April | Pakistan

DHAKA: Bangladesh will hold elections in early April 2026 for the first time since a mass uprising overthrew the government last year, interim leader Muhammad Yunus said on Friday. The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted by a student-led revolt in August 2024, ending her iron-fisted rule of 15 years. “I am announcing to the citizens of the country that the election will be held on any day in the first half of April 2026,” said Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who leads the caretaker government. Political parties jostling for power have been repeatedly demanding that Yunus fix an election timetable, while he has said time is needed as the country requires an overhaul of its democratic institutions after Hasina’s tenure. Interim leader Yunus says his govt’s major responsibility is to ensure ‘transparent, participatory election’ “The government has been doing everything necessary to create an environment...

DHAKA: Bangladesh will hold a national election in the first half of April 2026, its de facto premier, Muhammad Yunus, said on Friday, after a period of interim unelected government since student-led unrest in 2024 toppled then-prime minister Sheikh Hasina. The administration led by Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been running the […]

Fall 22% MoM in April; up 13.1% on YoY; CA deficit estimated at $400m

Remittances from overseas Pakistani workers clocked in at $3.2 billion for the month of April, up 13 per cent year-on-year, according to State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) data released on Friday. Topline Securities, a brokerage firm in Karachi, noted, “Worker remittances clocked in at US$3.2bn, up 13pc YoY in Apr-2025. “This takes 10MFY25 remittances to US$31bn, up 31pc YoY,” it added. According to the firm, inflows during April were mainly sourced from Saudi Arabia ($725m), UAE ($658m), UK ($535m), and US ($302m). Earlier, the government had set a target of $35bn in remittances for the current fiscal year (FY25), but financial experts believe the inflow would exceed the estimate. “The inflows could reach up to $36bn in FY25,” said a currency dealer in the banking market. A study published by the Asian Development Bank found that Pakistani migrants tend to remit more when economic conditions are improving back home and when there is a positive association between remittances and domestic economic activity. The stu...

FAISALABAD - The Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue-1122) rescued 13,533 people in Faisalabad during April 2025.

A significant improvement was seen in Pakistan’s internal security landscape in April 2025, “as both militant attacks and resultant casualties dropped sharply compared to March”, according to data released by the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) on Thursday. Militant violence and security operations intensified in March, with the number of militant attacks surpassing 100 for the first time since November 2014, according to a report by the PICSS. Pakistan also ranked second in March in the Global Terrorism Index 2025, with the number of deaths in terrorist attacks rising by 45 per cent over the past year to 1,081. According to a press release issued by PICSS today, the number of militant attacks fell by 22 per cent — from 105 in March to 82 in April — while fatalities and injuries declined by 63pc and 49pc, respectively. It said that security forces intensified counterterrorism actions, killing at least 203 militants in various operations, making the majority (73pc) of the total fat...

As a severe heatwave grips South Asia, Pakistan is on the brink of matching or surpassing the highest April temperature ever recorded globally — 50°C — previously set in Nawabshah in April 2018.