KARACHI: The death toll from an explosion at a fireworks storage facility in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi has risen to four, the provincial rescue service said on Friday, with more than 30 others injured.
The blast occurred in the warehouse located within a building in the densely populated Saddar area of the metropolis on Friday evening, according to officials and members of the Sindh Rescue 1122 service.
Television footage showed thick smoke billowing into the sky from the building as broken glass from nearby shop windows littered the road, with panicked residents rushing from the scene.
One of the injured persons had died during treatment at a hospital, while rescue workers had recovered two bodies from the warehouse near Taj Complex on M.A. Jinnah Road on Thursday.
“Rescue 1122 has recovered another body [from the debris],” Hassaan Khan, a Rescue 1122 spokesperson, said in a statement. “The number of deaths from the accident have risen to 4.”
On Thursday, firefighters extinguished the blaze at the warehouse after several hours.
“Ten fire tenders and a snorkel unit were involved in extinguishing the blaze,” Khan said.
The cause of the explosion could not be immediately known, according to police. The warehouse was owned by two brothers, both of whom were injured in the incident.
“We have recorded an initial statement from one of the owners, both will be included in the investigation,” Deputy Inspector-General South Asad Raza said on Thursday.
The explosion also damaged several nearby vehicles.
Sindh Home Minister Zia-ul-Hassan Lanjar told reporters such warehouses are not allowed to exist in residential areas and assured that those responsible would face legal action, seeking a report from police.
“Police will thoroughly investigate how the blast occurred,” DIG Raza said. “Once the cause is determined, appropriate action will follow.”
Explosions at fireworks facilities are common in Pakistan due to a lack of safety protocols and lax enforcement of regulations.
In January this year, six people were killed in a similar blast at a fireworks storage site in Mandi Bahauddin, a city in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province.
Pakistan woos old rival Bangladesh as India watches on
An uprising in Dhaka last year that toppled India ally Sheikh Hasina has strained Bangladesh’s ties with New Delhi
Bangladesh is hosting the foreign minister and trade envoy this week, its most senior Pakistani visitors in years
Updated 22 August 2025
AFP
DHAKA, Bangladesh: Decades after Pakistani troops killed his friends in Bangladesh’s independence war, veteran freedom fighter Syed Abu Naser Bukhtear Ahmed eyes warming ties between Dhaka and Islamabad with cautious pragmatism.
Bangladesh is hosting the foreign minister and trade envoy this week, its most senior Pakistani visitors in years, in a bid to reset relations scarred by the bloody 1971 conflict and shaped by shifting regional power balances.
“The brutality was unbounded,” said Ahmed, 79, a banker, describing the war in which East Pakistan broke away to form Bangladesh.
Hundreds of thousands were killed — Bangladeshi estimates say millions — and Pakistan’s military was accused of widespread atrocities.
“I would have loved to see the responsible people tried — the ones who killed six of my friends,” Ahmed told AFP.
“I don’t mind normalizing relations with those who opposed the war, but were not directly involved in the atrocities committed.”
Contact between the two Muslim-majority nations was long limited to little more than cultural ties: a shared love of cricket, music and Pakistan’s prized cotton used to make the flowing trousers and shirt known as shalwar kameez.
Bangladesh instead leaned heavily on India, which almost encircles the country of 170 million people.
However, a mass uprising in Dhaka last year that toppled longtime India ally Sheikh Hasina has strained ties with New Delhi and opened the door for dialogue with Islamabad.
Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan arrived in Dhaka on Thursday and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar is expected on Saturday.
Analysts say India, which fought a four-day conflict with Pakistan in May, will be watching closely.
“Bangladesh had been one of India’s closest partners in its neighborhood, and now it is flirting with India’s chief adversary,” said Michael Kugelman, a US-based analyst.
The last time a Pakistani foreign minister visited Dhaka was in 2012, according to Bangladesh newspapers.
Pakistan and Bangladesh began sea trade last year, expanding government-to-government commerce in February.
“It is the emergence of a new strategic equation — one that reduces Indian influence and instead strengthens a cooperative axis between Pakistan and Bangladesh,” Azeem Khalid, a New York-based international relations expert, told AFP.
“If sustained, this evolution has the potential to reshape South Asia’s geopolitical and economic order.”
