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KHAPLU, Gilgit-Baltistan: In northern Pakistan, ancient homes that have withstood earthquakes, inclement weather and the ravages of time may not be able to withstand the appeal of modern architecture.
Centuries-old houses known as Shaq Khang, woven with the twigs of poplar and willow trees, are increasingly giving way to modern construction and architectural styles in the picturesque Gilgit-Baltistan region, especially in Bara Valley, where the unique houses are most prevalent.
“Shaq is a name derived from the twigs of poplars and willows in the local Balti language,” Muhammad Ali, a 65-year-old resident of Bara Valley, said. “Shaq is made, knitted from [twigs of] poplar and willows trees. Beams, pillars, and walls are also made from the same trees.”
The natural construction materials, Ali said, offered more insulation, keeping the interiors of homes warm during winter and cool during summer.
Ali is from the village of Tatos, which roughly translates to ‘now see’. Due to its height, it offers a panoramic view of Khaplu, the administrative capital of Ghanche District.
“Everyone comes here to see [the view]. But due to the dilapidated condition of the road, only a few tourists visit here,” Ali said.
Many tourists come to see the ancient homes, he said, “made before the partition of the subcontinent.”
Ghulam Muhammad, a 75-year-old resident of the town, concurred that many of the area’s Shaq Khang homes had lasted several generations.
Two historians Arab News spoke to said there was no recorded history of how old the technique of making Shaq Khang was.
“Shaq never falls apart,” Muhammad said. “The life of cement is 100 years after which it deteriorates. Metals catch rust and break. But wood never gets spoiled even after 500 years. This is the beauty of Shaq.”
Muhammad added that the traditional houses were “quake-resistant,” which was important in the seismically active region.
Dr. Muhammad Arif, a historian and former director-general at the Department of Archaeology and Museums in Islamabad, emphasized the significance of Shaq for GB’s ancient culture. The houses were low-cost and easy to build also, he added, requiring minimal upkee, and suited to the mountainous environment and extreme weather conditions.
“The twigs of poplars and willows are intricately woven together to form the walls of Shaq, creating a strong and interconnected structure,” he told Arab News. “To enhance its strength, we apply a plaster of mud mixed with various substances. For example, we add husk to make the mud more compact, and we even incorporate apricot juice to strengthen it like cement.”
“[They are] earthquake-resistant and very flexible. That’s why, whenever an earthquake comes, the whole unit will shake [but] not fall,” Arif added. “If the home is made of stone and other things, there is a chance of falling.”
But with increasing wealth, people were opting for cement houses as a “fashion statement,” Arif lamented, though the modern structures lacked weather-friendliness and failed to protect the inhabitants from extreme temperatures.
The decline in the number of traditional houses had also raised concerns about the loss of the region’s cultural heritage.
“This architecture is our asset, these Shaq Khang homes are our recognition,” Arif said. “And it is a fact that this architecture is disappearing from the region as people are making modern houses.”
“This is an important part of our culture and to revive these houses is the need of the time. Tourists can also be attracted to this region through these ancient buildings. If we don’t play our role to revive these, our history will also be disappeared.”
Wazir Ejaz, CEO of the Baltistan Cultural Development Foundation (BCDF), told Arab News the group was trying to conserve the homes.
“We have trained many locals in Skardu and Ghanche districts of Ghanche to make Shaqs,” he said. “And [with the help] of Baltistan University, we will train more locals to build them.”
KARACHI: A delegation of the Pakistani ministry of power and petroleum on Monday met a team from Saudi Aramco and discussed cooperation in exploration and the digitization of oil and gas wells, as Islamabad uses the ongoing ADIPEC energy industry event in Abu Dhabi to pitch investment opportunities to foreign nations.
Pakistan in June set up a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) — a civil-military hybrid forum — to fast-track decision making and promote investment from foreign nations, particularly Gulf countries. The council has identified five sectors as priority, namely energy, agriculture, mining, information technology and defense production, as Pakistan deals with a balance of payments crisis and requires billions of dollars in foreign exchange to finance its trade deficit and repay its international debts in the current financial year.
“Team Pakistan under the leadership of Minister for Power and Petroleum Muhammad Ali held a meeting with delegation of ARAMCO headed by Head of ARAMCO Asia,” the Pakistani ministry said in a statement.
“Areas of mutual cooperation including exploration, oil and gas wells digitalization came under discussion.”
In a historic collaboration, Pakistan announced in July that four government-backed oil and gas companies were joining forces with oil giant Saudi Aramco for a $10 billion Greenfield refinery project.
