Pakistan calls on Sudan’s warring parties to engage, work to end humanitarian crisis
Pakistan calls on Sudan’s warring parties to engage, work to end humanitarian crisis/node/2588075/pakistan
Pakistan calls on Sudan’s warring parties to engage, work to end humanitarian crisis
Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Munir Akram, addresses UN Security Council in New York, US, on January 27, 2025. (@PakistanUN_NY/X)
ISLAMABAD: Ambassador Munir Akram, Pakistan’s permanent representative to the United Nations, has called on Sudan’s warring parties to re-engage in negotiations to end a 21-month-long war that has killed tens of thousands, driven millions from their homes and plunged half of the population into hunger.
The war between Sudan’s army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) broke out in April 2023 due to disputes over the integration of the two forces. The war has displaced more than 12 million people, while plunging half the population of 49 million people into hunger, for which both the RSF and army are blamed.
“We call on both sides to implement the commitments made under Jeddah declaration on protection of civilians and the facilitation of humanitarian action to meet the emergency needs of the Sudanese people,” Akram said in a speech to the UN Security Council.
The Pakistani envoy spoke after the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, briefed the 15-member council on the deteriorating situation in Sudan’s Darfur region on Monday.
“The blatant violations of international humanitarian law with impunity must stop, and the suffering of the Sudanese people brought to an end,” Akram said. “The Sudanese people have seen unimaginable atrocities during the nearly two years of the recent conflict.”
He extended Pakistan’s condolences to the victims and their families of a RSF drone attack on a Saudi hospital last week in which at least 70 people were killed.
“Pakistan firmly upholds the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sudan,” Akram added. “We call for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire … The parties need to find a sustainable political resolution through peaceful means. The humanitarian crisis in the country needs to be addressed.”
Akram said although Pakistan was not a party to the Rome Treaty establishing the ICC, it was committed to the objective of accountability for international crimes, whether they were committed in Darfur, Gaza, Afghanistan, or elsewhere.
“The ICC can gain global credibility if it displays full objectivity and impartiality in the cases and persons it decides to investigate and prosecute,” he said. “Some jurisdictions have so far been immune from prosecution for widely reported crimes, including those committed in situations of foreign occupation and intervention.”
Pakistan outlaws disinformation with three-year jail term
Law was rushed through parliament with little warning last week
New bill will now pass to the president to be rubber stamped
Updated 19 min 18 sec ago
AFP
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan criminalized online disinformation on Tuesday, passing legislation that enshrines punishments of up to three years in prison, a decision journalists say is designed to crack down on dissent.
“I have heard more ‘yes’ than ‘no’, so the bill is approved,” Syedaal Khan, deputy chair of Pakistan’s Senate, said amid protest from the opposition and journalists, who walked out of the gallery.
The law targets anyone who “intentionally disseminates” information online that they have “reason to believe to be false or fake and likely to cause or create a sense of fear, panic or disorder or unrest.”
The law was rushed through the National Assembly with little warning last week before being presented to the Senate on Tuesday, and will now pass to the president to be rubber stamped.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani deputy prime minister Ishaq Dar on Tuesday met Chinese Ambassador Jiang Zaidong and reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to an ‘all-weather strategic’ partnership between the two nations, after days of controversy that has threatened to strain ties between the longtime allies.
Pakistan-China relations have been in the spotlight in recent months as Beijing has publicly criticized Islamabad about security lapses and threats to its nationals and projects in Pakistan. Last week, Pakistan had to issue a series of clarifications after Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi reportedly attended an event in Washington where he met people aligned with a political movement opposed to the Chinese state.
On Monday, the Guardian published a report quoting a top Chinese official criticizing Pakistan’s “false rhetoric” around projects that are part of the joint multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and expressing “serious concerns” over the scheme’s future due to security challenges. The Chinese embassy later rejected the contents of the article as “completely false.”
“They reaffirmed the Pak-China All-Weather Strategic Partnership, which is a cornerstone of bilateral relations between the two states,” Dar’s office said in a statement after he met Jiang.
“During the meeting, they reviewed the progress of CPEC 2.0, a significant project aimed at enhancing economic cooperation and regional connectivity. Both sides expressed their commitment to elevating bilateral ties to new heights, further solidifying their strategic partnership.”
Jiang also invited Dar to the UN Security Council event, “Practicing Multilateralism, Reforming and Improving Global Governance,” hosted by China under its presidency of the UNSC on Feb. 18 in New York.
“The Deputy Prime Minister accepted the invitation, underscoring Pakistan’s commitment to multilateral cooperation,” the statement added.
