ISLAMABAD: More than two dozen Pakistani nationals, who were arrested on Sunday for protesting the ouster of Imran Khan at Istanbul’s Taksim Square, would be released soon, the Pakistani mission in Turkey said on Tuesday.
Khan was ousted early Sunday, when he lost a no-confidence vote after being deserted by his party’s lawmakers and coalition partners. In a show of strength and a precursor to the political uncertainty ahead, Khan rallied hundreds of thousands of supporters in protests Sunday night, describing the new leadership as an “imposed government” that colluded with the United States to oust him.
His backers marched in cities across Pakistan as well as abroad, waving party flags, shouting slogans, and promising his return to power. A group of Pakistani students, who staged a similar protest at the Taksim Square, was arrested by the Turkish police Sunday evening.
“On the evening of April 10, 27 Pakistani nationals (mostly students) were arrested at Taksim Square for holding a demonstration without obtaining the required prior permission from Turkish authorities,” Mahroo Arshad, press attaché at the Pakistani embassy in Ankara, told Arab News.
“The Turkish authorities have informed that the arrested Pakistani nationals are likely to be released by the evening of Tuesday, provided they have valid legal residence permits or visas and have no other criminal record.”
The image posted on August 2021 shows the exterior view of Pakistani embassy in Ankara. (Photo courtesy: Online)
Turkey has a record of cracking down on protests that rights organizations, including the Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have repeatedly condemned.
Under the Turkish law on meetings and demonstrations (Law No. 2911), a locality’s highest civil authority will give a permission for a march or demonstration, and the location of a meeting or demonstration or the route of a march can be changed, if necessary, to ensure public order and peace.
Arshad said Pakistan’s embassy and the consulate general in Istanbul had immediately established contact after the arrests and had since been in touch with the Turkish side for consular access and facilitating an early release of these Pakistanis.
Pakistan’s Parsi community dwindles as young migrate
Once the Parsi community in Pakistan had as many as 15,000-20,000 people
Today, numbers hover around 900 people in Karachi, few dozen more elsewhere in Pakistan
Updated 53 min 15 sec ago
AFP
KARACHI: From a gated community for her Zoroastrian faith in Pakistan’s megacity Karachi, 22-year-old Elisha Amra has waved goodbye to many friends migrating abroad as the ancient Parsi community dwindles.
Soon the film student hopes to join them — becoming one more loss to Pakistan’s aging Zoroastrian Parsi people, a community who trace their roots back to Persian refugees from today’s Iran more than a millennium ago.
“My plan is to go abroad,” Amra said, saying she wants to study for a master’s degree in a country without the restrictions of a conservative Muslim-majority society.
“I want to be able to freely express myself,” she added.
Zoroastrianism, founded by the prophet Zarathustra, was the predominant religion of the ancient Persian empire, until the rise of Islam with the Arab conquests of the seventh century.
Dinshaw Behram Avari shows the portraits of his late father Behram Avari (C) along with deceased grandparents Dinshaw Avari (L) and Khorshed Avari (R), at the Beach Luxury Hotel in Karachi, Pakistan on February 28, 2025
Once the Parsi community in Pakistan had as many as 15,000-20,000 people, said Dinshaw Behram Avari, the head of one of the most prominent Parsi families.
Today, numbers hover around 900 people in Karachi and a few dozen more elsewhere in Pakistan, according to community leaders, many staying together in compounds like where Amra lives.
She acknowledges her life is more comfortable than many in Pakistan — the Parsis are in general an affluent and highly educated community.
But says she wants to escape the daily challenges that beset the city of some 20 million people — ranging from power cuts, water shortages and patchy Internet to violent street crime.
“I’d rather have a life where I feel safe, and I feel happy and satisfied,” she said.
Zubin Patel, 27, a Parsi working in e-commerce in Karachi, has seen more than two dozen Parsi friends leave Karachi for abroad in the past three years.
“More than 20-25 of my friends were living in Karachi, they all started migrating,” he said.
