g PM SHEHBAZ, PRESIDENT ERDOGAN UNDERSCORE ENDURING FRATERNAL TIES BETWEEN PAKISTAN AND TURKIYE
ANKARA
s ta f f r e p o r t
PAKISTAN and Turkiye on Tuesday expressing satisfaction on the positive trajectory of multifaceted bilateral relations, reiterated their commitment to further strengthen bilateral strategic partnership fostering peace stability development and prosperity in the region
The bilateral ties and cooperation were discussed during the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan here during the former ’s two-day visit to Turkiye
The meeting underscored the enduring fraternal ties between Pakistan and Turkiye and reaffirmed their commitment to further deepening bilateral cooperation across various sectors Prime Minister Shehbaz emphasized the importance of enhancing economic collaboration especially through joint ventures and bilateral investments
He highlighted the potential for cooperation in energy and mining, joint ventures in defence and agri production, enhancing regional and bilateral connectivity to boost trade and enhance people-to-people exchanges besides deepening cooperation in emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and cyber security
During the discussions, both leaders took note of the follow-up actions taken regarding the decisions of the 7th High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council (HLSCC) held in Islamabad on February 13 2025
Both leaders showed satisfaction on the trajectory of the multifaceted bilateral col-
laboration between the brotherly countries Prime Minister Shehbaz and President Erdogan also discussed regional and global matters and reaffirmed their support of each other on issues of national interest Two leaders also expressed deep concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire and the provision of humanitarian assistance to the affected population
fostering peace stability development and prosperity in the region
Pakistan delegation included Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar, SAPM Tariq Fatemi and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Turkiye Dr Yusuf
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif expressed Pakistan s intent to strengthen its cooperation with China in the field of space technology according to a statement released by the Prime Minister s Office (PMO) on Tuesday China s space program has rapidly advanced in recent years, achieving significant milestones such as the Tiangong space station, lunar sample-return missions and the BeiDou satellite system The country’s development of reusable rockets further highlights its growing technological capabilities During a meeting with a delegation from Galaxy Space, a Chinese space tech-
Aurangzeb holds cr ucial talks with global leaders, IMF, World Bank officials on economic refor ms, climate resilience
t
Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb holding a meeting with Ms Hela Cheikhrouhou, Regional Vice President, IFC for Middle East, Central Asia, Türkiye, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and her team on the sidelines of the WB/IMF Spring Meetings 2025 Washington D C on April 21 2025 Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Senator Muhammad Aurangzeb held crucial discussions with global leaders, including top officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group, during his visit to Washington The meetings focused on key issues such as economic reforms climate resilience and development projects in Pakistan
The meetings were held on the sidelines of the 2025 Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank Group, said a press release issued by the finance ministry here on Tuesday During his meeting with IMF Managing Director Ms Kristalina Georgieva Minister Aurangzeb thanked the IMF team for reaching a Staff-Level Agreement on the First Review under the Extended Fund Facility (EFF) and a new arrangement under the Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF)
The finance minister reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to maintaining the reform momentum and extended an invitation from the Prime Minister of Pakistan for Ms Georgieva to visit the country
Meanwhile during a meeting with the President of the World Bank Group, Ajay Banga, the Pakistani finance minister expressed gratitude to the World Bank for its historical support to Pakistan and com-
Khunjerab border
mended its leadership in developing a transformative CPF a decade-long strategic roadmap centered around measurable impacts and outcomes
He appreciated the World Bank’s ongoing assistance in crafting a comprehensive implementation strategy and action plan to operationalize the CPF while simultaneously enhancing overall efficiency
The minister also provided a detailed overview of Pakistan s macroeconomic turnaround and reaffirmed the government’s unwavering commitment to ensuring sustainable economic stability Earlier the minister met with the Deloitte delegation and apprised them of Pakistan s macroeconomic outlook the government s sectoral development agenda, and its export-led growth priorities Both sides explored potential collaboration in energy sector reforms, critical minerals extraction and marketing privatization technology crypto policy and the operationalization of the Country Partnership Framework (CPF) Aurangzeb also welcomed Deloitte s planned visit to Pakistan in May 2025 to further deepen engagement He also met with Ms Hela Cheikhrouhou, Regional Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and discussed private sector reforms energy transition sound municipal finance and full employment initiatives He reviewed progress on Diversified Payment Rights (DPR) and commended the IFC s pivotal role in securing $2 5 billion in debt financing for the Reko Diq Copper and Gold Mine Project The minister emphasised the importance of ensuring that local communities benefit from the project’s economic gains
