Pakistan’s climate minister orders action over black bear killing in northern region
Pakistan’s climate minister orders action over black bear killing in northern region/node/2607852/pakistan
Pakistan’s climate minister orders action over black bear killing in northern region
This file photo, posted on October 31, 20219, shows Himalayan bears feeding at the Balkasar Bear Sanctuary in Chakwal, Pakistan. (Photo courtesy: Indus Caravan Tours & Treks)
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Climate Change Dr. Musadik Malik on Saturday ordered strict action against a group of people who killed a black bear in the northern region of Gilgit-Baltistan, according to an official statement, saying such brutality cannot be overlooked under any circumstances.
A video of the incident circulating on social media shows three individuals pushing the unconscious bear down a rocky mountainside. Authorities have already lodged a police complaint and are working with the local community to ensure the accused are brought to justice.
“Such acts of violence against wildlife are utterly unacceptable and will not be allowed to continue under any circumstances,” an official statement quoted Malik as saying.
This screengrab from a viral video shows a Himalayan black bear being thrown off a cliff after reportedly being tortured and killed in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. (APP/Screengrab)
It added he had “directed the Wildlife Management Boards to take strict and immediate action against those responsible.”
The minister also stressed his commitment to protecting Pakistan’s wildlife and enforcing conservation laws across all regions, adding that community engagement was critical to prevent such incidents.
Acts of animal cruelty are not rare in Pakistan. In June 2024, a landlord in Sanghar district, Sindh, ordered the brutal amputation of a camel’s leg for straying into his fields. Days later, another mutilated camel was found dead in the region with its legs amputated.
Animal rights activists have also condemned practices like bear dancing, where the animals are trained by being forced to stand on hot metal plates, and bear baiting, a blood sport in which the chained bear is attacked by dogs for public spectacle.
Though officially banned, both practices have been reported in parts of the country over the years.
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday strongly defended his government’s structural reform agenda, particularly in tax administration, saying that difficult and often unpopular decisions were necessary to rebuild national institutions, as the country could no longer afford “business as usual.”
Speaking at an orientation session for participants of the Uraan Pakistan youth program, Sharif recalled the fragile economic conditions he inherited after assuming power following last year’s general elections.
He noted that Pakistan had narrowly avoided a sovereign default in mid-2023, when inflation surged to nearly 38 percent, before securing a critical bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The prime minister said his administration took on the “onerous task” of stabilizing the economy under immense pressure, choosing to pursue long-delayed reforms rather than temporary fixes.
“Pakistan had to undertake these long-overdue, deep structural changes if we had to find our lost place in the comity of nations through hard and untiring efforts,” he said.
Sharif pointed to a set of key reforms aligned with IMF recommendations, including the digitization of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).
He noted the transition from paper-based tax systems to digital and AI-led processes was already bearing fruit.
“Faceless interactions — these terminologies were unknown in FBR,” he said, adding that one previously underperforming sector saw its tax contribution rise from Rs12 billion to over Rs50 billion within a year due to improved enforcement.
The prime minister said his administration had prioritized accountability, removing senior FBR officials accused of corruption and resisting political pressure in doing so.
“It’s a long and thorny journey,” he continued. “We are facing bumps on the way and mountain-like impediments. But I can assure you, we will not shy away from discharging our responsibility.”
Sharif maintained that merit would remain the cornerstone of his governance model.
“Delivery is the name of the game,” he said. “Performance is the name of the game.”
Pakistan won’t send hockey teams to India — official sources
The two nuclear-armed states had a four-day military standoff in May that left 70 people dead
Pakistan’s refusal to participate in the Asia Cup can cost the team a place in next year’s World Cup
Updated 12 July 2025
AFP
KARACHI: Pakistan will not travel to India for upcoming hockey tournaments over “security” concerns, government sources told AFP on Saturday, potentially jeopardizing their place in next year’s World Cup.
The nuclear-armed neighbors traded the worst violence in decades during a four-day conflict in May that killed 70 people.
Pakistan was due to participate in the Men’s Asia Cup for field hockey to be hosted by India in August and September, for which the federation had sought the government’s clearance.
“After the recent war the security and safety of our hockey players will be at risk,” said a sports ministry source, who asked not to be identified.
