Pakistan | News

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, on Tuesday, in a phone call with his Bahraini counterpart, reiterated Pakistan’s call for de-escalation and dialogue for stability in the Middle East amid escalating tensions in the region. Iran, Pakistan’s western neighbour, has been embroiled in a war with the United States and Israel since the latter’s February 28 strikes that assassinated its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In retaliation for the strikes, Iran resorted to targeting neighbouring countries, which house US bases, including Bahrain. According to a statement by the Foreign Office (FO), Dar spoke with Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Dr Abdullatif Bin Rashid Al Zayani last night, and the two “exchanged views on the developments in the Middle East and the wider region, conveying grave concern over recent attacks, including in Bahrain”. FO added that during the call, Dar “reaffirmed Pakistan’s solidarity with Bahrain and its people”. He also underscored the need for “de‑escalation, dialogue,...

A ceremony for the auction of 5G spectrum in Pakistan was held under the supervision of the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) on Tuesday.

Pakistan has received its first shipment of crude oil since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz following tensions linked to the United States–Israel conflict with Iran, easing concerns about a possible petrol shortage in the country.

PM Shehbaz Sharif • PM defends ‘difficult decision’ on fuel prices, says global oil market ‘not in Pakistan’s hands’ • Public, private workplaces to shift half their staff to ‘work from home’; won’t apply to essential services such as banks, hospitals, agricultural or industrial sectors • All schools, colleges to stay closed for two weeks; higher education institutes to shift classes online • Special cabinet committee reviews fuel stocks, assesses national preparedness • Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan also announce measures; Sindh cabinet meets today ISLAMABAD / LAHORE / PESHAWAR: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced unprecedented austerity measures to cope with the situation that emerged due to the US-Israel war on Iran, which has led to a global oil crisis affecting various countries, including Pakistan, as three provinces with the exception of Sindh have taken their own set of steps to deal with the situation. In his address to the nation on Monday night, the premier unveiled the government’...

Islamabad - Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said on Monday that Pakistan is conducting operations against militant hideouts inside Afghanistan based on accurate intelligence information.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Monday cautioned that the pollution resulting from the recent US-Israeli attacks on Iran’s oil sites could worsen air quality in western parts of the country. “Due to [the] recent situation in Iran, the winds may carry pollutants and deteriorate air quality in the western parts of the country,” read a press release issued by the PMD. Iran, Pakistan’s western neighbour, has been embroiled in a war with the United States and Israel since the latter’s February 28 strikes that assassinated its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Major airstrikes on Tehran’s refineries and fuel depots on March 7 plunged the Iranian capital into a toxic gloom as black, oily rain fell on Sunday. In Tehran, the sun was blotted out by thick black smoke billowing from oil facilities that continued to smoulder. CNN correspondent Frederik Pleitgen described the scene at Tehran’s Shahran oil depot as “apocalyptic”, adding that “breathing the air feels quite toxic”. The Iranian Re...

Official says Pakistan plans to establish joint lab to boost AI-driven innovation in agriculture, medicine

Federal Minister for Information Ataullah Tarar has stated that Pakistan’s recent operations inside Afghanistan were strictly aimed at militant hideouts and did not involve attacks on civilian locations.

The war in the Middle East has formally landed on Pakistan’s shores. The government’s announcement of an emergency Rs55 per litre oil price adjustment on Friday night could well be the first of more to come. More so, the sheer availability of fuel is now an open question, despite the 28 days of stocks that we were assured the country maintains. Dawn spoke to oil industry executives who say oil markets are now roiled with an uncertainty never seen before. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken an estimated 20 million barrels per day (mbd) cumulative off global oil markets in what is being called “the largest oil supply disruption in history”. There is no precedent in the past when a quantity of this magnitude was suddenly removed from the market, not even in the oil embargo of 1973. The impact, according to a note by Goldman Sachs circulated on Friday, is that “oil prices, especially for refined products, would exceed the 2008 and 2022 peaks, if Strait of Hormuz flows were to remain depressed throughout...

ISLAMABAD - Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi has said that women are central to the strength and progress of Pakistan and, despite numerous challenges, they continue to contribute across every sphere of economic, social and civic life with resilience and determination.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has recorded the highest increase in petrol prices among 14 countries across Asia, Europe and North America following the surge in global oil prices triggered by the ongoing conflict involving the United States and Israel against Iran.

Five senior PTI leaders currently incarcerated at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat jail said on Saturday that “internal divisions and external pressures” were threatening the country’s sovereignty, economy and democracy, and called for putting aside personal ambitions and political grudges for the sake of Pakistan. The PTI leaders — Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Dr Yasmin Rashid, Ejaz Chaudhry, Mian Mahmoodur Rasheed, and Omar Sarfraz Cheema — made the remarks in a statement issued through their counsel, which was also shared by the party on X. Earlier this week, the senior leaders had called on the government to revisit its approach toward the PTI and its founder, Imran Khan. In the fresh statement, the five leaders said that the evolving regional and national situation should be discussed among the leadership of the opposition alliance Tehreek Tahafuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP) and within the PTI’s political committee for “formulating a way forward in a joint session of Parliament”. They said that currently, the last thing that P...

Aviation authorities reported that 122 flights scheduled between Pakistan and several Middle Eastern destinations were cancelled on Saturday, affecting passengers at multiple international airports across the country.

