The University of Oxford and the Balochistan government have agreed to provide scholarships to deserving talented students from the province.
The agreement was formalised at a ceremony attended by Balochistan Chief Minister Sarfaraz Bugti, and Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai. It is also supported by the Oxford Pakistan Programme (OPP) and its benefactors.
The graduate scholarships will be provided under the umbrella of the Benazir Scholarship Programme.
The programme will enable talented students from Balochistan to pursue higher education at one of the world’s most prestigious institutions with the help of full scholarship.
As the signing ceremony began, philanthropist Sarwar Khawaja donated 100,000 pounds to initiate the endowment fund.
Chief Minister’s principal secretary, Imran Zarkoon Khan, an alumnus of Oxford, also attended the ceremony and was praised for his instrumental role in initiating the scholarship programme.
Balochistan Home Minister Zia Ullah Langau announced on Friday that two suspects involved in the murder of barbershop workers in Gawadar have been arrested.
Seven barbershop workers from Punjab were killed when they were sleeping in their apartment near the Gwadar Fish Harbour in the Surbandar area of the coastal town earlier this month. One worker was injured in the incident.
“I congratulate all our institutions who fulfilled their responsibility and the government’s orders with their efforts, and we have arrested two killers of the Gwadar labourers,” Langau said while addressing a press conference in Quetta.
The arrested suspects revealed during the investigation that they had been ordered to kill any labourer from Punjab.
Zia Ullah Langau also stated that millitants targeted innocent citizens, worsening the peace and security situation in Balochistan.
“Terrorists have nothing to do with our rights. We will go the extra mile for those speaking up for the rights of Balochistan,” Langau added.
With record breaking temperatures, hours of load shedding of electricity have caused inconvenience for people in a number of cities across Pakistan.
In many areas of Hyderabad, the duration of load shedding has reached up to 12 hours.
Spokesperson of HESCO said that load shedding is happening on the basis of line losses. He also claims that load shedding is not interrupting examination hours.
Meanwhile, urban areas of Sukkur are experiencing six to eight hours of load shedding while Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Kashmore undergoing 12 to 14 hours.
Thatta city and its surroundings are subjected to 14 to 16 hours load shedding, six hours in Kamalia city, and eight hours in rural areas.
Wahari stands at four to six hours of load shedding while 10 hours in rural areas.
More than 10 hours of load shedding is taking place in Mingora city, more than 16 hours in suburban areas, while Bannu is experiencing 18 to 20 hours of load shedding.
Citizens say that business activities and life are being affected due to load shedding.
Quetta, Pakistan – At least 27 people were killed on Wednesday when a bus plunged off the road into a deep ravine in southwestern Pakistan, hospital and government officials said.
The crash happened around dawn in Basima town in Balochistan province while the bus was travelling from Turbat city to Quetta.
“The driver was navigating a turn in a mountainous area when the vehicle lost control and fell into a ravine,” Ismail Mengal, a local government official said, giving a toll of 27 dead.
“We are still investigating the cause of the incident. It could be that the driver fell asleep or was speeding, which led to the accident.”
More than 25 others, including the driver, were injured.
Noor Ullah, chief doctor at Civil Hospital Basima, told AFP that 27 bodies were taken there, including three women and two children.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has “expressed deep sorrow and grief over the tragic traffic accident”, his office said in a statement.
Road accidents with high fatalities are common in Pakistan, where safety measures are lax, driver training is poor and transport infrastructure often decrepit.
At least 17 pilgrims were killed and 41 injured in a crash in April as they travelled to a shrine in Balochistan’s Hub district.
In January last year, 41 people were killed when their bus, which was also loaded with containers of flammable oil, careered off the road into a valley and burst into flames.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement on Wednesday that security forces have killed almost 29 terrorists over the last month along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area.
The intelligence-based operations were carried out in response to a “surge in terrorist incidents orchestrated from Afghan soil, wherein terrorists from Afghanistan attempt to infiltrate through Pakistan-Afghanistan Border and target security forces as well as the innocent civilians.”
The military’s media wing also stated that security forces conducted operations in Balochistan’s Zhob district and other border areas.
Over 350 Pakistani students have landed in Lahore and Islamabad from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.
Two of the three special flights landed at the Islamabad and Lahore airports on Sunday night, with 180 students on board each plane. The third plane was also expected to land later in the night.
At the Islamabad airport, the students who arrived were welcomed by federal minister Musadik Malik while in Lahore, the students were greeted by Information Minister Attaullah Tarar.
The Civil Aviation Authority had set up an immigration desk and provided transport to the students on arrival.
As per the instructions of the PM, the federal government will bear the expenses for these special flights.
Ishaq Dar downplayed mob violence
Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar — who put off his trip to Kyrgyzstan — downplayed the mob violence saying the situation in Bishkek was normal and there was no need to panic.
According to Ishaq Dar, 16 foreign students, including “four or five” Pakistanis, were injured in the violence.