billion, which was issued following the resolution of 25,493 complaints Aziz stated that a significant portion of the complaints 24 498 were resolved through reconciliation while 1 330 complaints were settled after formal hearings and 1 925 were dismissed due to lack of jurisdiction or incompleteness The Banking Mohtasib also highlighted
Uncer taint
y looms for over 100,000 regularised govt employees as cases are referred to FPSC
According to a news report the issue was raised at a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Health where members voiced their concerns over the far-reaching implications of the Establishment Division s memorandum
The affected employees include medical professionals who have served during national emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the country s fight against terrorism Teachers, profes-
sors, engineers, and other qualified professionals are also among those at risk
These employees, initially hired on a contract basis in various ministries and departments were later regularized by the Cabinet Committee on Regularization under the previous government and have since completed a significant portion of their service The directive, issued by the Establishment Division on March 19, 2025, states that the cases of regularised employees should now be referred to the FPSC which will review their employment status
As per the report the new order stemming from an interpretation of the Supreme Court s ruling, has sparked widespread concerns, especially among employees in ministries not directly involved in the court case
Many of the affected employees
who have served for over two decades, argue that the Supreme Court s decision should not be applied retroactively, especially to those not part of the original petition They highlight the legal ambiguity of the directive and its potential to disrupt their careers According to them being referred to the FPSC for new tests and interviews at this stage of their careers is effectively equivalent to termination The situation has prompted calls for intervention from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urging him to take notice and issue directives that will protect the rights of long-serving government employees Federal Minister for Establishment Ahad Khan Cheema expressed a lack of knowledge about the details of the issue adding to the uncertainty surrounding the matter
Govt to raise Rs52b through Green Sukuk Bonds for three clean energy projects
WI T H April inflation likely to clock in at 0 5 percent year on year, the average inflation for the year to an average so far of 4 87 percent, which is a major improvement on the 26 22 percent observed during the same period last year And while the short-term trend, the 0 8 percent decline from February, month-on-month, may be of benefit to the government, it is not necessarily good news, especially when combined with developments on the international scene The government s claim of success depends on its having tamed inflation but it has not been able to claim the political benefit probably because the last bout of inflation left prices so high that even their not growing any further has not brought about enough relief for the voter to sit up and notice one problem is that though prices have begun slipping there has not been any growth in income The latest figures for large-scale manufacturing up to January showed a 1 8 percent contraction over the previous year showing that the economy has not returned to a growth path The international outlook has deteriorated considerably since the tariff announcement by US President Donald Trump With Pakistani exports to the USA widely expected to take a hit A resumption of a growth path will require some new initiative The tariffs may have already precipitated a worldwide recession which may worsen into a depression recessions see falls in prices and jobs are at a premium Within this context price declines are not really a healthy sign The State Bank of Pakistan which has brought its benchmark rate down to 12 percent from 22 percent made no change in the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee may need to revisit
Fo r decades now Arabs in particular Palestinians and supporters of Palestinian rights have been the weak link in the civil liberties chain During this period, when a US president or Congress has sought to take measures curtailing a range of civil liberties, they would exploit the perception of the danger posed by Arabs to justify their actions They feel comfortable in doing this because they understand that the negative stereotypes associated with Arabs make the measures more acceptable and opposition to their efforts less likely to occur Examples abound: on three separate occasions in the 1980s, when the reagan Administration sought to roll back civil liberties it began its assault with an attack on Arabs’ rights Having established the identity of Arab/Palestinian with terrorist it assumed no public support would be forthcoming in defense of Arab civil liberties on the other hand, if their targets had been persons of another ethnicity, opposition would have been more likely In 1981, the reagan Administration issued an executive order that dismantled all earlier reforms by the Carter Administration to outlaw domestic surveillance by the CIA and FBI using Arabs as the scapegoats to justify this measure As a result for five years, the FBI infiltrated and disrupted Palestinian student groups nationwide finally disbanding the effort with nothing to show but agents’ hours wasted and millions of dollars spent reagan’s Department of Justice was also able to rewrite US extradition law making it easier to fulfill the requests of foreign