Through a “joint investment strategy,” the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), Pakistan State Oil (PSO), Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL), and Government Holdings Private Limited (GHPL) would work with Aramco, Pakistan had announced. The project will be built on the strategic Gwadar Port in the country’s southwestern Balochistan province.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia inked a deal to establish an oil refinery in Gwadar, a key route of the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), during Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman’s visit to Islamabad in 2019.
In a separate meeting at ADIPEC, the Pakistani minister for petroleum met the vice president of China National Petroleum Corporation and “discussed issues of mutual interest and areas of future cooperation between two countries.”
ADIPEC is one of the world’s largest energy events with 2,200 companies participating this year and 30 country pavilions showcasing energy strategies. More than ten Pakistani companies are attending the forum.
ISLAMABAD: A special court set up to try cases under the Official Secrets Act has summoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and ex-foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi tomorrow, Wednesday, after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) submitted charge sheets against them.
A case was registered against Khan and his top aide Qureshi in July under the Official Secrets Act of 1923 and is related to alleged diplomatic correspondence between Washington and Islamabad, which Khan has said proved a US conspiracy to topple his government. Washington has denied being involved in any such plan.
According to a copy of the First Information Report (FIR), or police complaint, seen by Arab News, Khan and Qureshi, who was the ex-PM’s foreign minister, are both accused of divulging the contents of a classified document to unauthorized individuals and distorting facts “with ulterior motives and personal gains, thereby jeopardizing state security interest.”
“Special court judge Abul Hasnat Zulqarnain issued notices to respondents saying that statements of witnesses are sufficient to summon the accused in the court,” Pakistan’s top news channel Geo reported. Other local media outlets also widely reported on the summons.
In its charge sheet, the FIA has said the former prime minister and PM were guilty of leaking state secrets, requesting the special court to carry out a trial and sentence them accordingly.
Khan is currently in jail in another case related to corruption for which he was sentenced to three years in prison in August. Qureshi is also on remand in jail in the cipher case.
The decision to prosecute Khan for exposing official secrets was taken by the outgoing government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif after Khan’s former principal secretary Azam Khan recorded a court statement saying a US diplomatic encrypted letter was manipulated by Khan in March 2022 to serve his political goals.
The 70-year-old former cricket hero lost power in a vote of no confidence in April 2022, in which he has said Washington got involved after his visit to Moscow. Khan waved a piece of paper at public gatherings saying he was holding a copy of a secret diplomatic letter, which spoke of dire consequences if he continued getting closer to Russia.
Khan had traveled to Moscow on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and argues that the US and Pakistan’s own army were opposed to him for pursuing an independent foreign policy. Both deny the charge.
ISLAMABAD: A serving Pakistani general was on Monday appointed to head Pakistan’s National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), which regulates government databases and statistically manages the identity data of all citizens of Pakistan.
NADRA is responsible for issuing computerized national identity cards (CNICs) to Pakistani citizens and securing their national identities from being stolen or misused. In the past, the body has been largely headed by civilians as well as retired government, police and military officials.
“The federal government has been pleased to appoint Lt. Gen. Muhammad Munir Afsar as Chairman NADRA,” a ministry of interior notification said.
Afsar was serving as the army Inspector General Communication and Information Technology and Commander of Pakistan Army Cyber Command before being appointed NADRA chief. He has substantial experience in IT-related technical development and management within the army as well as during his service with Pakistan’s mission to the United Nations.
Afsar holds an MPhil in Public Policy and National Security Management, and is a specialist in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), with an MS in GIS and remote sensing. He is currently pursuing a PhD in remote sensing from NUST Islamabad, focusing on the detection of plant diseases through the integration of remote sensing and artificial intelligence.
In the past he has also served as a Military Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Officer at the UN.
As a major general, Afsar was the Director General of the DG Command, Control, Communication, Computers, and Intelligence (C41) Directorate, responsible for the overarching management of IT.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s caretaker government has decided to evict 1.1 million ‘illegal foreigners’ because of what it calls their involvement in “funding, facilitating terrorists and other illegal activities,” state-owned APP news agency reported on Monday, in a decision that will likely hit Afghans.
Afghans have poured into Pakistan in the millions during decades of successive wars, many living in aid camps with restricted access to education, health care and employment. Around 1.3 million are registered refugees and 880,000 more have legal status to remain in Pakistan, according to the latest United Nations figures.
