KARACHI: During a meet and greet with fans and journalists as part of the buildup to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 which starts in England today, the captains of the ten participating teams were asked by an audience member: If you could add one player to your squad from any of the other teams, who would you choose?
“I think for me [it would be] Jos Butler,” Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed said, referring to one of England’s best batters. Intriguingly, Butler is also England’s main wicket keeper, the same role Ahmed performs for his side.
Pakistan has borne the brunt of some of Buttler’s most breathtaking innings of late and Ahmed probably picked the English player because of his batting, rather than his wicket keeping, skills. Even so, the choice inadvertently cast Ahmed in comparison to Butler and highlighted the degree to which many players on the Pakistani side are less talented, less exciting versions of their opponents.
This might seem harsh given that Pakistan won the last major multi-team tournament, the Champions Trophy, held in England two years ago. Since then, however, the team’s record has been subpar and the manner of its play, old-fashioned and one-dimensional, has caused both panic and despair among fans and experts. Most recently, Pakistan ended a five-match One Day International series against England — their final preparation ahead of the World Cup — empty-handed.
“The bowling and fielding has not been up to the mark,” skipper Ahmed said after the final ODI. “It’s not ideal for the World Cup, but I’m confident my batsmen are ready.”
In a forecast piece ahead of the series kick-off, Guardian Sports said about Team Pakistan on Wednesday: “Famously hopeless till it matters, their ludicrously bad fielding during the whitewash by England means only one thing: they’ve got something up their sleeve.”
Indeed, despite the blistering loss against England, there might be some good news for Pakistan: World Cups in any sport are never truly representative of what comes before and after and have a habit of distorting form and rewarding luck.
“Pakistan are Pakistan — they will find a way of making the top four,” former England captain Michael Vaughan told the BBC on Tuesday. Ebony Rainford-Brent, 2009 Women’s World Cup winner with England, has said: “Pakistan are my wildcard — whether they have form or not, they find something in big tournaments.”
Other teams may surprise in other ways. Consider South Africa, whose captain Faff du Plessis answered the same question asked of the Pakistani skipper by naming several players for his hypothetical squad. Unable to pick just one player, Du Plessis’s flustered response under pressure seemed to mirror his team’s fate in earlier World Cups. Since their return to international cricket in 1992 following an apartheid-era ban, South Africa have entered every single tournament as one of the most dominant sides, only to lose when the stakes get high.
Also take the example of England. Currently the number one team in the world, England were last a World Cup favorite when the USSR was a stable world power. The country that founded cricket has never won a World Cup and in the last tournament in 2015, it finished as the laughing stock at the group stage. In the four years since, however, England’s revamp has been Stalinesque in its efficiency: no other team has scored more runs per over in ODI cricket or broken the 500 mark.
In light of this, the answer England captain Eoin Morgan gave when asked which player he would pick for his dream team spoke volumes about how meticulous his team’s effort has been to transform itself and reach the apex of world cricket. Instead of selecting a player, Morgan said he would pick Ricky Ponting, a notable Australian ex-cricketer and current coach — a choice that betrayed the ruthless desire to hunt for any extra advantage by a team leader who understands that his side’s very strength, an aggressive approach with the bat, has made it the most consistent team in the ODI format but can also be a recipe for collapse in the more bowling-friendly conditions often precipitated by the greatest villain in English history: the weather.
But as Indian captain Virat Kohli has said, dealing with “pressure is the most important thing in the World Cup and not necessarily the conditions.” Some of the favorites might start off strong but experience and nous could well trump skill and talent as the tournament progresses.
There are few better examples of this than the experience of Imran Khan in the 1987 and 1992 World Cups. His team entered the former as the only real challenger to a West Indies team now considered the greatest side ever. Khan proved himself one of the world’s best performers and led a talented, successful and heavily favored side that even defeated rivals West Indies, only for a shock loss to Australia in the semifinal at Lahore.
Five years later, Khan, a shadow of his former self, led an inexperienced team into the 1992 World Cup but ended up winning the series — a turnaround, and a narrative, so thrilling and dramatic it swept him to political power and landed him in the prime minister’s chair over two decades later.
This example, more perhaps than any other, shows how much the World Cup is a game of surprises and shocks, where great heroes make their final stands and new champions rise for the first time.