countries to extradite individuals without due process protections They did so using the case of a Palestinian visa holder whose extradition had been requested by Israel Based on this case, Congress rewrote the laws affecting all extradition requests It was also under reagan that the Immigration and Naturalization Service released its Alien Terrorist and Undesirables Contingency Plan detailing steps under provisions of the McCarren Walter Act to imprison, try in secret, and deport large numbers of aliens based solely on their ethnicity or their political beliefs or associations Consistent with the approach taken the “Plan” makes several references to Arab immigrants In fact the test case used to lay the groundwork for this Plan was the arrest of seven Palestinians and the Kenyan wife of one of them, charging them with nothing more than their political beliefs and association In 1995, President Clinton issued an executive order “Prohibiting Transactions with Terrorists Who Threatened to Disrupt the Middle East Peace Process and followed by the omnibus Anti-Terrorism Act of 1995 Both efforts introduced draconian
Arabs: The weak link in the US civil liber ties chain
measures that would seriously erode civil and political rights guaranteed to US citizens and residents under the Constitution and international law The law for example gave far-reaching powers to law-enforcement agencies removed the presumption of innocence for those under investigation made it easier for the government to conduct surveillance against persons suspected of violating conspiracy laws, allowed for prohibition of “material support deemed by the president to benefit terrorist organizations ” established procedures allowing the government to detain and deport individuals based on secret evidence with no opportunity for the detainees to defend themselves and allowed law-enforcement agencies to conduct surveillance on individuals or groups, based purely on their beliefs and associations
Using the executive order and new legislation the Clinton administration unleashed a nationwide profiling programme at airports which harassed and questioned hundreds of Arab and Arab American airline passengers even before checking in for their flights, based solely on their dress, appearance, or Arabic names After 9/11, the Bush Administration and Congress upped the ante While intelligence failures and lax airline safety requirements were at fault in allowing terrorists to be trained in the USA and carry out their horrific attacks Bush issued a series of orders that resulted in the roundup and deportation of thousands of innocent Arab students, workers, and visitors They also ordered tens of thousands of Arab and Muslim visa holders to report to immigration offices where many more were held for deportation The anti-terrorism legislation that passed through Congress allowed expanded surveillance by law enforcement including warrantless wiretapping searching library records, and an expanded use of profiling
For Trump, itÊs the perfect storm. For those who care about defending rights and liber ties, itÊs just another example of Arabs, Palestinians, and those who defend them being the weak link in the civil liber ties chain
Freedom to choose
instance continues to dominate in precision engineering India s software services exports crossed $180 billion in 2023 as reported by NASSCoM, and are now critical to global IT infrastructure
TWhile the USA’s financial architecture, anchored by the dollar, remains formidable, its foundation is no longer unshakable Cryptocurrencies China s expansive Belt and road Initiative and the increasing use of local currencies in regional trade are quietly redrawing the contours of global finance The IMF reported that the dollar s share of global foreign-exchange reserves declined to a 25-year low of 58 4 percent in 2024 down from 71 percent in 2000 The Chinese yuan though still emerging is steadily becoming the currency of choice in bilateral trade across Asia Africa and Latin America The USA s dominance in global education is fading China hosted over 490,000 international students in 2024 and now produces 46 percent of its graduates in STEM fields compared to just 19 percent in the USA A culture driven by instant gratification coupled with tightening immigration and rising nationalism is dimming its research brilliance Competing nations like Canada, Australia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia are attracting global talent The recent push by US leadership urging universities to align with government directives during campus unrest under threat of losing federal funding marks an authoritarian shift Such actions risk alienating international scholars and undermining the spirit of academic freedom In the long run, they may accelerate the erosion of America’s once-celebrated global academic influence as institutions elsewhere rise to offer more open and inclusive environments for learning and research Despite being one of the world s largest consumer markets, the US economy is shaped more by affordability than innovation A 2024 Pew survey found that 68 percent of Americans prioritize price over technology or brand This reliance on low-cost imports starkly contrasts
with the USA’s image as a tech leader At the same time the backbone of its agricultural and low-skill manufacturing sectors is formed by undocumented immigrants, primarily from Latin America Stricter immigration policies risk disrupting this foundation, raising costs and triggering economic instability A 2023 estimate by the Center for American Progress warned such a shift could cut GDP by $1 6 trillion
