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Veteran batter Mushfiqur Rahim hit a glittering century as Bangladesh set Pakistan an imposing target of 427 to win the second Test after another commanding day for the hosts on Monday. Bangladesh posted 390 all out in their second innings on day three with Mushfiqur, who made 137, and Litton Das, who hit 69, putting together 123 runs for the fifth wicket. The 39-year-old Mushfiqur rolled back the years as he scored his 14th Test century, surpassing Mominul Haque’s record of 13 for Bangladesh. Pakistan openers Azan Awais and Abdullah Fazal survived the last two overs of the day without scoring before bad light ended play. The visitors will need a record chase to level the two-match series after Bangladesh won the opener. Bangladesh’s Taijul Islam plays a shot during the third day of the second Test match between Bangladesh and Pakistan at the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium in Sylhet, Bangladesh on May 18, 2026. — AFP West Indies currently hold the record for the 418 they scored to beat Australia in Anti...

Pakistan on Monday strongly condemned the reported drone attack on the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant in the United Arab Emirates on May 17, describing the targeting of nuclear facilities as a serious violation of international law.

Islamabad - The United States has described Pakistan as an important and key partner in global counterterrorism efforts, underscoring Islamabad’s growing significance as a “net regional stabilizer” amid evolving security challenges in South and Central Asia.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Vice President Senator Sherry Rehman yesterday described recent developments related to the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) as a significant legal and diplomatic affirmation of Pakistan’s principled stance.

Pakistan expressed on Sunday “utmost satisfaction” over a supplemental award by the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) that it said affirmed Islamabad’s position of the Indus Waters Treaty placing “substantive limits on India’s water-control capability” on Indus River system’s western rivers. The decision pertained to maximum pondage — a technical term for the maximum volume of water that could be stored in a reservoir — in Indus Waters Treaty proceedings arising from design disputes concerning the Ratle Hydroelectric Plant and the Kishenganga Hydroelectric Project in occupied Kashmir, a statement issued by the Pakistan government said. According to the statement, the supplemental award was issued on May 15. However, the decision has not been publicly shared by the PCA yet. Pakistan had first instituted arbitral proceedings against India regarding the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in 2016. And while India continues to boycott the proceedings, the court shares its procedural updates and decisions with both India...

Opener Mahmudul Hasan Joy struck a fluent half-century after the bowlers dominated to put Bangladesh firmly in command of the second Test against Pakistan on Sunday. Bangladesh, who lead the two-match series 1-0, closed day two on 110-3 in their second innings, leading by 156 runs in Sylhet. Joy, who fell for a duck in the first innings, responded with 52 off 64 balls before falling to pace bowler Mohammad Abbas. Tanzid Hasan fell cheaply for four off quick bowler Khurram Shahzad, who later took down Mominul Haque for 30 in the final over of the day, while captain Najmul Hossain Shanto remained unbeaten on 13. Earlier, left-arm spinner Taijul Islam and speedster Nahid Rana took three wickets each to bowl Pakistan out for 232, giving Bangladesh a 46-run first innings lead. Babar Azam’s 68, which included 10 fours, was the only significant resistance from the visitors. Pace spearhead Taskin Ahmed removed overnight openers Abdullah Fazal and Azan Awais early and spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz dismissed skipper Shan ...

The US Central Command has termed Pakistan a “critical counter-terrorism partner” that is “central” to the fight against the militant Islamic State-Khorasan (IS-K) in South Asia. The remarks were made by Centcom Commander Navy Admiral Bradford Cooper, who testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier this week on the progress of ‘Operation Epic Fury’ — Washington’s campaign against Iran that began on February 28 and is paused for now. A statement issued after the briefing on May 14 also had remarks from Cooper on the US engagement in South and Central Asia. He told the committee that the “shared” threat of external operations emanating from Afghanistan continued to be “an animating force among our partners”. “Pakistan, especially, is a critical CT partner that is central to the fight against ISIS-K in the region,” Admiral Cooper said, adding that Washington and Islamabad’s “strong military-to-military partnership has produced tangible results against high-value individuals with American blood o...

Pakistan has received two liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargos from Qatar within a week as two LNG carriers arrived at Port Qasim to help meet the country’s energy needs.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) on Sunday took exception to the Indian army chief’s recent provocative remarks and cautioned New Delhi against pushing South Asia towards another conflict with “devastating” consequences for the region. “Indian COAS gave a provocative statement during a recent interview that ‘Pakistan should decide if it desired to be part of geography and history’,” ISPR noted in a statement issued in response to Indian Army Chief Gen Upendra Dwivedi’s comments made a day earlier. “Contrary to the delusional and hallucinational belief system and despite the omnipresent ill wishes that prevail in Hindutva-led India, Pakistan is already a country of consequence at global level, a declared nuclear power and an indelible part of South Asia’s geography and history,” the ISPR said. It observed that the statement reflected that the “Indian leadership has neither been able to reconcile with the very idea of Pakistan nor it has learnt the right lessons, even after [the] passage of eight deca...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and Egypt on Saturday agreed to strengthen cooperation for joint police training programmes besides enhancing collaboration between the interior ministries of two countries.