“It is 27 years since Pakistan won the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup for the first time and this year feels like it did back then,” former Pakistani test captain Waqar Younis, who was part of the 1992 squad at the World Cup, told ICC in an interview this week. “No one gave us a chance and we arrived as the underdog. But momentum came and we won the whole thing. That is the beauty of Pakistan cricket.”
In good news for dark horse Pakistan, cricket World Cup is a game of surprises
In good news for dark horse Pakistan, cricket World Cup is a game of surprises
- World Cups are never truly representative of what comes before and after and have a habit of distorting form and rewarding luck
- Commentators call Pakistan a ‘wildcard’: “they will find a way of making the top four”
Pakistan calls militant presence in Afghanistan a ‘challenge’ amid renewed diplomatic engagement
- Islamabad says cross-border militancy remains key obstacle to improved ties, regional integration
- The two sides have sought to reset relations after a tripartite meeting with China earlier this year
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan described the presence of militant outfits in Afghanistan as a “challenge” on Friday, calling it a critical hurdle in improving bilateral ties and advancing regional cooperation, even as both countries have tried to re-engage diplomatically in recent months.
Ties between Pakistan and Afghanistan have remained strained since 2023, when Islamabad launched a crackdown on undocumented migrants, mostly Afghans, citing security concerns.
Pakistan has long said militant groups staging attacks in its western border provinces operate from Afghan territory, a claim denied by Taliban officials.
However, the two sides have sought to reset relations recently, agreeing to appoint ambassadors following a tripartite meeting with China and holding additional secretary-level talks in Islamabad earlier this month.
“About the question of sanctuaries in Afghanistan, as I mentioned it remains a challenge, and we are trying to address it in the context of bilateral relations with Afghanistan,” foreign office spokesperson, Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan, said during his weekly news briefing.
“This remains a critical impediment in preventing the relations to reach their full potential, and further impeding the full development of regional cooperation, particularly when other regions are moving toward greater regional integration involving businesses, investment, road and rail network,” he added.
Khan said the “issue of sanctuaries” was also discussed by the Afghan authorities in the recent talks.
“We stay engaged with the Afghan authorities and approach the dialogue with good faith,” he continued. “In terms of the commonalities between the two countries, two cultures, it should be the best of relationships. But the core point which you flagged remains sanctuaries enjoyed by the terrorists inside the Afghan territory.”
Islamabad has repeatedly urged Kabul to take action against groups such as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which it says uses Afghan soil to plan and launch attacks.
The Afghan Taliban, however, have always denied allowing any armed outfits to use their territory to target other countries.
Pakistan’s top judicial body sets up committee to examine enforced disappearances
- The National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee discusses issues to ensure ‘citizen-centric justice delivery’
- The forum also looks into the ethical and policy implications of using generative AI in judicial functions
KARACHI: Pakistan’s top judicial policy-making forum has set up a body to examine the issue of enforced disappearances, an official statement said on Friday, in a move to address one of the country’s most persistent human rights challenges.
The decision came during the 53rd meeting of the National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee (NJPMC), chaired by Chief Justice of Pakistan Yahya Afridi and attended by top judges of all high courts and the additional attorney general in Islamabad.
Enforced disappearances have long been a contentious issue in Pakistan, particularly in regions like Balochistan, where families of missing persons and human rights groups accuse state institutions of arbitrary detentions and extrajudicial killings.
Pakistani authorities have frequently rejected these claims as “baseless allegations.”
“The NJPMC took serious notice of the enforced disappearances and unanimously resolved that the judiciary would not compromise on its constitutional duty to safeguard fundamental rights,” said the statement circulated by the Supreme Court after the meeting.
“A dedicated committee was constituted to formulate an institutional response, after taking into consideration concerns of the Executive, to be communicated through the Attorney General for Pakistan,” it added.
The statement said the forum deliberated on “key policy issues and adopted several significant measures to improve judicial performance, technology integration in judicial processes and citizen-centric justice delivery.”
Successive Pakistani governments have promised to look into the issue of enforced disappearances in the country and even set up a commission in 2011 to trace missing persons and fix responsibility for any wrongdoing.
However, rights groups and activists say the issue continues to persist.
The top judicial forum also acknowledged the growing presence of artificial intelligence in legal systems during the meeting and initiated work on a framework for its responsible use.
“The ethical and policy implications of using generative AI in judicial functions were discussed,” the statement said, adding the National Judicial Automation Committee (NJAC) had been tasked to “finalize a comprehensive charter on ethical use of AI in this regard.”