The global economy is evolving into a dynamic flexible force Supply chains no longer follow predictable routes, they adapt, reinvent, and outsmart restrictions For example, goods from Bangladesh facing high tariffs can now be rerouted through the UK reprocessed and reexported under new classifications sidestepping traditional trade barriers This shift signals a world growing less dependent on US approval and more focused on strategic agility Meanwhile, the geopolitical outlook is shifting with the Ukraine war, where a peace agreement leaning toward russian interests could bring Europe back into Moscow’s orbit This would weaken the USA s long-standing power to isolate through unified Western sanctions
The unsettling possibility lingers that new conflicts could be kindled to restore lost dominance The Middle East, rich in oil and perpetually on edge, may yet again become a theatre where fear is weaponized and wealth is extracted under the pretenses of protection And yet perhaps the shifting winds suggest something deeper: not decline but redistribution A more balanced, pluralistic, and cooperative global order is not merely a possibility, it may be the inevitable next chapter Power is not disappearing, it is diffusing And in that diffusion lies the fragile promise of a fairer world
The writer has a PhD in Political Science and is a visiting faculty member at QAU Islamabad He can be reached at zafarkhansafdar@yahoo com and tweets @zafarkhansafdar
The unsettling possibility lingers that new conflicts could be kindled to restore lost dominance. The Middle East, rich in oil and perpetually on edge, may yet again become a theatre where fear is weaponized and wealth is extracted under the pretence of protection. And yet, perhaps the shifting winds suggest something deeper: not decline, but redistribution. A more
Dawn to dawn
Dr Zafar Khan SafDar
TH E world s poorest nations are once again discovering what it means to be peripheral to power In the latest chapter of 21st-century great-power rivalry Washington and Beijing have locked horns in an economic slugfest that began with tariffs and has metastasized into a geopolitical confrontation with global consequences The fight was supposed to be about fairness, intellectual property and national pride But in the fog of economic war it is the least-developed countries (LDCs) that are losing the most quietly painfully and with no clear way out
This trade war began in 2018 as a calculated manœuvre by the Trump Administration to rectify perceived imbalances in the US-China trade There were some justifications like China s trade practices ranging from forced technology transfers to outright theft of intellectual property, which merited a robust response Tariffs, the Administration reasoned, were the simplest way to penalize bad behavior and protect US manufacturing But what started as a tactical skirmish over soyabeans and solar panels has become an entrenched strategic rivalry complete with tit-for-tat tariffs restricted access to critical technologies, and the ideological framing of economic policy as a weapon of national security By 2025 tariffs have reached eye-watering levels up to 145 percent on some Chinese goods and as high as 84 percent on American exports Both governments cloaked in patriotic rhetoric, insist they are protecting national interests What they are actually doing is recalibrating the terms of global trade in a way that imperils the fragile economies least capable of absorbing shocks
The global economy doesn t operate like a chessboard where moves are discrete and
predictable It functions more like an ecosystem, deeply interconnected, often delicately balanced Disturb one part, and tremours are felt everywhere The US-China tariff war has delivered exactly that kind of shock It has disrupted global supply chains sent shipping costs surging and created a cascade of uncertainty that disproportionately affects those already on the economic margins Least-Developed Countries tend to rely on exports of raw materials, low-cost agricultural goods, and labour-intensive manufactured products such as garments Their economies are often mono-sectoral their infrastructure underdeveloped and their labour markets heavily informal When global trade slows as it has, both due to tariffs and persistent post-pandemic disruptions these nations lose access to the vital lifelines of foreign exchange and employment Export revenues fall government budgets constrict and hard-won progress in poverty reduction risks being undone Compounding the pain is the way China has adapted to US tariffs Facing dwindling access to American consumers, Beijing has turned aggressively into other markets, many of them in the developing world Chinese goods often heavily subsidized or statebacked now flood African Latin American and Southeast Asian markets Local producers in these regions, already operating on razor-thin margins, cannot compete Consider the garment industry in Ethiopia, once touted as a model of how low-income countries could industrialize by capturing China s low-end manufacturing as it moved up the value chain In recent years that promise has stalled Chinese textile firms, seeking tariff-safe havens, are re-exporting through third countries or pricing Ethiopian products out of regional markets altogether The same story is playing out in Kenyan agriculture Bangladeshi electronics assembly and Guatemalan coffee exports
At the same time the Belt and Road Initiative, China s globe-spanning infrastructure drive, has tightened its grip on many LDCs While billed as an engine of development, the BRI too often functions as a lever of influence The loans are opaque the projects frequently under-deliver and the debt burdens can be crushing Sri Lanka s loss of the Hambantota Port to Chinese control remains a cautionary tale Other countries, like Zambia and Laos, face mounting debt-service obligations without commensurate economic gains
To be fair the USA hasn’t offered a par-
W h e r e d o A r a b s s t a n d o n I r a n - U S t a l k s ?
