Nine ‘terrorists,’ four law enforcers killed during operation in southwestern Pakistan— army 

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Updated 30 January 2024
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Nine ‘terrorists,’ four law enforcers killed during operation in southwestern Pakistan— army 

  • Attacks claimed by Balochistan Liberation Army which stormed towns of Mach and Kolpur on Monday night 
  • Hospital staff say five civilians killed, including one five-year-old child and two police officers 

QUETTA: Nine “terrorists” including three suicide bombers have been killed in an hours-long operation by security forces in southwestern Balochistan province, Pakistan Army’s media wing said on Tuesday, as hospital officials reported five civilians had also died. 

The attacks were claimed by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), separatist militants who simultaneously stormed the small towns of Mach and Kolpur with heavy weapons and rockets fired from the hills on Monday night.

Ethnic Baloch militants have battled the government for decades for a separate state, saying the central government unfairly exploits the province’s rich gas and mineral resources of Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

The BLA is among a wide range of insurgents who often target gas projects, infrastructure and security posts there, but have begun launching attacks in other parts of Pakistan also. They also attack Chinese projects, and occasionally kill Chinese workers despite Pakistan’s assurances that it is doing all it can to protect Chinese projects in Balochistan and elsewhere in the country. 




In the still image obtained from a video shared by an employee of Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd (PTCL) on January 29, 2024, shows Pakistani army soldiers at the blast site in Mach, Balochistan. (AN photo by Saadullah Akhter)

“Nine terrorists including three suicide bombers have been sent to hell till now and 3 were injured,” the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement. 

“However, during an intense exchange of fire, four brave members of Law Enforcement Agencies, having fought gallantly, embraced Shahadat along with two innocent civilians.”

Separately, the medical superintendent of Mach Hospital, Dr. Sajjad Gumshadzai, told Arab News four dead bodies, including those of two policemen, were brought to the Civil Hospital Mach on Tuesday morning. 

“There are reports of more bodies which are yet to be shifted to the hospital,” he added. 




Injured victims from the Mach attacks are being treated at Civil Hospital in Quetta, Pakistan, on January 30, 2024. (AN photo by Saadullah Akhtar)

Spokesman for the provincial health department, Dr. Waseem Baig, said the body of a five-year-old child killed by a stray bullet in Kolpur, a town near Quetta, had been brought to the Nawab Ghosh Buksh Raisani Hospital in Mastung.

“One injured is being treated in Mastung and two of the injured of the Mach attack have arrived at Quetta’s Civil Hospital and are being treated and are now in stable condition,” Baig told Arab News. 

“The government has declared an emergency in Quetta and directed the health staff to ensure their presence at the trauma center to provide quality treatment to the injured of the recent attack.”

The head of the Trauma Center Civil Hospital, Dr. Arbab Kamran Kasi, said 13 people injured in the Mach and Kolpur attacks had been referred to Quetta. Three had critical wounds.
 
Pakistani media widely reported that rockets had landed and exploded in at least three locations, including near a security forces camp close to Central Jail Mach, which houses 800 inmates, and the prison’s residential area.

Inspector General Prisons for Balochistan, Shuja Kasi, told Arab News four residential quarters in the prison’s staff colony in Mach had been damaged but there were no casualties. 

Media also reported attacks on a police station in the Gokurt area.

In a statement emailed to media, the BLA said 45 Pakistani soldiers had been killed in a “combined operation by Baloch Liberation Army’s Majeed Brigade, Special Tactical Operations Fateh Squad and Intelligence Wing.” The group often exaggerates its attacks and the death toll exacted. 

The latest attacks and subsequent armed operation led to the suspension of train services connecting the provincial capital of Quetta with the main cities of Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi. 

Pakistan Railways canceled the Quetta-Peshawar bound Jaffar Express and Quetta-Karachi bound Bolan Express, which passes through the mountainous areas of Mach and Bolan.

The Mach attacks come less than two weeks after Pakistan and Iran exchanged tit-for-tat airstrikes aimed at what each called militant targets inside the other’s territory along their shared border in Pakistan’s Balochistan and Iran’s Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan province. 

The strikes, the highest-profile cross-border intrusions in recent years, raised alarm about wider instability in the Middle East region since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted on Oct. 7. Iran said the strikes in a border village on its territory killed nine people, including four children. Pakistan said the Iranian attack had killed two children.


