Pakistan

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Authorities say Rs160b annual tax target still achievable

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Influx leads to heavy traffic, high occupancy in hotels, guest houses and restaurants

Bahrain revoked the citizenship of 69 people over what it described as sympathy with Iran’s hostile acts and collaboration with foreign entities, the kingdom’s interior ministry said in a statement. The ministry said that the 69 people included accused individuals and their family members, and that they were all of non-Bahraini origin. “The Bahraini nationality has been revoked from those individuals for glorifying or sympathising with the hostile Iranian acts, or engaging in contacts with external parties,” the ministry said. It said the revocations had been carried out in accordance with royal directives from King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and were based on Article 10/3 of the Bahraini Nationality Law. The article provides for the revocation of citizenship in cases of “causing harm to the interests of the Kingdom or acting in a manner that contradicts the duty of loyalty to it”. The interior ministry said the competent authorities were “continuing to study and review” who deserves Bahraini citizenship. Sayed...

The Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) said on Monday that any agreement or pilot announced involving virtual assets required prior authorisation. Earlier this month, the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) had announced a significant policy change, legalising and encouraging the use of virtual assets through the enactment of the Virtual Assets Act 2026. Under the Act, PVARA is the statutory authority responsible for the licensing, regulation, supervision and oversight of virtual asset activities in Pakistan. In an advisory published on Monday, the authority said it had noted recent public announcements by financial institutions regarding memoranda of understanding, pilots and partnerships involving virtual assets, including the use of stablecoins for remittances and cross-border payments. “Under the Virtual Assets Act, 2026, the provision of virtual asset services to users in Pakistan, including the issuance, transfer, custody, exchange, or arrangement of virtual assets, stablecoins, and allied bl...

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday said he discussed with “friends in Pakistan” the “path and conditions” under which Tehran could continue its dialogue with Washington during his recent visit to Islamabad. After visiting Pakistan twice in two days and making a trip to Oman in between, Araghchi arrived in Russia on Monday as part of his regional tour. In a statement issued on his Telegram account, the Iranian FM provided an overview of his diplomatic engagements over the past few days. Terming his trips to Islamabad and Muscat as “bilateral”, Araghchi said: “As for Pakistan, this country has recently played an important role in mediating the negotiations between Iran and the United States, and it was necessary for us to discuss the latest developments. “However, there have been developments in the negotiations, and the wrong approaches and excessive demands of the United States have prevented the previous round of negotiations from achieving their goals despite the progress. Therefore, it was ne...

ISLAMABAD: The oil industry has asked the State Bank of Pakistan to extend for two months or “until market conditions stabilise” the permission for the import of petroleum products on cost, insurance and freight (CIF) basis — an arrangement under which buyers assume the responsibility of import costs and final delivery following the arrival of commodities at the destination port. The request was made by the Oil Companies Advisory Council (OCAC) — an association of more than three dozen oil companies and refineries — to SBP Governor Jameel Ahmad in a letter on Monday, with around two weeks left for the 60-day relaxation to end. It was allowed keeping in view the petroleum import challenges under the prevailing geopolitical conditions, following the OCAC’s call highlighting the difficulty in obtaining adequate marine and war-risk insurance cover. Marine insurers have either withdrawn or sharply increased war-risk coverage for ships operating in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz due to the US-Israel war ...

Interior Minister and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced on Monday that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had signed off on letting fans attend all three Pakistan Super League (PSL) playoff matches. In a social media post on X, Naqvi said, “Just had a meeting with PM Shehbaz, and I am pleased to share that we have secured his approval for public attendance in all three PSL playoff matches as well.” “However, this comes with an important condition from his side that fans are strongly encouraged to use public transport or minimise fuel consumption while attending the matches, in line with the ongoing national austerity efforts,” Naqvi added. He said that PM Shehbaz had also conveyed his best wishes to all four teams competing in the playoffs. “Looking forward to some exciting and entertaining cricket ahead,” Naqvi said. Three playoff matches are scheduled to be held this week, before the final on Sunday. On Tuesday, Islamabad United will face Peshawar Zalmi in Karachi, while Hyderabad King...

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Constitutional Court (FCC) on Monday suspended the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) December 23, 2025, decision declaring key provisions of the Passport Rules 2021, which allowed the government to render a citizen’s passport inactive and impose long-term travel bans on deportees and human trafficking suspects, as ultra vires. With the suspension of the LHC order, the federal government’s authority to inactivate passports and slap long-term travel bans stands restored for the time being, until the top court concludes the dispute in its final judgment. Headed by Justice Syed Hasan Azhar Rizvi, a three-judge FCC bench that had taken up an appeal moved by the Directorate General of Immigration and Passports (DGIP), issued notices to the respondents, including a citizen named Farhan Ali, the additional director general of immigration at the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), the FIA Multan Circle deputy director and the director of the FIA regional office in Multan. The dispute arose when Ali, who...

Two of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top rivals announced they would join forces in an upcoming election to oust his coalition government, with a focus mainly on domestic issues such as military conscription for the ultra-Orthodox. But on issues like Iran, Gaza and Lebanon, the joint party led by right-wing Naftali Bennett and centrist Yair Lapid is expected to pursue a security posture similar to that of Netanyahu — who heads the most right-wing government in Israel’s history — meaning Israel’s foreign policy would remain largely unchanged. The new party, called “BeYachad” meaning “together” in Hebrew, has not released a formal policy platform. But below is what is known about their positions on regional conflicts, based on recent public comments. Iran Bennett, 54, and Lapid, 62, have staunchly backed Netanyahu’s decision to jointly attack Iran with the US, reflecting broad public support in Israel for the war. At the start of Israel’s aerial bombardment in Iran, Lapid told Reuters in an interv...