The current suppor t from Arab states for the Iran-U.S. diplomatic process represents a significant change from 2018, when many of them welcomed the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw from the JCPOA and reinstate sanc tions on Iran
‘Saudi Arabia embarked on a fruitless war in Yemen, shelled out huge sums of money, damaged its reputation, and was ultimately targeted by Ansarullah, who halved the countr y ’s oil output in 2019 with a drone strike on the Aramco facility ’
TEHRAN TIMES
M o n a h o j at a n s a r i
RE G I O N A L Arab states have taken the public stage in recent weeks to welcome the ongoing indirect talks between Iran and the United States But this is a clear swerve from their stances during previous Iran-US negotiations in the 2010s, when the region seemed to believe a less contentious state of relations between Tehran and Washington was something they had to steer through rather than gain from Several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia Kuwait Qatar and Bahrain have issued statements endorsing the ongoing diplomatic process between Iran and the U S Riyadh, for instance, affirmed that dialogue is the “key” to resolving both regional and international disputes and expressed hope that the Tehran-Washington engagement would contribute to peace and collective regional efforts Kuwait echoed this sentiment, stating its hope that the discussions would help establish long-lasting peace in the region The UAE’s foreign minister reiterated similar support during a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi
The indirect negotiations seem to be moving at a good clip, with Tehran and Washington renewing them weekly since their commencement on April 12th Discussions are focused on Iran’s nuclear program and the removal of U S sanctions against the country This marks the second time in the past decade that Tehran has engaged in talks on the scale of its nuclear activities The first one, signed in 2015 and called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), was scrapped by Donald Trump during his first term tenure as the U S President
The current support from Arab states for the Iran-U S diplomatic process represents a significant change from 2018 when many of them welcomed the Trump administration s decision to withdraw from the JCPOA and reinstate sanctions on Iran Mohammad Reza Moradi, West Asia analyst and editor-in-chief of Mehr News Agency s international service believes the trend setter in the Arab world is Saudi Arabia a country that for the longest time had
ticularly compelling counter-narrative Washington’s approach has oscillated between protectionist retrenchment and rhetorical gestures about near-shoring or friend-shoring supply chains Initiatives like the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) or the BUILD Act, which created a new development finance agency, remain underfunded and underpublicized Meanwhile the Biden Administration’s “workercentred trade policy often seems more focused on appeasing domestic labour unions than on engaging meaningfully with global economic partners Europe, for its part, talks a good game The EU’s Global Gateway strategy is meant to be a high-standard alternative to the BRI
But aside from some promising energy and digital infrastructure projects its reach remains modest The result is a gaping vacuum where a coordinated values-based economic strategy for the developing world should be Some argue that the US-China decoupling presents an opportunity for LDCs The theory goes like this: as multinationals seek to diversify supply chains away from China “China-plus-one” being the operative term countries like Vietnam Indonesia and India will benefit To a limited extent they have Vietnam has attracted significant electronics investment Bangladesh has strengthened its apparel sector Even Mexico has enjoyed a mini-renaissance in nearshoring But these
F o r n o w, t h a t Ês p r e c i s e l y t h e wo r l d w e Êr e l i v i n g i n
a different take on how security is established “The situation is dramatically different from a decade ago Recently Saudi Arabia s Defense Minister who reports say could be the next Crown Prince visited Tehran and met with high-ranking officials – a stark contrast to past threats by Mohammad Bin Salman to bring war into Iran ” Riyadh’s shift stems from a growing recognition that regional security is inextricably linked and that Tehran is a key stakeholder Saudi Arabia embarked on a fruitless war in Yemen shelled out huge sums of money, damaged its reputation, and was ultimately targeted by Ansarullah, who halved the country’s oil output in 2019 with a drone strike on the Aramco facility ” the expert explained adding that a turning point was the United States inaction in the face of potential future attacks That was when the Saudis realized they could only have security inside their borders if things were also calm outside They needed to do this through engagements with their neighbors because Americans couldn’t care less about Arabs’ woes ” Beyond concerns about a potential military confrontation between Iran and the U S especially given Trump s threat to bomb Iran s nuclear sites if a new agreement is not reached, Arab nations have also