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Pakistan PM condemns Israel’s Gaza school strike that killed nearly 100 Palestinians

Pakistan PM condemns Israel’s Gaza school strike that killed nearly 100 Palestinians
Palestinians look at the damage at the site of an Israeli strike on a school sheltering displaced people, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Gaza City August 10, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 10 August 2024
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Pakistan PM condemns Israel’s Gaza school strike that killed nearly 100 Palestinians

Pakistan PM condemns Israel’s Gaza school strike that killed nearly 100 Palestinians
  • Sharif urges the international community to halt Israel’s war, calling its recent attack ‘unprecedented’
  • He calls for the enforcement of an ICJ ruling demanding Israel cease its offensive, withdraw from Gaza
Updated 10 August 2024
SAIMA SHABBIR
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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday condemned Israel’s attack on a school in Gaza, saying it had “crossed all limits” following international media reports of nearly 100 fatalities in what appears to be one of the deadliest strikes since the war began in October last year.
A civil defense official in Gaza informed the media that three Israeli rockets had targeted the school, which housed displaced Palestinians uprooted by 10 months of war in the area.
He also said the death toll was between 90 and 100, with dozens more wounded in the attack.
The Israeli military, however, said it had targeted an active “military facility,” adding that the strike had killed around 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad members.
“Israel has crossed all limits with its brutal actions,” the prime minister said in an official statement. “An attack on schoolchildren is open aggression. Such barbarity is unprecedented in history.”
“The international community, including the United Nations, should take practical steps to stop Israel’s brutality,” he added.
Sharif prayed for all the people who lost their lives in the attack and expressed condolences to their families.
“We once again reiterate our demand that the Israeli leadership and security forces be brought to justice for the genocide and war crimes against Palestinians,” he continued. “Israel should be severely punished for its cruel actions.”
The prime minister also referred to the verdict of the top United Nations court earlier this year in May wherein it ordered Israel to halt its offensive of the southern city of Rafah and withdraw from the Gaza Strip.
“The International Court of Justice’s decision against Israel should be enforced,” he said.
Sharif also noted that Pakistan would continue to extend moral and diplomatic support to Palestinians on every front.
Israel launched its air and ground offensive targeting Gaza following the October 7 surprise attack by Hamas, in which nearly 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 taken hostage.
The Palestinian group maintained its attack was in response to the deteriorating conditions faced by Palestinian people living under occupation.
Israel’s response was widely viewed as disproportionate by the international community, with nearly 40,000 people, mostly women and children, having lost their lives so far.

Topics: War on Gaza Pakistan Palestine

Pakistan’s Punjab bans washing cars at home in bid to conserve water

Pakistan’s Punjab bans washing cars at home in bid to conserve water
Updated 13 February 2025
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Pakistan’s Punjab bans washing cars at home in bid to conserve water

Pakistan’s Punjab bans washing cars at home in bid to conserve water
  • Pakistan high court last Friday issued directives to ban washing cars at homes in Punjab
  • Punjab Environment Agency says will impose fine of Rs10,000 [$35.57] on violators 
Updated 13 February 2025
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The government in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province on Thursday banned washing cars at home, saying that it would impose a fine of Rs10,000 [$35.75] on violators as it seeks to implement a high court’s earlier directive to conserve water. 

The Environmental Protection Agency Punjab issued the directives in compliance with an order by the Lahore High Court (LHC) last Friday banning the washing of cars at home and directed authorities to consider imposing a fine of $35.57 on violators. 

The high court also directed that filling stations without water treatment plants should be sealed with an initial warning, followed by a fine of Rs100,000 [$357.50]. 

The directives came after the court heard several petitions related to ineffective measures by officials against smog, local media reports said. 

“Ban on the use of water for washing of cars and use of hose pipes in the houses,” a notification from the EPA said. “Anyone found in violation of these directions will be imposed a fine of Rs.10,000.”

The provincial agency also banned oil washing of vehicles, and ordered immediate closure of all illegal/unapproved car wash and service stations in the province in compliance with the court’s orders. 

“Mandatory installation of carwash wastewater recycling system and U-Channels at all Car wash Stations by 28th February, 2025,” the notification said.

“In case the petrol pumps are found to be lacking in their obligations in this regard, fine of Rs. 100,000/- shall be imposed on the defaulting petrol pumps, in addition to sealing of car wash area.”

The notification cited an earlier warning by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) in which it had highlighted that Punjab had experienced 42 percent below normal rainfall from Sept. 1, 2024, to Jan. 15, 2025. 

The PMD had said that Sindh, Balochistan and Punjab were the most affected provinces where rainfall deficits of 52 percent, 45 percent, and 42 percent, respectively, have been recorded.

