Five Pakistanis arrested for ‘illegal emigration’

I S L A M A B A D : Fi v e P a k is t a n is ha v e be e n arrested on alle gat ions of “illegal emigration” to Is rael, which Islam abad does not rec ognise as a s tate, the news paper report ed quoting the Federal Investigation Age ncy (FIA)

All of the arrests were made in Pakistan, although there is little information available on the time of the suspects’ alleged return from Israel The FIA stated in a tweet that the arrests were carried out by its Mirpur khas crime circle, adding that the suspects had been working as “helpers and car washers” in Tel Aviv

Separately, the five people detained were all Mirpur khas residents who "travelled to Israel with the help of an agent, said to be an Israeli citizen," according to Abdul Hameed Bhutto, director of the FIA Sindh (Zone-II)

According to the FIA statement, each suspect paid the agent between PKR 300,000 and 400,000 to enter Israel, whereas Bhutto indi-

to Israel

cated that they paid more than PKR 2 million to the agency to get work in Israel, as per newspaper Bhutto said that they were arrested after an inquiry initiated by the FIA on the basis of a strategic analysis report (SAR) regarding foreign remittances He also said, “By travelling to a country that was not recognised, the suspects had violated multiple laws FIRs have been registered against them on account of t h e i r i l l e g a l e m i g r a t i o n t o I s r a e l , d e s p i t e knowing that their passports do not validate their travel to or stay in the country for the purpose of employment ”

The media were able to retrieve one of the FIRs, which stated that the FIA’s Mirpur khas branch recently opened an inquiry on the basis of an SAR regarding outward and inward foreign remittances concerning individuals living in Mirpur khas, who were reportedly involved in receiving payments from Israel

Anti-Sweden rallies in Pak to denounce Quran burning

IS L A M A BA D: F ollowing a request from Prim e M inister Shehbaz Sh arif to "send a stro ng message to Sweden, " thousands o f Muslims across Pakistan demonstrated in o pposition to the burning of the Quran last week in S tockholm

The largest anti-Sweden demonstrations took place in Lahore and Karachi, where tens of thousands of people congregated on major streets before peacefully dispersing Lawyers carrying copies of the Quran demonstrated in front of the Supreme Court in the nation's capital, Islamabad, while worshippers outside mosques staged minor demonstrations calling for the breakup of diplomatic relations with Sweden A group of minority Christians in the northwest also held a rally to denounce the incident

In a televised speech in parliament the previous day, Sharif asked why Swedish police allowed the burning and urged his supporters “to send a strong message to Sweden” by taking to the streets A similar call for protests was issued by former prime minister Imran Khan

Meanwhile, the Swedish government is considering changing the law to allow police to prevent Quran burnings in public by turning down such requests, according to justice minister Gunnar Strommer Sweden had become a "prioritised target" for strikes, he continued “We can see that the Quran burning has generated threats to our internal security ”

A year after a climate-related rainstorm that flooded a third of Pakistan and swollen rivers and caused 1,739 fatalities In 2022, the floods damaged Pakistan, which was in financial trouble, to the tune of $30 billion

Indian bizman

efforts’ to

me PM, says Prachanda

K A T HM A ND U : The opposition is calling f o r th e re s ig nat io n o f P ri m e M i ni s ter Push pa Kam al Dah al Prachanda after he said that an Indian bu sinessm an liv ing in Nep al "o nce made efforts" to make him the leader Sard ar Pritam Singh , a forerunner in the Nepali trucking industry, was credited by Prachanda w ith significantly ad vancing ties between Nepal and Ind ia

Prachanda made these remarks while addressing a function to launch the book, ‘Roads to the Valley: The Legacy of Sardar Pritam Singh in Nepal’ “He travelled to D e l h i s e v e r a l t i m e s a n d h e l d m u l t i p l e rounds of talks with political leaders in Kathmandu to make me the PM,” he said

A number of people have criticised the remarks The national assembly meeting was interrupted by the largest opposition g r o u p , t h e C o m m u n i s t P a r t y o f N e p a l ( U n i f i e d M a r x i s t - L e n i n i s t ) ( C P N - U M L ) , which demanded the resignation of the prime minister Chairman of CPNUML KP Sharma Oli said they want resignation from the PM, not a clarification “His remarks have given a blow to national independence, dignity, the constitution and the parliament ”Speaking in the lower house, UML lawmaker Raghuji Pant said, “We don’t need a PM appointed by Delhi ” The ruling parties have a l s o e x p r e s s e d d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n w i t h Prachanda’s statement

