Pakistan - The African Mirror

Jan

2023

Pakistan begins restoring power after second major grid breakdown in months

ASIF SHAHZAD PAKISTAN'S government began restoring power to millions of people after a breakdown in the grid triggered the worst electricity outage in months and highlighted the weak infrastructure of the heavily indebted nation. An inquiry has been launched into the outage, which began at around 7:00 a.m. local time (0200 GMT) and has so far lasted more than 12 hours during the peak winter season. As evening drew on and homes were without electricity in the dark, Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir wrote on Twitter that authorities had started restoring power across the country. Dastgir had told reporters earlier: "We have faced…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Six sentenced to death for lynching Sri Lankan factory manager in Pakistan

WORLD

MUBASHER BUKHARI A court sentenced six men to death in a mass trial for the mob lynching of a clothes factory's Sri Lankan manager in eastern Pakistan last year, the case's public prosecutor said. Scores of enraged workers in the city of Sialkot tortured and burned the man in December over accusations of blasphemy which a police official at the time linked to the removal of a poster with Islamic holy verses. Mobile phone footage shows him being chased onto a roof then beaten with sticks, dragged onto the streets, stripped and set alight. One man who seeks to help…

Apr

2022

By The African Mirror

Fresh turmoil for Pakistan as Imran Khan dodges ouster, opposition vows fight

WORLD

ASIF SHAHZAD and GIBRAN NAIYYAR PESHIMAM PAKISTAN'S political turmoil deepened when Prime Minister Imran Khan avoided an attempt to oust him and sought fresh elections after dissolving parliament, a move the opposition called treasonously and vowed to fight. The deputy speaker of parliament, a member of Khan's party, blocked an opposition no-confidence motion that Khan had widely been expected to lose, ruling it was part of a foreign conspiracy and unconstitutional. That stymied the opposition's attempt to come to power and set up a potential legal showdown over the Constitution in the country of 220 million people. Opposition leader Shehbaz…

Jul

2021

By The African Mirror

Afghan Taliban seize border crossing with Pakistan in major advance

WORLD

ABDUL QADIR SEDIQI and OROOJ HAKIMI TALIBAN fighters in Afghanistan have seized control of a major border crossing with Pakistan, achieving a key strategic objective during a rapid advance across the country as U.S. forces pull out. A Pakistani official said Taliban insurgents had taken down the Afghan government flag from atop the Friendship Gate at the border crossing between the Pakistani town of Chaman and the Afghan town of Wesh. The crossing, south of Afghanistan's main southern city Kandahar, is the landlocked country's second busiest entry point and main commercial artery between its sprawling southwest region and Pakistani seaports.…

Jun

2021

By The African Mirror

36 killed in Pakistani train crash

WORLD

GIBRAN NAIYYAR PESHIMAM and MUBASHER BUKHARI A train in Pakistan smashed into derailed carriages of another train on Monday, killing at least 36 people, government officials said, in the latest accident to highlight the perilous state of a more-than-165-year-old railway system. The death toll was likely to rise as rescuers struggled to reach people trapped in several mangled compartments strewn across the tracks in the southern province of Sindh. A Pakistan Railways spokesman said at least 33 bodies had been taken to hospitals, among them two railway officials. More than 100 people were injured, he told Reuters. Police officer Umar…

May

2021

By The African Mirror

Dozens held in Pakistan for trying to lynch brothers accused of blasphemy -police

WORLD

ASIF SHAHZAD PAKISTANI police arrested dozens of men yesterday on charges of attacking a police station in a bid to lynch two brothers held in custody accused of desecrating a Muslim mosque, officials said. A mob broke into the police station on the outskirts of the capital Islamabad on Monday ahead of an hours-long standoff with police. Some 36 have been arrested and charged with attacking the station under anti-terrorism laws. Police took the brothers, accused of blasphemy, to safety along with some wounded officials, police said. "Give us the accused. We will decide what to do with them," police…

Dec

2020

By The African Mirror

Pakistan’s first transgender lawyer goes from begging to fighting in court

LGBT+

SYED RAZA HASSAN LAWYER Nisha Rao maneuvers among the throng of black-coated attorneys clustered near Karachi's city courts searching for her client. But Rao, 28, is not just another lawyer running for a meeting. As Pakistan's first transgender lawyer, she has carved a path from the streets to the courtroom and her example is inspiring other transgender people in the conservative Islamic Republic. "I am proud to have become Pakistan first transgender lawyer", Rao told Reuters. Life is hard for transgender persons in Pakistan, where the Supreme Court only allowed them to claim a third gender on their national identity…

Nov

2020

By The African Mirror

France demands Pakistan rectifies Macron Nazi jibe

WORLD

FRANCE’S foreign ministry has demanded Pakistan authorities withdraw comments made by one of its ministers that President Emmanuel Macon was treating Muslims like Nazis had treated Jews in World War 2. The comments posted on Twitter by Pakistan's Federal Minister for Human Rights Shireen Mazari on Saturday came as part of a clash between Pakistan and France over the publication of images of the Prophet Mohammad by a French magazine. The images have sparked anger and protests in the Muslim world, especially in Pakistan. "Macron is doing to Muslims what the Nazis did to the Jews - Muslim children will…

Oct

2020

By The African Mirror

Kickboxer throws down challenge to Pakistan’s TikTok ban

WORLD

UMAR FAROOQ A mixed martial arts specialist is challenging a Pakistani ban on TikTok, the video sharing app on which he was pinning his hopes of gaining a mass audience and helping people get fit. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) last week blocked access to TikTok, which is owned by China-based ByteDance, citing unspecified public complaints about "immoral and indecent content". Muhammad Ashfaq Jutt, 34, told Reuters he joined TikTok a year ago because it was becoming a popular platform and was cheaper than traditional advertising. "All kinds of people, from street sweepers to day labourers, have come to be…

Sep

2020

By The African Mirror

Pakistan blocks five dating apps including Tinder and Grindr

WORLD

GIBRAN NAIYYAR PESHIMAM PAKISTAN has blocked Tinder, Grindr and three other dating apps for not adhering to local laws, its latest move to curb online platforms deemed to be disseminating "immoral content". Pakistan, the second largest Muslim-majority country in the world after Indonesia, is an Islamic nation where extra-marital relationships and homosexuality are illegal. The Pakistan Telecommunications Authority said it has sent notices to the management of the five apps, "keeping in view the negative effects of immoral/indecent content streaming." PTA said the notices issued to Tinder, Grindr, Tagged, Skout and SayHi sought the removal of "dating services" and moderation…