That is not unique to Parsis — many young and skilled Pakistanis want to find jobs abroad to escape a country wracked with political uncertainty and security challenges, a struggling economy and woeful infrastructure.
The number of highly skilled Pakistanis who left for jobs abroad more than doubled according to the latest figures from the Pakistan Economic Survey — from 20,865 in 2022, to 45,687 in 2023.
The front elevation of the Mama Parsi Girls High School, which has the bust of Ardeshir Hormushji Mama, its Zoroastrian founder, engraved on its facade in Karachi, Pakistan on March 17, 2025 (AFP)
Parsis are struggling to adjust in a fast-changing world.
The religion, considered among the oldest in the world, forbids conversion and mixed marriages are frowned upon.
“There is a better chance to find a Zoroastrian partner in Canada, Australia, UK and America than in Pakistan,” said Avari, who heads of a chain of hotels.
He points out that Parsi population of Toronto is some 10 times greater than Karachi.
Avari, 57, said that a wave of Parsis left Pakistan during the hard-line military rule of Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s, who enforced a program of Islamization.
Since then, militant violence has targeted religious minorities, and while Parsis say they have not been targeted, they remain wary.
He suggested the community’s high levels of education and Western outlook to life meant many eyed a future abroad, while for those who do stay, family size is shrinking.
“Couples are more interested today in looking after their career; they are not interested in family,” he said.
“When they do get married, they will have one child — and one child is not enough to make a positive impact on the population.”
a man looks from a window above a bust of Edulji Dinshaw, one of the school's founders, carved on the exterior of the Mama Parsi Girls School's yellow limestone structure in Karachi, Pakistan on March 17, 2025. (AFP)
Parsi members were among the pioneers of the shipping and hospitality industries in Karachi, and the city’s colonial-era historic district is dotted with Parsi buildings including hospitals and schools.
But as the community declines, many buildings have crumbled, with as many as half the homes in elegant tree-lined streets of the century-old Sohrab Katrak Parsi Colony lying abandoned.
For many among the younger generation, the only pull left keeping them in Pakistan is their aging relatives.
Patel, the e-commerce worker, said he would leave if he could.
“It would be a difficult decision,” he said. “But if I have an opportunity which would give my parents ... a healthy lifestyle, then I’d obviously go for it.”
Amra, who visits her 76-year-old grandfather almost daily, worries that her parents will be alone when she leaves.
“You have to figure out a way, eventually, to either bring them to you or come back,” she said.
Gunmen kill five commuters traveling to Karachi in Pakistan’s volatile southwest
The incident happened near Pasni, Balochistan, where armed men offboarded Punjabi passengers on a highway
No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, though BLA usually launches such attacks
Updated 27 March 2025
SAADULLAH AKHTER
QUETTA: At least five passengers belonging to Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province were forcibly offboarded from passenger buses heading to Karachi from Gwadar on Wednesday after gunmen checked their identity cards and killed them near Pakistan’s coastal town of Pasni, a senior government official confirmed.
This is not the first time commuters from Punjab have been targeted in Pakistan’s restive southwestern Balochistan province, which shares porous borders with Iran and Afghanistan and has experienced a low-scale insurgency by Baloch separatist groups against the Pakistani state.
Baloch nationalists have long accused the Pakistani government and the country’s most prosperous Punjab province of monopolizing profits from Balochistan’s abundant natural resources, saying it has led to their political marginalization and economic exploitation.
Pakistani administrations have denied these allegations, however, citing several development initiatives launched in the province to improve local living conditions.
“Armed men stopped buses at the coastal highway near Kalmat, Pasni, and forcibly removed six passengers after checking their ID cards,” Moheem Khan Gichki, Assistant Commissioner Pasni, told Arab News over the phone.
“Five Punjab-based travelers who were traveling to Karachi from Gwadar were killed in the attack and one sustained injuries,” he continued. “The attackers also set one trawler and one vehicle on fire before escaping from the area.”