But since last month, police have launched a widening crackdown against those they say are without legal status and in response to rising terror attacks, crime and poor regulation of immigration that is straining resources. A majority of those arrested in the latest crackdown are Afghans.
“In the first phase, illegal residents, in the second phase, those with Afghan citizenship and in the third phase, those with proof of residence cards will be expelled,” APP reported.
“Illegally resident foreigners pose a serious threat to the security of Pakistan. A plan for eviction of illegally residing Afghan citizens has also been approved as this lot is involved in funding, facilitating and smuggling terrorists whereas 7 lacs [0.7 million] Afghans have not renewed their proof of residence in Pakistan.”
APP reported that illegal residents and those who had not renewed their visas would be deported in the first phase.
“In the second phase, those with Afghan citizenship will be deported, in the third phase, those with proof of residence cards will be deported,” the news agency said, adding that the plan had been prepared by the interior ministry in consultation with all stakeholders, including the Afghan government.
Kabul has not yet responded to the announcement of the eviction plan.
“The [interior] ministry has also issued directives to the concerned to compile a record of Afghans living without permits and prepare a transportation plan to bring them to the Afghan border,” APP said.
“Apart from checking the records of all the Afghans residing in the country the concerned officials were directed to quickly deal with the applications filed regarding the registration of Afghans.”
The crackdown comes amid a rise in terror attacks in Pakistan, mostly by militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban. Pakistan says the Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, have become emboldened since the Afghan Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO troops were in the final stages of their pullout from the country after 20 years of war. Authorities say the insurgents, who are allied but separate from the Afghan Taliban, have found sanctuaries and have even been living openly in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.
The TTP has especially stepped up its attacks on Pakistan since November last year when it unilaterally called off a tenuous peace deal that had been brokered by Kabul.
The Afghan government says it does not permit its soil to be used by armed groups against other nations.
At least 700 Afghans had been arrested since early September in Karachi alone as part of the latest crackdown — 10 times more than in August — and hundreds more in the other cities, according to official police figures.
Afghans say the arrests have been indiscriminate. They accuse police of extorting money and ignoring legal documents, while pointing to rising anti-Afghan sentiment as prolonged economic hardship burdens Pakistani households and tensions rise between Islamabad and Kabul’s new Taliban government.
ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Minister for IT Dr. Umar Saif said on Monday Pakistan could benefit by becoming part of the “incredible growth story” of Saudi Arabia, a day after Islamabad and Riyadh signed multiple memorandums of understanding (MOUs) to boost IT cooperation.
A delegation comprising 15 top Pakistani IT companies led by Saif is visiting Saudi Arabia where they signed deals last week to accelerate digital transformation, foster innovation and advance digital infrastructure. The agreements will also boost the ecosystems for small and medium-sized enterprises and startups and encourage transfer of businesses and exchange of information on accelerators and incubators.
Both countries have also decided to establish a special task force to promote Saudi-Pakistan digital cooperation.
“There is a huge opportunity for Pakistan in Saudi Arabia as everyone we met here, the IT minister, the investment minister, the small and medium enterprises, the digital corporations, everyone is eagerly waiting for us,” Saif told Arab News on Monday.
The Kingdom has in recent years been pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into an economic plan, known as Vision 2030, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Earlier this year the Saudi government said it had attracted more than $9 billion in investments in future technologies, including by US giants Microsoft and Oracle Corp, which are building cloud regions in the kingdom.
“Pakistan could be part of this development story because the growth is so fast, they [Saudis] need people, they need technical skills, companies to make software, to make IT systems and to make financial systems for them,” Saif said.
“Now it is largely up to us [Pakistan] that we should make sure to grab this opportunity, turn this into business for our IT companies, and become part of this incredible growth story in Saudi Arabia.”
A statement from Pakistan’s mission in Riyadh on Sunday said the two countries would support each other in e-governance, smart infrastructure, e-health, e-education, and emerging technologie, such as AI, IoT, robotics, cloud computing, e-gaming, and blockchain.
Muhammad Zohaib Khan, Chairman of the Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), who is part of the delegation visiting Riyadh, said a “significant” outcome of the visit was that Saudi Arabia had agreed to a demand by Pakistani IT companies for a dedicated desk to support their operations in the Kingdom.
“This desk will help immensely by providing exclusive access to Pakistani companies to liaison with Saudi companies to benefit from the opportunities provided by Saudi Vision 2030,” Khan told Arab News over the phone from Riyadh.
“During our meetings, we have requested to allocate a point of contact everywhere, so that further follow-up is easier for us with the private and government sectors in the Kingdom.”