Pakistan says wants ‘strongest relations’ with US despite iron-clad partnership with Beijing

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Pakistan says wants ‘strongest relations’ with US despite iron-clad partnership with Beijing

  • Pakistan Deputy PM Dar says his Friday meeting with US secretary of state was “very cordial” 
  • Pakistan maintains a tricky balance in its relations with the US and its traditional rival, China

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Sunday Islamabad wished for “strongest relations” with the United States (US) despite enjoying an iron-clad partnership with Washington’s rival, Beijing.

Pakistan maintains a tricky balance in its relations with China and the US. While aligned with the US for military cooperation and counter-terrorism efforts, Islamabad has strengthened economic ties with Beijing through initiatives like the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). 

Relations between Washington and Beijing have been strained over the past several years as both world powers compete for global influence in several domains. The US and China have disagreements over several issues such as trade, Taiwan, the South China Sea and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

“Our government and we have emphasized and will continue to emphasize that our relations and iron-clad brother partnership with China, our relations [with the US] should not be looked at through that lens,” Dar, speaking to the Pakistani community in New York, said during a televised address. 

“We want strongest relations with the United States of America as well.”

Dar pointed out that Islamabad, under the previous government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif from 2022-2023, had made it clear to Washington that this was its official policy. However, the Pakistani foreign minister said the Joe Biden administration did not engage with Islamabad. 

“I’m glad that they [Trump administration] have actively engaged themselves with us,” Dar said. 

Dar met US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington on Friday in a face-to-face meeting, during which the American official recognized Pakistan’s “constructive role” for peace in the region and worldwide. 

The Pakistani deputy prime minister pointed out that this was the first time in nine years that the foreign ministers of the US and Pakistan had met each other.

“I would say the meeting was very cordial, we touched all the regional and global issues. We touched our bilateral issues,” he said.

Dar is currently on an eight-day visit to the US till July 28, where he kept a busy schedule in New York and chaired several high-profile United Nations Security Council meetings under Pakistan’s rotating presidency this month.


Pakistan reports three fresh polio cases, taking 2025 tally to 17

Updated 27 July 2025
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Pakistan reports three fresh polio cases, taking 2025 tally to 17

  • Two polio cases reported from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, one from southern Sindh province, say authorities
  • Pakistan has witnessed worrying resurgence in polio recently, reporting 74 cases of the disease last year in 2024 

KARACHI: Pakistani authorities on Sunday reported three new polio cases across the country, taking the 2025 tally to 17 amid Islamabad’s efforts to eliminate the disease. 

Polio is a highly infectious viral disease that primarily affects young children and can cause permanent paralysis. There is no cure, but it can be prevented through multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and a complete routine immunization schedule, experts say.

Pakistan, one of only two countries in the world where polio remains endemic, the other being neighboring Afghanistan, has made significant gains in recent decades. Annual cases have fallen dramatically from an estimated 20,000 in the early 1990s to single digits by 2018.

However, the country has witnessed a worrying resurgence recently. Pakistan reported 74 cases in 2024, raising alarms among health officials and global partners supporting the eradication campaign. In contrast, only six cases were recorded in 2023 and just one in 2021.

“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health (NIH), Islamabad, has confirmed three new polio cases— two from the districts of Lakki Marwat and North Waziristan in South Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one from District Umerkot in Sindh,” Pakistan’s National Emergencies Operation Center said. 

 The new cases include a 15-month-old girl from District Lakki Marwat, a six-month-old girl from North Waziristan district and a 60-month-old boy from District Umerkot, the statement said.

Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province has reported the highest number of polio cases this year, 10, followed by five from Sindh and one each from Punjab and northern Gilgit-Baltistan region. 

The NEOC noted that despite “substantial progress” in polio eradication efforts, the new polio cases underscore the persistent risk to children, especially in areas where vaccine acceptance remains low.

“It is crucial for communities to understand that poliovirus can resurface wherever immunity gaps exist,” it said. “Every unvaccinated child is at risk and can also pose a risk to others.”

The NEOC said an anti-polio vaccination campaign is currently underway, which was launched from July21-27 in Pakistan’s union councils bordering Afghanistan. 

 It added that a polio vaccination campaign using doses of the IPV (Inactivated Polio Vaccine) and OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine) was started in southwestern Balochistan’s Chaman District on July 21, adding that the same campaign will expand to six more districts in the province starting from July 28.

The NEOC urged parents to cooperate with frontline polio workers in getting children vaccinated.

