GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan development authority has prepared plan worth over a billion rupees to establish a sewerage system in Gilgit city and the adjacent Danyor town. The sewerage network will help resolve long-standing hygiene, water contamination and environmental issues, which become more prominent during monsoon rains. A G-B government official requesting anonymity told The Express Tribune on Tuesday, “At the moment …

The Government has planned laying and upgradation of Railway tracks under China-Pakistan Economic Corridor. Under the plan, new railway tracks will be laid from Gwadar to Quetta and Jacobabad via Besima. Five hundred and sixty kilometers track will be laid from Bostan to Kotla Jam on Main Line-II via Zhob and Dera Islamil Khan. In addition, 682 km new track will …

Gilgit-Baltistan: In two minds Every few years, the debate is repeated without any definitive conclusion: is Gilgit-Baltistan constitutionally part of Pakistan or not? For the people of Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), there are two independence days every year: August 14, with the rest of Pakistan; and November 1, when they first found freedom. There is permanent confusion in GB, brought about by …

In the last year, there has been much huffing and puffing about the inflow of ‘foreign funds’ to the country, and the National Action Plan(NAP) formulated in the wake of the Army Public School massacre in December 2014 makes specific reference to the identification of sources of funding for madrassas, and if appropriate, blocking it. A year on, in a …

The avalanche that buried the popular hiking village of Langtang in Nepal this past spring struck with about half the force of an atomic bomb, according to a study published this week in the journal Science. A strong earthquake on April 25 touched off the avalanche, sending stone, earth and snow cascading down onto the village, which was crowded with …

Phurba Tashi Sherpa, the most accomplished high-altitude climber in history, holds a bucket and crowbar as he claws through the rubble of his home seven months after Nepal’s earthquake shattered the country. Despite years of guiding wealthy foreign clients up Mount Everest, something he has done 21 times – a joint record – the 44-year-old has been left penniless. Phurba …

GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan government has decided to seek permission from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to expand regional cabinet. An official of the G-B government told The Express Tribune on Saturday the decision was taken to ensure proper attention is given to all ministries, especially those which need more work. “G-B Chief Minister Hafeezur Rahman, who is in Islamabad on an official …

CHITRAL: People of Kalash tribe celebrated the last phase of their religious festival Chomos with their famous rituals, sheeshao(purification day) and goshang with great jubilance and fervour. Chomos, which is the longest festival of the year, started in September and entered its last stages with sheeshao and goshang being carried on December 16. The rituals Under the mores of sheeshao, all …

A prominent campaign group has expressed concern over an announcement that KFC will open a store in Tibet more than a decade after the chain was forced to abandon entering the country.  For more details http://www.foodnavigator-asia.com/Business/Campaigners-alarmed-by-KFC-s-decision-to-open-first-store-in-Tibet

Thousands of Nepalis still living in tents months after a massive earthquake are facing a desperate winter, because of a fuel crisis and bickering politicians’ failure to spend a $4.1 billion reconstruction fund. Eight months after a 7.8-magnitude quake killed almost 8,900 people and destroyed some half a million homes, thousands of survivors are bracing for the Himalayan winter without …

ISLAMABAD: Ahmed Jan, one of the four Chitrali students who sustained burn injuries in a gas cylinder blast in Rawalpindi yesterday, passed away at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) Islamabad early on Monday. Ahmed Jan’s Namaz-i-Janaza was held at the Ismaili Jamat Khana in Rawalpindi after which his body was taken to his ancestral village of Awi near Booni. …

Islamabad: Every year during winter season a number of families in Pakistan suffocate to death due to keeping the gas heaters on for the whole night during sleep and it is so mainly because majority of our population is unaware of the precautionary measures needed to avoid losses while using gas heaters. Gas heaters release emissions such as carbon monoxide …

GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan government has urged the federal government to release an additional $1 billion for the region for infrastructural development. Talking to The Express Tribune on Sunday, an official at the chief minister’s office said the G-B government will spend the amount on education, health and power sectors as the region holds a key position in the $46 billion China-Pakistan …

CHITRAL: “If you want to save the plains of Pakistan, then rush to save Chitral at first. This is the message and motto of our awareness campaign through which we want to expose the impending dangers to the whole country, emanating from melting of glaciers to deforestation in Chitral,” said Sartaj Ahmad Khan, convener of “Save Chitral, save Pakistan” campaign. …