FM Dar said that the government would cover the expenses of Pakistani students wishing to return home as 540 students would take three flights to return on Sunday. He said as many as 11,000 Pakistani students were studying in Bishkek, and those returning would be fully facilitated.
He quoted the Kyrgyz foreign minister as saying that the incident in Bishkek was due to a “misunderstanding”.
Students say all is not well
Many students on social media said that the embassy was not providing any help and that the situation in Bishkek was still bad. They said that the foreign students were attacked by Kyrgyz students and locals, adding that they were not even safe on the roads.
Balochistan students ‘ignored’
In Balochistan, Sajid Hussain, an educationist, claimed that the government had taken no steps to bring back at least 300 students from Balochistan stranded in Bishkek.
“Over 300 students from Balochistan are also studying in Kyrgyzstan but they have not been brought back,” Mr Hussain said.
His son and daughter are studying at the Asian International University in Kyrgyzstan along with five other students enrolled there.“I am in contact with my children,” he said, adding that no steps had been taken for the return of Baloch students.
He claimed that the federal government was repatriating students from other provinces and that parents of students from Balochistan were being asked to pay Rs100,000 for each student.
He appealed to Balochistan’s government officials to take notice of the situation and make special arrangements for the province’s students. CM Bugti has reportedly established a special desk in this regard, reported Dawn.
“To reach the students, the foreign ministry is in contact with the embassy of Kyrgyzstan,” the CM said, assuring “every possible assistance” for the students.
Superstar Mahira Khan appeared as a guest in Pakistan Literature Festival, held in Quetta, where she talksd about stardom, her achievements and work ethic. However the talk got interrupted when something was thrown at her from audience. Mahira Khan stopped her conversation and said, “That was wrong.”
She remained smiling, however, gracefully dealing with the interruption. The crowd asked her to recite a famous dialogue. She replied, “I shouldn’t because you threw something on me,” but laughed when the crowd suggested a long dialogue. She then continued her discussion and agreed to act in a Balochistan production.
Fans believe that Mahira Khan patiently and gracefully dealt with the situation. They criticized the behavior of the crowd, calling it shameful. Some fans advised Mahira not to go to these kinds of public gatherings because she is a well-known figure worldwide. Here are the comments:
The military’s media wing reported on Tuesday that a Pakistani army major was martyred and three terrorists were killed during a heavy exchange of fire between terrorists and army officials in the Sambaza area of Zhob district in Balochistan.
Security officials conducted an Intelligence-Based Operation (IBO) in a remote area of Balochistan, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.
The troops bravely attacked the terrorists’ location and killed three terrorists.
However, ISPR said in a statement that 33-year-old Major Babar Khan was martyred while fighting fearlessly with the terrorists during the operation.
Seven people belonging to Punjab have been killed and one injured in an attack by unknown armed men in the Gwadar district of Balochistan.
Police said that the unfortunate incident took place in the Sarbandar area of Gwadar. The dead and injured were barbers and belonged to Khanewal district of Punjab.
The bodies have been sent for autopsy while the injured person has been shifted to Gwadar Hospital for medical assistance, the police told BBC.
Sarbandar is a fishing village which is located approximately 25 kilometers east of Gwadar city towards Karachi. Gwadar district bordering Iran is a coastal district of Balochistan and since the deterioration of the situation in Balochistan, incidents of this kind of unrest have been happening in Gwadar as well.
No one has yet accepted responsibility for this incident and SHO Mohsin Baloch informed BBC that an investigation is going on into various aspects of the incident.
Earlier on April 13, 11 people, including nine people from Punjab, were killed and five were injured when Balochistan Liberation Army militants fired on a bus in the Nushki district of Balochistan.
In the past, like other areas of Balochistan, Gwadar also witnessed attacks on workers and security forces and other incidents of unrest. In March this year, a major attack was carried out on the Gwadar Port Authority complex in Gwadar. The Majeed Brigade of the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army claimed responsibility for the attack.
Balochistan Chief Minister Mir Sarfaraz Bugti and Interior Minister Mir Ziaullah Longo have condemned the killings in Gwadar and said that the killing of innocent labourers in Gwadar is terrorism.
The Balochistan government has taken action against more than 2,400 absent teachers and employees in more than 8,500 schools in the province, dismissing 68 teachers while 98 have been suspended.
Up to 33 employees were dismissed in Pishin, 13 in Quetta, six in Washik, five in Kachhi, four in Dera Bugti, reported Geo News.
Director Monitoring and Evaluation Education has released a report stating that 8646 schools out of 15168 schools of the province were visited in the month of April, in which 2454 employees, including teachers, were found absent.
That figure includes 238 employees from Quetta, 177 from Kohlu, 173 from Zhob, 164 from Pishin, 133 from Dera Bugti, 123 from Awaran, and 110 from Naseerabad were found to be absent.
The report states that in April 2024, except for the dismissed and suspended teachers, 913 were issued show cause notices and 778 were asked to explain their absent.
