Pakistan | Pakistan

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...

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain has reaffirmed the government’s commitment to modernising Pakistan’s livestock sector through scientific breeding technologies, enhanced dairy productivity and expanded export opportunities for livestock products and genetic material.

The Iranian rial continues to trade at a significant premium in Pakistan’s open market, with steady buyer activity sustaining elevated rates despite the currency’s weakness against major global currencies.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Thursday just as Pakistan had emerged as a nuclear power, efforts were now needed to turn it into an economic power. The premier expressed these views while addressing a federal cabinet meeting in Islamabad, where he also spoke about May 28. On May 28, 1998, Pakistan joined the ranks of nuclear powers after atomic tests in the hills of Chagai, Balochistan. In his address, PM Shehbaz said on that day, Pakistan gained a power that would remain a “defensive asset” of the country. “It is our national narrative that this asset is for defence, not offence. And this is the reason that the world knows Pakistan as a responsible nuclear power,” he added. The premier then paid tribute to all “heroes” who contributed to efforts for making Pakistan a nuclear power, particularly mentioning late prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and former prime minister and PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif. “[The initiative’s] founder was Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and my leader, Nawaz Sharif, saw it to completion...

Sardar Saleem Haider Khan has said that Pakistan and Bangladesh share deep-rooted commonalities, including religion, culture, and values.

Former Indian army chief Gen (retired) Manoj Naravane has supported the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) secretary general’s remarks calling for keeping the window for dialogue between Islamabad and New Delhi open. In an interview with Press Trust of India aired on Tuesday, RSS Secretary General Dattatreya Hosabale said there “should always be a window for dialogue” between Pakistan and India, terming people-to-people contacts as key to breaking the deadlock in ties. Responding to a query about how India should deal with Pakistan, Hosabale said, “If Pakistan is like a pinprick trying to create incidents like Pulwama, etc, we have to answer appropriately according to the situation because the security and self-respect of a country and nation have to be protected.” Over 40 Indian paramilitary troops were killed in the Pulwama attack in occupied Kashmir in 2019. India alleged that those who planned the attacks had links with the Pakistani state — a charge that Pakistan has vigorously denied. The RSS secretary g...

Ritter backs Pakistan for Nobel Prize

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Health and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Wednesday launched the Prime Minister’s Hepatitis C Elimination Programme, aiming to end the disease by 2030, according to a press release issued by the ministry. “Pakistan and the WHO today launched the Prime Minister’s Hepatitis C Elimination Programme in Islamabad with the goal of reaching 1.6 million people in the area over the next 6 months, and over 164 million across the country in subsequent phases.” “The main goal is to eliminate Hepatitis C as a public health threat by 2030, as agreed upon by the World Health Assembly,” the press release said. Speaking at an event in Islamabad, Federal Health Minister Mustafa Kamal said that Rs67 billion had been allocated to combat one of Pakistan’s most serious public health challenges, the statement said. “A complete three to six-month treatment course will be provided free of cost under the programme,” the statement quoted Kamal as saying. He highlighted the alarming burden of hepatitis...

The Iranian rial (IRR) continues to attract steady demand in Pakistan’s informal currency markets as of Wednesday, May 13, 2026, with traders reporting sustained buyer activity across major cities including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta.

Islamabad - Pakistan’s Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal met with Iran’s Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Reza Amiri Moghadam to discuss expanding bilateral cooperation, particularly in the health sector on Tuesday.

Spokesperson says US media report on presence of Iranian aircraft in Pakistan ‘misleading and sensationalised’.

Pakistan, Azerbaijan reaffirm strong ties

ISLAMABAD: As international funding to Pakistan’s health sector continues to decline and major foreign donors are set to completely suspend grants by 2030, the country faces serious health risks unless urgent steps are taken by the government, it emerged on Tuesday. These are the findings of a report published last week, titled “Beyond Dependence: Understanding the Impact of ODA Cuts on Pakistan’s Health System”. The report, prepared by think tank Tabadlab, is authored by Behzad Taimur, Shahab Siddiqi and Syeda Farwa Qamar Jaffri and discusses the impact of declining Official Development Assistance (ODA) on Pakistan. ODA refers to grants and concessional loans provided by governments and international agencies to support economic development and welfare in low- and middle-income countries. The report finds that shrinking foreign assistance can threaten disease control programmes, immunisation efforts, and institutional capacity across the country. Once funding stops, it may significantly affect district-level...