ISLAMABAD: The European Union’s top diplomat arrived in Pakistan’s capital Monday and offered Islamabad a striking public endorsement: that its behind-the-scenes diplomacy between Washington and Tehran had, on more than one occasion, helped pull the world back from the edge.
Trending
Pakistan sets 4 percent growth target as oil shock and IMF shackles crimp ambitions
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has set a 4% economic growth target for the fiscal year beginning July, nudging higher from an estimated 3.7% this year, even as a surge in global oil prices triggered by the US-Iran conflict strains inflation and the government acknowledges it has virtually no money left to fund new development projects.
Islamabad restores early market closures as energy austerity returns after Eid reprieve
ISLAMABAD: The federal government reimposed strict market-closing hours in Islamabad from Monday, ordering shops and malls to shut by 8 p.m. in a renewed push to rein in energy consumption — a measure that had been suspended for weeks to accommodate Eid Al-Adha celebrations, but that traders warn is gutting their livelihoods.
Oil shock pushes Pakistan inflation to highest level in over two years
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s inflation accelerated to its fastest pace in nearly two years last month, erasing much of the disinflation progress the country had achieved and casting a shadow over prospects for further interest-rate cuts.
PPP chief rallies Gilgit-Baltistan voters with promise of autonomy, synchronised elections
SHIGAR: In a pointed pre-election address that blended constitutional grievance with campaign theater, Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari called on Monday for Gilgit-Baltistan to be granted enforceable rights under any future constitutional amendment, and demanded the abolition of the federal ministry that oversees the territory.
Pakistan faces days of violent weather as westerly wave bears down on region
ISLAMABAD: A powerful westerly weather system is expected to sweep across much of Pakistan beginning on Tuesday, bringing with it days of dust storms, thunderstorms, hailstorms and heavy rain to nearly every province in the country, the Pakistan Meteorological Department warned on Monday.
Pakistan says May 2025 war with India proved South Asia has no room for limited conflict
ISLAMABAD: A senior Pakistani military commander told one of Asia’s most prominent security gatherings on Saturday that his country’s conduct during a four-day war with India last year had settled, once and for all, a question that has haunted South Asian strategic thinking for decades: whether a limited conventional conflict between the two nuclear-armed neighbours was ever truly possible.
FBR is nearly on tax target — once you use the right number
The tax authorities are on track to meet their annual revenue goal after the government and the IMF revised the target downward by more than Rs1,100 billion earlier this year — a recalibration that renders the “Rs864 billion shortfall” dominating domestic headlines a comparison against figures that no longer govern fiscal policy.
Opposition PTI cries foul as authorities flood Gilgit-Baltistan with 6,000 Punjab police ahead of vote
ISLAMABAD: In the days before a closely watched regional election in Pakistan’s mountainous north, the government has dispatched 6,000 police officers from Punjab province to Gilgit-Baltistan — a deployment the opposition says is less about security than about silencing dissent.
EU foreign policy chief Kallas to visit Pakistan on Monday for high-level bilateral talks
ISLAMABAD: European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas travels to Islamabad on Monday for a high-level bilateral visit that will see her co-chair the eighth round of the EU-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue alongside Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar.