ISLAMABAD: A long-delayed new international airport for Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, is set to open on May 3, a civil aviation official said during an advance tour of the facility. The new facility will replace cramped Benazir Bhutto International Airport, voted the worst airport in the world in 2014 by the “Guide to Sleeping in Airports” website.
The new Islamabad International Airport, 30 kilometres from the capital, will be capable of serving 9 million passengers per year and 50,000 metric tonnes of cargo.
It has been under construction for more than a decade, encountering repeated delays and missing deadlines for opening dating back to 2016. The May 3 opening date itself is a delay from the previous deadline of Friday.
“It has been decided that the operational date of the airport will be May 3... not April 20, as originally announced,” said Nadir Shafi Dar, director of planning and development for the Civil Aviation Authority.
The new airport will have runways capable of handling larger A380 jets that are now unable to land in the capital. It will also have 15 air bridges to allow boarding directly from the terminal, instead passengers riding buses to all planes.
3 GIRLS INJURED IN
ACID ATTACK
Three female students, including two sisters, suffered burns in an acid attack carried out by the sisters’ uncle for rejecting a marriage proposal in Pakistan’s Gujrat city on Thursday morning.
The girls — students of the University of Gujrat — were at a bus stop in Dang district when three men including the sisters’ uncle approached on a motorcycle and threw acid on them, Dawn reported.
The victims suffered burns on their faces and were undergoing treatment at a hospital.
Dang police station SHO Ameer Abbas told the daily that the primary suspect was the uncle of the two sisters while another accused was identified as the uncle’s friend. They both managed to escape while the third suspect was arrested.
One of the girls had refused a marriage proposal which was the reason behind the attack, said police.
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif and Inspector General of Police Arif Nawaz asked for a detailed report on the incident and directed the police to arrest the suspects within 24 hours.
According to a report released by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in 2018, 143 women were attacked with acid or were set on fire in Pakistan in 2017. — Reuters/IANS
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