arrived at other new understandings A military standoff between the two countries would surely be devastating for the entire region and potentially the world due to indefinite disruptions to oil supplies and severe environmental consequences for Persian Gulf countries However, Arabs generally do not want Iran marginalized, now recognizing that Iran’s regional influence, in some cases provides a protective element A very good example is Syria Saudis and other Persian Gulf states fought to diminish Iranian influence in Syria for the longest time But now that Israel has occupied part of the country and Turkey is speaking of capturing some of its other provinces Arabs understand that an Iranallied Syria was never a threat compared to the expansionist forces encroaching on the war-torn nation Moradi explained Tehran s objective has consistently been to foster regional engagement from all actors, not to pursue territorial expansion, he added
It would take Tehran one or t wo weeks to produce weapons- grade uranium (enriched to above 90 per cent) to make a bomb and a few months to weaponise it
Th e U S h a s g i ve n I ra n a t wo - m o nt h d e a d l i n e to co n c l u d e a d e a l
TH E US and Iran have held their second round of indirect talks over the latter s nuclear programme in Rome on Saturday The US delegation was led by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and the Iranian by its Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi and the indirect talks were mediated by Oman
As in all things related to the Donald Trump Presidency, it is difficult to gauge the outcome of the ongoing negotiations over the former ’s nuclear programme The Iranians have reasons for being wary of dealings with the Trump administration Recall that it was Trump who in 2018 peremptorily withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Programme of Action (JCPOA) to check the Iranian nuclear programme that was negotiated by the P-5 (the US, China, France, the UK and Russia) plus Germany He was also responsible for the 2020 assassination of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani and had initiated the policy of maximum pressure on Iran in his first term The two sides will now begin drawing up a framework for a potential nuclear deal Iran’s Foreign Minister said that the talks had yielded “very good progress ” Expertslevel meetings will now begin and the top negotiators will meet again on Saturday in Muscat Oman But this does not mean that an agreement is anywhere near The differences between them are wide and, possibly, even unbridgeable
In an interview with Fox News last Monday chief negotiator Steve Witkoff said that the US position was that Iran would have to stop enriching uranium to the level of 20 and 60 per cent and implied that it could be allowed to do so to the level of 3 67 per cent, which is sufficient for civil nuclear energy uses He also said Iran would have to verify that it does not build ballistic missiles that could deliver nuclear weapons or build nuclear weapon triggers However on Tuesday morning Witkoff clarified that any final deal would require a complete elimination of the Iranian enrichment and
a n d i t h a s l o c ate d B - 2 b o m b e r s i n D i e g o G a rc i a a n d a i rc ra f t
c a r r i e r s to t h e re g i o n . I ra n , fo r i t s p a r t, h a s t h re ate n e d t h at i t
w i l l ra i n d e s t ru c t i o n o n U S f a c i l i t i e s a n d a l l i e s i n t h e re g i o n
Th e o t h e r s c h o o l o f t h o u g ht, b a c ke d by S e c re t a r y o f St ate M a rco
R u b i o a n d N at i o n a l S e c u r i t y Ad v i s e r M i ke Wa l t z , wa nt s m i l i t a r y
s t r i ke s, a co u r s e o f a c t i o n a l s o b e i n g e g g e d o n by Is ra e l i s
weaponisation programme Last Tuesday Trump convened his top officials and advisers for a meeting to plan for the second round of talks that were held on Saturday Trump also spoke on the phone to the Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq and discussed the Omani mediation between the two countries A day earlier Trump told reporters that Iran needed to move fast and
M a hossain
mir Resistance claimed responsibility for the attack in a social media message It expressed discontent that more than 85,000 “outsiders” had been settled in the region spurring a “demographic change” Consequently violence will be directed toward those attempting to settle illegally it said Reuters could not independently verify the source of the message
into a deep gorge after fighters attacked it Some major attacks during the height of the insurgency coincided with visits from high-profile foreign officials to India in likely attempts to draw global attention to IoK Indian security agencies have said Tuesday s attack came a day after US Vice President JD Vance began a four-day largely personal visit to India “Those
on horseback
“I saw a few men lying on the ground looking like they were dead ” said Waheed who gave only one name Medics at a hospital in Anantnag said they had received some of the wounded including at least two with gunshot wounds, one with a bullet injury to the neck The attack took place in an off-the-road meadow and two or three suspects were involved the Indian Express newspaper reported citing an unidentified senior police officer The death toll is still being ascertained so I don t want to get into those details, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said in a post on X
