Pakistan | Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has sharply condemned what it called the Indian defence minister’s “delusional and dangerously revisionist” comments suggesting that Sindh could one day “return” to India.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan yesterday condemned in the strongest possible terms, the attacks by Israeli occupying forces across Gaza, which reportedly resulted in the deaths of several Palestinian civilians, including women and children and left many more wounded.

Mystery spinner Usman Tariq produced a spell for the ages, claiming a hat-trick and stunning figures of 4 for 18 to bowl Pakistan to a crushing 69-run victory over Zimbabwe in their Twenty20 International tri-series clash at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday night. The win sealed for Pakistan a spot in the November 29 final. Chasing a formidable 196, Zimbabwe were skittled for a paltry 126 in 19 overs, collapsing from 60 for 4 to 60 for 7 in the space of just five deliveries during a mesmerising 10th over from the 25-year-old Usman. The Rawalpindi crowd erupted as the unorthodox spinner became only the fourth Pakistani to take a T20I hat-trick. Zimbabwe never recovered from the early blows delivered by Pakistan’s pace battery. Naseem Shah struck with his sixth ball when Tadiwanashe Marumani (four) chipped tamely to cover point, and Mohammad Wasim Jr clean-bowled the dangerous Brian Bennett (nine) with a sharp inswinger to reduce the visitors to 14 for 2. Brendan Taylor looked scratchy and fell for eight, s...

In a joint statement shared on Sunday, Pakistan and the European Union (EU) called on Afghanistan to deal with terrorist organisations operating from its soil and to ensure the protection of human rights, especially those of women and girls. The development came as the 7th Strategic Dialogue between Pakistan and the EU was convened in Brussels. The meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and the EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas. According to a joint statement shared by the Foreign Office (FO), Dar and Kallas discussed relations between Islamabad and Kabul amid cross-border tensions last month, with both top diplomats reaffirming their commitment to regional peace, stability, prosperity, and resolving issues with neighbours through dialogue. “The two sides called on Afghanistan’s de facto authorities to play a constructive role in achieving the shared objective of rooting out terrorism from Afghan soil,” the statement read. It added that Dar and Kallas expressed concern ov...

Pakistan has called for rapid, grant-based, and predictable financing for climate-vulnerable developing countries, warning that recurring climate disasters are exacerbating debt distress and undermining development gains in nations that have contributed the least to global emissions. The appeal was made at a high-level side event titled “Operationalising Loss and Damage: Financing Resilience and Recovery in Vulnerable Countries”, organised jointly by the Ministry of Climate Change and Environmental Coordination and Unicef at the Pakistan Pavilion during the UN climate summit (COP30) in Belém, Brazil. Secretary for Climate Change and Environmental Coordination Aisha Humera Moriani, in her keynote address, stated that Pakistan was investing heavily in strengthening national resilience despite contributing less than one per cent to global greenhouse gas emissions. She recalled the catastrophic floods of 2022 and 2025 that displaced millions, damaged infrastructure and caused multi-billion-dollar economic losses....

Pakistan and the European Union (EU) on Saturday urged the Taliban administration to take “serious and practical” steps to eliminate terrorism, stressing that peace in Afghanistan is essential for regional stability.

Pakistan has strongly condemned attacks by Israeli occupying forces across Gaza, which have reportedly resulted in the deaths of several Palestinian civilians and left many more wounded.

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan and the European Union, Saturday, reaffirmed their commitment to a broad-based, multidimensional and forward-looking partnership anchored in shared values, the UN Charter, multilateralism, and the principles of mutual respect and cooperation.

Internet connectivity is set to get a boost after the launch of the South-East Asia-Middle East-Western Europe (SEA-ME-WE) 6 cable, the information technology ministry said on Saturday. “Pakistan has strengthened its global digital connectivity with the deployment of the SEA-ME-WE 6 submarine cable system, a 19,200-km high-capacity fibre network linking Pakistan to countries between Singapore and France,” said the statement from the ministry. The cable has a total capacity of over 100 terabit per second and it will provide “one of the lowest-latency routes between Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Western Europe”. It added that Pakistan has been allocated a total of 13.2tbps, with 4tbps being activated immediately — expanding the country’s international bandwidth capacity and enhancing support for cloud services, data centres, fintech, e-commerce, streaming, and the broader digital economy. The press release added that SEA-ME-WE 6 features “more fibre pairs and more than double the capacity” of previous SE...

Pakistan will now take on Zimbabwe at the same venue on Sunday

Spinner Mohammad Nawaz set it up for Pakistan before opener Sahibzada Farhan finished it off to the joy of a packed crowd at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. With Nawaz (3-16) weaving his magic with the ball, including two wickets in two balls, in the Twenty20 tri-nation clash, Pakistan restricted Sri Lanka to 128-7 before romping to their target with 4.3 overs to spare in their Twenty20 tri-nation series clash on Saturday. Sahibzada led the batting effort with his sixth T20 half-century, hitting five sixes and six fours in an explosive 80 not out off 45 balls, as Pakistan eased to a six-wicket victory that made in two in two for the hosts, who beat Zimbabwe by five wickets in the series opener. Sri Lanka, meanwhile, have no wins in two with the defeat following a humbling at the hands on Zimbabwe on Thursday. But it had seemed all so different at the start when skipper Dasun Shunaka won the toss and elected to bat with openers Kamil Mishara and Pathum Nissanka tearing into Pakistan’s bowling with the latter c...