Beijing has pledged to build energy, infrastructure and other projects as part of the over $60 billion CPEC scheme launched in 2015 as a flagship of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative to grant China access to trade routes in Asia and Africa.
Recent attacks, including one in October 2024 in which two Chinese workers were killed in a suicide bombing in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, have forced Beijing to publicly criticize Pakistan and media has widely reported in recent months that China wants its own security forces on the ground to protect its nationals and projects, a demand Islamabad has long resisted.
Progress on the economic corridor has been slow, particularly in the restive southwestern Balochistan province where China is building a deep-sea port and last week opened Pakistan’s largest airport in the coastal town of Gwadar, among other mega projects.
Ethnic separatist groups target Chinese interests in the area, blaming both the governments in Pakistan and China of exploiting the province’s natural resources and neglecting the local population, allegations both Beijing and Islamabad deny. Gwadar residents have held intermittent protests for months, saying Chinese projects in the area have not improved the lives of the local population.
Pakistan has repeatedly assured China it will protect its nationals in the country from militant threats and has tightened security protocols for Chinese investors and nationals. Islamabad says attacks on Chinese nationals are an “international conspiracy” to sour ties.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq confirmed on Tuesday the party of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan had boycotted the latest round of reconciliatory talks with the government, launched in December to cool political temperatures in the South Asian nation.
Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party mainly demands the release of political prisoners and the setting up of two judicial commissions to probe the events that led to his arrest in August 2023, and violent protest rallies, including one on May 9, 2023, when his supporters rampaged through military offices and installations, and a second on Nov. 26, 2024, in which the government says four troops were killed.
Negotiations started last month and three rounds have been held so far. At the last meeting on Jan. 16, the PTI had given the government seven days to announce the truth commissions, a deadline that expired last Thursday. The PTI subsequently announced it was abandoning the talks process.
“I, again, expect opposition and government members to find out a way for negotiations,” Ayaz Sadiq, who represents the government side, told reporters.
“When there are negotiations going on, it’s not right to put conditions first. You must sit for negotiations and then decide that you agree on something or not … but even that couldn’t happen, unfortunately.”
He said he was calling off the day’s meeting as the PTI committee did not show up. However, the government’s dialogue committee would remain intact and would not be dissolved, he added:
“I wish both sides work something out.”
A Pakistani court earlier this month sentenced Khan to 14 years in prison in a land corruption case, a setback to the nascent talks’ process.
The negotiations started last month as Khan had threatened a civil disobedience movement and amid growing concerns he could face trial by a military court for allegedly inciting attacks on sensitive security installations during the May 9 protests.
Khan’s first arrest in May 2023 in the land graft case in which he was sentenced last week sparked countrywide protests that saw his supporters attack and ransack military installations in an unprecedented backlash against Pakistan’s powerful army generals. Although Khan was released days later, he was rearrested in August of that year after being convicted in a corruption case. He remains in prison and says all cases against him are politically motivated.
Protests demanding Khan’s release in November also turned violent, with the PTI saying 12 supporters were killed while the state said four troops had died.
KAKUL, Pakistan: On a chilly day earlier this month, hundreds of cadets marched together in formation, fists clenched, eyes looking straight ahead as they performed an early morning drill.
It was a usual day of training at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in northwestern Pakistan, where approximately 2,000 gentlemen cadets daily sweat through the rudiments of leadership in preparation for commission as officers in the army. Among them are 132 foreign cadets, of whom 49 are Palestinians.
The PMA was created less than two months after Pakistan gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Since then, over 1600 cadets from 31 foreign nations, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine, Qatar and Bahrain, have trained at the facility.
One current student is 21 years old Imaduddin, a resident of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, who arrived at the PMA in December 2022, enrolling first in an English language course to hone his communication skills and then getting into the 152 PMA Long Course, known for its tough physical fitness and military training programs.
“I have seen the tough training of the PMA that makes me proud and makes me confident to be fit enough to transform from a civilian to a military personality,” said Imaduddin, who is studying military and academic subjects as well as taking part in physical fitness and other training drills.
The picture taken on January 21, 2025, shows the entrance of Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in northwestern Pakistan. (AN photo)
According to the military’s media wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), cadets at PMA are given academic training focused on military strategy, leadership principles, and modern warfare techniques, along with rigorous physical training to ensure peak fitness and endurance. They are also trained in drill for discipline and precision, and in weapon handling to operate various arms proficiently.
“The most important [characteristic] I have learned here is discipline,” Imaduddin said.
