ISLAMABAD: Representatives of 46 Islamic nations have confirmed their participation in the 48th Organization of Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers meeting to be held in Islamabad later this month, the Pakistani foreign minister said on Saturday.
The OIC is the second-largest intergovernmental organization in the world after the UN. It comprises 57 Muslim member states spread across four continents. It is considered the collective voice of Muslim countries around the world and aims to promote the interests of its member states.
Pakistan will host the 48th foreign minister’s conference on March 22-23, which coincides with the Pakistan Day parade held on March 23 every year to commemorate the Lahore Resolution, which was adopted on the same day in 1940 and laid the foundation for a Muslim-majority state in South Asia. The OIC foreign ministers will be “guests of honor” at the parade.
“The foreign ministers of 46 Islamic countries confirmed their arrival,” Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi told reporters. “This number can increase as well.”
OIC foreign ministers were last in Islamabad in December 2021 for an extraordinary session on Afghanistan, which was called by Saudi Arabia. At the end of the conference, an OIC-led Humanitarian Trust Fund for Afghanistan was announced and the OIC Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Kabul appointed.
46 OIC foreign ministers confirm participation in Islamabad conference on March 22-23
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46 OIC foreign ministers confirm participation in Islamabad conference on March 22-23
- Pakistan is hosting the 48th OIC Council of Foreign Ministers meeting this month
- Conference coincides with Pakistan Day parade where OIC FMs will be “guests of honor“
Roadside bombing in southwestern Pakistan kills 3, injures 5
- Blast was caused by bomb planted in a road in Balochistan’s district Kalat, says government official
- No group has claimed responsibility but suspicion is likely to fall on separatist Baloch Liberation Army
QUETTA: Three people were killed while five others were injured in southwestern Pakistan on Thursday after a vehicle was struck by a powerful roadside blast, a government official said.
The blast took place in Balochistan’s Kalat district in a remote mountainous area known as Union Council Kaboto, located around 46 kilometers from Kalat city. Two women were among the three killed in the attack which was triggered by an explosive device planted on the road, Kalat Deputy Commissioner Jameel Ahmed said.
“A vehicle passing the area was hit by the explosion, killing three people including two women and injuring five others,” Baloch said.
The official said the driver of the vehicle was also killed in the blast, which was carrying women passengers to Ameeri area in Kalat district. He said the injured had been shifted to Kalat Teaching Hospital for medical treatment.
“The district administration and [paramilitary] Levies force commenced an investigation to ascertain who was the target of this latest attack,” Baloch said.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. However, ethnic Baloch separatist groups, mainly the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), often target soldiers of Pakistan’s armed forces, passengers from the eastern Punjab province, and locals and tribal elders they consider backed by the state.
Pakistan’s largest but least developed Balochistan province shares borders with Iran and Afghanistan. It has long been the site of low-scale insurgency by Baloch separatist groups, who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources and denying locals a share in its natural resources.
Pakistan’s government and military denies these allegations, claiming that the federal and provincial governments have prioritized Balochistan’s development through various health, education and infrastructure projects.
Pakistan pauses controversial canals project amid protests in Sindh
- Nationalist parties, civil society members in fear project to build canals on River Indus will trigger water shortages
- Shehbaz Sharif says there will be no further progress on canals until all provinces reach a consensus over the matter
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced on Thursday that the federal government will pause constructing new canals on River Indus until a consensus develops between Pakistan’s provinces on the matter, following outrage and sit-in protests in Sindh.
Pakistan’s government launched an ambitious agricultural project in February to build a network of six canals on River Indus. The government says it aims to irrigate millions of acres of barren lands and ensure food security for the 240-million strong country.
However, critics say the project would trigger water shortages in the southern parts of the country, especially Sindh. Lawyers, members of the civil society and supporters of nationalist parties in Sindh have disrupted trade and traffic on the province’s National Highway since last Friday, staging sit-in protests over the issue.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), a key ally of the ruling coalition led by Sharif and the largest party in Sindh, has led protests against the project. PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari met Sharif on Thursday to discuss the canals issue and Pakistan’s prevailing tensions with India.
“We must resolve this issue through mutual consent and dialogue,” Sharif said with Bhutto Zardari by his side. “And today, in the meeting held between the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz), we have mutually agreed that no new canals will be constructed until a decision is reached via consensus in the Council of Common Interests (CCI).”
