ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday invited his Bangladeshi counterpart, Sheikh Hasina, to Islamabad as they discussed bilateral cooperation in a telephonic conversation, the premier’s office confirmed.
The invitation comes amid other diplomatic moves suggesting improving relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh.
“Prime Minister Imran Khan reiterated his cordial invitation to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to visit Pakistan,” the premier office’s said in a statement, adding that “Pakistan is committed to deepening fraternal relations with Bangladesh on the basis of mutual trust, mutual respect and sovereign equality.”
The two leaders also discussed coronavirus response and “their respective steps to deal with the myriad of challenges posed by COVID-19.”
The development is yet another one hinting at a thaw in Pakistani-Bangladeshi relations.
A “quiet” meeting earlier this month between Pakistan’s envoy to Dhaka, Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, and Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A. K. Abdul Momen has also raised hopes for improvement in bilateral ties.
The relationship has been tense since the 1971 war that led to Bangladesh’s separation from Pakistan.
It reached a new low in 2016 after Bangladesh executed several leaders of its Jamaat-e-Islami on charges of committing war crimes in 1971, in what Pakistan has called “politically motivated trials.”
In rare call, PM Khan invites Bangladesh counterpart to Pakistan
https://arab.news/jkpur
In rare call, PM Khan invites Bangladesh counterpart to Pakistan
- The call comes amid other diplomatic developments suggesting improving relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh
- Earlier this month, Pakistan’s envoy to Dhaka met with Bangladeshi Foreign Minister A. K. Abdul Momen
Lit by the sun: How solar power is transforming lives along Pakistan’s southern coast
- Some 50,000 families in Sindh’s five coastal districts are set to receive solar kits under the World Bank-backed initiative
- Project aims to add 400 megawatts to the national grid, 270 megawatts of which will facilitate consumers in Karachi
SUJAWAL, Sindh: Holding a battery in one hand and an LED light in the other, Abdul Ghani waded through the salty waters of the Arabian Sea to reach his small wooden boat.
It was just past sunset, the sky dimming fast, but Ghani had no fear as he had light.
Ghani is one of hundreds of Pakistani coastal residents who have benefited from a green energy initiative under the World Bank-backed Sindh Solar Energy Project (SSEP), a multi-component program that aims to bring sustainable power to over 1.2 million of the southern province’s poorest and most energy-deprived people.
While torches don’t offer adequate visibility in the vast seascape, and boat generators scare fish away when powered on, the battery-powered LED lights from the home energy system have proven to be an unexpected boon for nighttime fishing for residents like Ghani.
“Earlier, I couldn’t catch any fish, but now when I go fishing using these lights, by the grace of God, I catch good fish,” the 45-year-old fisherman from Karo Chan, a coastal village in Sujawal district located in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, told Arab News.
“This helps me support my children and manage our livelihood.”
The project targets people either without any electricity or facing power cuts, identified through Pakistan’s national poverty scorecard, a data-driven assessment tool used to identify and prioritize assistance for low-income households.
“Each family has a solar system with fans, three LED light bulbs, mobile charging facility, along with a charge controller and a battery package,” Mehfooz Ahmed Qazi, the project director, told Arab News.
“All these cost Rs6,000 ($21), ten percent of the actual price, to instill a sense of ownership in the users.”
Qazi said the project, launched in October 2019 and set to be completed in July 2025, had four components: a 400-megawatt solar power initiative for grid integration, rooftop solar systems for public sector buildings including 34 district headquarter hospitals, off-grid solar home systems for poor households and the establishment of solar equipment standardization laboratories at NED University in Karachi and Mehran University in Jamshoro.
The key objective of the project is to promote the potential of green energy across the province.
Out of the 400 megawatts planned for grid integration, 270 megawatts will be added to the system of K-Electric — serving over 3.4 million customers in Karachi and surrounding areas in Sindh and Balochistan — not only increasing the share of green power but also helping reduce electricity tariffs for residents of Karachi.
By the end of the project, 34 megawatts of rooftop solar installations will be set up on buildings across the province, while 200,000 solar home systems will be distributed, benefiting 1.2 million families.
Of these, 50,000 families in five coastal districts, including Sujawal, will receive solar home systems under the third component of the project that started in February this year.