Water-stressed Pakistan has a population of 241.49 million people with a growth rate of 2.55 percent. Linked to that, per capita water availability has been on a downward trend for decades. 
In 1947, when Pakistan was created, the figure stood at about 5,000 cubic meters per person, according to the World Bank. Today it is 1,000 cubic meters. 
It will decline further with the population expected to double in the next 50 years, climate change experts say, pointing out that Pakistan needs intervention on a range of water-related issues: from the impact of climate change to hydropower, from transboundary water-sharing to irrigated and rain-fed agriculture, and from drinking water to sanitation.

Topics: water enviornment car wash water conservation

Army says 13 militants killed in counterterrorism operations in northwestern Pakistan

Army says 13 militants killed in counterterrorism operations in northwestern Pakistan
Updated 13 February 2025
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Army says 13 militants killed in counterterrorism operations in northwestern Pakistan

Army says 13 militants killed in counterterrorism operations in northwestern Pakistan
  • Pakistan Army says militants killed in operations in Dera Ismail Khan, North Waziristan, Khyber and Lakki Marwat districts
  • Pakistan has seen a surge in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between TTP and the state broke down in November 2022
Updated 13 February 2025
Shahjahan Khurram

ISLAMABAD: Security forces killed 13 militants in five separate counterterrorism operations in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province this week, Pakistan army’s media wing said on Thursday, vowing to eliminate militancy from the country. 

Security forces conducted five different operations between Feb. 12-13, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement, with the first one taking place in Dera Ismail Khan district in which five militants were killed. 

In North Waziristan district, another five militants were killed in two separate gunbattles while two other militants were killed in Lakki Marwat district. In the last operation, one militant was killed in the Khyber district. 

“Weapons and ammunition were also recovered from the killed khwarij, who remained actively involved in numerous terrorist activities against the security forces as well as killing of innocent civilians,” the ISPR said, referring to the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants. 

The army said it was launching sanitization operations to eliminate other militants found in the area.

“Security forces of Pakistan are determined to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” the ISPR said. 

Pakistan has seen a surge in militancy in KP since a fragile truce between TTP and the state broke down in November 2022. The militants have stepped up attacks against police and security forces in recent months, with the military reporting deaths of 383 soldiers and 925 militants in various clashes in the country in 2024.

The Pakistani Taliban have frequently targeted security forces and police convoys and check-posts, besides targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in the region.

Islamabad has frequently blamed the surge in militancy on Afghanistan, accusing it of sheltering and supporting militant groups that launch cross-border attacks. 

Afghan officials deny involvement and insist that Pakistan’s security issues are an internal matter of Islamabad.

Topics: Pakistan Army

Pakistan army chief denies receiving much-publicized letters from ex-PM Imran Khan 

Pakistan army chief denies receiving much-publicized letters from ex-PM Imran Khan 
Updated 13 February 2025
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Pakistan army chief denies receiving much-publicized letters from ex-PM Imran Khan 

Pakistan army chief denies receiving much-publicized letters from ex-PM Imran Khan 
  • Khan says he wrote two open letters to army chief this month on alleged rigging, rights abuses in Pakistan
  • General Asim Munir says would dispatch any letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif if he did receive it
Updated 13 February 2025
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir has denied receiving any letters from jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, state-run media reported on Thursday, saying he would dispatch it to PM Shehbaz Sharif if he did receive it. 

Khan, who has been in jail since August 2023 on a slew of charges he says are politically motivated, said this month he had written two open letters to Munir this month highlighting the alleged shrinking space for democracy in the country due to rights abuses and “rigging” in last year’s election. 

The former prime minister was ousted from power in April 2022 via a parliamentary vote after falling out with Pakistan’s powerful army generals. Khan blames the military for colluding with his political rivals to orchestrate his ouster, a charge the military denies and reiterates that it does not interfere in political matters. 

Munir was speaking to reporters informally at a luncheon hosted for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Islamabad on Thursday when he spoke about Khan’s letters. 

“The Army Chief said he has not received any letter from anyone,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported. “However, if it is received, he would dispatch it to the Prime Minister.”

In Khan’s first letter to Munir this month, he called for a reevaluation of current political policies, alleging that his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party was being targeted by the state.

Tensions between the PTI and the army have remained at fever-pitch especially after Khan’s brief arrest on May 9, 2023, in a land graft case that sparked countrywide protests. 

Angry supporters carrying the PTI’s flags attacked and ransacked military installations in an unprecedented backlash against the army. 

The military has called the day of the protests a “Black Day” and vowed to punish those involved. Since then, at least 5,000 of Khan’s supporters have been arrested, and dozens of his top party leaders have defected after they faced increasing pressure from the military establishment to do so, according to his supporters. The army denies the allegations. 

Thousands of Khan supporters marched toward Islamabad in November 2024 to demand his release from prison. The government says four troops were killed in the ensuing clashes by Khan supporters, a charge the PTI denies and says its loyalists were instead shot and killed. 