Military consultations between Islamabad and Riyadh following Iranian drone and missile strikes on Saudi territory highlight the delicate strategic balance Pakistan must maintain as the Iran conflict expands beyond its original theatre and begins to affect the security of Gulf states. The statement issued by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) after the meeting between the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman, on its face, looks fairly routine and predictable, but when read closely, a careful calibration of language by Pakistan becomes obvious. The Pakistani statement acknowledged the gravity of the situation arising from Iranian drone and missile attacks on the Kingdom and noted that CDF Munir discussed with the Saudi defence minister the measures required to halt them within the framework of the Strategic Mutual Defence Agreement (SMDA) between the two countries. This in itself was a signal of solidarity wi...

• Prices of petrol and diesel increased by Rs55 per litre • Levy on petrol raised, diesel lowered by Rs20 each • ‘Highest-ever hike’ announced mere hours after govt assured adequate fuel stocks • Move comes as crude prices drift closer to psychological barrier of $100 per barrel on international market • Proposed fuel conservation plan, including ‘work from home’ and online learning, deferred • PM asks provincial govts to crack down on hoarding of petroleum products ISLAMABAD: Pakistan felt the first direct economic impacts of the US-Israel war on Iran in a big way on Friday, as the government announced a Rs55 per litre increase in petrol and high-speed diesel prices, mere hours after PM Shehbaz Sharif and Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb assured the nation that petroleum reserves were sufficient and the situation remained under control. Earlier on Friday, the government shelved a proposed national action plan that envisaged work from home and distance learning measures in response to a potential fuel cris...

• ‘Cooperation’ with UK authorities has kept Islamabad off visa ban list so far • Rejection rate of asylum claims by Pakistanis at 70pc, but very few deportations • Shadow home secy pushes for tougher measures LONDON: As the UK bans visas to a handful of countries that have high asylum cases, Pakistan has come under renewed scrutiny after questions were raised about the low number of deportations. The development comes days­ after the UK put an ‘emergency brake’ on visas for the first time on nationals from four countries following a surge in asylum claims from legal routes. In a move described as “unprecedented” by the government, the Home Office will end sponso­red study visas for all nationals of Afghanistan, Cam­eroon, Myanmar and Sudan and also end skilled wor­ker visas for Afghan nationals. Earlier this week, a journalist asked UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood why Pakistan had not yet been targeted by proposed visa restrictions, noting that the country accounted for the largest share of people who ente...

LAHORE: Pakistan put up an impressive performance to edge Japan 4-3 in the semi-final of the FIH Hockey World Cup qualifier at the Suez Canal Authority Hockey Stadium in Egypt on Friday. The win has guaranteed the Green Shirts a place in the World Cup and marks their return to the global event after eight years. The tournament will be hosted jointly by Belgium and the Netherlands in August. The Pakistan team, led by Ammad Butt, was trailing 3-1 in the third quarter of the match against Japan, when it smashed three goals in the last nine minutes of the final quarter to edge ahead 4-3, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Ammad gave his side an early lead in the ninth minute with an impressive field goal. The lead, which remained intact till the end of the first quarter, was neutralised in the second quarter (21st minute) when Japan’s Ryoma Ooka scored a field goal. In an inspiring show, Japan took control of the match in the penultimate quarter when Shota Yamada (35th minute) and Yamasaki Koji (40th minu...

On a balmy winter day, Irfanullah Wahid and his cousin Faisal Asadullah amble through a maze of carts in Karachi’s Shireen Jinnah neighbourhood. They are young – only 11 and 10 years old respectively – and the white bags they carry are almost as tall as they are. They laugh and joke, but their eyes are peeled. Every few steps, they pause, bend, pick something up off the street and slip it into the bags. Wahid collects only metal cans. Asadullah sticks to thick plastics. Asadullah stoops to pull out a flimsy plastic bag, commonly known as ‘shopper’ across Pakistan, stuck in the wheel of a cart. His practised hands rip it off with ease. “I don’t collect these”, he says, holding it up to show the difference with the sturdier material he rummages for. Around him, there is scattered litter. Chips packets, sachets of shampoo and of saunf-supari (mouth freshener). Most are made of non-recyclable laminates which has no use for. “The kabadiwallah (recycler) won’t pay for this,” he says. In Pakistan, about 2 million to...

Pakistan expressed “serious concern” on Thursday on recent attacks targeting Azerbaijan and Turkiye, calling for restraint and emphasising the need for dialogue and diplomacy. The calls comes against the backdrop of an ongoing war between Iran and the US and Israel, which has expanded across the Middle East with Tehran targeting US bases and assets in other countries and Tel Aviv targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon. On Thursday, a drone struck an airport building in Azerbaijan’s exclave of Nakhichevan and exploded. Two people were injured in the incident, for which Azerbaijan held Iran responsible, but Iran has denied involvement in the incident and blames Israel. On Wednesday, Turkiye summoned the Iranian ambassador after a missile — apparently targeting a Cyprus base — landed in Turkish territory. Iran’s armed forces have also denied firing any missile towards Turkiye. Following the two incidents, the Foreign Office (FO) said in a statement that Pakistan expressed “serious concern” over the recent attacks target...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday expressed concern over a recently concluded uranium supply agreement and nuclear cooperation arrangement between India and Canada, warning that the deal could undermine the global non-proliferation regime and aggravate strategic imbalances in South Asia.