At least six people, including three foreign pilots, were killed, and eight others critically injured when a Mari Petroleum Company Ltd (MPCL) helicopter crashed in North Waziristan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Saturday. According to reports, the Mi-8 helicopter, carrying 14 passengers, was chartered by MPCL, Pakistan’s largest oil exploration company. It crashed in the North Waziristan district, killing six and injuring eight. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said that the helicopter departed from Islamabad at 11:15 AM. “MPCL was using a Russian-made helicopter to access remote areas for oil and gas exploration,” the CAA added. The CAA further said that the crash occurred due to engine failure, prompting an emergency landing attempt in the Shiva area. During the landing, the tail rotor struck the ground, causing the helicopter to overturn. The CAA added that the Bureau of Safety Investigation will conduct a further inquiry into the incident.

Pakistan's Balochistan province has been rocked by a series of attacks on Punjabi workers by separatist militants. Baloch nationalist groups accuse the central government and China of stealing the province's resources. Seven workers were shot dead in the province of Balochistan in southwestern Pakistan, police said on Sunday. "Seven laborers were killed and one injured," said Moazzam Jah Ansari, the head of Balochistan police in the provincial capital, Quetta. The attack occurred in the western Panjgur district, which is predominantly inhabited by ethnic Baloch. While no group has claimed responsibility, it follows a number of other attacks on out-of-province laborers by Baloch separatist groups. In August, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed a coordinated attack that killed at least 39 people. During the attack, militants stopped cars on a highway and killed those who were from other provinces. In May, gunmen killed 7 barber shop workers in the port city of Gwadar. In April, 11 Punjabi laborers were killed when they were abducted from a bus in the city of Naushki. What is the situation in Balochistan? Balochistan is the country's poorest province and is grappling with separatist militants that have targeted security forces and arrivals from other provinces. Punjabis are the largest of the six main ethnic groups in Pakistan and make up just under half of the country's population. They are seen as dominating business, government and the military. The Baloch people largely inhabit the south and center of Balochistan province as well as southeastern Iran and parts of southern Afghanistan. Much of the separatist violence targets Chinese investment projects in Pakistan that aim to link Balochistan's Gwadar port to other parts of the Belt and Road initiative. Baloch militant and political groups have accused the central government and China of stealing their land and resources as part of the development drive. Pakistan's border areas have also seen an increase in Islamist attacks since the Taliban government seized power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021.

A deadly feud between Shiites and Sunni Muslim tribes in northwestern Pakistan has killed more than 20 people, officials said Wednesday. The ongoing sectarian clashes, which stem from a land dispute, erupted five days ago in the Kurram district on the border with Afghanistan. Authorities said at least 75 people had been injured. "Dozens of homes have been damaged ... all efforts by the government and other tribes to end the fighting have failed," a senior administrative official stationed in Kurram, told the AFP news agency. Authorities ask tribal elders for help A spokesman for the provincial government, Barrister Saif Ali, said authorities were working with tribal elders in an attempt to defuse tensions. He said both sides were working toward a truce.  Kurram has been gripped by sectarian clashes between Shiite and Sunni tribes in recent years. Dozens of people were killed over the same land dispute as recently as July. In Pakistan, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country, Shiite Muslims make up about 15% of the population and say they often face discrimination and violence.

