The agreement signed on June 17 was presented to the world as the architecture of an enduring peace. Less than a fortnight later, it had become a vocabulary test — one that both Tehran and Washington are failing, or refusing to take. Each new drone strike, each fresh round of US airstrikes on Iranian coastal infrastructure, each Iranian missile falling on a Gulf Arab air base is now accompanied by the same claim from both capitals: the other side violated the memorandum of understanding first.
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AGP report lays bare scale of Pakistan’s fiscal leakage — from arms licences to oil royalties
ISLAMABAD: The Auditor General of Pakistan has identified financial irregularities, unrecovered revenues and procedural violations running into hundreds of billions of rupees across federal ministries and state-owned enterprises, according to a 399-page audit report that singles out the country’s tax authority and energy sector for the most serious lapses.
Cloudburst devastates Diamer district as Pakistan warns of glacial lake catastrophe
GILGIT: A cloudburst tore through Thore Valley in Pakistan’s northern Diamer district on Saturday, destroying homes, severing roads and leaving dozens of families homeless, as a concurrent heatwave accelerated glacial melt across Gilgit-Baltistan and federal authorities warned of a sharply elevated risk of glacial lake outburst floods through early July.
AJK traders, transporters abandon proscribed JAAC, say movement strayed from economic mandate
MUZAFFARABAD: Traders and transport operators in Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s Muzaffarabad division announced on Saturday they would end weeks of commercial paralysis from Sunday, formally distancing themselves from the proscribed agitation body whose expanding political demands they said had overstepped the concerns of ordinary business.
Militants strike Karachi paramilitary Rangers compound, killing three in rare Taliban-linked assault
KARACHI: Militants rammed a vehicle into a paramilitary base in Karachi on Saturday, triggering a gun battle that killed at least three paramilitary Rangers personnel and four attackers, in the first assault on the country’s commercial capital claimed by a faction of the Pakistani Taliban in years.
Pakistan pushes for developing world voice in digital finance rules at Zurich forum
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top digital assets regulator used a high-profile Zurich gathering of central bankers and financial policymakers this week to demand that emerging economies help write the rules governing tokenized finance, warning that developing nations risk being sidelined as wealthier countries race to set global standards for digital money.
Government debt growth hits 15-year low, finance adviser says
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s central government debt grew at its slowest pace in 15 years in the fiscal year ending June, the country’s finance adviser said on Friday, citing improvements in debt sustainability that he said had meaningfully reduced repayment risks in one of Asia’s most financially stretched economies.
Series of quakes shakes Pakistan; Hindu Kush tremor felt across provinces
ISLAMABAD: A 5.9-magnitude earthquake centred in Afghanistan’s Hindu Kush region shook Pakistan’s capital and large swathes of the country’s north on Saturday evening, authorities said, capping a day of seismic activity that had already left three people injured in the southwestern province of Balochistan.
US-Iran strikes shake Hormuz ceasefire; Pakistan urges lasting peace as oil tanker attacked
ISLAMABAD: The United States and Iran exchanged military strikes for the second time in days on Saturday after a cargo vessel was attacked in the Strait of Hormuz, casting doubt over a fragile ceasefire that diplomats spent months negotiating as Pakistan pressed its role as regional peacemaker.
Petroleum minister Malik defends fuel price freeze, promises consumer relief “soon”
ISLAMABAD: The petroleum minister on Saturday defended the government’s decision to keep petrol and diesel prices frozen at near-record levels, promising consumers that relief was likely in the coming days while dismissing accusations that Islamabad was shielding the oil industry at the public’s expense.