Bangladesh’s interim government led by Nobel Peace laureate Muhammad Yunus is furious that Hasina fled to India and has defied a summons to answer charges amounting to crimes against humanity.
“Under Yunus, there have been a number of high-level meetings, trade relations have expanded, the two countries have agreed to relax visa rules and there has even been some limited military cooperation,” said analyst Thomas Kean from the International Crisis Group.
Still, reconciliation faces obstacles.
Calls for Pakistan to apologize for the 1971 killings remain popular in Bangladesh, but foreign policy expert Qamar Cheema believes it is unlikely Islamabad will oblige.
“Pakistan’s engagement with Bangladesh is only possible if Bangladesh does not bring historical animosity in re-establishing ties,” said Cheema, from Islamabad’s Sanober Institute.
“Bangladesh always demanded an apology, which (Pakistan) never provided — and even today, doesn’t have any such intentions.”
Dhaka’s foreign affairs adviser Mohammad Touhid Hossain, asked if Bangladesh would raise the issue of a public apology, said that “all issues will be on the table.”
Bangladesh courts have sentenced several people for “genocide” during the 1971 war, accusing them of aiding Pakistani forces in the ethnic cleansing of Bengalis.
“As long as the wound remains open, the relationship cannot be sustainable,” said anthropologist Sayeed Ferdous from Dhaka’s Jahangirnagar University.
Others strike a more balanced tone.
“From a victim’s perspective, I can’t accept a warming of bilateral relations before Pakistan meets certain conditions,” said Bangladeshi academic Meghna Guhathakurta, whose father was killed by Pakistani troops.
She said Islamabad “should make all information related to the war public.”
However, the retired international relations professor from Dhaka University also accepted that it was “natural to have trade relations with Pakistan,” and acknowledged the “geopolitical dimensions.”
With elections in February, when Yunus’s administration will hand over power, relations could shift once again.
“If the next government is prepared to patch up ties with India — and Delhi is willing to reciprocate — then the surge in ties with Islamabad could become a casualty,” Kugelman said.
KARACHI: At 51, single mother Anjum Nida Rahman has transformed her Karachi kitchen into a bustling food business. What began as a passion for healthy recipes has grown into Lo-Kal Bites, a gluten- and sugar-free brand known for its pizza and best-selling chocolate mousse.
Rahman joined foodpanda’s home chef platform in 2022. Today, she employs a team of four across Karachi and Lahore, dispatching dozens of parcels daily.
“The money that I make in this business helps me provide for my son,” she told Arab News. “I’m a single mother … Our business is enough for us to have this [small] team.”
Rahman is part of a digital food revolution. Nearly 6,000 women across Pakistan are now selling everything from French desserts to Burmese Khow Suey and Moroccan chicken through foodpanda, the country’s largest food delivery service. For many, it is the first time they have been able to monetize traditional family recipes and reach customers far beyond their neighborhoods.
Pakistan’s embrace of mobile technology has fueled this shift. With mobile penetration exceeding 80 percent, digital services are expanding rapidly. Statista estimates the country’s online food delivery market will generate $2.4 billion by the end of 2025.
Despite the deep Internet penetration and growing e-commerce ecosystem, overall, only about 24 percent of Pakistani women aged 15 and older participate in the labor force, one of the lowest rates in South Asia, according to the World Bank. Social norms, safety concerns, and limited mobility have historically excluded women from formal employment, pushing many toward home-based enterprises.
Chef and Co-founder of Lo-Kal Bites, Anjum Nida Rahman (left) preparing a food order for delivery in Karachi, Pakistan on August 13, 2025. (AN Photo)
And even within entrepreneurship, women’s share remains small. A diagnostic study by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) found that of Pakistan’s more than five million small and medium enterprises, only about 8 percent are women-owned, highlighting structural barriers to finance, training and market access. The World Bank notes that women-led businesses are also far less likely to have access to formal financial services such as bank loans, limiting their growth potential.
According to Global System for Mobile Communications Association, the global industry body that represents mobile network operators and the wider mobile ecosystem, and the World Bank, Pakistan faces a staggering economic loss of up to $17 billion annually due to women’s exclusion from digital connectivity, particularly mobile Internet. This isn’t simply about online access but represents lost opportunities in e-commerce, online education, digital financial services and remote work.
These statistics make this surge in women-led enterprises particularly significant, with home-based platforms offering a rare chance at financial independence.