The coastal town of Gwadar, located on the shore of the Arabian Sea, is the heart of Pakistan and China’s multibillion-dollar development project called the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
No group has claimed responsibility for the latest killings of the Punjab-based commuters, though suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch separatist group Baloch Liberation Army, which has previously launched similar attacks on passenger buses on different highways of the volatile province.
In February, seven Punjab-based passengers were killed after the ethnic separatist group stopped Punjab-bound passenger buses in Barkhan district.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed sorrow in a statement issued by his office over the death of the commuters in the attack.
“Subversive elements are enemies of peace and development in Balochistan,” he said. “Cowardly attacks by such elements on innocent people clearly reflect their barbarity.”
Sharif also applauded the actions of the security forces and law enforcement agencies against anti-state groups while ordering an investigation into the incident to identify the perpetrators of the attack and bring them to justice.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office on Wednesday dismissed a statement issued by United Nations experts demanding the release of Baloch activists arrested during a crackdown on protests in the southwestern Balochistan province, maintaining that the statement lacked “balance and proportionality.”
The arrests came days after the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) targeted a passenger train in the mountainous Bolan region on March 11, taking hundreds of hostages. The siege, which lasted for about 36 hours, ended after a military operation that killed 33 militants. The BLA attack also claimed the lives of over 30 civilians and security personnel and was one of the deadliest train assaults in the country’s history.
According to official statements, the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC), which has long campaigned for the rights of the ethnic Baloch community, initiated a protest seeking the recovery of the bodies of militants who targeted the passenger train. Subsequently, the BYC announced the arrest of its top leader, Dr. Mahrang Baloch, from a sit-in in Quetta where, according to the group, she and her colleagues were protesting with the bodies of three activists killed during clashes with the police.
The UN experts described these protests as “peaceful,” raising concern over “the use of excessive force” by the state against the protesters along with their subsequent disappearance.
“We have taken note of the press release issued by certain UN experts, which appears to be based on selective and unverified media reports,” the foreign office said in its statement. “It is imperative that public statements of this nature adhere to principles of objectivity, avoid selective criticism, reflect factual accuracy, and acknowledge the full context of the situation.”
“Regrettably, these comments lack balance and proportionality, downplaying civilian casualties inflicted by terrorist attacks while disregarding the crimes committed by miscreants who deliberately disrupt public services, obstruct freedom of movement, and create an atmosphere of insecurity,” it added.
The foreign office noted any assessment of these events should recognize that “these elements are not mere protesters but active participants in a broader campaign of lawlessness and violence.”
It maintained this was evident from the storming of the District Hospital in Quetta, where protesters “forcibly seized the bodies of terrorists” killed during the train hostage rescue operation.
“International human rights law unequivocally prohibits individuals, entities, or groups from weaponizing rights to infringe upon the rights and security of others,” the statement continued. “It also firmly upholds the right of sovereign States to take lawful and necessary action to maintain public order and ensure the safety of their citizens.”
Earlier, the UN experts had said they had been monitoring with concern reports of alleged arrests and enforced disappearances of Baloch activists over the past number of months along with the violent incidents in the past few days.
“Once again we see the use of excessive force as a first response to peaceful protests,” they noted. “We understand the deeply traumatic impact of the 11 March terrorist attack, and we express our deepest sympathy to the victims of this attack, yet a response which relies on arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and violent crackdowns on freedom of assembly cannot alleviate that trauma.”
The foreign office said Pakistan has an open and constructive dialogue with UN Special Procedures Mandate Holders and will continue its engagement based on principles of mutual respect, objectivity, and adherence to facts.
UN experts demand Pakistan release Baloch rights activists
Police launched pre-dawn raid on Saturday to arrest the activists who had been protesting detention of peers
On Sunday, protesters were charged with terrorism, sedition and murder, as per police charge sheet
Updated 27 March 2025
AFP
GENEVA: More than a dozen United Nations experts demanded Wednesday that Pakistan immediately release detained Baloch rights defenders and halt its crackdown on peaceful protests.
