ISLAMABAD The government on Sunday diverted 125 billion rupees from savings and development budgets to block any increase in oil prices, protecting consumers from the immediate fallout of the regional war that has driven global crude to two-year highs.
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Pakistan says US and Iran have expressed confidence in it to host direct peace talks
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, said on Sunday that both Washington and Tehran had voiced confidence in Islamabad’s ability to facilitate talks aimed at ending the Middle East conflict that has engulfed the region since US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.
PTI demands hospital care for Imran Khan’s imprisoned wife, citing vision loss and medical neglect
ISLAMABAD: The opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party on Sunday demanded that Bushra Bibi, the wife of the party’s jailed founder and former prime minister Imran Khan, be immediately transferred to a hospital for diagnosis and treatment after a medical document describing her deteriorating vision began circulating on social media.
Pakistan debunks weekend lockdown claim as fuel crisis deepens
ISLAMABAD: The information ministry on Sunday branded as fake a widely circulated notification that claimed the government had ordered a complete weekend lockdown to conserve fuel, urging citizens to stop sharing unverified social media posts that could sow confusion during an acute energy crisis.
PM Sharif reaffirms ‘unwavering’ support for Saudi Arabia as regional powers meet on Middle East crisis
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday praised Saudi Arabia’s “remarkable restraint” in the face of Iranian missile and drone attacks and assured Riyadh of Pakistan’s steadfast solidarity, as Islamabad hosted a high-level gathering of foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt to discuss ways to end the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
PIA resumes direct London flights after six-year hiatus
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan International Airlines operated its first direct flight to London in six years on Sunday, sending flight PK-785 from Islamabad International Airport to Heathrow as the newly privatized national carrier pushes to rebuild its international network.
Pakistan Tries to Keep Diplomacy Alive
The bombs fell again on Friday, this time on two of Iran’s largest steel plants, a power station and civilian nuclear sites that Tehran insists have nothing to do with its military program. Israel also struck universities, according to Iranian officials. These were precisely the kinds of attacks on non-military targets that Pakistani diplomats had warned would kill any chance of talks. Yet even as the smoke rose over Iran’s industrial heartland, Islamabad was still trying to keep the door open. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif spoke for more than an hour with President Masoud Pezeshkian. Foreign ministers from Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan are gathered in Islamabad on the Middle East crisis. And Pakistan’s de facto leader, Field Marshal Asim Munir, continues to shuttle messages between Washington and Tehran.
Iran opens Hormuz to more Pakistani ships in gesture Islamabad calls a ‘harbinger of peace’
ISLAMABAD: Iran has agreed to allow 20 additional ships flying the Pakistani flag to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, with two vessels crossing daily, Pakistan’s deputy prime minister said late Saturday in a move that officials here described as a significant confidence-building gesture amid a month-long war that has crippled global energy supplies.
Pakistan hosts key regional ministers as US-Iran diplomatic push accelerates with direct talks possibly days away
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has thrust itself into the center of a high-stakes diplomatic scramble to halt nearly a month of open conflict between the United States and Iran, convening senior diplomats from across the Muslim world in Islamabad this weekend, while signalling that face-to-face American and Iranian talks could begin as early as Tuesday.
Pakistan rejects Indian criticism of its treatment of Shia Muslims as cynical deflection, points to mob lynchings in India
ISLAMABAD: The Foreign Office on Saturday dismissed as “cynical and diversionary” India’s expressions of concern over the treatment of Pakistan’s Shia community, framing the remarks as an attempt to deflect attention from New Delhi’s own record of violence and discrimination against religious minorities.