“I want to spend time with my son at home,” Rahman explained. “I have elderly parents I need to look after … foodpanda gives us a platform where we can create an industry, make traditional food … and share it with everybody.”
Her success is measurable.
In Karachi, Rahman’s orders grew 42 percent in just six months, totaling more than 2,500 deliveries.
“As a company, we have grown 28 percent and we’ve made in the last six months over 4,600 orders,” she said. “We are growing almost double.”
Fellow entrepreneur Nazish Rehman has followed a similar trajectory.
Home Chef Nazish Rehman (not in picture) preparing servings of Khausey for delivery in Karachi, Pakistan, on August 13, 2025. (AN Photo)
Four years ago, she received a single order in her first week. Today, her brand Kausey Extreme handles around 50 orders a day. Her menu has expanded from a lone bowl of Khow Suey to over 22 dishes ranging from dumplings and chow mein to pastas and fries.
“The most exciting impact this business has on my life is that I have become an earner and am no more dependent on others,” she said.
THE FOODPANDA FACTOR
Foodpanda is a subsidiary of Berlin-based Delivery Hero, which operates in more than 70 countries. The company generated $1.2 billion in economic activity in FY24 and now connects millions of users in 35 Pakistani cities with restaurants, home chefs, and its own pandamart grocery stores. It engages thousands of freelance riders and handles up to 20 percent of the total food business for its restaurant partners.
Muntaqa Peracha, CEO of foodpanda Pakistan, told Arab News the company had deliberately positioned itself as an enabler for women.
“We’ve given opportunities [to] these women to [join the platform] without spending too much time … on marketing themselves,” he said, adding that of the 6,000 home chefs on the platform, 75 percent are women, with more than half earning for the first time.
But the partnership is not without its critics.
Industry insiders point out that foodpanda’s commission, reportedly above 30 percent per order, plus a 10 percent marketing fee, cuts deep into home chefs’ margins.
“Commission rates for home chefs on our platform can vary based on several factors, and we are committed to supporting these entrepreneurs, who are often new to the business,” said Hassan Arshad, the company’s director of policy and communications.
He added that foodpanda had engaged provincial governments to reduce the tax burden on commissions to “better incentivize and support the growth of these home-based businesses.”
Despite the costs, both Rahman and Nazish insist the visibility and reach are worth it.
“It’s a fantastic platform to … bring women into the workplace and increase financial inclusion,” Rahman said. “Women are now able to contribute to their households. They don’t need to leave their house … We feel very empowered.”
KARACHI: Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) forecast heavy rains for the country’s commercial hub Karachi and its neighboring city Hyderabad this week, warning that the monsoon downpours are likely to trigger urban flooding and power outages.
Karachi was hit by torrential rains on Tuesday, triggering flooding in many parts of the city that left thousands stranded on the city’s main arteries for hours. Visuals of motorcyclists wading through waist-high water and cars floating on the city’s main underpasses went viral on social media, triggering anger at the provincial government.
According to Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab, the city received over 200 millimeters of rainfall on Tuesday and Wednesday. The rains killed 17 people, according to Rescue 1122 emergency service, and left many areas of the city without power for over 24 hours. Wahab has been posting on social media regularly, saying the city government has been busy draining water from several main arteries of the city that are now open for traffic.
In its press release on Thursday, the NDMA warned that a “strong” rainfall system was expected in Sindh from Aug. 24 to 28. It added that Karachi and its neighboring Hyderabad city would receive heavy rainfall on Thursday night.
“Torrential rain may cause urban flooding and power outages,” the NDMA said in its alert.
The disaster management authority urged citizens to avoid traveling on waterlogged roads and stay away from electric poles during the rains. It also called on them to secure electrical appliances and adopt safety measures while using them.
“Residents of low-lying areas should keep an emergency kit ready, including essential items such as water, food, flashlights, and a first aid kit,” the NDMA said.
Karachi, a city of more than 20 million with dilapidated infrastructure, has often seen even moderate rains trigger flooding in parts of the city, threatening residents’ lives and causing hours-long power outages.
Karachi has faced repeated bouts of urban flooding in recent years. In July-August 2009, the heaviest rains in three decades killed at least 26 people and damaged infrastructure. Torrential downpours in August 2017 left 23 dead and large parts of the city paralyzed, while heavy rains in 2019 killed 11, mostly from electrocution and collapsing structures.
