ISLAMABAD: Islamabad is bracing for its biggest security operation in years, with tens of thousands of police officers, hundreds of shipping containers and a arsenal of riot equipment being mobilised across the federal capital and neighbouring Punjab ahead of a planned opposition march that the government has vowed, in the words of one insider, to “fix… for good”.
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Pakistan hits 10 targets inside Afghanistan in retaliation for drone incursion
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has carried out air and drone strikes against 10 locations inside Afghanistan, in the second cross-border military action in three days and the latest escalation in a rapidly deteriorating conflict with the Taliban government in Kabul.
PM Sharif to meet Iran’s President Pezeshkian in New York push for US talks
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s attempts to broker a path back to talks between Washington and Tehran gathered momentum on Wednesday, with diplomatic sources indicating that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif could meet Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian as soon as Thursday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
PM Sharif tells IMF chief economy is shifting to recovery
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva in New York on Wednesday, pressing his government’s case that the economy is shifting from stabilization to recovery just as an IMF review team opened talks in Karachi on the country’s next loan tranche.
Pakistan names retired general to lead Makkah Defence Alliance
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has appointed a retired lieutenant general who once commanded the country’s turbulent north-west to lead a fledgling defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as the kingdom grapples with the most serious Houthi assault on its territory in years.
Nineteen militants killed, soldier martyred in Balochistan operations
ISLAMABAD: Security forces had killed 19 militants in a series of operations across Balochistan, as a soldier martyred in the fighting and the province’s chief paramilitary force separately reported the hijacking of a charity ambulance.
Pakistan cuts fuel prices for second straight day as Saudi Arabia rushes oil through Hormuz
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan cut retail petrol and diesel prices for a second consecutive day, as Saudi Arabia’s rerouting of crude shipments through the Strait of Hormuz helped stabilize a global oil market rattled by months of conflict in the Middle East.
IMF opens Pakistan review talks with $1.2 billion in payouts at stake
KARACHI: An International Monetary Fund team began discussions with Pakistani officials Wednesday on the fourth review of the country’s $7 billion bailout, a negotiation that will determine whether Islamabad receives its next round of financing after government interventions in commodity markets breached the terms of the program.
Pakistan economy to miss growth goal again on energy costs, ADB says
KARACHI: Pakistan’s economy will expand more slowly than the government’s own target for a second consecutive year, the Asian Development Bank said, as fallout from the Middle East conflict keeps energy costs elevated and complicates the country’s push to lock in a fragile recovery.
Dar tells OIC that India cannot “set aside” international law over Kashmir and water treaty
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has told a gathering of Muslim-majority nations at the United Nations that India cannot simply walk away from its international obligations “when they become inconvenient”, reigniting a bitter dispute over a six-decade-old water-sharing treaty that has become the latest flashpoint between the nuclear-armed neighbours.