Among those arrested in recent days was Mahrang Baloch, one of Pakistan’s most prominent human rights advocates, who has long campaigned for the Baloch ethnic group.
She and other activists took part in a sit-in protest on Friday outside the University of Balochistan in the provincial capital of Quetta.
They demanded the release of members of their support group, whom they allege had been detained by security agencies.
“We have been monitoring with growing concern reports of alleged arrests and enforced disappearances of Baloch activists over the past number of months,” the independent experts said in a statement.
Police launched a pre-dawn raid on Saturday, arresting Baloch and other activists, during which at least three protesters died. Both sides blamed each other for the deaths.
On Sunday, Baloch and other protesters were charged with terrorism, sedition and murder, according to the police charge sheet seen by AFP.
In their statement, the experts, including the UN special rapporteurs on the situation of human rights defenders, on minority issues and on counter-terrorism and human rights, decried “the use of excessive force as a first response to peaceful protests.”
Pakistan has been battling a separatist insurgency in Balochistan for decades, where militants target state forces and foreign nationals in the mineral-rich southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.
Police actions against Baloch activists have intensified after Baloch separatists earlier this month launched a dramatic train siege that officials said ended in around 60 deaths, half of whom were separatists behind the assault.
“We understand the deeply traumatic impact of the March 11 terrorist attack, and we express our deepest sympathy to the victims,” said the experts, who are mandated by the UN Human Rights Council but who do not speak on behalf of the United Nations itself.
“Yet a response which relies on arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, and violent crackdowns on freedom of assembly cannot alleviate that trauma.”
In addition to Mahrang Baloch’s case, the experts highlighted the arrest on Monday of another woman human rights defender, Sammi Deen Baloch, along with others in front of the Karachi Press Club as they protested against the crackdown.
“We urge the Pakistani authorities to immediately release them and to refrain from abusing counter-terrorism or public safety measures against human rights defenders,” the experts said.
Pakistan’s foreign affairs ministry said it had “taken note of the press release issued by certain UN experts, which appears to be based on selective and unverified media reports.”
“Regrettably, these comments lack balance and proportionality, downplaying civilian casualties inflicted by terrorist attacks,” the foreign ministry statement added.
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Wednesday Pakistan plans to issue Panda bonds this year to leverage the Chinese capital market and strengthen its economy.
Panda bonds are issued by foreign governments, companies or institutions through China’s interbank bond market or stock exchanges, with approval from Chinese regulators. Investors typically include Chinese banks, insurance companies, asset managers and institutional investors looking for yuan-denominated, low-risk assets.
Pakistan’s plan to launch these bonds can help diversify its funding sources, reduce reliance on Western markets and boost foreign exchange reserves, especially by attracting investment from Chinese institutions.
The Pakistani finance chief, who is currently in China to attend the four-day Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2025, shared the administration’s plan to issue Panda bonds in an interview with CGTN English, a local news channel.
“I have been advocating and I am very keen that Pakistan, taking advantage of the second largest and the deepest capital market in the world, that we go for an inaugural Panda bond and we issue that,” Aurangzeb said.
“Because Pakistan has done previously many issues in US dollar and the Euro but we haven’t done that in the context of the Chinese capital market,” he added. “So, we are very hopeful that during this calendar year, we will do that.”
Aurangzeb announced in January the government wanted to raise about $200 million from Chinese investors through the issuance of the Panda bonds.
The development followed an upgrade in Pakistan’s sovereign rating by three major credit agencies, with the government aiming to get into the “single-B” category to return to global bond markets to raise funds.
The developments came after the country’s macroeconomic indicators considerably improved following a prolonged economic crisis that brought Pakistan to the verge of a sovereign debt default about two years ago, building massive inflationary pressure in the economy and forcing the government to raise interest rates above 20 percent.
