KARACHI: Saudi and Pakistani authorities on Sunday formally launched the Makkah Route initiative at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, the Pakistani religious affairs ministry said, with a second flight under the project leaving the southern Pakistani city for Madinah.
Launched in 2019, the initiative allows for the completion of immigration procedures at the pilgrims’ country of departure. This makes it possible to bypass long immigration and customs checks upon reaching Saudi Arabia, which significantly reduces the waiting time and makes the entry process smoother and faster.
Pakistani pilgrims performing Hajj under the government scheme have been availing this facility at the airport in Islamabad for the last couple of years. Saudi authorities last month approved the expansion of the Makkah Route initiative to the Karachi airport.
Kamran Tessori, the governor of Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, Saudi Arabia’s Passport & Immigration Chairman Sulaiman Abdul Aziz Al-Yahya, Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki and other officials attended the inaugural ceremony.
“The Road to Makkah Project facility from the Saudi government was located at the Islamabad airport in the past years. Alhamdulillah, it has been started from Karachi this year too and 35,500 pilgrims from Karachi will benefit from this facility this year,” Tessori said, while addressing the ceremony.
“Under this facility, the pilgrims can receive the goods at their respective hotels in Saudi Arabia after all the necessary clearance from the airport in Pakistan.”
The Saudi Passport & Immigration chairman said the Makkah Route initiative was launched to enable pilgrims to complete immigration procedures before arriving in the Kingdom.
“Pakistan is one of the countries benefiting from this initiative and today, we are opening a second airport (Jinnah International Airport in Karachi) under the initiative,” he said.
The initiative, launched in 2019, has so far been implemented in five countries including Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco and Bangladesh.
The South Asian country expects more than 60 percent of pilgrims performing Hajj this year to benefit from the initiative. People opting for the private Hajj scheme can also avail the facility, given the tour operators providing them services have contacted the Pakistani religious ministry for the purpose, according to authorities.
Saudi Arabia last year restored Pakistan’s pre-pandemic Hajj quota of 179,210 pilgrims and abolished the upper age limit of 65 years. More than 81,000 Pakistani pilgrims performed Hajj under the government scheme in 2023, while the rest used private tour operators.
This year’s pilgrimage is expected to run from June 14 till June 19.
Authorities formally launch Makkah Route initiative at Pakistan’s Karachi airport
https://arab.news/wbdju
Authorities formally launch Makkah Route initiative at Pakistan’s Karachi airport
- Pakistani pilgrims performing Hajj under government scheme have been availing the facility in Islamabad
- Saudi authorities last month approved expansion of the Makkah Route initiative to the Karachi airport
Pakistan reports first-ever polio case in northern Gilgit-Baltistan, bringing 2025 tally to 11
- Pakistan concluded a nationwide polio vaccination campaign on June 1
- Pakistan, Afghanistan are only countries where polio remains endemic
KARACHI: Pakistan has detected the first-ever polio virus case in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, bringing this year’s tally to 11 cases, the polio eradication program said on Monday.
Polio is a paralyzing disease that has no cure. Multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of 5 are essential to provide children high immunity against the disease.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries in the world where polio remains endemic. The country reported 74 polio cases in 2024.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed a new case of wild poliovirus in District Diamer, Gilgit-Baltistan,” the polio eradication program said in a statement.
“This is the first case of wild poliovirus reported from Gilgit-Baltistan and the eleventh confirmed case in Pakistan this year.”
Pakistan concluded a nationwide polio vaccination campaign on June 1. The drive had aimed to inoculate 45 million children under the age of five across 159 districts of the country.
In the early 1990s, Pakistan reported around 20,000 polio cases annually. By 2018, that number had dropped to just eight. In 2021, only one case was reported, and six cases were recorded in 2023.
Pakistan’s polio eradication program began in 1994, but efforts have been repeatedly undermined by misinformation and resistance from some religious hard-liners. These groups claim that immunization is a foreign plot to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western espionage.
Militant groups have also frequently attacked polio vaccination teams and the security personnel assigned to protect them.
Last week, a Pakistani police officer was killed when gunmen opened fire on a team of health workers conducting a door-to-door polio vaccination campaign in the southwestern Balochistan province.
New virtual assets regulator tops agenda as Pakistan crypto council meets today
- Pakistan set up Pakistan Crypto Council to formulate legal framework for cryptocurrency trading and lure international investment
- Government also planning to launch Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority to oversee blockchain-based financial infrastructure
KARACHI: Pakistan plans to establish a regulatory body to oversee digital assets, with the proposal set to be at the top of the agenda of a meeting today, Monday, of the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC), the finance ministry said.
Pakistan set up the PCC in March to create a legal framework for cryptocurrency trading in a bid to lure international investment. In April, Pakistan introduced its first-ever policy framework, created by a special government group under the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Counter Terrorism Financing (CTF) authority, to set rules for how digital money like cryptocurrencies and the companies that deal in it should operate in Pakistan. The policy has been formulated to align with compliance and financial integrity guidelines of the global Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
Last month, the government also approved setting up the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA), a specialized regulatory body to oversee blockchain-based financial infrastructure.
“The Pakistan Crypto Council will convene a high-level meeting on Monday, 2nd June 2025, to be chaired by Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue,” the ministry said in a statement.
Aurangzeb is also the chairperson of the PCC.
“Key items on the agenda include the development of a robust regulatory framework to govern digital and virtual assets in Pakistan, in alignment with global standards and technological advancements,” the statement added.
“A focal point of discussion will be the groundwork for the establishment of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) — a proposed autonomous body to oversee the digital finance and crypto ecosystem in the country.”
Earlier this month, Pakistan announced the allocation of 2,000 megawatts (MW) of electricity in the first phase of a national initiative to power bitcoin mining and artificial intelligence data centers. The allocation is the first phase of a broader, multi-stage digital infrastructure roll-out.
Last week, Bilal Bin Saqib, the CEO of the Pakistan Crypto Council, unveiled the country’s first government-led strategic bitcoin reserve at the Bitcoin 2025 conference in Las Vegas.
The central bank said last week it had not declared virtual assets illegal but had in 2018 advised regulated entities to avoid dealing in virtual assets “due to the absence of any legal and regulatory framework.”
“This was done to protect its regulated entities and their customers from the risks emanating due to the absence of legal and regulatory framework for VAs in the country,” the central bank said in a statement.
“The SBP and Finance Division are currently engaged with the Pakistan Crypto Council established by the Federal Government for, among others, developing an appropriate legal and regulatory framework for VAs in Pakistan. We understand that the legal and regulatory framework would provide the requisite clarity and legal coverage about the VAs ensuring consumer and investor protection.”
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.”