For families like Ghani’s, the change has been immediate and life changing.
“I turn on three lights,” he explained. “When we turn on the lights, small fish come. Seeing the small fish, the big ones also come. Where I place my net, both big and small fish come into it.”
Ghani also uses the system at home once he returns from the sea.
His wife, Kulsoom, said life, was once defined by heat, insects and fear of the dark, had now changed.
“Previously, there used to be complete darkness,” she said. “The children would be distressed. We didn’t even have a fan. It used to be extremely hot, and we would suffer.”
Like many women in rural Sindh, Kulsoom’s day revolves around managing the household and caring for her children. Now, her nights are more peaceful.
“Now that we have solar [system], we are very happy, and the children sleep peacefully,” she said.
“COMPLETE DARKNESS“
In village Qaboolpur in the nearby Tando Muhammad Khan district, Naeema Gul, 47, had similar story.
Her husband, Gul Bahar, is deaf and mute. They have six children, one of whom has polio.
“We didn’t have electricity,” Gul said. “We used hand fans. It would get extremely hot, and there were always mosquitoes … Now, thank God, we have received solar energy. Earlier, our home used to be in complete darkness. Now we have light.”
Gul uses the fan provided with the solar system during peak summer heat, and the LED lights allow her to do embroidery on traditional ralli quilts, colorful patchwork textiles made by rural women in the province. She also uses the light to recite the Holy Qur’an at night.
Her disabled son, Gulzar, a fifth grader, has also resumed his studies.
“After receiving the solar panel, I can study and write with ease,” he said.
For women like Changi Rind, a widow with 10 children and dozens of grandchildren living in remote Jan Muhammad Jatt village of Sujawal, the biggest relief has been security.
“Previously, thieves used to come, but now, because of the light, they stay away,” she said. “At night, one person had to stay awake. There was no light in the wilderness, only darkness.”
Back in Karo Chan, as night fell, Ghani’s returned on his boat with a modest catch, unpacked the system and handed it over to Kulsoom.
With a fan whirring in the corner and her children sitting under LED lights, she reflected on how far the community had come:
“Where there was once darkness, solar [system] has brought light to our home and our lives as well.”
Pakistani ambassador meets Egypt’s grand mufti to discuss interfaith harmony, religious education
- Ambassador Aamer Shouket discusses matters relating to challenges facing Muslim world, says Pakistan embassy in Cairo
- Pakistan has tried to promote religious pluralism and faith-based tourism in recent years despite surging militancy in country
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ambassador to Egypt Aamer Shouket recently met the country’s Grand Mufti Dr. Nazir Mohammed Ayyad to discuss the need for interfaith harmony, the threat posed by hate speech and religious education cooperation between the two countries, the Pakistani embassy in Cairo said.
Pakistan has made a conscious effort to promote religious pluralism and faith-based tourism in recent years, welcoming Buddhist monks as well as Hindu and Sikh devotees from India and other countries. However, the country continues to grapple with significant challenges, as religious minorities often complain of discrimination and marginalization in Pakistan.
Shouket met Dr. Ayyad in Cairo at Egypt’s Dar Al-Ifta, the country’s pioneer foundation that issues religious verdicts on various issues, the Pakistani embassy said on Sunday.
“The meeting discussed matters related to issues and challenges facing the Muslim world,” the statement said. “Hate speech was identified as a threat to peace and interfaith harmony.”
The Pakistani ambassador also expressed satisfaction over the existing cooperation between Islamabad and Cairo in religious education, the embassy said.
“The Ambassador admired the role of Al-Azhar scholars toward spreading the true spirit of Islam across the world,” it added.
Dr. Ayyad stated that Pakistan was “very well respected” in Egyptian society as a prominent Muslim country, the embassy said. The Egyptian grand mufti recalled his recent visit to Pakistan where he met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and expressed his best wishes and prayers for the people of Pakistan.
Pakistan and Egypt enjoy cordial ties that date back several decades. Egypt plans to establish a campus of its Al-Azhar University, one of the world’s oldest centers of Islamic education, in Pakistan.