“Needless to say, this attack is much larger than anything we’ve seen directed at civilians in recent years The nationalities of the victims were not immediately known A little-known group called the Kash-
The regional government of IoK, where Pahalgam is located, told its legislature this month that nearly 84 000 non-locals from within India had been given domicile rights in the territory in the last two years I strongly condemn the cowardly attack on tourists in Pahalgam, which tragically killed five and injured several, said Mehbooba Mufti, former chief minister of the region who heads the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Democratic Party Fighters in the Muslim-majority region have waged an insurgency since 1989 Tens of thousands of people have been killed, although violence has tapered off in recent years Attacks targeting tourists in IoK have been rare in recent years, but not unknown
The last major attack on visitors in the federal territory took place in June when at least nine people were killed and 33 injured when a bus carrying Hindu pilgrims plunged
Israeli attacks burn 11 to death in G aza’s K han Younis
“The examination identified
failures” and that a commander would be dismissed over the incident The 15 paramedics and other rescue workers were shot dead on March 23 in three separate shootings at the same location near the southern Gaza city of Rafah They were buried in a shallow grave where their bodies were found a week later by officials from the United Nations and the Palestinian Red Crescent In a statement on Sunday the military said a commanding officer is to be reprimanded A deputy commander a reservist who was the field commander, will be dismissed from his position for providing an incomplete and inaccurate report, it said
and
by
and
lances and fire trucks with their lights on being fired on by soldiers Major General Yoav Har-Even, who conducted the review, told reporters that soldiers from a special forces unit had believed they were under threat after firing on what they initially determined as a Hamas vehicle but was in fact an ambulance Two occupants were killed and a third was detained and questioned over suspected Hamas links
Wang Yi urges stronger China-Austria ties, slams US tariffs
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Tuesday expressed hope that the new Austrian government will continue to pursue a friendly policy toward China promote bilateral relations to jointly address current global challenges, and play a constructive role in international peace and development Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during a phone conversation with Austria s Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger at the latter s request Noting that the international landscape is undergoing major changes Meinl-Reisinger said Austria values and looks forward to deepening its strong cooperative relationship with China, both bilaterally and multilaterally The new Austrian government adheres to the one-China policy and will maintain consistency in its China policy she said During the phone call Wang said the United States reckless imposition of tariffs on various countries at will has severely disrupted international trade and the global economic order This is a typical act of unilateralism, protectionism and economic bullying,” he said
As a responsible country, China will continue to firmly uphold the international system with the United Nations at its core safeguard the international order based on international law and commit itself to high-
level opening up while sharing development opportunities with the world, said Wang As two major pillars and two vast markets of the global economy, China and the European Union should shoulder international responsibilities, jointly defend the multilateral trading system and work together to build an open world economy he added Meinl-Reisinger said the EU looks forward to
K-Electric has officially closed entries for its Energy Progress & Innovation Challenge (EPIC) 2025 following an enthusiastic nationwide response from academia, entrepreneurs, researchers, and startups As of the final deadline, over 250 entries were received from across Pakistan reflecting the growing spirit of innovation and localisation in Pakistan’s energy landscape EPIC 2025 launched in March built upon the success of KE s earlier 7/11+ Innovation Challenge and invited participants to address key issues in the power sector through ideations suggesting cutting-edge solutions The challenge offered both predefined themes and the opportunity for open innovation Submissions focus on crucial areas such as Real-time fleet tracking and visibility for power utilities Proactive energy theft detection Demand forecasting automation using AI , Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) utilization for managing system dynamics under growing RE integration’, ‘Preemptive transformer level failure detection’ ‘PV impact analysis’ ‘Smart monitoring of transmission lines: enhancing grid reliability Underground MV cable health indexing Tamper-proof PMT-based loadshedding solution, and Open innovation: driving transformation in the power sector ’