Palestinian cadets receive a briefing at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in northwestern Pakistan on January 22, 2025. (AN photo)
Another Palestinian cadet, Muhammad Eid, 21, said the training he received from Pakistani instructors at the PMA was “transformative,” enabling him to enhance his physical fitness and discipline.
“After passing out, we will share our experience and knowledge with Palestinian troops back home,” Eid told Arab News.
Muhammad Eid attend a military briefing at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in northwestern Pakistan on January 22, 2025. (AN photo)
The 15-month Gaza war which began in October 2023 until a ceasefire was signed between Israel and Hamas earlier this month has fueled passion in the hearts of many of the Palestinian cadets that Arab News spoke to.
“Of course, we feel this pressure [of the Palestine situation] in our hearts and our minds,” Imaduddin said. “And this should give us the motivation to work hard and do everything and learn a lot for my country and my family and my people over there in Palestine.”
Palestinian cadet Imaduddin talks to Arab News at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in northwestern Pakistan on January 22, 2025. (AN photo)
Twenty-year-old Palestinian cadet Muhammad Yahya Arafat also told Arab News he aimed to use the “very good training” he was receiving at the PMA to help his Palestinian compatriots back home.
“I am motivated to go, to go back to my country to protect my people, because I get very good training,” he said. “I know how to protect my people and serve my country now.”
Palestinian cadet Muhammad Yahya Arafat talks to Arab News at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in northwestern Pakistan on January 22, 2025. (AN photo)
Major Mohammad Saad Khan, a platoon commander at PMA, said Palestinian cadets were fully integrated into platoons alongside Pakistani peers, with both taking part in rigorous physical conditioning and advanced academic programs together.
He praised Palestinian cadets for training with “all-out efforts” and forming close bonds with their Pakistani peers.
Cadets take part in a military exercise at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in northwestern Pakistan on January 22, 2025. (AN photo)
“They are highly motivated, and the enthusiasm that they have, the drive that they have is really encouraging,” Khan said.
Major Mohammad Saad Khan, a platoon commander, speaks to Arab News at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul in northwestern Pakistan on January 22, 2025. (AN photo)
“The spark in their training, the spark that is there in their eyes, it truly shows how committed they are to the service of their nation, how much they are worried about the sovereignty of their nation.”
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday thanked Morocco’s King Muhammad VI and the Moroccan government for the rescue of 22 Pakistani nationals in a shipwreck off the coast of Dakhla city as he met the Moroccan ambassador, Mohamed Karmoune, in Islamabad.
The boat capsized near Morocco’s coast on Jan. 15 while carrying 86 migrants, including 66 Pakistanis, according to migrant rights group Walking Borders. Pakistan’s Foreign Office said last week that it was in process of repatriating 22 survivors of the tragedy.
Pakistan’s embassy in Rabat has been working closely with Moroccan authorities to oversee the relief efforts and finalize the complex repatriation procedure, according to the Pakistani Foreign Office.
In his meeting with the Moroccan ambassador, Sharif expressed Pakistan’s “deep appreciation” of the Moroccan leadership for the support extended in rescuing stranded Pakistanis who had survived the boat capsize.
“He thanked the local Moroccan authorities for extending their full cooperation to the Pakistani officials involved in repatriation of the survivors as well as the remains of those deceased,” Sharif’s office said.
The Morocco tragedy has once again underscored the perilous journeys many migrants, including Pakistanis, embark on due to conflict and economic instability in their home countries.
In 2023, hundreds of migrants, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned when an overcrowded vessel sank in international waters off the southwestern Greek town of Pylos, marking one of the deadliest boat disasters ever recorded in the Mediterranean Sea. More recently, five Pakistani nationals died in a shipwreck off the southern Greek island of Gavdos on Dec. 14.
The Pakistani government has ramped up efforts in recent months to combat human smugglers facilitating dangerous journeys for illegal immigrants to Europe, resulting in several arrests.
Recalling brotherly ties between Pakistan and Morocco at Monday’s meeting, Sharif said there was a need to strengthen trade and investment cooperation between the two countries. Islamabad has been actively pursuing trade and investment opportunities to put the $350 billion South Asian economy on the path of recovery since avoiding a default in mid-2023.
The Moroccan ambassador reaffirmed his country’s commitment to further strengthen cooperation with Pakistan across all areas of shared interest, according to Sharif’s office.
“The two sides are working closely to convene meetings of the institutional consultative mechanisms, including Bilateral Political Consultations at an early date,” it added.