The Lahore High Court (LHC) has dismissed the bail plea of a suspect accused of blackmailing a female doctor after allegedly recording an inappropriate video of her.

The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) on Monday raised its key policy rate to 11.5 per cent. In its meeting today, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) “decided to raise the policy rate by 100 basis points to 11.50pc” with effect from Tuesday, the SBP said in a statement. The hike is the first in almost three years, as rising oil prices from the US-Israel war on Iran threaten to push inflation higher in the import-dependent nation. In its detailed statement, the MPC noted that the “prolonging of the Middle East conflict has intensified risks to the macroeconomic outlook”. “In particular, the global energy prices, freight charges and insurance premiums continue to remain significantly above pre-conflict levels,” it added. The MPC highlighted that supply chain disruptions have contributed to the “prevailing uncertainty”. “While the incoming data has been broadly in line with the MPC’s expectations so far, the impact of these global developments will be visible in key economic indicators going forward,” it forecasted....

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) on Monday predicted that mild heatwave conditions were likely to develop in the southern parts of the country from April 29 to May 3. In a weather update, it said that the upper parts of the country were likely to be affected by the westerly wave from the night of April 27 to April 29 and from May 3-5, due to which temperatures were likely to drop 2-4 degrees Celsius. The department said that El-Niño conditions were likely to emerge during May-July. El Nino is a naturally-occurring climate phenomenon that warms surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. It brings changes in winds, pressure and rainfall patterns. The last El Nino contributed to making 2023 the second-hottest year on record and 2024 the all-time high. “The observed climate suggests that May and June are the hottest months during the year, while south Punjab, upper Sindh, southern/eastern Balochistan are heat-prone areas of the country, with temperatures sometimes shooti...

ISLAMABAD: Amid reports of a rift between the PTI and the Tehreek Tahaffuz Ayeen-i-Pakistan (TTAP), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Sohail Afridi on Monday met with the opposition alliance’s leaders, Mahmood Khan Achakzai and Allama Raja Nasir Abbas. The meeting comes amid reports that the TTAP leaders, who are also the opposition leaders in the National Assembly and Senate, were not being involved in the decision-making process. It took place at Achakzai’s residence in Islamabad. It was also attended by former NA speaker Asad Qaiser, TTAP leader Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, and other leaders. In a statement shared on X, the TTAP spokesperson Hussain Ahmed Yousafzai said, “Upon the directives of PTI founder Imran Khan, CM Afridi had an important meeting with Achakzai at his residence.” “During the meeting, detailed discussions were held on the health and medical treatment of former prime minister Imran Khan, concerns regarding his access to justice, restrictions on signing legal documents, the upcoming federal bu...

India named veteran politician Dinesh Trivedi as its next high commissioner to Bangladesh on Monday, in a rare appointment of a non-foreign service officer as New Delhi seeks to reset ties with its eastern neighbour. Ties between the countries soured after a popular uprising forced Bangladesh’s long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to flee to New Delhi in 2024, where she remains. Trivedi’s appointment highlights India’s push to rebuild trust with Bangladesh as it faces stiff competition from China for influence and business. Trivedi, 75, a former railways and health minister, joined Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2021 from a regional party in West Bengal, a border state that plays a key role in India’s ties with Bangladesh and where Modi has been seeking to expand his party’s influence in ongoing local elections. “He is expected to take up the assignment shortly,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement about Trivedi. Relations between the two countries beg...

ISLAMABAD: A judicial magistrate on Monday granted post-arrest bail to senior journalist Fakharur Rehman, who was arrested over the weekend by the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) in a case registered under the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (Peca). According to an NCCIA first information report (FIR) dated April 20, the journalist was one of nine accused of spreading “false and misleading information against state institutions” through the social media platform X. The NCCIA had registered the FIR under Section 20 (offences against the dignity of a natural person) and Section 26-A (dissemination of false and fake information) of Peca. During the hearing on Monday, Barrister Ahad Khokhar appeared on behalf of the journalist and argued that, according to the NCCIA report, his client’s mobile phone had already been recovered. He contended that Rehman was a senior citizen who took regular medication. He said that his client had not expressed any personal opinion and had merely shared a state...

India and New Zealand signed a free trade deal on Monday as they seek to boost exports amid global economic uncertainty made worse by the war in the Middle East. Negotiations over the agreement concluded in December 2025, and will see India gain greater access for a range of products, including engineering goods, machinery and textiles, while also protecting its sensitive dairy sector. “This forward-looking agreement will also facilitate $20 billion of investment into India,” New Delhi’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said after signing the agreement alongside his New Zealand counterpart, Todd McClay. New Delhi, in return, has offered to reduce tariff barriers in sectors such as forestry, lamb and wool, while granting quota-based access for fruits such as apples. Two-way trade remains modest. Indian data showed merchandise trade at about $1.3bn in 2024-25, while total goods and services trade was estimated at roughly $2.4bn in 2024. The deal was struck at a time when US President Donald Trump’s tariff war had...

Several key air routes within the airspace of Karachi will remain temporarily closed following a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) issued by the Pakistan Airports Authority.