The case of a police officer allegedly killing a suspect held on blasphemy charges, inside a police station in Quetta, goes to show all over again how the state is simply unable to get a handle on this phenomenon. The accused was taken into custody and moved to a secure location earlier in the week as TLP (Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan) and other religious parties staged rallies and blocked traffic, even lobbed a hand-grenade into a police station, and demanded that he be handed over to them. Yet despite all the preventative measures, an officer was able to get access to him by pretending to be his relative and shooting him dead on the spot. So much for the long arm of the law. To make matters worse, JUI-P Senator Abdul Shakoor Khan created further, and quite unnecessary, controversy by expressing solidarity with the killer on the floor of the house, even offering to bear all his legal expenses. Such things send all the wrong messages to everybody in the whole world – people inside the country and the world watching from the outside – especially since the state, as always, watches like a silent, helpless observer, with no narrative of its own to counter the extremism that has reached as far as the upper house of parliament. Surely, the good senator must have known that both man's and God’s laws define set procedures to deal with such charges, yet he had no qualms about publicly siding with someone who took things into his own hands instead of obeying the rules of the state and those of God. Such instances, especially acts of public lynching, have become all too common in this Islamic republic. The main reason is that the state still hasn’t realized, and therefore never exercised, its responsibility to erect an overarching national narrative that details Islamic tenets about blasphemy. Also, it has rarely put its foot down to show once and for all that it will not allow the public, no matter how enraged, to become judge, jury, and heartless executioner in any case, especially when the law speaks for itself. Enough is enough. The government must waste no more time in gathering religious scholars, legislators, and legal experts to construct a national narrative about blasphemy, one that explains in detail the limits of public interference and the punishment in store for those still daring to circumvent the established legal system. It's only because of the state's limp position on this issue that such cases abound, to the extent that there have been far too many examples of people settling personal disputes, often property issues, by blaming counterparties of blasphemy, especially when they belong to other religions. This is unacceptable and unforgivable and it's a shame that things have gone on like this for years and decades. It cannot be said enough that mobs have been emboldened to this extent only because there's no price to pay for all the disorder, public nuisance, destruction of property, even acts of violence like burning vehicles and throwing live grenades, and shameful and grizzly public murders often on the slightest accusation. It's time to finally break this long cycle, and firmly establish the writ of the state. Source: BR

Two shocking incidents of attacks on polio vaccinators recently emerged in Pakistan. Both incidents are a grim reminder of the country's inability to create a safe environment for the foot soldiers of polio eradication in Pakistan, one of the last countries where polio cases occur when the disease has been wiped out from across the globe. Pakistan has the dubious distinction of being one of the only two countries in the world where polio is still endemic, the other being its neighbour Afghanistan, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). In the first case, gunmen in the Bajaur region shot dead a polio worker and a policeman when they tried to vaccinate children in their latest campaign against the disease. The attack occurred on the third day of a campaign to vaccinate 30 million children in a week-long campaign but the incident suspended the initiative in the region, putting the children vulnerable to the disease. If this incident was scary and put doubt on the safety of vaccinators in Pakistan who often fight all odds and put their lives at risk to keep the future generation safe from the disease, then the other incident left many equally shocked. In the other incident in Jacobabad, a young female vaccinator was allegedly abducted and raped by unknown men. The woman was allegedly kidnapped by the suspects under the pretext of asking her to vaccinate children. These two incidents point to the state of affairs in Pakistan where polio is still endemic and eradication poses a major challenge. Rather than blaming Afghanistan, the neighbouring country which is still registering active polio cases, Pakistan should blame itself for failing to fight the scourge. In its Editorial, The Express Tribune wrote: "It is not just a security failure, but a societal failure that vaccinators need any protection." The Pakistani government should immediately take stern measures against those involved in targeting the vaccination teams. It should also educate the general public about the usefulness of jabbing the children with polio vaccines specifically in those areas where the teams are targeted regularly. The government should even take strong measures against those spreading false information about the disease in Pakistan. "Local communities also need to push back against those who spout anti-vaccine rhetoric if they want to protect their children," the Pakistani newspaper said in its Editorial. The attack on polio vaccination teams even caught the attention of Indian media which said the assault in Jacobabad highlights how even these female workers, essential to the programme, are at risk. "Sexual violence against female healthcare workers is rare but represents an especially heinous dimension of the threats they face," the Indian news portal Firstpost said in an editorial published on September 13. According to the UNICEF website, Pakistan's polio removal initiative did work with a decline in polio cases from approximately 20,000 every year in the early 1990s to only eight cases in 2018. "As long as the virus continues to circulate in Pakistan, no child in Pakistan is completely safe from contracting the polio virus. This is why it is the shared responsibility of all Pakistanis to ensure that all vulnerable children under the age of five are vaccinated against this deadly disease in every door-to-door campaign," read the UNICEF Pakistan website. Pakistan launched its vaccination drive as part of its Polio Eradication Programme in 1994 when the South Asian nation used to report more than 20,000 cases annually. Despite administering more than 300 million doses of the oral vaccine annually and spending billions of dollars, the disease is still rife across Pakistan, according to an Al Jazeera report. In 2024, four vaccination campaigns targeting more than 43 million children have already been undertaken as authorities claim they are in the “last mile” of their fight against polio in the country of 235 million people, the report said. However, disturbing news of attacks on health workers poses doubts about its immediate complete eradication. Pakistan should immediately change its stance from taking such attacks lying down in the war against polio to taking stern measures against miscreants. If the trend of attacking polio vaccinators continues then Pakistan is only harming itself. Like its neighbour India which has a robust anti-polio campaign leading to its eradication, Pakistan should also adopt a similar programme to eliminate the highly infectious disease. It should also educate the public and remove all fears acting against the vaccination drive to achieve success.

