August 17, 2023

A high-level inquiry has been ordered by the caretaker Punjab government after a violent mob set fire to a number of churches and vandalised Christians’ homes on Wednesday. Around 100 people have been arrested, a first information reporter has been registered, and paramilitary Rangers have been called in to take control of the situation. The mob made its way through a predominantly Christian area on the outskirts of the industrial city of Faisalabad after allegations spread that the Holy Quran had been desecrated. “This was a well thought out plan to disrupt peace and a high-level investigation is underway regarding the desecration of the Holy Quran and incidents that take place afterward,” a spokesperson for the provincial government said in a statement. The spokesperson said police “foiled” the bid to attack the homes of the minorities and that the “peace committee” mobilised to ensure similar attempts are thwarted. “The frequency and scale of such attacks — which are systematic, violent and often uncontainable — appear to have increased in the last several years,” said the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. The rights group called for the setting up and equipping of special police forces to protect religious minorities’ sites of worship, as directed by a 2014 Supreme Court judgment. Caretaker Prime Minister Anwar ul Haq Kakar called for stern action against those responsible for Wednesday’s violence. “I am gutted by the visuals coming out,” he said. Police and rescue officials said at least four churches had been set on fire, while residents said as many as a dozen buildings with church status had been damaged. Several thousand police have been sent to secure the area and dozens of people detained, Amir Mir, the information minister for Punjab province, said in a statement that also condemned the alleged blasphemy. Yasir Bhatti, a 31-year-old Christian, fled his home in a narrow alley next to one of the churches that was ransacked by the mob. “They broke the windows, doors and took out fridges, sofas, chairs and other household items to pile them up in front of the Church to be burnt. They also burnt and desecrated Bibles, they were ruthless,” he told AFP by phone. Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan, where anyone deemed to have insulted Islam or Islamic figures can face the death penalty. Pakistani bishop Azad Marshall, in the neighbouring city of Lahore, said the Christian community was “deeply pained and distressed” by the events. “We cry out for justice and action from law enforcement and those who dispense justice and the safety of all citizens to intervene immediately and assure us that our lives are valuable in our own homeland,” he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. The United States on Wednesday urged Pakistan to investigate mob attacks against churches and Christian homes that broke out in the east of the country amid blasphemy rumors. “We are deeply concerned that churches and homes were targeted in response to reported Quran desecration in Pakistan,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters. He said that while the United States backed free expression, “violence or the threat of violence is never an acceptable form of expression.” “We urge Pakistani authorities to conduct a full investigation into these allegations and call for calm,” he said. Source:https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1101080-punjab-orders-high-level-probe-after-faislabad-churches-vandalised

A huge wildfire in northern Canada is moving closer the city of Yellowknife, the capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories, and evacuation of the city’s 20,000 residents has been ordered, the territorial government said. Canada is enduring its worst-ever wildfire season with more than 1,000 active fires burning across the country, including 230 in the Northwest Territories. Yellowknife’s mayor Rebecca Alty said on Wednesday that authorities believe the progress of the wildfire would allow time for people to evacuate on Wednesday and Thursday, according to local media outlet Cabin Radio. “The city is not in immediate danger and there is a safe window for residents to leave by road or air,” Alty said, according to Cabin Radio. Rylund Johnson, a member of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly, said on social media that people had already started to evacuate the city voluntarily and were now under order to do so by noon on Friday. “Flights will start Thursday afternoon. If you have ground transportation, check if your friends and family have a ride,” he said on the social media platform previously known as Twitter. Shane Thompson, the Northwest Territories’ environment minister, told a news conference that the “wildfire situation has taken another turn for the worst”. “A fire burning west of Yellowknife now representing a real threat to the city,” he said, announcing the order for the city’s nearly 20,000 residents to leave by Friday noon by vehicle or air. Thousands of residents of the sparsely-populated northwest territory have been forced to evacuate from smaller communities, and the hamlet of Enterprise near the Alberta border was almost entirely destroyed by a blaze that swept through on Sunday. Northwest Territories Premier Caroline Cochrane said earlier on Wednesday that some Yellowknife residents were pre-emptively leaving the city. “I’ve never seen so many vehicles leaving town,” Cochrane said. “There’s all kinds of rumours out there, but be ready and evacuate if necessary. Be calm. Do not panic.” Yellowknife has a population of approximately 20,000 people and lies 400km (250 miles) south of the Arctic Circle. NWT Fire said the 163,000-hectare (402,781 acres) wildfire is currently 17km (around 10 miles) from Yellowknife and would likely reach Highway 3, the only highway connecting the city to the rest of Canada, on Thursday. Some areas along the highway had already been ordered to evacuate. “There is risk to the city of Yellowknife. Our team, alongside the city of Yellowknife, are doing everything possible to slow the growth of this fire and protect the community,” NWT Fire said. The Northwest Territories declared a state of emergency late Tuesday and the Canadian military has been mobilised to help tackle the blazes and airlift some residents to safety. Cochrane spoke to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about the wildfire situation on Wednesday afternoon. Trudeau reaffirmed the federal government’s ongoing commitment to help the territory, according to a readout of their conversation. Western Canada is enduring a heat wave that saw 19 daily heat records broken on Tuesday and is fuelling hundreds of out-of-control wildfires. Blazes have engulfed parts of nearly all 13 Canadian provinces and territories this year, forcing home evacuations, disrupting oil and gas production and drawing in federal as well as international firefighting resources. Socure:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/8/17/huge-wildfire-forces-evacuation-of-canadas-northwest-territories-capital

