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☆ Pakistani Airstrikes in Afghanistan Kill at Least 8, Taliban Officials Say
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-18 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | Zia Ur-Rehman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Pakistan launched two airstrikes into Afghanistan on Monday morning that killed at least eight people, Afghan officials said, escalating simmering tensions between the two countries. The pre-dawn strikes were carried out in the Paktika and Khost provinces in eastern Afghanistan around 3 a.m., Afghan officials said. Three children were among those killed, according to Taliban officials, who condemned the strikes as a violation of Afghan territory. Pakistani officials have blamed militants harbored on Afghan soil and protected by the Taliban administration for the attacks. Taliban officials have denied those claims.

Persons: Zabihullah Mujahid, “ Locations: Pakistan, Afghanistan, Khost

☆ Election Office Blasts in Pakistan Kill at Least 22 a Day Before Vote
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-07 | by ( Zia Ur-Rehman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Two separate explosions outside election offices in an insurgency-hit area of Pakistan killed at least 22 people and wounded several others on Wednesday, officials said, a deadly reminder of the deteriorating security situation in the country as it heads into national elections on Thursday. “Rest assured, we will not allow terrorists to undermine or sabotage this crucial democratic process,” Jan Achakzai, the information minister in the province where Wednesday’s blasts occurred, said on social media. But such attacks against election-related activities, including the targeting of candidates, have surged as Pakistan’s campaign season has ramped up. At least 21 attacks occurred in January, killing 10 people and injuring 25, according to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank. Two candidates lost their lives, and several candidates narrowly escaped harm.

Persons: ” Jan Achakzai Organizations: Pakistan Institute for Conflict, Security Studies Locations: Pakistan, Islamabad

The highway is the most politically charged slice of a politically turbulent country. It winds 180 miles from Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, through the fertile plains of Punjab Province to Lahore, the nation’s cultural and political heart. For centuries, it was known only as a sliver of the Grand Trunk Road, Asia’s longest and oldest thoroughfare, linking traders in Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. As Pakistan heads into national elections on Thursday, the road is buzzing. Politics dominates the chatter between its vendors and rickshaw drivers, their conversations seeped in a culture of conspiracy, cults of political personality and the problems of entrenched military control.

Locations: Pakistan’s, Islamabad, Punjab Province, Lahore, Central Asia, Pakistan

☆ Pakistan’s Military Has Swayed Many Elections. Now It’s Going Full Tilt.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-04 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | Zia Ur-Rehman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Tucked away on a patch of dying grass on the outskirts of Islamabad, the gathering hardly looked like a political rally at the height of an election season. There were no posters to promote a campaign, no microphones to deliver speeches, no sound system to amp up the crowd. Even the candidate, Aamir Mughal, was missing: He had gone into hiding months earlier, at the first signs of a military-led crackdown on his political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or P.T.I. The authorities had already raided his home, arrested two of his sons and lodged a case against him in connection with anti-military protests. in the first national election since the party’s leader, former Prime Minister Imran Khan, ran afoul of the generals and was ousted by Parliament in 2022.

Persons: Aamir Mughal, ” Mr, Mughal, “, Imran Khan Organizations: ” Locations: Islamabad, Pakistan

☆ Families Ripped Apart as Pakistan Expels Tens of Thousands of Afghans
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-23 | by ( Zia Ur-Rehman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

He and his son were arrested on Sept. 12 in the Pakistani city of Karachi during a raid on Afghan migrants. Mr. Gul, 30, was born and raised in Karachi and married his wife there. His wife, Ram Bibi, 29, also an Afghan citizen, sold valuables to hire a lawyer who could argue that Mr. Gul was a legal resident of Pakistan. But he was deported to Afghanistan on Nov. 13, after Pakistan set a deadline for all 1.7 million illegal migrants to leave, most of them Afghans. Mr. Gul is now stranded in a country he does not know, leaving his pregnant wife and his children at the mercy of impoverished relatives to survive.

Persons: Baz Gul’s, Gul, Ram Bibi Locations: Pakistani, Karachi, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Afghan

☆ The Dark Incentives That Led to a Refugee Tragedy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Amanda Taub | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Hundreds of people may have died last week in the Mediterranean, after a boat overloaded with migrants, including many children, capsized and sank. It was one of the deadliest migrant disasters in years. And, indeed, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, said Greece’s border enforcement was Europe’s “shield,” because its harsh tactics prevent migrants from reaching E.U. “This border is not only a Greek border, it is also a European border,” she said after Greece used tear gas to repel hundreds of people who were trying to cross over from Turkey. The European Union has gone to even greater extremes to deter migrants.

Persons: Christina Goldbaum, Zia Ur, Rehman, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Ursula von der Leyen, Frontex Organizations: European Union, Times, European Commission, European, Human Rights Watch Locations: Bandli, Pakistan, Kashmir, Italy, Greece, E.U, European, ”, Turkey, European Union, Libyan, Libya

☆ ‘Like Doomsday’: How Hope of a Better Life Ended on a Boat in the Mediterranean
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Christina Goldbaum | Zia Ur-Rehman | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Perhaps no two in the group were closer, though, than the cousins, Mr. Wazir and Mr. Salam. The youngest of seven brothers, Mr. Wazir earned a reputation as a rambunctious student who made friends easily. Mr. Salam was quieter, but gained fame in the regional cricket league, where he earned the nickname “Jayasuriya” — after a famous Sri Lankan cricketer. Mr. Wazir left for Saudi Arabia, seeking work as a day laborer. Mr. Salam submitted military enlistment papers, encouraged by his father, a retired low-ranking officer.

Persons: Muhammad Yasir, Muhammad Aslam, Shifaat Ali, Wazir, Salam, “ Jayasuriya ” — Organizations: league Locations: Bandli, Europe, Libya, Sri, Saudi Arabia

☆ In Pakistan, Economic Crisis Mutes Ramadan Celebrations
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Zia Ur-Rehman | Christina Goldbaum | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

They swell through the day as hundreds of men and women swathed in bright purple and pink scarves wait outside the charity’s gates in Karachi, Pakistan. Many sit for hours, desperate to collect enough flour, rice, sugar and cooking oil to break their daily fast for the holy month of Ramadan. “It is the most expensive and unaffordable Ramadan of my life.”Across Pakistan, the season of Ramadan — a time of daily fasting and nightly feasts with family — is in full swing. But this year, an economic crisis that has sent the price of goods soaring to record highs has muted celebrations for millions of families struggling to buy the dates, rice and meat needed to break their daily fast. The South Asian nation — home to more than 230 million — is facing one of the most daunting economic challenges of its history.

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