Pakistan will also not participate in the Junior World Cup in India in November, the source said.
Once a force in international hockey, with three Olympic gold medals and four world titles, Pakistan has slumped to 15th in the rankings.
Not featuring in the Asia Cup will likely cost Pakistan a place in next year’s senior World Cup to be held in the Netherlands and Belgium.
A second government source also confirmed the decision to AFP.
Pakistan’s foreign office has not responded to AFP’s request for comment.
India stalled all bilateral sporting ties with Pakistan in the wake of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, which it blamed on militants based across the border.
Cricket has been the most affected sport, with the two countries only meeting each other in multinational events abroad.
India refused to visit Pakistan this year when it hosted the Champions Trophy, forcing the final to be staged on neutral ground in Dubai.
In a tit-for-tat move, Pakistan will also not send its women’s cricket team to India for the 50-over World Cup later this year and the T20 World Cup in 2026.
They agreed instead to play their matches in Sri Lanka.
Pakistan’s hockey team last toured India for the 2023 Asian Champions Trophy, finishing fifth among six teams.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Saturday called for deeper cooperation with Bahrain to combat narcotics trafficking and human smuggling, as both countries reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening bilateral security ties during his official visit to the Gulf state.
Pakistan and Bahrain share a longstanding relationship encompassing diplomacy, security, economic exchange and people-to-people links. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1971, the two nations have developed close political and military cooperation, including defense training, joint security initiatives and regular high-level engagements.
In recent years, with rising concerns over drug trafficking and human smuggling, both countries have intensified efforts to coordinate through formal channels to facilitate intelligence sharing and law enforcement collaboration.
“Enhanced cooperation between the interior ministries of Pakistan and Bahrain to counter narcotics and human smuggling is the need of the hour,” Naqvi said, according to an official statement issued after his meeting with his Bahraini counterpart, General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa.
The ministers discussed issues of mutual interest and emphasized the importance of strengthening bilateral cooperation in counterterrorism.
The discussion also emphasized the need to enhance the effectiveness of the Pakistan–Bahrain Joint Security Committee, a formal mechanism for coordinating on counterterrorism and related issues, while exploring ways to jointly address broader regional and global security challenges.
Bahrain’s interior minister welcomed the visit as an opportunity to deepen existing ties, describing the security cooperation and coordination between the two countries as “valued and constructive.”
He also expressed appreciation for Pakistan’s continued engagement across a range of sectors, with particular emphasis on security.
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s top aides left for the eastern city of Lahore from the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province and other parts to discuss the party’s political strategy and shape its protest movement against the government.
The development comes days after PTI provincial lawmakers protested in the Punjab Assembly during Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif’s speech on June 27, wherein she highlighted her government’s achievements and budget priorities, prompting the speaker to suspend 26 PTI members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) for 15 sessions.
However, members of the PTI, which plans to launch an anti-government protest movement later this month, maintained on their way to Lahore that the objective of their gathering in the eastern city was to express solidarity with the party’s suspended lawmakers, shape their future strategy and discuss matters relating to their upcoming movement.
“We have to take this [movement] up to the maximum till August 5 and for that, this is our first meeting being held in Lahore,” Ali Amin Gandapur, the KP chief minister and a top Khan aide, told reporters in Jhelum.
Gandapur didn’t offer further details and said their future course of action will be shared in due course.
Gohar Khan, another senior PTI member, said they had informed the Punjab government about their meeting in Lahore through a formal letter.
“We will go there today, and tomorrow brief discussion will take place there. But this is not a rally, we are going for a meeting,” he said. “Our 26 parliamentarians, MPAs, have been suspended... and we have summoned a parliamentary party meeting over there to finalize a future strategy.”
The PTI last week announced it would launch a nationwide protest movement against the government after the Islamic month of Muharram, days after Pakistan’s top court denied the party reserved parliamentary seats for minorities and women.
The party has frequently held protests in recent years, demanding a probe into Feb. 2024 election results and the release of Khan, who has been jailed for nearly two years. Pakistani authorities deny the allegations and accuse the ex-premier and his party of leading violent anti-government protests in the past, particularly in May 2023 and Nov. 2024.