While several judicial systems around the world — including in the United States and the European Union — have begun exploring AI for research and case management, concerns persist over transparency, bias, and the potential erosion of human judgment in legal decision-making.
Pakistan rejects Indian NSA’s claim of ‘zero damage’ in military standoff
- The two nuclear-armed neighbors exchanged missile, drone and artillery strikes in May 2025
- Pakistan says Ajit Doval’s statement is a ‘distortion and misrepresentation’ of actual facts
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday dismissed Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Kumar Doval’s remarks claiming “zero damage” to military targets inside his country during the four-day military standoff between the two South Asian nuclear states, calling it a “distortion and misrepresentation” that violated established norms of statecraft.
The remarks follow Doval’s comments at a university convocation in India, where he highlighted the precision and success of the Indian military operation against Pakistan, saying New Delhi did not suffer any collateral damage during Pakistan’s retaliation.
In May 2025, the most intense India–Pakistan military confrontation in decades erupted, with both states exchanging missile, drone and artillery strikes following an April 22 attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 26 people.
India blamed Pakistan without providing evidence as the administration in Islamabad denied the charge and called for an impartial international probe.
“The remarks of the Indian NSA are replete with distortions and misrepresentations,” foreign office spokesperson, Ambassador Shafqat Ali Khan, said during his weekly news briefing. “They not only reflect a deliberate attempt to mislead the public, but also violate the norms of responsible statecraft.”
“Boasting of military aggression against a sovereign nation is a grave breach of the United Nations Charter and established principles of international law,” he continued.
Khan urged India to acknowledge the downing of six fighter jets including three Rafales, as well as the damage inflicted on Indian military targets instead of peddling “fictitious narratives.”
He said that glorification of a conflict did not benefit anyone, highlighting that the path to a lasting peace was in “dialogue, mutual respect and adherence to international law.”
Doval said New Delhi’s initial operation against Pakistan had lasted for “23 minutes.”
“We hit nine terrorist targets deep inside Pakistan — not near the border, but across its crisscrossed terrain with pinpoint accuracy,” he told the students. “We missed none and we hit nothing else.”
He also criticized the international media for highlighting Pakistan’s strikes inside his country, saying there was no evidence that “even a glass pane was broken.”
After four days of intense conflict between India and Pakistan, a US-mediated ceasefire was agreed on May 10, halting the confrontation amid global alarm over the risk of escalation.
Pakistan aims to finish digital currency pilot within this fiscal year — central bank
- The development follows establishment of Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority that will regulate the country’s virtual economy
- Analysts expect the regularization of digital currencies will help expand the country’s tax net by an estimated $25 billion in virtual assets
KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank plans to complete a pilot project for a digital currency within the current fiscal year ending June 2026, its spokesperson said on Friday, as the country cautiously moves toward adopting blockchain-based payments and strengthening oversight of its virtual asset economy.
The pilot announcement follows the establishment of the Pakistan Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (PVARA) through a presidential ordinance earlier this week.
The law empowers the authority to regulate the country’s growing crypto market, crack down on money laundering and terror financing, and promote responsible innovation — a move analysts say could bring an estimated $25 billion in virtual assets into the tax net.
“We hope to complete the pilot within the current fiscal year,” Noor Ahmed of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) told Arab News when asked about the rollout timeline. “Tech partner and other details will be announced in due course.”
Shankar Talreja, head of research at Topline Securities, said it was too early to say who would use the digital currency, since a pilot was still being launched, though he said it could benefit most bank account holders.
“Since this would be backed up [by the] central bank, so existing digital payment users can use this for payments,” he said. “The challenge would be if merchants accept this initially.”
The South Asian nation had long remained under scrutiny for weak financial controls and was only removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) “grey list” in 2022. The creation of PVARA is seen as part of Islamabad’s broader effort to cautiously formalize the virtual asset space.
“The legality of digital assets has been a grey area in Pakistan in the recent past from a practical standpoint,” said Nayab Babar, the chief investment officer at the Prime Minister’s Pakistan Startup Fund.
“Creation of the crypto council is an extremely important development which gives confidence to consumers and corporates alike, that there is a way forward to legally participate in this booming asset class without fear of losing money,” he added.
