QUETTA: Pakistan’s top military officer travelled on Saturday to Quetta, the provincial capital of Balochistan, delivering a message of solidarity to a region convulsed by one of the most violent stretches of insurgent activity it has seen in years — even as questions persisted about how many people have actually died in the government’s response.
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Naqvi reopens debate over provincial boundaries; says public, not politicians, must decide
LAHORE: Pakistan’s interior minister said on Saturday that any effort to create new provinces or administrative units in the country must be driven by public demand rather than political calculation, reviving a debate that has strained relations among the government’s coalition partners and drawn sharp opposition from officials in Sindh province.
Defence minister accuses key coalition ally of playing both sides on new provinces
ISLAMABAD: Defence minister Khawaja Asif accused a key partner in the country’s governing coalition of political hypocrisy over one of the most combustible questions in Pakistani politics: whether to redraw the map of a nation held together, at times uneasily, by four provinces.
Nepra clears battery storage mandate for 800-megawatt wind, solar auction
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s power regulator cleared the way on Friday for the government to compel battery storage capacity from developers competing in the country’s first competitive renewable energy auction in more than three decades, a bid to shore up a grid increasingly strained by the swings in demand that accompany rooftop solar adoption.
Pakistan eyes rupee-dollar bond, Eurobond tokenization in funding push
ISLAMABAD: Islamabad is preparing to launch a rupee-denominated, dollar-settled bond and is exploring the tokenization of part of its Eurobond debt, Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said on Friday, adding a technological dimension to Pakistan’s push to diversify its funding sources beyond traditional international debt markets.
OGDCL posts record $870 million profit as Iran war fuels oil windfall
ISLAMABAD: Oil and Gas Development Co., Pakistan’s largest listed company, reported record annual profit after a spike in global crude prices tied to the US and Israeli strikes on Iran overwhelmed a sluggish first nine months of the fiscal year.
SBP rejects reports Raast was named as money-laundering channel in FATF report
KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank disputed reports circulating on social media on Friday that a global financial-crimes watchdog had identified the country’s instant payment system as a conduit for money laundering, saying the claims distorted the findings of a report examining underground banking networks worldwide.
Pakistan cuts petrol, lifts diesel as daily price reviews grind on
ISLAMABAD: The government cut the retail price of petrol while raising diesel for the second consecutive day, a divergence that has become routine since Islamabad scrapped weekly fuel pricing in favour of daily reviews two months ago.
Power consumers face fresh Rs2.58 surcharge in September bills
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s power regulator signed off on two separate increases to electricity charges that will show up in consumers’ bills over the coming months, adding fresh strain to household budgets already stretched by elevated energy costs.
In Pakistan, a fight over provinces map splits ruling coalition
ISLAMABAD: A long-dormant argument over how Pakistan should be governed has burst back into public view this week, pitting the country’s two largest ruling parties against each other and drawing in a president, a prime minister, and at least three federal ministers.