The PTI announced the latest round of protests after the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench on June 27 ruled that the party was not entitled to reserved seats in the national and provincial assemblies, upholding an earlier verdict by the Peshawar High Court. The dispute arose after the PTI lost its electoral symbol ahead of the February 8, 2024 national polls and its candidates contested as independents.
Despite PTI-backed candidates winning the most general seats, the party was denied reserved seats for women and minorities, which are allocated to political parties based on proportional representation, by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).
ISLAMABAD: Saeed Khan tapped his wooden staff rhythmically as he guided over two dozen cattle and sheep into a livestock enclosure bound by mud and fencing fashioned out of thorny branches. The soft sound of hooves over the dusty ground could be heard as Khan went about his work, with the occasional sound of bleats filling the air.
Khan, 48, is a member of the nomadic Kuchi tribe that traces its origins to Afghanistan. The Kuchis depend on animals for their livelihood and their movements historically were determined by the weather and the availability of good pastures.
Khan, whose ancestors used to come to Pakistan only during the winters and would return to the high-altitude pastures of Afghanistan during summers, made Pakistan his permanent home in the ‘80s, but he now fears for the future, with
Islamabad’s June 30 deadline for Afghan Proof of Registration (PoR) card holders to leave the country over by almost two weeks.
“At first, there wasn’t any card issue,” Khan told Arab News, minding his flock in Islamabad. “Our people didn’t know much about it. It’s only now that the problem has come up, that we’ve realized.”
Children from the Afghan Kuchi community play outside their makeshift homes on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on May 1, 2025. (AN)
The problem Khan referred to is a controversial deportation drive that Pakistan launched in 2023 against what it described as “illegal foreigners,” mostly Afghans, in the country. Islamabad this year said it wanted 3 million Afghans to leave the country, including 1.4 million people with PoR cards and some 800,000 with Afghan Citizen Cards (ACC).
According to data from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), more than 900,000 Afghans have left Pakistan since the expulsion drive began. While Pakistan deported thousands of ACC holders, the government said those with PoR cards could stay until June 30.
The Pakistan government cites economic stress and security concerns as reasons to push ahead with the expulsion drive, while human rights advocates say the move threatens people who have lived in Pakistan for decades and contributed significantly to its informal economy and urban infrastructure.
The Kuchi nomads would spend the winters in the Indus Valley region or parts of southern Afghanistan and Balochistan before heading for the Hindu Kush mountains in the summer each year, according to Professor Thomas Barfield, president of the American Institute of Afghanistan Studies and a leading anthropologist on Afghan culture at Boston University. Presently, they number around a million in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Khan, after settling in Pakistan, has raised animals not only to sell them for the Eid Al-Adha sacrifice, when cattle are in high demand, but also for exports.
“I do both cattle and sheep [farming],” Khan explained. “Especially Turkish sheep for sacrifice. [But] most of our animals go to factories, one in Raiwind Lahore, one in Kasur, one in Kamoke, then they’re exported abroad.”
Cattle return to their shelter at a livestock enclosure on the outskirts of Islamabad, Pakistan, on May 1, 2025. (AN)
There are many mud shelters near Khan’s home along the Qur’ang river in Islamabad that now lie abandoned. They were once inhabited by Kuchi families who had ACCs but were expelled by Pakistani authorities.
The empty shelters serve as a stark reminder for Khan and other PoR card-holders such as his nephew, Mohammad Ullah, of what the future may bring.
“This place where they used to live, they left it as they were,” Ullah told Arab News, pointing to the empty huts.
Some ACC holders remain, concealing their identity out of fear of deportation, but the majority of Kuchis here holds PoR cards. Some of the Kuchis were left out when they were being registered as they were away herding animals in remote areas.
A Kuchi person, who spoke to Arab News on condition of anonymity, said his entire family had PoR cards except for him.
“The thing is, we have six children here. If I go to Afghanistan, my children will stay here, right?” he asked. “So, what will I do there, and what will they do here?”
An ACC cardholder from the Afghan Kuchi tribe looks at Turkish sheep inside his livestock enclosure in Islamabad, Pakistan, on May 1, 2025. (AN)
Khan also worries about his livestock and says he would have to sell them all if Pakistani authorities forced him to leave.
“Because they won’t let us take it across the border [to Afghanistan],” he said, bearing a tensed look on his face.