How AI chatbot Grok sowed misinformation during India-Pakistan military conflict
- Grok wrongly identified old video footage from Sudan’s Khartoum airport as missile strike on Pakistan’s Nur Khan air base
- Unrelated footage of building on fire in Nepal was misidentified as “likely” showing Pakistan’s response to Indian strikes
WASHINGTON, US: As misinformation exploded during India’s four-day conflict with Pakistan, social media users turned to an AI chatbot for verification — only to encounter more falsehoods, underscoring its unreliability as a fact-checking tool.
With tech platforms reducing human fact-checkers, users are increasingly relying on AI-powered chatbots — including xAI’s Grok, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, and Google’s Gemini — in search of reliable information.
“Hey @Grok, is this true?” has become a common query on Elon Musk’s platform X, where the AI assistant is built in, reflecting the growing trend of seeking instant debunks on social media.
But the responses are often themselves riddled with misinformation.
Grok — now under renewed scrutiny for inserting “white genocide,” a far-right conspiracy theory, into unrelated queries — wrongly identified old video footage from Sudan’s Khartoum airport as a missile strike on Pakistan’s Nur Khan air base during the country’s recent conflict with India.
Unrelated footage of a building on fire in Nepal was misidentified as “likely” showing Pakistan’s military response to Indian strikes.
“The growing reliance on Grok as a fact-checker comes as X and other major tech companies have scaled back investments in human fact-checkers,” McKenzie Sadeghi, a researcher with the disinformation watchdog NewsGuard, told AFP.
“Our research has repeatedly found that AI chatbots are not reliable sources for news and information, particularly when it comes to breaking news,” she warned.
NewsGuard’s research found that 10 leading chatbots were prone to repeating falsehoods, including Russian disinformation narratives and false or misleading claims related to the recent Australian election.
In a recent study of eight AI search tools, the Tow Center for Digital Journalism at Columbia University found that chatbots were “generally bad at declining to answer questions they couldn’t answer accurately, offering incorrect or speculative answers instead.”
When AFP fact-checkers in Uruguay asked Gemini about an AI-generated image of a woman, it not only confirmed its authenticity but fabricated details about her identity and where the image was likely taken.
Grok recently labeled a purported video of a giant anaconda swimming in the Amazon River as “genuine,” even citing credible-sounding scientific expeditions to support its false claim.
In reality, the video was AI-generated, AFP fact-checkers in Latin America reported, noting that many users cited Grok’s assessment as evidence the clip was real.
Such findings have raised concerns as surveys show that online users are increasingly shifting from traditional search engines to AI chatbots for information gathering and verification.
The shift also comes as Meta announced earlier this year it was ending its third-party fact-checking program in the United States, turning over the task of debunking falsehoods to ordinary users under a model known as “Community Notes,” popularized by X.
Researchers have repeatedly questioned the effectiveness of “Community Notes” in combating falsehoods.
Human fact-checking has long been a flashpoint in a hyperpolarized political climate, particularly in the United States, where conservative advocates maintain it suppresses free speech and censors right-wing content — something professional fact-checkers vehemently reject.
AFP currently works in 26 languages with Facebook’s fact-checking program, including in Asia, Latin America, and the European Union.
The quality and accuracy of AI chatbots can vary, depending on how they are trained and programmed, prompting concerns that their output may be subject to political influence or control.
Musk’s xAI recently blamed an “unauthorized modification” for causing Grok to generate unsolicited posts referencing “white genocide” in South Africa.
When AI expert David Caswell asked Grok who might have modified its system prompt, the chatbot named Musk as the “most likely” culprit.
Musk, the South African-born billionaire backer of President Donald Trump, has previously peddled the unfounded claim that South Africa’s leaders were “openly pushing for genocide” of white people.
“We have seen the way AI assistants can either fabricate results or give biased answers after human coders specifically change their instructions,” Angie Holan, director of the International Fact-Checking Network, told AFP.
“I am especially concerned about the way Grok has mishandled requests concerning very sensitive matters after receiving instructions to provide pre-authorized answers.”
Pakistani delegation heads to world capitals in diplomatic push following India standoff
- Nine-member delegation arrives in New York as first stop in diplomatic mission to present Pakistan position
- Delegation will also visit London, Washington DC and Brussel, separate delegation will also visit Moscow
ISLAMABAD: A high-level delegation set up by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in New York today, Monday, as the first stop in a diplomatic mission to present Pakistan’s position in world capitals following a recent military conflict with India.