Pakistan’s financial capital braces for heavy rains as other parts of the country reel from the monsoon showers. Deadly monsoon rains and floods have killed at least 458 people and injured 253 in several parts of the country from Aug. 15.
Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has reported the highest number of deaths since mid-August, with 394 people killed there as the northwestern province continues to receive heavy rains. Cumulatively, 771 people have been killed and 993 have been injured due to rain-related incidents since Jun. 26 in Pakistan. KP has reported the highest number of deaths since June, 465, followed by Punjab with 165, northern Gilgit-Baltistan with 45, Sindh with 42, Balochistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir with 23 casualties each while eight persons have died in Islamabad.
Pakistan’s Met Office on Thursday warned strong monsoon currents from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal were likely to penetrate upper parts of the country from Aug. 22. A westerly wave was also expected to reach the same regions by the night of Aug. 22.
Pakistan is one of the most climate-vulnerable nations in the world, despite contributing less than 1 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Annual monsoons are vital for agriculture and water needs but in recent years have unleashed destructive flooding and landslides.
In 2022, unprecedented rainfall and glacier melt left more than 1,700 people dead and inflicted an estimated $30 billion in losses, according to the government.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign office on Thursday paid tribute to the “resilient” people of Palestine on the ‘International Day of Remembrance of and Tribute to the Victims of Terrorism,’ criticizing Israeli forces for committing “genocide” in the Middle East and violating international law.
The United Nations General Assembly marks the day every year on Aug. 21 to honor and support the victims and survivors of “terrorism.” The day is also held to promote and protect the full enjoyment of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of victims of “terrorism.”
Pakistan has consistently criticized Israel since it began its military operations in Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 for targeting civilians, schools, hospitals and blocking humanitarian supplies for the Palestinian population. So far, Israeli forces have killed at least 62,122 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
“We extend our deepest tribute to the resilient people of Palestine, who continue to suffer relentless aggression, systemic human rights violations, and state terrorism at the hands of Israeli occupation forces,” Pakistan’s foreign office said in a statement.
“Their actions constitute not only grave violations of international law but also amount to genocide.”
The Pakistani foreign office highlighted that prolonged unresolved conflicts, foreign occupation, and the denial of the right to self-determination create “conditions for extremism and terrorism” which should be addressed comprehensively.
“As we remember the victims of terrorism today, we call upon the international community to join us in making collaborative efforts to strengthen international partnership, dialogue, and cooperation to eliminate the menace of terrorism without discrimination,” the statement said.
“And support the victims and their families, and to contribute to a peaceful and secure world.”
The foreign office’s statement said Pakistan has lost over 90,000 Pakistanis in its war against militancy since the early 2000s, adding that it has also endured “staggering economic losses” exceeding $150 billion.
“We honor the valor of our martyrs and heroes whose sacrifices remain a beacon of strength and unity for the nation,” the statement said.
Pakistan has been battling twin insurgencies in its northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and its southwestern Balochistan provinces. In KP, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP have carried out deadly attacks against law enforcers in recent months in their bid to impose their strict brand of Islamic law in the country.
In Balochistan, separatist Baloch ethnic groups target civilians and military personnel frequently. These separatist groups seek independence from Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of denying locals a share in the province’s natural resources.
Pakistan’s government and military deny the allegations and say that several health, education and social initiatives in the province have been launched to uplift the province, which is considered one of the poorest in the country by almost all social and economic indicators.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani foreign policy analysts on Thursday urged the government to undertake “serious efforts” to ensure implementation of long-delayed projects part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which include special economic zones (SEZs), modernizing railway lines and extending the corridor to Afghanistan.
Islamabad and Beijing said on Thursday they would prioritize “high-quality” cooperation under CPEC, unveiling plans for an upgraded version of the multibillion-dollar flagship Belt and Road project. CPEC was launched in 2015 and is essentially an infrastructure network that includes energy, highways, railways projects, and the development of the Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea connecting Pakistan and China.
The announcement came during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Pakistan, who met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Zardari in Islamabad on Wednesday. Sharif reiterated Pakistan’s desire to deepen bilateral cooperation with China in trade, investment, ICT, agriculture, industrialization, mines and minerals and other key sectors, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks during a meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif at the Prime Minister’s Office in Islamabad on August 21, 2025. (Handout/PMO)
While Pakistan has said the project is extremely vital to revive its struggling economy, political, security and economic challenges have caused CPEC projects to suffer delays.