• Naqvi lands in Tehran to ‘promote regional peace’, facilitate talks; Dar speaks to Uzbek counterpart • Araghchi says Iran does not trust the US at all due to contradictory messages • Iran’s UN envoy blames Hormuz disruptions on aggressors amid claims of Europe’s request for transit • Putin, UAE president discuss Iran conflict in phone call ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi landed in Tehran on a previously unannounced two-day visit, which diplomatic sources said was linked to Pakistan’s continuing efforts to revive the stalled Iran-US peace process after President Donald Trump rejected Tehran’s latest response to American proposals. Diplomatic sources in Islamabad said the unscheduled trip was part of Pakistan’s continuing shuttle diplomacy aimed at preventing the negotiations from collapsing entirely after momentum generated by earlier rounds of talks in Islamabad slowed sharply. The visit, officially framed around bilateral and border security cooperation, came as the fragile ceasefire brokered ear...

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday appreciated IBI Group’s decision to establish its Pakistan Digital Economy Headquarters in Pakistan and expressed satisfaction at the expanding business to business (B2B) cooperation between Pakistan and China.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Friday fined Pakistan 40 per cent of their match fee and docked them eight points in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) for maintaining a slow over rate during the first Test against Bangladesh. In a press release, the ICC said, “Pakistan have been fined 40pc of their match fee and penalised eight points in the ongoing WTC 2025-27 cycle after being ruled eight overs short of the target once time allowances were taken into account”. With this penalty, Pakistan is now on four points in the WTC standings, placing them eighth, just above the West Indies. The sanction was imposed by Jeff Crowe of the Emirates ICC Elite Panel of Match Referees, it added. “Under Article 2.22 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which deals with minimum over-rate offences, players are fined 5pc of their match fee for every over their side fails to bowl within the allotted time,” the release said. “As per Article 16.11.2 of the WTC playing conditions, te...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday welcomed the decision of Chinese technology firm IBI Group to establish its digital economy headquarters in Pakistan, saying the move would help strengthen economic cooperation and investment ties between Islamabad and Beijing.

ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar on Thursday said that a coordinated negative information campaign initiated from outside Pakistan was aimed at creating deliberate confusion and misinformation in an attempt to discredit Pakistan’s role for sustainable peace in the region.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has successfully completed its inaugural Panda Bond issuance today in China’s onshore capital market - marking the country’s first-ever entry into the world’s second-largest and deepest capital market.

ISLAMABAD - Minister of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Farid Ahmadov Thursday called on the Chief Justice of the Federal Constitutional Court of Pakistan (FCCP), Justice Amin-ud-Din Khan and discussed prospects for judicial cooperation, legal assistance and modernization of court systems between the two countries Federal law.

ISLAMABAD: Infor­m­ation Minister Attaullah Tarar on Thursday lashed out at “coordinated negative information campaign… initiated from outside Pakistan” that was trying to discredit Pakistan’s role for sustainable peace in the region. In a post on his X handle, the minister said that “detractors of peace, who are unable to come to terms with Pakistan’s role for peace in the region” were running a malicious campaign to discredit Pakistan, adding that facts and verification by credible domestic media sources as well as multiple fact check forums have already called out the propaganda. “We understand quite clearly that behind such stories are certain elements,” he said, adding that Pakistan and its responsible media will continue to expose the nefarious designs of those behind this coordinated campaign. While the information minister did not specifically mention any particular reports, he was ostensibly referring to reports such as the one recently carried by US network CBS News, falsely claiming that Pakistan h...

ISLAMABAD: Following the release of a $1.1 billion tranche for Pakistan, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has identified Pakistan’s economic exposure to the Gulf Coope­ration Council (GCC) as its most acute external vulnerability. In its staff report, the lender warned that “the war weighs on the near-term outlook as Pakistan is highly exposed to energy imports and remittances from the Gulf countries as well as to global financial conditions”. According to the report, 81 per cent of Pakistan’s fuel imports originate in the GCC region, while 55pc of remittances — equivalent to about nine percent of the GDP — flow from these economies. The IMF noted: “A significant disruption to the GCC economies and/or return of migrant workers could weigh on these flows, a major source of financing for consumption and the balance of payments”. According to the Fund, the Iran war’s impact has been formally embedded in Pakistan’s macroeconomic projections. Under the IMF’s baseline scenario, GDP growth is expected to slow b...

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan raised $250 million equivalent through its inaugural Panda bond issuance in the Chinese capital market at an interest rate of 2.5 per cent, with a three-year maturity, according to Advisor to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad. In a social media post on X on Thursday, Schehzad said: “Pakistan has successfully completed its inaugural Panda bond issuance in China’s onshore capital market today, marking the country’s first-ever entry into the world’s second-largest and deepest capital market.” The inaugural Panda bond is a three-year fixed-rate instrument, making it Pakistan’s first-ever renminbi (RMB)-denominated sovereign issuance in China’s onshore capital market, he announced. “The landmark Panda bond issuance of RMB 1.75 billion (equivalent to $250 million) attracted overwhelming investor demand of over RMB 8.8bn (approximately $1.26bn), resulting in oversubscription of more than five times,” Schehzad wrote. Importantly, he said that the demand for the inaugural tranche alone exceeded...