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KARACHI: Pakistan on Tuesday announced a significant breakthrough in its agricultural exports to China with an inaugural shipment of dried chillies, the commerce ministry said in a statement. Chilli Processing
Around 150,000 acres (60,700 hectares) of farms in Pakistan produce 143,000 tons of chilli annually, making the country the fourth largest for chilli production worldwide. The southern Sindh province, which produces 126 million tons, contributes around 88 percent of the country’s total chilli production.
In this photograph, taken on November 13, 2023, Dr. Muhammad Siddique Depar, the principal scientific officer at a research center, showcases dried red chilies using a drying machine in the Umerkot district of Pakistan's Sindh province. (AN Photo by Zulfiqar Kunbhar).
Official figures show Pakistan’s dried red chilli exports have declined in the last few years, mainly due to contamination during the drying process. As per the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), Pakistan exported 2,751 metric tons of dried red chillies in 2019, which declined to 1,665 metric tons in 2022.
“This momentous achievement, made possible through the outstanding efforts of Litong Food Co. Ltd. [leading Chinese food firm], marks the beginning of a new era in the trade relationship between Pakistan and China,” Commerce Minister Dr. Gohaz Ejaz was quoted as saying in a statement released by his office that did not specify the size of the shipment.
“I am delighted to announce that the first-ever consignment of dried chillies is on its way to China. This achievement not only showcases the capabilities of our exporters but also highlights the potential for further collaboration between Pakistani and Chinese businesses.”
The minister said exports of Pakistani products to China had the potential to “exceed $20 billion in the coming years.”
“However, achieving this ambitious goal requires concerted efforts from Pakistani agricultural exporters ... to uphold high-quality standards, increase productivity, and implement effective marketing strategies to meet the expectations of the Chinese market.”
He added that exports could soar if Pakistani companies worked to meet the international standards set by Chinese authorities.
In this photograph, taken on November 13, 2023, farmer Javed Rajar showcases local chillis in the Umerkot district of Pakistan's Sindh province. (AN Photo by Zulfiqar Kunbhar)
Last month, Arab News reported on an innovative initiative in Sindh, where a dozen growers are successfully using modern methods and machines to protect their chilli crops against fungal contamination in a region that is highly vulnerable to climate change.
“The Minister ... urged the adoption of new technologies such as hybrid seeds and openness to corporate farming,” the commerce ministry’s statement added.
PESHAWAR: Suspected militants shot and killed two police officers assigned to escort polio workers in northwest Pakistan on Tuesday, the second such attack in the past 24 hours on officers taking part in a nationwide anti-polio drive. The latest attack happened in Bannu, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said Altaf Khan, a local police chief. Another two officers were also wounded in the attack. Khan said police have launched a search in the area to trace the assailants, and one of the attackers was apparently at a house in Bannu. No one immediately claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack in Bannu. Tuesday’s attack came hours after authorities said an officer who was critically wounded in a roadside bombing that targeted police assigned to protect polio vaccination workers in northwestern Pakistan died in a hospital, raising the death toll from the attack, claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, to seven. Police said in a statement that at least three officers remained in critical condition after Monday’s bombing in the district of Mamund, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban promptly claimed responsibility for the attack. However, a competing claim late on Monday by the Daesh group accused the Pakistani Taliban of falsely taking responsibility for the bombing. In the past, the two militant groups — which are both active in the region — have issued competing claims. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic. Monday’s bombing in Mamund happened after the government began another round of its regular vaccination drives. Islamic militants often target polio teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming falsely that the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children. The vaccination drive in Mamund was suspended for a second day Tuesday.
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party said on Tuesday it would challenge the “false cases” against its founding leader after an accountability court indicted him and his wife in a case involving the illegal sale of state gifts. Khan, who was ousted from power in a no-confidence vote in April 2022, has been facing a slew of legal cases which PTI says are meant to keep him away from Pakistan’s political landscape ahead of the next national elections. Currently, he is serving a three-year sentence at a high-security prison in Rawalpindi in a case popularly known as the Toshakhana – or state repository – reference after a local court convicted him in response to a complaint filed by the election commission for not stating the details of the gifts he retained in his financial statement. The country’s anti-graft body filed another reference as an extension of the same case in which it accused him and his wife, Bushra Bibi, getting an undervalued market assessment of an expensive jewelry set before keeping it for personal use. The couple is also facing the allegation of accepting land and financial donations under dubious circumstances in another reference called the Al-Qadir case. “We had completed our arguments on Imran Khan’s bail in the Al-Qadir and Toshakhana cases almost three weeks ago, but there were delays,” Naeem Haider Panjutha, Khan’s spokesman on legal affairs, said in a social media post. “Sometimes the prosecutor had back pain, sometimes he was unwell and sometimes dates were set just like that.” “Three weeks later, Judge Bashir made a decision [of indictment] that was known from the first day,” he continued. “We will challenge it in the high court. These are false cases with no kind of evidence whatsoever.” According to the local media, the indictment took place during a hearing of the case in Rawalpindi’s Adiala Jail where Khan has been incarcerated. The former Pakistani prime minister is also facing prison trial on charges of divulging state secrets. He was also “arrested” on Tuesday in another case in which the authorities plan to try him for instigating an attack on the army headquarters last year in May after he was briefly arrested on corruption allegations from the compound of the Islamabad High Court.
