ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif rejected yet another proposal to raise petrol and high-speed diesel prices, choosing instead to have the government absorb an additional Rs56 billion in costs as global oil prices remain elevated by the conflict in the Middle East.
top-politics
Pakistan resumes targeted operation against Afghan Taliban after Eid pause ends
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office said on Thursday that a temporary pause in its military operation against the Afghan Taliban had ended, and strikes would resume immediately and continue “until its objectives are achieved.”
PM Sharif hails Saudi restraint in Iran conflict in call with crown prince
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan on Wednesday praised Saudi Arabia for showing restraint amid Iranian retaliatory strikes and called for urgent de-escalation and Muslim unity during a telephone conversation with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as Islamabad stepped up its role as an intermediary in the four-week-old Middle East war.
Imran Khan’s sisters again barred from jail visit as family sounds alarm over ex-PM’s eye condition
RAWALPINDI: The sisters of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan were refused entry to Adiala Jail on Tuesday for what has become a routine denial of family visits, even as a court has explicitly authorized twice-weekly meetings and as new concerns mounted over the opposition leader’s medical condition.
PM Sharif urges Iran and Gulf neighbours to return to dialogue as US postpones strikes on Iranian power plants
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Monday pressed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian for an immediate collective effort to de-escalate the widening Middle East conflict, warning that the fourth week of war had created a “grave situation” requiring urgent dialogue among neighbours and renewed unity across the Muslim world.
A Pakistani farm hand is seen fertilising a wheat field by hand in this photo by Qasim Ghauri dated February 11, 2021. Image courtesy of APP.
Pakistan fertiliser buffers shield Rabi, Kharif crops from Iran conflict fallout
ISLAMABAD: The government has ruled out any risk of fertiliser shortages for the ongoing Rabi 2025-26 season and the upcoming Kharif 2026 planting, even as the escalation of conflict in Iran and the broader Middle East sharply raises threats to global energy and agrifood supply chains.
Pakistan rejects Afghan Taliban claims of Eid ceasefire violation, warns of swift resumption of strikes
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday dismissed as “frivolous” and “absolutely false” Afghan Taliban accusations that it had violated a temporary pause in cross-border hostilities during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, while issuing a blunt warning that any act of terrorism, cross-border attack or drone strike would immediately end the truce and trigger a resumption of military operations with “renewed intensity.”
Imran Khan’s ex-wife accuses authorities of pushing sons to travel on NICOP without British consular protection
ISLAMABAD: Jemima Goldsmith, the former wife of imprisoned former prime minister Imran Khan, accused the Pakistani government on Thursday of deliberately refusing to issue visas to her two sons so that any visit would leave them without British consular protection.
US intelligence chief places Pakistan among nations whose missiles could reach American homeland
WASHINGTON: Director of US National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Congress on Wednesday that Pakistan is among a handful of nations whose advancing missile capabilities could one day place the US homeland in range, a stark assessment that groups Islamabad with Russia, China, North Korea and Iran in the 2026 Annual Threat Assessment.
Pakistan’s top diplomat arrives in Riyadh to push for de-escalation as Iranian strikes roil the Gulf
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar landed in the Saudi capital on Wednesday to join an emergency gathering of Arab and Islamic foreign ministers, where he is expected to press for an immediate halt to the widening Middle East conflict triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran last month and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks on American and Gulf targets.