“Communities can protect themselves by actively supporting vaccination efforts, addressing misinformation, and encouraging others to vaccinate their children,” it added. 

Despite decades of effort, Pakistan’s polio eradication drive has faced persistent challenges, including misinformation about vaccines and resistance from conservative religious and militant groups who view immunization campaigns with suspicion.

Some clerics have claimed the vaccines are a Western conspiracy to sterilize Muslim children or part of intelligence operations.

Vaccination teams and police providing security have also been targeted in militant attacks, particularly in remote and conflict-affected areas of KP and Balochistan. These threats have at times forced the suspension of campaigns and restricted access to vulnerable populations.
 


UAE activates visa waiver for Pakistani diplomatic, official passport holders

Updated 27 July 2025
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UAE activates visa waiver for Pakistani diplomatic, official passport holders

  • Pakistan, UAE signed agreement on mutual visa exemption for diplomatic, official passport holders of both countries in June
  • Islamabad considers the UAE a vital economic ally as it is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States

ISLAMABAD: The UAE this week activated its visa waiver for holders of Pakistani diplomatic and official passports as per an agreement signed between the two countries last month, the Gulf state’s embassy in Islamabad said on Sunday. 

Pakistan and the UAE signed an agreement on mutual visa exemption for the holders of diplomatic and official passports of the two countries on June 25. The agreement was signed at the conclusion of the 12th session of the Pakistan-UAE Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in Abu Dhabi, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar had said. 

“His Excellency Hamad Obaid Ibrahim Salim AlZaabi, the ambassador of the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates Islamabad feels immense pleasure to announce that the visa waiver for diplomatic and official passports entering the United Arab Emirates has been activated, effective July 25, 2025, at all UAE airports,” the UAE embassy in Islamabad said in a message to reporters. 

The two countries discussed collaborations in trade, investment, food security, aviation, IT and energy at the 12th JMC last month, Pakistan’s state broadcaster reported. 

Islamabad considers the UAE a vital economic ally as it is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States.

Bilateral trade between the two nations reached approximately $10.9 billion in fiscal 2023–24, including $8.41 billion in goods and $2.56 billion in services. Exports from Pakistan to the UAE were around $2.1 billion in FY25, compared to $8 billion in imports.

The UAE is also a major source of remittances. In 2024, money sent home by the Pakistani diaspora was $6.7 billion, which is projected to exceed $7 billion in 2025.


In flood-hit Sindh, women revive barter trade to weather climate shocks

Updated 27 July 2025
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In flood-hit Sindh, women revive barter trade to weather climate shocks

  • With farming no longer reliable, rural women turn to cashless business models to survive inflation, displacement, environmental collapse
  • Backed by a German NGO, women entrepreneurs are exchanging scrap for household essentials to build low-cost livelihoods

JHUDDO, Pakistan: On any given morning in this flood-ravaged town in southern Sindh, Shamim Akhtar’s team of three men fans out on motorbikes, collecting scrap metal and plastic from doorsteps. 

In return, they hand over household essentials: pots, mugs, jugs — items many families need but can no longer afford.

It’s a barter economy, resurrected not by nostalgia but by necessity.

Once a farmer scraping by on unstable harvests, Akhtar, now 48, has become a self-made entrepreneur, running what she calls a modern twist on a traditional system. The shift has brought her stability and income — nearly Rs50,000 ($175) in monthly profit — in a region where formal employment is rare and inflation relentless.

“What we do [in this business] is that we take scrap from people’s houses and in return give them new things,” Akhtar told Arab News.

“In old times, our mothers used to give some junk or grain from home and take edible items or some vegetables … We now have revived the same system that we give house utensils [in exchange for their scrap].”

RETHINKING LIVELIHOODS AFTER FLOODS

The transformation began in the aftermath of Pakistan’s devastating 2022 floods, which killed over 1,700 people and displaced millions. In Jhuddo, where vast stretches of farmland were inundated, Akhtar lost her crops and her confidence in agriculture.

“All our crops would get destroyed whenever the flood would hit us,” she said. “In the initial days of flooding, the NGOs or government would help us but later we used to face very tough financial conditions.”

Farming, once her only means of survival, was no longer viable. So she pivoted, choosing to barter in utensils, essential items that every household needs. With capital provided by Germany’s Malteser International relief agency, she set up shop with wholesale goods from Hyderabad, sold scrap to local junkyards, and launched a low-cost business model tailored to village economics.