Tensions between nuclear-armed neighbors Pakistan and India are high after they struck a ceasefire on May 10 following the most intense military confrontation in decades. Both countries accuse the other of supporting militancy on each other’s soil — a charge both capitals deny.
The latest military escalation, in which the two countries traded missile, drones and artillery fire, was sparked after India accused Pakistan of supporting militants who attacked dozens of tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22, killing 26. Islamabad denies involvement.
Sharif announced the nine-member diplomatic group last month, headed by Pakistan Peoples Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, who is a former foreign minister. A group headed by Bhutto Zardari will visit New York, Washington DC, London and Brussels from June 2. Another delegation, led by Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi, will also visit Moscow.
“The visits of these delegations are aimed at projecting Pakistan’s perspective on the recent Indian aggression,” the foreign office said in a statement.
“The delegations will highlight Pakistan’s responsible and restrained conduct – seeking peace with responsibility – in the face of India’s reckless and belligerent actions in violation of international law. They will also highlight that dialogue and diplomacy should take precedence over conflict and confrontation.”
The foreign office said the two delegations will “underscore the imperative for the international community to play its due role in promoting a lasting peace in South Asia.”
“The need for immediate resumption of the normal functioning of the Indus Waters Treaty will also be a key theme of the delegations’ outreach,” the statement said, referring to a 1960 river-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan that the former unilaterally suspended following the April 22 militant assault.
The accord has not been revived despite the rivals agreeing on a ceasefire last week following the conflict.
Islamabad said after India suspended the treaty that it considered any attempt to stop or divert the flow of water belonging to Pakistan to be an “act of war.”
About 80 percent of Pakistani farms depend on the Indus system, as do nearly all hydropower projects serving the country of some 250 million.
State broadcaster Radio Pakistan said the Bhutto Zardari-led delegation would hold meetings with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, President of the UN General Assembly Philémon Yang as well as ambassadors of permanent and non-permanent members of the UN Security-Council.
The delegation will also brief OIC members at the United Nations.
One killed, four injured in IED blast in southwestern Pakistan
- Unidentified individuals attached magnetic IED to vehicle in Quetta city, says police official
- No group has claimed responsibility but suspicion likely to fall on militant groups in Balochistan
QUETTA: One person was killed while four others were injured in an improvised explosive device (IED) blast in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province on Sunday night, a police official confirmed.
Police said the blast took place at Brewery Road near the western bypass in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan’s restive Balochistan. The official confirmed that a vehicle with two people in it exploded due to the blast, injuring passersby on the busy road.
“Unidentified individuals attached a magnetic IED to a private vehicle which exploded in Quetta city,” Mehmood Kharoti, the station house officer at Brewery Road, told Arab News.
“One civilian named Hussain Ali, a resident of Kalat city, was killed in the attack and four people including three passersby were injured,” he added.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but suspicion is likely to fall on ethnic Baloch separatist groups involved in targeting law enforcers and state-backed tribal leaders in the province.
Kharoti said police were investigating the possible motives behind the attack.
Balochistan, Pakistan’s largest but most impoverished province, has been the site of a long-running insurgency that has intensified in recent months, with separatist militants attacking security forces, government officials and installations and people from other provinces who they see as “outsiders.”
The Pakistani government says it has launched several development schemes relating to infrastructure, health and education for some 15 million people of Balochistan, which is also home to a deep seaport being built by China, gold, copper and coal mines, and has a long coast on the Arabian Sea.
The most prominent of these separatist militant groups in the province is the Baloch Liberation Army, which has carried out several attacks against law enforcers and political leaders considered close to the military leadership.
Balochistan has seen a spike in militant violence in recent days. An IED blast killed two tribal leaders and injured seven others on Saturday in a remote mountainous town in Quetta district.
In March, BLA fighters stormed a passenger train in Balochistan and held hostage hundreds of passengers before the military launched an operation to rescue them.
Pakistan’s government accuses India of arming and funding separatist militant groups against the state, an allegation that New Delhi has repeatedly denied. The BLA and other similar groups accuse Islamabad of denying the local Baloch population a share in the province’s natural resources. Pakistan’s government and military deny the allegations.
