KARACHI (TIP): Four people were killed and two others injured on December 6 evening when a fire broke out in a shopping and residential mall in Pakistan’s Karachi city.
TV footage showed billowing into the sky as flames engulfed parts of the building. The cause of the fire was not immediately clear and officers said they were still investigating.
Karachi Mayor Murtaza Wahab confirmed that three burnt bodies have been recovered so far from the building situated in the Ayesha Manzil area.
However, a senior police official said four bodies have been sent to civil hospital, while two persons who suffered burn wounds are undergoing treatment at the hospital.
Television channels showed black smoke and flames emanating from the building, located in a congested residential and commercial area of Karachi.
Fire brigade department official Humayun Khan said the fire apparently started on the ground floor and quickly spread to three other floors. “The Mezzanine and ground floor have around 200 shops while there are four more floors with residential apartments,” Khan said.
He said as soon as the fire engines and crew reached the spot they first evacuated all the residential apartments with the help of security personnel and took them to safety. “The fire is still being put out and we might recover more bodies and injured people,” he said.
Firefighters could also be seen attempting to douse the flames on television channels.
Pictures showed vehicles parked outside the building badly damaged as a traffic jam also took place in the heavily populated area. Senior police official Afzal Pechio said heavy casualties have been avoided because people helped one other to evacuate the building.
Almas Talha, a housewife who was in her apartment on the fourth floor said as soon there was a commotion, security guards and shopkeepers rushed to the residential floors and helped families evacuate quickly. Six fire tenders and a snorkel are being used to douse out the fire. Most structures in Karachi, and other parts of the country, lack fire prevention and firefighting systems, which often results in damages and casualties.
Karachi is the capital of southern Sindh province, where such incidents are common.
This is the second incident of a major fire in a mall in 12 days. A huge fire ripped through a six-storey commercial building in the city’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar area on Nov 25 in which 11 people were killed. After the fire in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, a preliminary report prepared by the Fire Brigade Department had stated that there was “no kind of public safety system” in many commercial and residential buildings in congested areas of Karachi.
(With inputs from PTI and AP)
Tag: Karachi
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Four killed, several deaths feared as fire engulfs multi-storey mall in Pakistan’s Karachi city
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Pak rice exporters having field day as India bans export of non-basmati white rice
KARACHI (TIP): Rice exporters of Pakistan are having a field day due to the Indian government’s ban on the export of non-basmati white rice to the international market.
On July 20, the Indian government banned exports of non-basmati white rice to boost domestic supply and keep retail prices under check during the upcoming festive season.
Non-basmati white rice constitutes about 25 per cent of total rice exported from the country.
Pakistan Rice Exporters Association Chairman Chela Ram Kewlani said that the ban on non-Basmati white rice export by India has led to an increase in the export orders of Pakistani firms. “There is a big demand for Pakistani rice in the global market after India placed restrictions on the export of non-basmati rice. International buyers are now turning towards Pakistani exporters,” Kewlani told PTI on Wednesday.
This year, Pakistan is expected to export rice worth over USD 3 billion dollars, he said, adding that the price of basmati rice has risen by 100 dollars per ton.
“Before India’s ban on the export of non-basmati white rice, the price of Pakistani non-basmati rice was USD 450 per ton, but now, in the international market, it has increased to USD 500 per ton. The price may even reach USD 600 per ton depending on the quality,” he said. Besides increasing demand from the US, the UK and other European countries, Russia has also shown keen interest in purchasing 5 million tonnes of rice from Pakistan, Kewlani said. “We are in negotiations with 27 Russian companies for the export of non-basmati rice. Furthermore, talks are in progress for the acquisition of Pakistani rice by Mexico as well,” he said. Kewlani said Indian non-basmati white rice was in great demand in the global market, which is why the ban has helped Pakistani exporters. (PTI) -
Man strips naked to sexually assault burqa-clad woman in broad daylight in Karachi
Karachi (TIP): Footage emerged on social media on July 5, showing a man on a bike attempting to sexually assault a woman in Karachi’s Gulistan-i-Jauhar, according to media reports. The CCTV footage shows the man arriving on a motorcycle and then stripping and waiting for the woman to pass by. As soon as the burqa-clad lady passed him, he is seen running towards her in an attempt to sexually assault her.
As soon as the man approaches, the woman is seen shouting and screaming for help, which causes the assaulter to back off. The footage shows the man fleeing the scene on his motorcycle, immediately after putting his clothes back on.
Sindh Minister Sharjeel Memon took to Twitter to say that Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has taken notice of the issue and that the police have been instructed to investigate and arrest the man in the footage immediately.