The CCI is a constitutional body whose members are appointed by the president on the advice of the prime minister. The council resolves power-sharing and other disputes between the federation and the provinces.
Sharif said the center had decided that there will be “no further progress” on canal-related matters unless a consensus is developed among provinces.
“Therefore, we have decided today that a meeting of the Council of Common Interests will be convened on Friday, May 2, in which the Pakistan Peoples Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, and the federal government’s decisions will be endorsed,” he added.
Bhutto Zardari thanked the prime minister for listening to his concerns regarding the issue, saying that the CCI meeting will endorse the decision that no new canals would be constructed without consensus on the matter.
“Today, we are not taking a decision together but are merely agreeing that without consensus on water-related matters, no new canals are being made,” he said.
The PPP last week threatened to withdraw its support for Sharif’s ruling coalition government if it decided to go ahead with building the new canals. Bhutto Zardari’s party, which emerged as the second-largest political party after the controversial 2024 general election in Pakistan, Sharif get elected prime minister last year.
The PPP settled for the presidency and governorships in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces, areas where it performed poorly in the national polls.
Islamabad says India planning ‘wave of terrorism’ in Pakistani cities, vows ‘tit-for-tat’ response
- Suspected militants killed 26 people at a popular tourist attraction in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam area
- Both countries have since taken slew of retaliatory measures including closing only land border, suspending special visas
ISLAMABAD: Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Thursday accused India of preparing to launch a “wave of terrorism” in Pakistani cities, warning that Islamabad would retaliate with a “tit-for-tat” response as relations between the nuclear-armed rivals plummeted following a deadly militant attack in Kashmir.
On Tuesday, gunmen killed 26 men at a tourist site in the Pahalgam area of Indian-administered Kashmir in the worst attack on civilians in the country in nearly two decades. India alleged cross-border involvement, without offering proof, and announced a raft of measures to downgrade ties on Wednesday including suspending a six-decade-old river-sharing treaty as well as closing the only land crossing between the neighbors. Pakistan followed with its own actions that included shutting its airspace to Indian planes and rejecting New Delhi’s suspension of the critical water agreement.
Islamabad warned Delhi the suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty would be seen as an “act of war” to which Pakistan would respond with “full force across the complete spectrum of national power.”
The nuclear-armed nations, who have both fought two out of three wars over the disputed region of Kashmir since 1947, frequently accuse each other of carrying out cross-border attacks.
“According to our information, India is preparing to launch a wave of terrorism in various Pakistani cities instead of opting for an all-out war,” Asif told reporters at a news briefing.
“And I want to make it absolutely clear that we are fully prepared to counter this wave of terrorism.”
Asif and three other federal ministers were briefing the media on Pakistan’s retaliatory measures, including that Islamabad would exercise the right to hold all bilateral agreements with India, including but not limited to the 1972 Simla Agreement, in abeyance. In the absence of the Simla deal, India loses its rationale for wanting the Kashmir dispute to be treated as a bilateral dispute that must be settled only through bilateral negotiations. Under the treaty, New Delhi has consistently denied any third party intervention in the conflict, even from the United Nations.
Pakistan also closed the Attari-Wagah land border, the only operational land port between the two nations, with immediate effect and suspended all cross-border transit from India through this route “without exception.”
With no direct flights operating between the two countries, the move cuts all transport links between them.
Islamabad also suspended all visas under the SAARC Visa Exemption Scheme (SVES) issued to Indian nationals, deeming them canceled with immediate effect, with the exception of Sikh pilgrims who frequently travel to Pakistan to visit religious sites. Pakistan gave Indian nationals currently in Pakistan under SVES 48 hours to leave, and said Indian defense, naval and air advisers in Islamabad had been declared “persona non grata.”
“Our response will be tit-for-tat, four citizens are targeted, Indian citizens will also not remain safe in their cities,” the defense minister said.
Asif warned that even if a single Pakistani citizen was killed in an Indian-planned “terrorist” attack, Delhi would “pay for it.”
“This should be absolutely clear to them,” he said.
“BLAME GAME”
The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, allocates the six Indus Basin rivers between India and Pakistan, with the Bank acting as its guarantor.