Hundreds of police officers have been protesting since Sunday in the Lakki Marwat district of Pakistan's northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. The protest is aimed at demanding that the army, not the police, lead the anti-terrorism campaign, as officers feel unsafe and inadequately equipped to tackle the escalating threat. The protestors have blocked the Peshawar-Karachi Indus highway, effectively cutting off KP from the rest of the country. The highway closure has caused significant disruption, halting traffic and impacting daily life. Despite negotiations, local authorities have failed to reach an agreement with the protestors. Protesting officers, joined by colleagues from neighboring districts like Karak, Bannu, and Dera Ismail Khan, have declared two conditions for ending the blockade: the withdrawal of the army from Lakki Marwat or "martyrdom." The officers stated they are prepared to sacrifice their lives if their demands are not met. The police argue that they are ill-equipped to handle the rising terrorism in the region, pointing out that 29 attacks occurred in KP in August alone, resulting in 25 deaths. Lakki Marwat has been particularly affected, with police, security personnel, and government officials becoming prime targets for terrorists. An editorial in The Dawn supports the police's concerns, stating that their grievances highlight the deteriorating law and order in KP. The involvement of local citizens in the protests underscores the severity of the situation, with many calling for the police to be empowered to restore peace in the area. The relationship between Pakistan's police and military has historically been fraught with tension, stemming from the country's colonial past and the military's dominant role in governance. These tensions have led to jurisdictional disputes, with the police often feeling marginalized in security operations led by the military. As the protests continue, there is increasing pressure on the government to address the police's concerns and find a solution to the growing security crisis in KP.

Find­ings of a study carried out by Pakistan’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) confirms that women farmers in Pakistan are largely unrecognised for their vital contributions to the country’s agriculture sector, food security and the economy at large. The study, “Protection issues faced by women farmers in Pakistan”, says their labour tends to be undocumented and they are rarely referred to as ‘farmers’, unlike their male counterparts. According to the study, “Pakistan’s labour laws do not cover the agriculture sector and the country lacks a national law to safeguard the rights of women involved in agriculture.” The study indicates that sexual harassment is frequent and persistent in agricultural workplaces across Pakistan, and both women workers and children are not safe in the fields. The key findings of the study “Protection issues faced by women farmers in Pakistan” are troubling. It states, “Women farmers are often exposed to hostile working environments – including exposure to violence, harassment and verbal abuse, particularly while working in the fields.” Socioeconomic factors increase women’s risk of exposure to violence and harassment in the agriculture sector. The findings indicate that, “women farmers are not clear about how to define gender-based violence or harassment in the workplace.” A lack of awareness of laws, reporting procedures and redressal mechanisms, coupled with personal fears – such as the fear of losing their livelihoods – cultural and economic pressures and a lack of support prevent women farmers from reporting incidents of violence and harassment to the authorities. Departments of Agriculture and Labour in Pakistan do not monitor the working conditions of women farmers, and addressing violations of women’s rights in agriculture is not explicitly stated within their mandates. Departmental staff lack gender training on gender-related issues. Pakistan’s Sindh province is largely agriculture-based, and in rural Sindh, almost 70% of the population is linked with agriculture activities. Banana, Cotton, mangoes, rice, wheat and sugarcane are the main crops produced in the Sindh area. The participation of rural women farmers has not been weighed to the extent they devoted. The situation for women bonded in agriculture labour in Sindh is