“We don’t have a cost-intensive system of giving expensive stuff to the villagers which they can’t even afford,” Akhtar explained. “We are doing this trade at the village level and are giving stuff that the villagers can afford.”

The NGO-backed program, a €600,000, 36-month initiative implemented by the Sindh Rural Support Organization (SRSO), has helped more than 150 women launch nano-enterprises in climate-affected areas of Mirpurkhas district.

“Earlier, the people here mostly used to do farming and rear livestock, but now they have diversified [their sources of income] to business,” said Komal Jameel, a livelihood officer at SRSO.

“She [Akhtar] keeps giving us her data entry through digitalization on a daily basis. She tells our team how much loss and earnings she is making out of her business. This scrap exchange is a very good business.”

WOMEN LEAD NEW ECONOMIC MODELS

Across the region, other women are following suit. In Niaz Kapri village, 48-year-old Hameeda Tariq began a similar scrap-for-goods exchange after floods wiped out her family’s farmland and livestock. 

Working with her husband, who sources utensils from nearby cities, she now earns around Rs40,000 ($140) a month.

“Before starting this business, we used to work in the fields and domesticate livestock,” said Tariq, a mother of three. “What brought us here is the recurring incidents of flooding in our village that would damage our crops and kill our animals.”

In neighboring villages, women are testing other models: a cosmetics stall in Roshanabad, a spice business in Khuda Bux II, a beauty parlor and tuck shop in Mir Allah Bachayo union council. All operate on small grants and are tracked digitally via mobile apps provided by SRSO.

“So far we have given grants to 320 individuals for starting nano businesses, of which 50 percent are females,” said SRSO district project officer Maqsood Alam. 

“We are strengthening local stakeholders and communities so that they could head toward sustainable livelihood and we could protect them in terms of climate change.”

The return to barter, often dismissed as outdated, is gaining currency in places where cash flow is erratic, formal banking is inaccessible, and climate volatility threatens conventional trade.

“This is a miracle in the history of Jhuddo that a female shopkeeper is sitting there and five females are jointly running this business,” Alam said.

For Akhtar, the impact is not just economic, but personal.

“This [business] has had a huge impact on my family,” she said. “Now we are earning a very good income from this, Mashallah, and we are getting a lot of support because of this.”


Pakistan warns of more monsoon rains next week as death toll reaches 271

Updated 27 July 2025
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Pakistan warns of more monsoon rains next week as death toll reaches 271

  • Pakistan state media says westerly wave expected to approach country from Tuesday
  • Punjab issues flood warning for Chenab, Jhelum rivers and their adjoining tributaries 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s state media on Sunday forecast more rain and likely flooding in several parts of the country from next week, as the death toll from monsoon downpours since late June reached 271. 

Intense monsoon rains have battered Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Sindh, Balochistan, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad since June 26, causing urban floods and glacial lake outburst floods in several parts of the country. 

Pakistan has received above-normal rainfall this monsoon season, raising concerns of a repeat of the devastating 2022 floods that submerged a third of the country and killed 1,737 people. 

“More monsoon rains with wind-thundershower have been predicted across the country from tomorrow (Monday),” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. 

According to the Met Office, a westerly wave is also expected to approach on Tuesday.

The state broadcaster warned heavy rains may generate flash floods in local nullahs and streams across the country, adding that torrential rains may cause urban flooding in low-lying areas of major cities.

“Landslides and mudslides may cause road closures in the vulnerable hilly areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Murree, Galliyat, and Kashmir during the forecast period,” it added. 

Keeping in mind the rain forecast, the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) has issued a flood warning for the Chenab and Jhelum rivers and their adjoining tributaries. 

The disaster management authority cautioned the public and authorities of possible low to medium-level flooding from Monday to July 31. 

It warned of an “unusual rise” in water levels in both rivers, urging authorities to take preemptive measures.

Monsoon rains have wreaked havoc across Pakistan, killing 271 and injuring 655 since June 26. As per the NDMA’s latest situation report, Punjab has reported the highest number of deaths with 145 killed, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) with 63 casualties, Sindh with 25 deaths, Balochistan with 20, the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region with eight deaths, Islamabad with eight and Azad Kashmir region reporting two deaths. 

In total, 1,191 houses have been damaged, and 367 livestock have perished due to rain-related incidents since June 26.