German | Pakistan

MANSEHRA: Police on Thursday rescued a German tourist, who went missing after being separated from her group during a hiking trip in Kaghan Valley. “The woman had lost her way after being separated from her seven-member group. After several hours of hectic efforts, our personnel rescued her and shifted her back to her hotel,” DPO Shafiullah Khan Gandapur told journalists. The tourist, identified as 66-year-old Karun Anne Malarik, was hiking on the Chapra track near Naran along with six other Germans when she lost contact with the group after nightfall in the thick forest. “We mobilised two teams immediately after receiving information from our high-ups. After an intensive search in the mountainous terrain, she was safely rescued and reunited with her group,” said Mr Gandapur. He added that the group of German tourists, comprising four women and three men, had entered Kaghan Valley via Babusar Top after spending several days in Gilgit-Baltistan. They were later heading to Islamabad following the incident and w...

Advocacy groups filed a criminal case against Germany’s foreign and interior ministers on Friday, accusing them of failing to protect Afghan nationals in Pakistan with German admission approvals from deportation to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Pakistan has begun deporting documented Afghan refugees ahead of a September 1 deadline, a move the United Nations warns could force more than one million to leave. The decision followed the interior ministry’s announcement on July 31 that PoR cardholders — the last category of Afghans legally residing in Pakistan without visas — became unlawful residents after their cards expired on June 30. A letter from the interior ministry, dated August 4, was sent to the chief secretaries and police chiefs of the four provinces, as well as Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, detailing the implementation of the ongoing Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan (IFRP). Among those at risk are more than 2,000 Afghans approved for relocation to Germany under programmes for peop...

KARACHI: The German Consulate General in Karachi has formally resumed German visa services for non-European Union (EU) citizens, including Pakistani nationals. Earlier, the consulate had put operations on hold last week due to undefined reasons, triggering doubts among visa applicants. The visa section will start operations from Tuesday, August 5. Applicants can submit their applications […]

Authorities abandoned efforts on Thursday to recover the body of German Olympic biathlete Laura Dahlmeier, who died in a mountaineering accident while attempting to scale Gilgit-Baltistan’s Laila Peak. Dahlmeier was confirmed dead on Wednesday, having been hit by falling rocks while climbing at an altitude of 5,700 metres on Laila Peak in the Karakoram range. Attempts to recover her body were abandoned due to “dangerous” conditions at the site, Dahlmeier’s management agency said on Thursday. In consultation with the Alpine Club of Pakistan, the agency said her relatives would “continue to monitor the situation … and are keeping the option of arranging a rescue at a later date”. Several of Dahlmeier’s colleagues confirmed the two-time Olympic gold medallist had said she did not want her body recovered if it put any would-be rescuers at risk. German mountaineer Thomas Huber was part of a team that had attempted a rescue but told reporters on Thursday: “We have decided she should stay, because that was her wish....

German mountaineer Laura Dahlmeier, who went missing two days ago while attempting to scale Gilgit-Baltistan’s Laila Peak (6,096 metres), was confirmed dead on Wednesday, according to officials. Mountains in the north of Pakistan are a popular destination for adventure tourism, with many climbers aiming to summit prestigious peaks such as K2 and Nanga Parbat. However, rough terrain and harsh weather conditions create a challenge, frequently causing deaths and injuries. She was climbing in alpine style with her partner, Marina Eva, also from Germany. Dahlmeier was at an altitude of approximately 5,700m when she was hit by the rock on Monday afternoon, while Eva was below her on the mountain at the time. Despite being injured, Dahlmeier managed to communicate with her partner, but Eva was unable to reach her. A coordinated rescue operation was launched, involving Pakistan Army Aviation helicopters and local high-altitude porters. However, adverse weather and the difficult terrain prevented helicopters from land...

German mountaineer Laura Dahlmeier went missing while attempting to scale Laila Peak (6,096 metres) in the Hushy valley of Gilgit-Baltistan’s Ghanche district while another was rescued by army helicopters on Tuesday. In a statement issued today, Alpine Club of Pakistan (ACP) Vice President Karrar Haidri said: “Former Olympic and world champion biathlete Laura Dahlmeier sustained serious injuries after being struck by a rockfall while attempting to summit Laila Peak. “The incident occurred around noon on July 28 at an altitude of approximately 5,700m. Dahlmeier was climbing with her mountaineering partner, Marina Eva, when a sudden rockfall hit her, resulting in significant injuries.” It said the expedition organiser immediately alerted emergency services and a coordinated rescue operation was launched with support from Pakistan Army aviation helicopters and local high-altitude porters. It added that rescue helicopters were unable to land at the accident site on Monday due to the challenging terrain and advers...

A German court ruled on Tuesday that the government must issue visas to an Afghan family previously accepted under a programme for those at risk after the Taliban seized power in 2021. The new government under conservative Chancellor Friedrich Merz has frozen the programme, but Berlin’s administrative court said the family had been given a “legally binding” commitment and must be allowed to travel to Germany. About 2,500 Afghans with similar approvals are estimated to be in Pakistan waiting to be able to travel to Germany. The programme was set up for those who worked with Germany’s army or other institutions in Afghanistan, as well as journalists and activists judged to be threatened by the Taliban. However, the new government under Merz — who made a crackdown on immigration one of his key election pledges — has said in its coalition agreement it wants to end the programme “as far as possible”. The family concerned by Tuesday’s decision is currently in Pakistan and had lodged an urgent appeal, telling the co...

German police said on Thursday they had shot dead an Afghan man after he used a knife to attack officers trying to arrest him, seriously wounding one of them. The incident happened in the southern city of Wangen when two officers attempted to detain the 27-year-old man at his home to take him to serve a prison sentence for assault. “In the course of the operation, the man suddenly pulled out a knife and attacked the officers without warning,” police and prosecutors said in a joint statement. “As a result of the attack, the police officers fired several shots.” The Afghan died at the scene despite efforts to resuscitate him, they said. One officer was seriously injured after being stabbed several times, but was not in a life-threatening condition. The authorities have launched an investigation into the use of a firearm by police. Several serious attacks in Germany carried out in recent times — some by migrants — including knife attacks and car-rammings, fuelling a heated debate on immigration. Chanceller Fried...

German conservative leader Friedrich Merz was elected chancellor by parliament on Tuesday in a second round of voting after a humiliating and unprecedented defeat on the first attempt, getting his coalition government off to a weak start. Merz, 69, who led his conservatives to a federal election victory in February and has signed a coalition deal with the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), won 325 votes, nine more than needed for an absolute majority, in the secret ballot. He had secured just 310 votes in the first round of voting, meaning at least 18 coalition lawmakers failed to back him. After the vote, he headed to the nearby Bellevue Palace to be formally nominated by President Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Later, he will return to the historic Reichstag building in the heart of Berlin to take the oath of office to become Germany’s 10th chancellor since the end of World War Two. Merz is under heavy pressure to show German leadership after the implosion last November of outgoing SPD Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s t...