Pakistan and the European Union (EU) have underlined the importance of further deepening trade and investment ties, including through the EU’s GSP+ scheme, as a driver for sustainable growth, export diversification, job creation and mutually beneficial economic opportunity, the Foreign Office (FO) said on Saturday. The development came as 7th Strategic Dialogue between Pakistan and the EU was convened in Brussels. The meeting was co-chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and EU’s chief diplomat Kaja Kallas. The GSP+ status allows Pakistan to enjoy duty-free or minimum duty on European exports. According to the FO, the meeting provided a “comprehensive review” of the full spectrum of Pakistan-EU relations, “building on the positive momentum of recent high-level engagements and sustained institutional interactions”. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to a “broad-based, multidimensional and forward-looking partnership anchored in shared values, the UN Charter, multilateralism, and th...

I have spent the past few weeks staring at what seem to be digital ghosts; they look human, speak the way we do, and cause anger and despair. But they are not real. They are machines wearing human skin. Something is shifting in Pakistan’s social media landscape. It is not merely a rumour. It is not the old cycle of misinformation. It feels darker. Artificial intelligence is reshaping reality frame by frame until the internet resembles a hall of mirrors. For me, it began on November 8, when an account called ‘PakVocals’ posted a video on X that claimed to show journalist Benazir Shah dancing in a nightclub. The caption was cruel. It tried to mock her by using derogatory comments against her professional credibility. At the time of writing this piece, that video had garnered more than half a million views. It did exactly what it was designed to do: turn a journalist into a target. Mission accomplished! To most viewers, the clip probably passed as real, but for me, something felt off. When the mask slips I opene...

BAGH/ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday praised a recent report submitted to the US Congress that credited Pakistan with “military success” in its four-day war with India, saying the document had validated Pakistan’s strength and the performance of its Armed Forces.

Islamabad - Pakistan marked World Children’s Day by lighting up major landmarks in blue, underscoring a national commitment to children’s rights.

The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) has issued a notice to airmen (Notam) extending the airspace ban for Indian aircraft till December 24, it emerged on Thursday. The new ban for Indian aircraft has been notified just four days before a previous one is set to expire. India and Pakistan have closed their airspaces to each other’s airlines since tensions between them escalated in late April in the wake of an attack in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 people. Islamabad most recently extended the airspace ban in mid-October till November 24. The latest restriction went into effect from 2:50pm Pakistan time on November 19 (yesterday) to 4:59am on December 24, according to a Notam issued on Wednesday. The bar will apply to all Indian-registered aircraft as well as any aircraft operated, owned, or leased by Indian airlines or operators, including military flights. The airspace closure applies from ground level up to unlimited altitude. Pakistan’s airspace is divided into two flight information regions (F...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday said that a recent report submitted to the United States Congress had validated Pakistan’s triumph in the military confrontation with India in May. “Pakistan’s military success over India in its four-day clash showcased Chinese weaponry,” said the report submitted by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Following an attack on tourists in occupied Kashmir, which New Delhi, without evidence, linked with Pakistan, India launched deadly air strikes in Punjab and Azad Kashmir on May 7, marking the beginning of the four-day clash. After tit-for-tat strikes on each other’s airbases by the two sides, it took American intervention on May 10 for both sides to finally reach a ceasefire. After laying the foundation stone for the Daanish School in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s (AJK) Bagh, the PM said in a speech that US President Donald Trump had also acknowledged multiple times that Pakistan downed seven Indian aircraft. “The exemplary performance of the Pakistan Arme...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan Armed Forces delivered a “strong slap” to India during a four-day conflict and expressed confidence that Pakistan would soon achieve victory in the economic arena as well.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) said on Thursday that it had approved loans totalling $330 million to Pakistan for the country’s Second Power Transmission Strengthening Project. The ADB press release said the project was one of the government’s “top priority investments to expand the national transmission network and enable the evacuation of low-cost renewable and hydropower to major load centres”. The bank said a new 500 kilovolt transmission line of approximately 290 kilometres would be constructed under the project, in addition to upgrading “critical grid infrastructure” feeding Islamabad and Faisalabad. “These investments will address long-standing constraints in Pakistan’s north–south power corridor, enabling the transfer of up to 3,200 megawatts of clean energy from hydropower plants in the north of the country. This will help reduce reliance on imported fuels, improve energy security, and support Pakistan’s transition to a more affordable and sustainable energy mix,” the ADB said. ADB said that the in...

• Lender’s Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment proposes 15-point reform plan • Calls for tighter limits on govt’s financial powers • Demands first public annual report of SIFC, concessions granted • Points to opaque tax system, intrusive regulations, weak independent regulators ISLAMABAD: The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its long-awaited Governance and Corruption Diagnostic Assessment (GCDA), has highlighted persistent corruption challenges in Pakistan driven by systemic weaknesses across state institutions and demanded immediate initiation of a 15-point reform agenda to improve transparency, fairness and integrity. The report, publication of which is a precondition for the IMF executive board’s approval of a $1.2 billion disbursement next month, estimates that Pakistan could boost economic growth by about 5 to 6.5 per cent over five years if it implements a package of governance reforms beginning within the next three to six months. The GCDA seeks an end to special treatment for a few in...