Topics: army chief asim munir Ex-PM Imran Khan

Pakistani PM, Turkish president discuss Middle East crisis, express ‘unwavering solidarity’ with Palestinians

Pakistani PM, Turkish president discuss Middle East crisis, express ‘unwavering solidarity’ with Palestinians
Updated 13 February 2025
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Pakistani PM, Turkish president discuss Middle East crisis, express ‘unwavering solidarity’ with Palestinians

Pakistani PM, Turkish president discuss Middle East crisis, express ‘unwavering solidarity’ with Palestinians
  • Turkish President Erdogan meets Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad
  • Development takes place as life limps back to normalcy in war-ravaged Palestine
Updated 13 February 2025
Hasaan Ali Khan

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan voiced “unwavering solidarity” with the Palestinian people, Sharif’s office said on Thursday, reiterating Palestinians’ right to self-determination under a two-state solution. 

The development takes place as life limps to normalcy in war-ravaged Gaza, where Israel killed at least 48,000 people during the 15-month war triggered by Hamas’ surprise attack on Oct. 7, 2023. Around 1,200 Israelis were killed and 251 were taken as hostages in Hamas’ lightening offensive. 

Israel and Hamas last month reached an uneasy truce that has halted 15 months of war between the two sides. Aid trucks continue to supply food and medicines to the Palestinian people in Gaza as the fragile truce holds. 

The recent interaction between Erdogan and Sharif follows the Turkish president’s bilateral meeting with Sharif. Erdogan arrived in Pakistan late Wednesday for a two-day visit to boost trade and investment ties between the countries. 

“Both leaders also discussed recent developments in the Middle East during the course of which they expressed unwavering solidarity with the Palestinian people,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said. 

He reiterated Pakistan’s call for a two-state solution with an independent and sovereign state of Palestine with pre-1967 borders and Al Quds Al Sharif as its capital, Sharif’s office said. 

The statement also comes in the wake of recent controversial remarks by American President Donald Trump to resettle Gaza’s Palestinian residents and redevelop the enclave.

Under Trump’s scheme, Gaza’s about 2.2 million Palestinians would be resettled in Egypt, Jordan and other countries, and the United States would take control and ownership of the coastal territory, redeveloping it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

On Wednesday, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan also expressed concern in a phone call about Trump’s proposal to displace Palestinians from Gaza.

Trump’s comments have been rejected by Egypt and Jordan, while Arab countries and Pakistan have strongly criticized it. 
 

Topics: Pakistan Turkey Ties

Police charge Pakistan couple with murder of child maid

Police charge Pakistan couple with murder of child maid
Updated 13 February 2025
AFP
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Police charge Pakistan couple with murder of child maid

Police charge Pakistan couple with murder of child maid
  • Iqra, 13, was taken to hospital in city of Rawalpindi on Tuesday in a critical condition and later died of severe injuries.
  • Rashid Shafiq and his wife Sana were charged with murder, remanded in custody for four days to allow for investigation
Updated 13 February 2025
AFP

ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani couple appeared in court on Thursday accused of murdering a child maid, who police said they beat with a rolling pin for allegedly stealing chocolate.
Thirteen-year-old Iqra, who had only one name, was taken to hospital in the garrison city of Rawalpindi on Tuesday in a critical condition and later died of severe injuries.
A spokesman for Rawalpindi police said Rashid Shafiq and his wife Sana, who also goes by one name, were charged with murder and remanded in custody for four days to allow for an investigation.
“Initially it was ascertained that the lady used a rolling pin for torture,” spokesman Sajjad ul Hassan told AFP.
“The victim had multiple fractures; legs, ankle, arms, head. All this happened due to a missing chocolate,” he said.
Child labor in domestic work remains widespread in Pakistan, according to an International Labour Organization report from 2022, with one in every four households employing a child in domestic work, predominantly girls aged 10-14.
It is illegal to employ individuals under the age of 15 but it remains a common practice, with impoverished parents often sending their young daughters to work.
Iqra’s father Sana Ullah, who lives in a rural Punjab village, told AFP that his daughter had been working with the couple for the past 22 months, during which they paid him 8,000 rupees (around $28) a month.
“The beasts tortured my daughter in a way that no human could ever do,” he told AFP.
“I demand justice for this brutality.”
Domestic workers frequently face exploitation, violence and sexual abuse, with Pakistan’s patriarchal and rigid social-class structure leaving them without a voice.
In the past, parents frequently forgave the accused through out-of-court settlements under Islamic law, which allows the victim’s heirs to either seek retribution or accept compensation in the form of blood money.
Prosecutions for housemaid abuse are rare despite media attention on high-profile cases, with perpetrators facing few or no consequences.
In 2020, a couple in the same city was arrested for allegedly murdering their seven-year-old maid, who was blamed for letting a pet bird escape.

Topics: domestic worker Child abuse

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