KARACHI: BankIslami Pakistan is charting new horizons as it contemplates venturing into the Gulf markets, targeting Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for its overseas expansion, to become the first Islamic bank in the country operating on foreign shores, one of its top officials said on Tuesday. The bank was established in 2005 and offers a range of Shariah-compliant banking products and services. With JS Bank as its majority shareholder, it has grown to become one of the leading Islamic banks in Pakistan. Listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), BankIslami boasts a market capitalization of over Rs24 billion. According to financial results posted on the PSX website, it recorded a net profit of Rs3.3 billion in the quarter ending on September 30, 2023. Rizwan Ata, President and CEO of BankIslami Pakistan, revealed on Tuesday the bank was planning both local and overseas expansions, with a primary focus on exploring opportunities in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf markets for expansion by next year. “We are basically prioritizing Saudi Arabia first because most of the remittance from overseas Pakistanis, they come from Saudi Arabia,” he explained in an interview with Arab News on the sidelines of a meeting with journalists in Karachi. “The second market is the UAE, obviously second largest country from where Pakistanis send their remittances. So, it is our obvious second target.” Ata added that Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and several other Middle Eastern states were also part of BankIslami’s overseas expansion plans. “While other banks have international chains, but [BankIslami] as a Pakistan-based bank will be the first one, Inshallah [by the will of God], to do it,” he added. The bank also plans to significantly expand its domestic presence by adding 100 more branches to its current network of over 400 branches by the end of the current year. He informed that 60 percent of his bank’s operations were digital, adding it wanted to inaugurate an exclusive digital branch by the end of the year. “Our full-fledged digital branch will be launched by the fourth quarter of 2024,” Ata informed, adding: “It will be a state-of-the-art digital branch in Pakistan that will be unmanned and issue cheque books, pay orders and even the ATM cards.” Islamic banking has rapidly gained prominence in Pakistan, with market shares of assets and deposits reaching 19.6 percent and 22.5 percent, respectively, by the end of September 2023. The Federal Shariat Court (FSC) ruling passed in April 2022 requires Pakistan to transition its entire banking system from interest-based to interest-free operations within five years. The court set December 2027 as the deadline for the complete elimination of riba – or interest – from the country’s banking system. BankIslami’s chief said he was hopeful the deadline would be honored, given the progress in Islamic banking across Pakistan. “We are hoping for it because all banks are making the effort,” Ata noted, adding that most new branches were being established in the country on Islamic banking principles.
KHAR, Pakistan: An officer who was critically wounded in a roadside bombing that targeted police assigned to protect polio vaccination workers in northwestern Pakistan died in a hospital on Tuesday, raising the death toll from the attack, claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, to seven. Police said in a statement that at least three officers remained in critical condition after Monday’s bombing in the district of Mamund, a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The Pakistani Taliban promptly claimed responsibility for the attack. However, a competing claim late on Monday by Daesh accused the Pakistani Taliban of falsely taking responsibility for the bombing. In the past, the two militant groups — which are both active in the region — have issued competing claims. Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries in the world where polio remains endemic. Monday’s bombing in Mamund happened after the government began another round of its regular vaccination drives. Islamic militants often target polio teams and police assigned to protect them, claiming falsely that the vaccination campaigns are a Western conspiracy to sterilize children. The vaccination drive in Mamund was suspended for a second day Tuesday.
Chilli Stem Removing Machine ISLAMABAD: The provincial health department of Sindh reported two more cases of the new coronavirus variant JN.1 on Tuesday, saying both patients have been advised to stay at home and quarantine themselves until their recovery. JN.1, a subvariant of the omicron strain, first surfaced in the United States in September before its spread was observed in other parts of the world. According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no evidence that the new variant causes more severe cases of COVID-19 or poses any more of a risk to public health than other circulating types of coronaviruses. Pakistan’s health ministry reported four JN.1 cases earlier in the week, stating that none of the patients displayed serious disease symptoms. With the addition of two more patients, the country now has six confirmed JN.1 cases. “The Sindh Health Department has received reports of six suspected COVID variant passengers arriving at Karachi Airport from abroad,” said an official statement. “Of the six samples sent for testing of the new COVID variant JN.1, two have tested positive. One of the infected passengers arrived in Karachi from Bangkok, while the other came from Abu Dhabi.” The statement said one of the JN.1 patients was 26 years old and belonged to the Kech area in Balochistan. The other, 53, hailed from Sanghar in Sindh and was currently residing in Hyderabad. “Both passengers have been strictly instructed to quarantine at home,” it added. Pakistan’s COVID-19 experience was marked by several challenges and phases. Initially, the country faced a rapid spread of the virus, leading to strict lockdowns and pressure on its health care system. However, despite its limited resources, Pakistan implemented effective measures such as smart lockdowns, mass testing and public awareness campaigns until the situation improved with a decrease in infection rates and the rollout of vaccination programs.