At least 10 police officers were killed when militants attacked a police station in north-western Pakistan on Monday.
Six officers at the Chodwan police outpost, in Dera Ismail Khan, were injured, said local police officer Abdul Ghaffar.
The incident, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, was the deadliest attack in Dera Ismail Khan this year and came days before national elections in the country.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan appears to be behind the attack, Akhtar Hayat Khan, inspector general of police for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told The National.
“The area where the attack took place is infested with militants,” he said.
He said the militants used advanced weapons, including night-vision guns, making it easier for them to attack security personnel at night.
The police had only recently acquired night-vision technology to combat the militants.
Attackers scaled the walls of the police station at about 3am and occupied a bunker on the roof of the station, Mr Ghaffar said. Snipers then shot police officers who stepped out of a room or looked outside.
More officers were shot when militants entered some of the rooms at the station, Mr Ghaffar said.
Pakistan, particularly the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces, have witnessed a sharp rise in violence in the run-up to the general elections scheduled for February 8.
Several blasts have rocked Balochistan province in recent days. The attacks have been claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army and ISIS.
The Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, also declared it would continue attacking security personnel but would spare political activists amid the election campaign.
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
Read part four: an affection for classic cars lives on
Read part three: the age of the electric vehicle begins
Read part one: how cars came to the UAE
Islamophobia definition
A widely accepted definition was made by the All Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in 2019: “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.” It further defines it as “inciting hatred or violence against Muslims”.
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Retirement funds heavily invested in equities at a risky time
Pension funds in growing economies in Asia, Latin America and the Middle East have a sharply higher percentage of assets parked in stocks, just at a time when trade tensions threaten to derail markets.
Retirement money managers in 14 geographies now allocate 40 per cent of their assets to equities, an 8 percentage-point climb over the past five years, according to a Mercer survey released last week that canvassed government, corporate and mandatory pension funds with almost $5 trillion in assets under management. That compares with about 25 per cent for pension funds in Europe.
The escalating trade spat between the US and China has heightened fears that stocks are ripe for a downturn. With tensions mounting and outcomes driven more by politics than economics, the S&P 500 Index will be on course for a “full-scale bear market” without Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, Citigroup’s global macro strategy team said earlier this week.
The increased allocation to equities by growth-market pension funds has come at the expense of fixed-income investments, which declined 11 percentage points over the five years, according to the survey.
Hong Kong funds have the highest exposure to equities at 66 per cent, although that’s been relatively stable over the period. Japan’s equity allocation jumped 13 percentage points while South Korea’s increased 8 percentage points.
The money managers are also directing a higher portion of their funds to assets outside of their home countries. On average, foreign stocks now account for 49 per cent of respondents’ equity investments, 4 percentage points higher than five years ago, while foreign fixed-income exposure climbed 7 percentage points to 23 per cent. Funds in Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are among those seeking greater diversification in stocks and fixed income.
• Bloomberg
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Other workplace saving schemes
- The UAE government announced a retirement savings plan for private and free zone sector employees in 2023.
- Dubai’s savings retirement scheme for foreign employees working in the emirate’s government and public sector came into effect in 2022.
- National Bonds unveiled a Golden Pension Scheme in 2022 to help private-sector foreign employees with their financial planning.
- In April 2021, Hayah Insurance unveiled a workplace savings plan to help UAE employees save for their retirement.
- Lunate, an Abu Dhabi-based investment manager, has launched a fund that will allow UAE private companies to offer employees investment returns on end-of-service benefits.
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