More than 60 migrants are feared to have lost their lives after a boat carrying them was found capsized near the Cape Verde peninsula of Senegal in West Africa. BBC reported that more than 38 people — including children — were rescued from the island of Sal in Cape Verde. Footage from the scene after their arrival shows many were carried ashore on stretchers. It is believed that the majority of passengers on the boat — which spent more than a month at sea — are Senegalese citizens. However, reports claim that some also hail from Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau. Following the tragic incident, Cape Verde officials have requested global action to help prevent additional migrant deaths. The vessel was first spotted on Monday, police told the AFP. Initial reports suggested the boat had sunk but it was later clarified that it had been found drifting. A Spanish fishing boat saw the wooden pirogue-style capsized boat some 320 kilometers (200 miles) off Sal, in the Cape Verde islands, and immediately contacted the authorities, according to the police. Four children, ages 12 to 16, are among the survivors, confirmed an International Organisation for Migration (IOM) official. The boat departed the Senegalese fishing community of Fasse Boye on July 10 with 101 people on board, according to survivors quoted by Senegal’s foreign ministry on Tuesday. Moda Samb, an elected official in the village, told the AFP news agency nearly all those on the boat had grown up in the community and that some local families were still waiting to hear whether their relatives were among the survivors. The ministry declared that it was coordinating with Cape Verdean authorities to set up the repatriation of Senegalese people. Jose Moreira, a health official on Sal, said the survivors were improving and were being looked after, with a focus on rehydration and tests for conditions like malaria. Health Minister Filomena Goncalves said, “We know that migration issues are global issues, which require international cooperation, a lot of discussions, and global strategy. “We all – all the nations – have to sit down at the table and see what we can do so that we don’t lose any more lives at sea, above all.” IOM spokeswoman Safa Msehli said safe pathways for migration were “sorely lacking” and that their absence gave “room to smugglers and traffickers to put people on these deadly journeys”. It’s possible that the survivors wound up in Cape Verde, but it wasn’t their original destination. The archipelago is 600 kilometers (370 miles) off the coast of West Africa and is a major migratory route to the Canary Islands, a Spanish enclave that many people view as a gateway to the EU. It is one of the riskiest voyages a migrant may take, according to the IOM. As is always the case with irregular migration, the exact numbers are difficult to ascertain, but at least 67,000 migrants arrived in the Canary Islands between 2020 and 2023. Just over 2,500 people died during that time. The total includes all registered deaths, according to the IOM. Given the route’s erratic and covert nature, Poverty is frequently considered to be a significant issue. Many people view migration to Europe as a way to a better life and to send money back home to help their families. But there are also other elements at work. A large portion of West Africa is becoming more unstable, and terror insurgencies and coups are making an already difficult situation much worse. Ultimately, there are just as many motivations to relocate as there are migrants. Each person has a unique journey and background. It seems at least 60 of those came to a traumatic end in the Atlantic Ocean. Socure: www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1101098-migrant-boat-capsized-more-than-60-people-feared-dead-near-cape-verde