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ISLAMABAD: The foreign ministry briefed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on enhanced consular services for overseas Pakistanis, including the digitisation of systems for services such as document attestation and foreign payments, the PMO said on Thursday. According to a statement issued by the PMO, PM Shehbaz chaired a meeting in Islamabad, where he was briefed on the progress of these initiatives by officials from the foreign ministry, the interior ministry, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the IT ministry, Pakistan’s ambassadors posted in various countries and other senior officials. The meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, alongside Federal Ministers Ahsan Iqbal Cheema, Attaullah Tarar, Chaudhry Salik Hussain and Shaza Fatima Khawaja; Minister of State Aoun Chaudhry, Special Assistant Tariq Bajwa, and other senior officials. The briefing covered enhanced services at Pakistani embassies for overseas Pakistanis, the digitisation of the document attestation process...

Says overseas Pakistanis are valuable asset, and providing them with every possible facility is govt's top priority

“I am the captain of the MT Honour 25, requesting immediate assistance for our vessel. Our condition is extremely critical. Several members of my crew have fallen seriously ill, suffering from diabetes and infections. They are no longer able to hold on,” said Indonesian Captain Ashari Samadikun through a recorded video message dated June 16, 2026. “We are surviving solely on plain white rice and contaminated water. The company has not sent any form of assistance to us. The hijackers refuse to negotiate with any third parties; they only want to negotiate directly with the company listed on our ship’s documents.” The Honour 25 — a Palau-flagged oil tanker carrying 17 to 19 crew members, including 10 Pakistanis — was hijacked by armed pirates off the coast of Puntland, Somalia on April 21, 2026. Three months have gone by and there has been no progress either in negotiations or the payment of the ransom, said to be around $3 million, for the recovery of the hostages. Since its hijack, the crew has made several em...

ISLAMABAD: Belgium continues to offer permanent residency (PR) to eligible foreign nationals, including Pakistanis, providing an opportunity to live and work in the country on a long-term basis after fulfilling specific residency requirements.

ISLAMABAD: The number of Pakistanis reaching Europe through illegal routes declined by 64% during the first two months of 2026, reflecting the impact of the federal government's stricter immigration enforcement and anti-human smuggling measures.

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday expressed gratitude to overseas Pakistanis for sending higher remittances during the fiscal year 2025-26, describing the increase as a reflection of their confidence in the government's economic policies.

Calls overseas Pakistanis valuable asset, says remittances reflected confidence in govt's policies

ISLAMABAD - The National Assembly was informed on Wednesday that around 3,500 Pakistanis were deported from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for violating social media laws during the Iran–US conflict.

ISLAMABAD: Only two in 10 Pakistanis surveyed believe the country is on the right track, with optimism higher among some groups, a survey conducted by market research company Ipsos shows. Men are more optimistic than women, while rural residents show more optimism than those in urban areas. Of the four provinces, respondents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were the most optimistic about Pakistan’s economy. The survey also found that confidence in the country’s direction has fallen to 22pc, following a 40pc peak earlier this year amid US–Iran tensions. The drop indicates a sharp reversal of recent gains, returning to levels broadly comparable with the Covid-19 period. The survey, conducted last month, included interviews with more than 1,000 people from all four provinces of Pakistan, as well as Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). The most pressing issues mentioned in the survey include economic anxiety, unemployment and inflation. When asked about the current state of the economy, only one in ...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has promised that Pakistan’s “best days lie ahead”, highlighting the country’s economic progress and inviting overseas Pakistanis to “honour their roots” and invest. The DPM delivered these remarks while addressing an Eidul Azha dinner for Pakistani-American community leaders in New York. He arrived two days ago to attend a high-level meeting of the United Nations Security Council, according to the Foreign Office (FO). According to a transcript of Dar’s speech published on Thursday, “He (Dar) stated that the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has successfully steered the country through a period of significant economic challenges toward stability.” “He further noted that Pakistan is now pursuing a path of sustainable, high-growth development aimed at improving the quality of life of its people,” the FO said. Dar spotlighted declining inflation, improved credit ratings, a strengthening external account and rising investor confidence as evidence of P...

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar said on Friday that 11 Pakistanis and 20 Iranians, aboard vessels seized by the United States on the high seas, were successfully repatriated. Last week, Pakistan reached out to Singaporean authorities for their support in facilitating the “welfare and repatriation” of the crew members. Dar noted that the vessels were near Singaporean waters at the time. “All individuals are in good health and high spirits,” Dar wrote in a post on X, adding that the welfare of Pakistanis abroad, particularly those in distress, remains the government’s highest priority. “All individuals have reached Bangkok from Singapore and already boarded the flight scheduled to reach Islamabad later tonight,” he added. “Our [Iranian] brothers will then be facilitated to return to their homeland.” In the post, Dar extended his gratitude to Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Bala, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Thai Foreign Minister Sihasak ...

The interior ministry on Friday denied reports about the “targeted deportation” of Pakistanis from the United Arab Emirates, asserting that no “country- or sect-specific” expulsions from any country, including the UAE, were being carried out. The ministry’s statement contradicts claims on social media that Pakistanis were being deported from the UAE without any reason. In recent days, several media outlets have also reported that Pakistanis are being deported from the UAE. Among them, The New York Times published a report earlier today stating that the Gulf country had begun a “large-scale expulsion” of Pakistani workers. The US news outlet spoke to more than 20 Pakistani Shias who worked in the UAE, the report stated, adding that “all [the workers] said they were suddenly arrested, detained and deported in the past month”. The article linked the reported expulsion to what it described as an apparent dent in the relationship between the two countries amid the ongoing Middle East conflict. Following these repo...