Pakistan has rights to the western rivers — Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab — for irrigation, drinking, and non-consumptive uses like hydropower. India controls the eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej — for unrestricted use but must not significantly alter their flow.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar, who addressed the news conference alongside Asif, said the treaty was “sacred” for Pakistan and could not legally be “unilaterally” terminated.
“Pakistan has all the avenues and options available at the international level under the Indus Waters Treaty and the Vienna Convention and will exercise them if the treaty is unilaterally suspended,” he said.
Pakistan and India both claim Kashmir in full but rule it in part. India has long accused Pakistan of helping Islamist separatists who have battled security forces in its part of the territory, accusations Islamabad denies.
Indian officials have said Tuesday’s attack had “cross-border linkages” and Kashmiri police, in notices identifying three people “involved” in the violence, said two of them were Pakistani nationals. India has not elaborated on the links or shared proof.
Pakistan has said India’s accusations were made without any “credible investigation” or “verifiable evidence,” saying they are “frivolous” and “devoid of rationality.”
It has also called on India to refrain from a “reflexive blame game” and to take responsibility for its “failure to provide security” to people.
Hundreds protest in Pakistan over India’s threats
- A protest called by a religious party was attended by around 700 people Lahore
- Around 300 people holding anti-India placards marched through Muzaffarabad
LAHORE: Hundreds of Pakistanis joined protests across the country on Thursday, including in Kashmir, to rage against Indian threats after a deadly attack on tourists across the contested border.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to pursue and punish the gunmen responsible for killing 26 civilians in the tourist hotspot of Pahalgam on Tuesday, accusing Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism.”
The attack in Indian-administered, Muslim-majority Kashmir was the deadliest for a quarter of a century and marked a dramatic shift with the targeting of civilians instead of Indian security forces.
“If India wants to go to war, then come forward openly,” businessman Ajmal Baloch told AFP at a protest called by a religious party and attended by around 700 people Lahore, where the main border crossing with India is located.
India has said it will suspend the Indus Water Treaty, which shares critical water between the two nuclear-armed neighbors, although it has no major means of restricting the river’s flow downstream to Pakistan.
However, protesters including Baloch raged against the “unacceptable” threat.
“Water is our right and, God willing, we will reclaim it, even if that means through war. We will not back down,” 25-year-old Muhammad Owais said.
Around 300 people brandishing placards carrying anti-India slogans marched through the main city of Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
“If India makes the mistake of attacking, the Pakistani Kashmiris will fight on the frontline, we’re ready to die for Pakistan,” said Shoukat Javed Mir, a senior leader of the Pakistan People’s Party in the region.
In Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, around 150 people staged a protest.
Pakistani Olympic gold medalist Arshad Nadeem declines invitation to India championship
- Indian javelin star Neeraj Chopra has invited Nadeem to participate in Bengaluru Classic Throwing Championship on May 24
- Nadeem cites participation at 26th Asian Athletics Championships in South Korea from May 27-31 for skipping Indian event
KARACHI: Pakistani Olympic gold medalist Arshad Nadeem this week declined Indian javelin star Neeraj Chopra’s invitation to participate in the Bengaluru Classic Throwing Championship due to prior commitments.
The Bengaluru Classic Throwing Championship, also known as the Neeraj Chopra Classic, is an international javelin event set to be held on May 24 as part of the World Athletics Gold Label series to promote elite competition in India.
Nadeem, 28, cited participation at the 26th Asian Athletics Championships scheduled from May 27-31 in Gumi, South Korea, as the reason for skipping the Indian event.
“Yes, I am not going,” he told Arab News in a text message. “Because I am going to the Asian Championships.”
According to the official Olympics website, Nadeem said Chopra’s event was scheduled for May 24 while he had to leave for South Korea on May 22.
“I have been training hard for the Asian Championship,” it quoted him as saying. “I am grateful to Chopra for inviting me to the event.”
Nadeem made history at the Paris 2024 Olympics by winning Pakistan’s first-ever athletics gold with a record-breaking javelin throw of 92.97 meters. His throw not only set a new Olympic and Asian record but also ended Pakistan’s 32-year Olympic medal drought.
He has since become a national hero, inspiring millions with his journey from humble beginnings in smalltown Mian Channu to the top of the Olympic podium.