The PM has clarified his remarks about Sardar Pritam Singh“has been misinterpreted to cause a stir ” What he had said was quoted from what Pritam Singh had said in the book, he said “I wanted to show that Pritam Singh was not only interested in social service and transport business but also in politics and that he had lobbied with parties in Delhi and Nepal to make me PM ”

Afghan Taliban order closer of beauty salons

K AB U L: In the latest shrinki ng of access to public place s for Afghan wome n, the T aliban administra ti on has or der ed bea uty salons to close within a month, the mora li ty mi nistry said

“The deadline for the closing of beauty p a r l o u r s f o r w o m e n i s o n e m o n t h , ”

Mohammad Sadiq Akif, a spokesperson for the ministry for the prevention of vice and propagation of virtue, said, referring to a ministry notice Foreign governments and U N o f f i c i a l s h a v e c o n d e m n e d g r o w i n g restrictions on women since the Taliban returned to power in 2021 after defeating a U S - b a c k e d g o v e r n m e n t a s f o r e i g n f o r c e s withdrew

Last year, the administration closed most girls’ high schools, barred women from university and stopped many female Afghan aid s t a f f f r o m w o r k i n g M a n y p u b l i c p l a c e s including bathhouses, gyms and parks have been closed to women

Four Gujarati students who were studying in hotel management in Turkey were killed in an accident in which two cars crashed head-on The mishap occurred close to Turkey s Kyrenia

Among the four students two were from Porbandar one from Banaskantha and the other from Vadodara The incident was reported to the police, and they reached the spot The police began an investigation into this incident and the bodies were transported to a nearby hospital for an autopsy The police investigation revealed the names of the deceased as Anjali Makwana Pratap Karavdara Jayesh Agath and Heena Pathak

INDIAN-ORIGIN STORE CLERK KILLED IN US ROBBERY BID

A 36-year-old Indian-origin store clerk was shot dead during an apparent case of armed robbery in the US state of Georgia and two juveniles were arrested in connection with the killing, a media report said Mandeep Singh, a clerk at the Wrens convenience store, was pronounced dead at the scene after being struck twice by gunfire by two 15-year-olds in the Wrens city of Georgia the Augusta Chronicle newspaper reported Singh, a resident of Augusta city, had been working at the store for less than one month, according to Wrens Police Chief John Maynard “It appeared to be an armed robbery to start with, and at some point, shots were fired, and the clerk was deceased,” Maynard was quoted as saying in the report

5 Arrested For Stealing Cooking Oil In Pakistan

The Karachi police arrested a three-member gang that used to loot stocks of cooking oil in a police van, a report claimed Over five suspected members of the gangs were named during a raid near the Garden Headquarters, the police was quoted as saying The arrested include the owner of a godown a worker and a policeman They used a police van to loot from goods vehicles transporting stocks of cooking oil in District Central the report claimed The police said that dozens of such robbery incidents were reported last month The accused used to hide the cooking oil in the godown the police said

Lanka Shares Surge After Debt Restructuring Plan

Sri Lankan shares jumped 6% to a nine month high after the country s parliament approved a key domestic debt restructuring plan over the weekend while inflation also cooled sharply Lanka’s parliament last week approved a plan that seeks to rework part of the island nation’s $42 billion domestic debt, a move that is part of the conditions for the IMF’s $2 9 billion bailout package The surge was “driven by the banking sector, as investors perceived the domestic debt optimisation would have minimal impact on the financial system ” said Udeeshan Jonas chief strategist at Colombobased equity research firm CAL

17 Die In Gas Leak Blamed On Illegal Gold Mining In Sa

The death toll from a toxic gas leak that authorities blamed on an illegal gold processing operation in South Africa rose to 17, including three children, as police removed canisters from a community of closely packed shacks and sifted through evidence The leak of what authorities said was a toxic nitrate gas happened in the informal Angelo settlement in Boksburg, a city on the eastern outskirts of Johannesburg At least 10 people were hospitalised A statement from South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said it was a “devastating and tragic loss of innocent lives ”