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Druze occupy a special niche in the region’s complex politics.

Israel has cited protecting the Druze as a reason for attacking Syrian government forces this week.

Ahmad described the strikes as “repeated violations” that “must be unequivocally condemned,” warning that they threatened regional peace .

Israel bombed Syria frequently when President Bashar Assad was in power, seeking to roll back the influence established by Iran and Iran-backed groups that were deployed there to help him fight rebels.

Israel has painted the new Syrian government as a jihadist threat, saying it won’t allow it to deploy forces into southern Syria. Israel has said it wants to avoid any hostile build-up at its border, whilst also vowing to protect the Druze minority.

Israeli troops have also seized Syrian territory adjoining the occupied Golan Heights since December.

Syria’s interim President Ahmed Al-Sharaa on Thursday said Israel was promoting division among Syrians, accusing it of seeking to “dismantle the unity of our people,” saying it had “consistently targeted our stability and created discord among us since the fall of the former regime” in December. 

With inputs from Reuters

KARACHI: When the decomposed body of Pakistani actress Humaira Asghar was discovered in her Karachi apartment earlier this month, it had been at least nine months since she passed away.

The 42-year-old, originally from Lahore, had moved to Karachi to pursue her acting career and had been living alone for nearly seven years. 

Ali’s remains were finally found at a flat in the city’s Ittehad Commercial area when a court bailiff arrived to vacate the rented property, following a complaint by the landlord due to non-payment of rent for months. Police said the bailiff broke open the door and found the deceased inside. The apartment’s electricity had been cut off and food in the fridge had expired months earlier.

Authorities now believe Ali likely died of natural or accidental causes in October 2024, and no one realized.

Her case has stirred uncomfortable conversations in Pakistan about the silent toll of urban isolation, especially in large cities like Karachi, where rapid expansion, changing family structures and weakening community bonds are quietly reshaping how people live — and die.

Deputy Inspector General of Karachi police, Syed Asad Raza, said Asghar had shown signs of severe financial distress before her death.

“She was struggling to revive her career while socially disconnected from family and friends,” Raza told Arab News. “We also found evidence indicating that, shortly before her death, she had reached out to several of her friends seeking financial help.”

Last month, the body of veteran actress Ayesha Khan was also discovered in her Karachi apartment, around a week after her death. Welfare groups like the Edhi Foundation say such cases are rising, though comprehensive national data is lacking.

“There has definitely been an increase in this,” said Faisal Edhi, chairman of the charity, which frequently recovers unclaimed bodies. “Now we have started finding individual bodies and in large numbers.”

URBAN MIGRATION, SHRINKING SAFETY NETS

According to World Bank estimates, nearly 44 percent of Pakistanis now live in urban areas, up from 35 percent in 2010. 

“Maybe 50 years ago, 70 percent of people were living in villages. Now nearly 70 percent or more are in large cities,” Sociologist Dr. Fateh Muhammad Burfat, former vice chancellor of Sindh University, said, linking the rise in unattended deaths to the collapse of traditional village-based social safety nets.

“So this is not only a change from rural life to urban life, but a change in our whole social life.”

Indeed, mental health experts warn that loneliness isn’t just a social issue but a serious health risk. 

Karachi-based psychiatrist Prof. Dr. M. Iqbal Afridi cited WHO findings that over 870,000 people died globally in 2024 due to conditions linked to extreme isolation.

“In fact, loneliness has been found to be more painful and damaging than conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure,” he said. “It has also been observed that people who get disconnected from their friends, family and social circles often develop several diseases along with physical, psychological and social issues.”

“BIGGEST CON”

In the wake of Ali’s death, many are asking: why didn’t the industry check in on its own?

Model and actor Zainab Raza, who moved from Lahore to Karachi in 2020, described living alone as “the biggest con” of independence.

“It’s not necessary that everyone has family or friends who check in on them,” she said. “You can find people who also need that support, and you can be there for each other.”

After Asghar’s death, a group of actors in Karachi created a WhatsApp support group called Connectivity 101, where members check in on each other daily via simple polls.

“Maybe if such groups and support systems existed when Humaira was around, things would have been a lot better,” Raza said. “Maybe she would have been with us today.”

Burfat, the sociologist, said women who were financially well-off but independent did not face the same level of social security issues as Ali, “who had been unable to pay her rent, whose electricity was cut off, and whose parents were also not supporting her.”

“So, the world we have now entered,” he said, “these types of incidents will keep happening.”