• Judgement says special courts not limited to ownership, possession matters • Rules they can hear inheritance, partition, contract, transaction disputes LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has declared that special courts established for overseas Pakistanis can hear a wide range of property-related disputes, going beyond narrow questions of ownership and possession. In a judgement authored by Justice Anwaar Hussain, the court decided multiple petitions related to the scope of jurisdiction under the Punjab Establishment of Special Courts (Overseas Pakistanis Property) Act, 2025. The matter reached the high court after special courts declined to hear several cases — including suits relating to specific performance, cancellation of transactions and inheritance claims — on the grounds that such disputes fell outside their limited mandate. These matters were subsequently referred back to civil courts, prompting affected litigants, including overseas Pakistanis, to challenge the interpretation before the LHC. In o...

The Foreign Office (FO) said on Tuesday that Cambodian authorities had agreed on the early repatriation of 54 Pakistanis arrested following a raid on a “scamming compound”. The statement came after reports emerged that more than 200 Pakistanis were in the custody of Cambodian police in overcrowded facilities and facing a lack of basic facilities. In the statement issued on Tuesday, the FO said that the embassy in Cambodia had actively pursued the matter with the Cambodian government. It said that this was in line with the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to “take all possible actions aimed at facilitating the Pakistani community abroad”. “As a result of the embassy’s efforts, the host authorities have agreed to the early repatriation of 54 Pakistani nationals detained in Siem Reap province. These individuals were arrested following a raid on a scamming compound,” it said. The FO added that embassy staff were taking steps to ensure the welfare of the detained Pakistanis. “Th...

GUJRAT: Most of the Pakistani immigrants, who went missing in the fresh boat capsize incident off Italy, had left the country in the guise of Umrah pilgrims, while some others were on visit visas of Azerbaijan, Egypt and Uganda. Well-placed sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the missing immigrants had left Pakistan around four to five months ago. Through different routes, they reached Libya, where they kept waiting for their turn to board the boat to reach Italy, the sources say. They say that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had been assigned the task to collect the data of the Pakistanis, who went missing, and trace the agents involved in sending them abroad from different areas of Gujranwala and Gujrat regions. However, an official source says, the families of the missing Pakistanis are reluctant to share any information about the agents involved in sending them to Libya to smuggle them onward to Italy. The official says that as per the initial information, at least six main agents, two each from Ma...

• Families say victims hailed from Gujrat, Gujranwala regions; one survives • Over 80 migrants went missing after boat carrying 120 people sank in Mediterranean GUJRAT: After a boat carrying more than 100 migrants capsized off the coast of Italy on Sunday, at least 20 Pakistani nationals, hailing from Gujranwala and Gujrat regions, were said to be among dozens of victims who were lost at sea. According to the UN’s Int­er­national Organisation for Mig­ration, more than 80 migrants had gone missing when their boat capsized in the Central Mediterranean after departing from Tajoura Libya, with around 120 people onboard. 32 people were rescued and two bodies were found. Local sources said that at least 20 of the missing Pakistanis had been from Gujranwala, Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad and Sialkot districts. At least six victims were from the Phalia tehsil of Mandi Bahauddin. About 11 people hailed from the Pindi Bhattian and Hafizabad tehsils of Hafizabad district, and one each from Gujranwala’s Noshehran Virkan and...

On March 10, as the US-Israel war with Iran entered its second week, the Bahrain government announced the arrest of six persons hailing from Asian countries — five of them Pakistanis — on charges of filming, publishing and reposting “videos related to the effects of the treacherous Iranian aggression”. The Iran conflict — which broke out on February 28 after the United States and Israel launched joint strikes on the Islamic Republic and assassinated then-supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with other top security officials and hundreds of civilians — has now spiralled into a Middle East war. Today, the entire region is on fire as Tehran continues to retaliate with attacks on Israel and at least seven Gulf states, including Bahrain, which has reported intercepting 114 missiles and 190 drones since the beginning of the war. In an X post on March 8, Bahrain had issued a warning against the photographing of “vital sites and facilities” and publishing them on social media. Two days later, a statement issu...

The repatriation of Pakistanis from Iran continued on Wednesday as 228 more people arrived in the country through the Taftan Border Crossing, officials said.

Bahrain’s interior ministry has said that the country’s Anti-Cyber Crime Directorate arrested six Asians, including five Pakistanis, after they “filmed, published and reposted videos related to the effects of the treacherous Iranian aggression”. This was shared in a statement on the police media centre’s website on Monday. The statement also alleged that the suspects expressed “sympathy with and glorified those hostile acts in a manner that harms security and public order”. It added that the videos in question were circulated through the suspects’ social media accounts, “contributing to misleading public opinion and spreading fear among citizens and residents”. “Legal procedures have been taken, and the suspects have been referred to the public prosecution,” the statement added. According to the information available on the website, apart from five Pakistanis, a Bangladeshi has also been arrested for the alleged offence. It said the interior ministry “also urged everyone to obtain information from official so...

Pakistanis, including tourists, travelling to the United Kingdom (UK) will now be able to do so with an e-visa, receiving confirmation by email rather than stickers in passports, according to a statement issued by the British High Commission on Wednesday. In July 2025, the UK government introduced an e-visa system for Pakistanis; however, it was limited to study or work visas. Applicants applying for general visitor visas were still required to obtain a physical visa. In the statement released on Wednesday, the high commission said visitors would continue to submit their applications online and attend a visa application centre to provide biometrics. It said that successful applicants would have a digital record of their immigration status provided through an e-visa, accessible through an online UK Visas and Immigration account. “It means applicants no longer need to attend a visa application centre a second time to collect their passport, instead holding on to it after their biometrics session,” the commissio...