According to reports, no official complaint has been filed from the side of the victim. (PTI) -
Crisis-hit Pakistan unveils $51 billion budget, with half to service debt
KARACHI (TIP): Pakistan’s cash-strapped government unveiled a 14.5 trillion rupee (around $50.5 billion) budget on June 9, with over half set aside to service 7.3 trillion rupees of debt.
Pakistan’s economy has been stricken by a balance-of-payments crisis as it attempts to service crippling external debt, while months of political chaos have scared off potential foreign investment.
Inflation has rocketed, the rupee has plummeted and the country can no longer afford imports, causing a severe decline in industrial output.
About 950 billion rupees was earmarked for vote-winning development projects ahead of a general election later this year, while other populist measures include civil service pay rises of up to 35 per cent and a 17.5 per cent increase for state pensions. Presenting the budget to the National Assembly on Friday, Finance Minister Ishaq Dar insisted targets had been prudent.
“There are general elections in the country soon, but despite that the next fiscal-year budget is prepared as a responsible budget instead of an election budget,” he said.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif blamed his predecessor Imran Khan – ousted by a vote of no-confidence in April last year — for the morass. “Our preceding government has battered the economy,” he said.
Poor being ‘humiliated’. Akhtar Khan Nawaz, a labourer at a fruit and vegetable market in the capital Islamabad, said “the poor were being humiliated.”
“(The budget) will be of no use unless inflation is reduced, the poor will only get relief if inflation is eased,” he told AFP.
Sharif said he was optimistic for an extension later this month on an International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan facility crucial to keeping the economy afloat. “The IMF chief has given his verbal commitment… there is no hindrance,” he said.The IMF has told Pakistan it needs to secure additional external financing, scrap a swathe of populist subsidies, and allow the rupee to float freely against the dollar before unlocking another tranche of the $6.5 billion facility. Still, the latest budget sets aside 1.07 trillion rupees for subsidies.
“The government definitely has to take such popular decisions as it is the election year,” said Nasir Iqbal, an economist at the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE).
The country failed to meet any economic growth targets for the fiscal year 2022-23, according to a key government report released Thursday, with GDP growth a miserly 0.3 per cent.
Dar said Friday that the latest budget was based on GDP growth of 3.5 per cent, although the World Bank projected a less-ambitious two per cent growth in a report issued earlier this week. It also had an annual inflation forecast of 21 per cent, against a current year-on-year rate of 37.97 per cent.
The economy has also been ravaged by record monsoon floods last year that left almost a third of the country underwater, laying waste to vast swathes of farmland and leaving tens of millions homeless.
But the political crisis remains the biggest risk factor in the months ahead.
Former premier Khan’s hugely popular campaign to return to office spilled into street violence after his brief arrest last month, prompting a massive crackdown on his party including mass arrests and trials scheduled for military courts. (AFP) -
Indian prisoner dies in Karachi
Karachi (TIP) : The Pakistani authorities are expected to go ahead with their goodwill gesture to release on May 10 199 Indian fishermen arrested for allegedly fishing illegally in the country’s waters, despite the death of an Indian civilian who was to be repatriated with them. Kazi Nazir, a top police official in the jail and corrections department in Sindh, said they had been told by relevant government ministries to prepare for the release and repatriation of 199 fishermen on Friday. These fishermen will be sent to Lahore and handed over to the Indian authorities at the Wagah border. Currently, these fishermen are lodged at the Landhi jail here. (PTI)
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Debutant Nauman Ali puts South Africa in a spin as Pakistan win first Test
Karachi (TIP): Spinners Nauman Ali and Yasir Shah rattled South Africa to help Pakistan win the first test by seven wickets inside four days on Friday, January 29.
Nauman, a 34-year-old left-arm spinner making his test debut, returned 5-35 and Shah took 4-79 to dismiss South Africa for 245 in the second innings before lunch on day four.
It set up a small target of 88 and despite Anrich Nortje’s (2-24) twin strike in one over, Pakistan reached 90-3 before tea in 22.5 overs. Azhar Ali remained unbeaten on 31 while Fawad Alam raised the victory with a boundary off left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj. It was only Pakistan’s fifth victory in 27 test matches against South Africa, which had won at the same venue when it last toured in 2007.
Nauman and Shah shared 14 wickets in the match as South African batsmen struggled against spinners in both innings. The win also earned Babar Azam success in his first test as Pakistan skipper. Babar was due to lead the side in the last series in New Zealand but missed it due to a fractured thumb.
Nortje clean bowled Abid Ali (10) and then had Imran Butt (12), playing his first test, caught behind before Maharaj had Babar (30) trapped leg before wicket when only two needed for victory. Pakistan had been in control since taking a 158-run first-innings lead, when its lower order rallied from 27-4 to reach 378, helped by Alam’s gritty century.