Bangladesh, Pakistan agree to widen bilateral cooperation
s ta f f r e p o r t Bangladesh and Pakistan have been working closely to strengthen bilateral relations for the mutual benefits of the two peoples Deputy High Commissioner of Bangladesh in Karachi said that there are ample scopes for widening and strengthening mutually beneficial bilateral relations between the two countries, while addressing a reception arranged by the Bangladesh Mission to celebrate the 54th anniversary of Independence and National Day of Bangladesh Hon ble Minister of Sindh Government Mr Saeed Ghani was the guest of Honour Bangladesh High Commissioner in Pakistan Mr Iqbal Husain Khan Consuls General of different countries in Karachi other diplomats senators members of national and provincial assemblies political leaderships, government officials of Pakistan and Sindh Province, business leaders, cultural
women entrepreneurs media personalities and
among others attended the celebration program Welcoming the
deputy high commissioner
tioned that Bangladesh has an excellent track-record of socio-economic development in the
Bangladesh is among the five
growing economies in the
a country of religious
a country of rich cultural heritage
Iranian people deem Allama Iqbal as ‘S piritual Father of Pakistan’: Iran CG BOP
She
Murad Ali Shah and his party
have been in power in Sindh for the past 16 years, and it's time they review their own performance and give the public an account of their governance Azma Bokhari highlighted that Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz has in just one year provided historic packages worth 110 billion rupees to farmers These include the Kisan Card the Green Tractor Scheme and modern equipment like the Super Seeder Additionally, special packages have been introduced such as solarization of tube wells and a 15-billion-rupee subsidy for wheat She added that Punjab has achieved record wheat production this year and even higher yields are expected next year She concluded by saying that Punjab s progress and prosperity have become a cause for concern for two provincial governments Finally, she said that Murad Ali Shah is supporting protestors who are blocking the main highway connecting Punjab and Sindh, calling it deeply regrettable
KARACHI
mechanisms between the neighboring countries Terrorism threatens our shared interests in regional peace, stability and economic connectivity, Durrani asserted, noting impact of the attacks on cross-border labor mobility Barrister Saif reinforced the message conveying the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government s commitment to support Iran s counter-terrorism efforts while facilitating people-to-people ties Iranian Ambassador accepted invitation
Establishment, PTI both vital to secure national unity, stability: Imran Khan
Saudi Arabia announces heav y fines for visa overstayers as Hajj 2025 nears
RIYADH
N E w S D E S k Saudi Arabia has announced stringent penalties for foreigners who overstay their visas as the kingdom prepares for the upcoming Hajj season The Ministry of Interior warned on Tuesday that individuals who fail to leave after their visa expires could face fines up to SR50 000 imprisonment for up to six months, and/or deportation Authorities have urged citizens and residents to ensure that their guests, who arrived
ASI, constable mar tyred in Taunsa shootout with dacoits
Two jawans of the Punjab Police including an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) were martyred during a shootout with the dacoits in DG Khan s Taunsa area on Tuesday
According to a spokesperson for the Police, ASI Ghulam Shabbir and Constable Ghulam Fareed of Police Station Saddr Taunsa Dera Ghazi Khan were martyred during an encounter with dacoits
Both officers embraced martyrdom while bravely confronting the criminals Upon receiving information about the presence of dacoits at Daira Shah Pul, the police reached the scene, and as soon as the criminals spotted the police party, they resorted indiscriminate firing” he stated “As a result of the firing ASI Ghulam Shabbir and Constable Ghulam Fareed were martyred he added Uponreceiving information about the
incident, DPO Dera Ghazi Khan Syed Ali reached the spot, The police cordoned off and launched a search operation for the culprits who managed to flee the scene According to the DPO teams have been formed for hunting down the fleeing the dacoits vowing to bring them to just at the earliest Furthermore Punjab IG Police Dr Usman Anwar paid rich tribute to the sacrifice of ASI Ghulam Shabbir and Constable Ghulam Fareed In this hour of grief, we stand with the families of the martyrs”, he said reiterating the government’s pledge not to leave the families of the martyrs alone Meanwhile the Punjab Police have actively engaged in operations against criminal elements and arrested 42 members of 18 gangs during the Past 24 hours The police recovered 114 weapons, including Kalashnikovs, pistols, rifles, revolvers, shotguns, and hundreds of bullets, along with other stolen items from the possession of the criminals