Pakistani economists and foreign policy experts said that while CPEC holds vast economic potential, consistent policies by Pakistan and its accelerated implementation are required for tangible results. Shakeel Ramay, an economist, said SEZs were a key part of the CPEC that could not be established at the required pace due to governance, political, and other challenges.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari gestures during a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Presidential House in Islamabad on August 21, 2025. (Hanout/Presidency)
“The positive point is that the government has now realized their importance and is working on it, but serious efforts are needed to expedite the implementation,” Ramay added.
Ramay also highlighted delays in the Main Line-1 (ML-1) railway project.
The ML‑1, a $6.7 billion upgrade of Pakistan’s 1,687-kilometer Karachi–Peshawar rail artery first agreed upon in May 2017, is central to CPEC. The overhaul, involving track doubling, advanced signaling and higher-speed trains, is expected to boost cargo and passenger capacity while easing the transport of trade goods to and from the country’s southern ports.
China's Foreign Minister, Wang Yi (left) shaking hands with Pakistani counterpart, Ishaq Dar, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Islamabad, Pakistan, on August 21, 2025. (Government of Pakistan)
“The hope is there for the project to kickstart with Pakistan and China’s openness to third-party inclusion creating opportunities for the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, and other investors,” Ramay said.
China is also involved in the development of a deep-sea port in Pakistan’s Gwadar city, located in its impoverished southwestern Balochistan province. In January this year, Pakistan operated the first commercial flight at the Gwadar International Airport, which has been developed with Chinese funding.
Ramay noted that implementation of CPEC projects in Gwadar was visible, despite hurdles.
“The Chinese government has donated 5,000 solar units, built a state-of-the-art hospital, and, along with Pakistan, is investing in skills development,” he said, adding that 30 Chinese and Pakistani companies have invested almost 3 billion Yuan ($418 million) in the Gwadar Free Trade Zone.
CPEC’s EXPANSION INTO AFGHANISTAN
Yi and the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan held trilateral talks in Kabul this week. The three sides agreed to strengthen economic, trade and security cooperation, and extend CPEC to Afghanistan.
However, ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan remain tense as Islamabad blames Kabul for not taking action against militants it alleges launch attacks on Pakistan from its soil. Kabul denies the allegations.
Foreign ministers of Pakistan, China and Afghanistan hold the Sixth Trilateral Foreign Ministers Dialogue in Kabul on August 20, 2025. (Handout/MOFA)
Naghmana Hashmi, Pakistan’s former ambassador to China, said extending CPEC to Afghanistan had always been seen as a natural step to link Central Asia together. However, she said security issues delayed the plan.
“Without peaceful Afghanistan and secure transit, CPEC could not completely develop for Pakistan,” she told Arab News.
Hashmi noted that while the Taliban initially stayed away from the idea to extend CPEC into Afghanistan, they later endorsed it. She said that with the Taliban now in power in Afghanistan, internal security for CPEC projects in the country might not be a “major challenge.”
Dr. Talat Shabbir, director of the China-Pakistan Study Center at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, said CPEC’s expansion into Afghanistan could take time given the complex bilateral relationship between Islamabad and Kabul.
“Political and bilateral connectivity is essential for such a venture, but I am hopeful that progress will be made soon as the Chinese are actively working on this aspect,” Shabbir said.
(From left to right) Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi gestures for a group photograph with his counterparts from Afghanistan, Mawlawi Amir Khan Muttaqi, and Pakistan, Ishaq Dar, during a Sixth Trilateral Foreign Ministers Dialogue in Kabul on August 20, 2025. (Handout/MOFA)
Security of Chinese nationals in Pakistan working on CPEC projects, however, has been an area of concern for both nations. Militant attacks in Balochistan, northwestern Pakistan and Karachi targeting Chinese nationals have urged Beijing to express concern over the safety of its citizens in Pakistan.
Shabbir noted that Pakistan had bolstered security for Chinese citizens in the wake of these attacks.
“Looking ahead into 2025, Pakistan is further upgrading its security protocols with a mix of technology, intelligence sharing, and community-level engagement in CPEC areas,” he said.