particularly deplorable. Women in bonded labour work under harsh conditions for minimal pay. They are trapped in a cycle of debt, making it nearly impossible to escape their situation. Many women face physical abuse and psychological trauma. They are often subjected to harsh treatment by landowners and supervisors. Given the pernicious influence of the antiquated feudal system that dominates agriculture in Pakistan, concentrating land ownership in the hands of a few, this only ends up exacerbating existing gender inequalities in the sector, preventing too many hard-working women farmers from accessing much-needed benefits and services. Despite laws like the Sindh Bonded Labour System Abolition Act of 2015, enforcement is weak. The non-implementation of pro-peasant and rural worker laws, has left women in rural areas vulnerable to social, economic, and political injustices. Because implementation of the Sindh Bonded Labour System Abolition Act remains weak, every year, peasants must approach courts to seek the release of family members held in bondage by landlords. District vigilance committees, which are supposed to operate under the Sindh Bonded Labour System Abolition Act fail to assist bonded labourers or those already freed by court orders. Women’s role in various sectors including cropping, livestock rearing and dairy development, backyard poultry, backyard kitchen gardening, agro-forestry and fisheries are not acknowledged due to local customs and cultural norms of bonded labour in Sindh. Many women are unaware of their rights or unable to access legal help. The conditions of women in districts such as Tharparkar, Sanghar, Mirpurkhas, Dadu, Jacobabad, and Badin is particularly dire. Despite promises made under the Sindh Women Agriculture Workers Act (SWAWA) of 2019, women receive a meagre Rs 5,000 monthly for their labour-intensive roles in agriculture, including chilli and cotton picking, date-processing, and wheat cultivation. The Sindh government has set a minimum wage of Rs 7,000 per month, agricultural and women workers still earn less than Rs10,000 monthly despite working 12-hour days. The socio-economic conditions of peasants and rural women are extremely concerning, with the 2022 floods compounding their hardships. Many labourers lost their homes and livestock, and the slow reconstruction process has left millions of farmers homeless. Compounding their difficulties is the fact that women are also expected to primarily bear the responsibility of household work, doubling their work burden. There had also been little progress in the implementation of the Sindh Tenancy Act 1950, which outlines farmers’ rights. It was recommended that permanent labour status be granted to farming and labouring women, along with access to social security, health care, education and insurance. Women registered under the Benazir Income Support Program invariably face humiliation while queuing at centres and banks. The Sindh government has also failed to implement the amendments it made in 2021 to the Sindh Water Management Ordinance (SWMO) 2002 for ensuring women’s representation at all levels of the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA). Challenges faced by women in Pakistan’s agriculture sector include gender-based disparities in daily wage rates and the working hours of women and men, women’s double burden of on-farm and off farm activities, a lack of clean drinking water and appropriate sanitation facilities, the limited availability and poor quality of health services, and an imbalanced intake of food which affects women’s health and leaves them prone to health problems. Health problems are common among women farmers due to the excessive use of pesticides. Limited access to education in Pakistan keeps women and girls in a cycle of poverty and exploitation. Without education, their opportunities for better employment are severely restricted. But most crucially women farmers in Pakistan are largely unrecognised for their major contributions to agriculture, food security and development at large. Given that a significant 74 percent of Pakistan’s female labour force works in agriculture, the lack of attention women in the sector receive is highly troublesome, as this has led to poor knowledge about their plight and a consequent absence of policymaking that addresses their issues in a substantial manner. (Source: europeantimes)