Farrukh H. Khan, the chief financial officer at Jazz, Pakistan’s largest digital operator and a unit of global telecom giant VEON, also welcomed the new regulatory measures.
“It is the right approach that we pilot it and cautiously move forward,” he said while pointing out the government’s decision would help document Pakistan’s “very large” base of crypto investors.
“According to Binance, which is one of the largest [digital] trading platforms, about 15 million Pakistanis are registered on their platform,” he said.
To integrate digital assets into the economy, the government earlier launched the Pakistan Crypto Council (PCC) in March and later appointed Binance founder Changpeng Zhao as a strategic adviser.
The move has been welcomed by retail traders like Muhammad Huzaifa, who said the lack of legal cover had previously left crypto investors vulnerable.
“Sometimes few government institutions like the FIA [Federal Investigation Agency] freeze the bank accounts of traders,” said the 33-year-old.
“These laws will lend more freedom and space for traders as they can buy, sell and invest in crypto easily without any fear,” he added.
Asked about his digital holdings, he said he was managing multiple accounts “between $50,000 to $100,000.”
Farhan Hassan, the chief digital officer at easypaisa Digital Bank (eDB) with over 50 million users, praised the creation of PVARA as a key step toward safer adoption.
“Pakistan has long been poised for broader crypto and blockchain adoption, but it lacked the regulatory clarity to unlock its full potential,” he said.
“This landmark development sets the foundation for a secure, transparent and regulated framework to guide the growth of virtual assets in Pakistan.”
Hassan added that eDB was “uniquely positioned” to collaborate with regulators in piloting, testing, and scaling financial solutions aligned with both global standards and local needs.
CHALLENGES
Still, analysts caution that implementation could be challenging due to the government’s institutional capacity.
“The regulators may lack technical capacity and real-time monitoring tools to fully oversee crypto markets,” said Muhammad Waqas Ghani, head of research at Karachi-based JS Global Capital.
He maintained that Pakistan’s stock market was a more regulated and secure investment option, offering greater protection against fraud and manipulation compared to the still-evolving crypto space.
Pakistan may also require the International Monetary Fund’s approval if it plans to subsidize electricity for future crypto mining and AI data centers.
“[The IMF] staff reiterated the importance of maintaining a level playing field for all private sector participants and will continue to engage with the authorities on this as appropriate as plans develop further,” Mahir Binici, the IMF’s resident representative in Pakistan, said this week.
Talal Ahmad, an official from the office of State Minister on Blockchain and Crypto Bilal Bin Saqib, did not provide any details in response to Arab News queries.
“A lot of these questions don’t have answers at the moment. Could you wait until we pass the regulation law [from parliament]?” he said.
Asked who would be the first users of Pakistan’s digital currency, SBP’s Ahmed said the central bank would share such details at a later stage.
Pakistan’s push follows the example of countries like India, which launched a pilot e-rupee in 2022.
The Reserve Bank of India initially allowed selected banks to use it for settling secondary-market transactions in government securities before extending it to the retail sector.
Pakistan launches vehicle emissions testing in Islamabad to combat air pollution
- Smoke-emitting vehicles entering the federal capital to face fines or be impounded
- Pakistan aims for 30 percent of new vehicle sales to be electric by 2030 under EV policy
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has launched emissions testing for vehicles entering the federal capital, Islamabad, in a bid to reduce air pollution and improve air quality, State Minister for Interior Talal Chaudhry said on Friday.
The move follows the launch of the emission testing system in the country’s most populous Punjab province in May, the first initiative of its kind ever taken in the country.
Emissions testing for vehicles is a process that measures the pollutants released from a vehicle’s exhaust to ensure compliance with environmental standards. It evaluates the levels of harmful gases such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides.
“The greatest damage caused to the environment is through vehicle emissions,” Chaudhry said while speaking to the media.
“Such testing has never been conducted before in Islamabad, but it has been initiated now,” he continued, adding that every car would be checked according to international standards before being certified.
Chaudhry announced the government would first inspect official vehicles before expanding the initiative to private vehicles.
“No smoke emitting vehicle will be allowed to enter Islamabad,” he added. “If it enters, there will be a fine, cars will be impounded and it will be dealt according to law.”
Earlier this year in June, Pakistan unveiled its Electric Vehicle Policy 2025–2030, setting a target for 30 percent of all new vehicle sales to be electric by the end of the decade.
The policy, which covers cars, buses, motorcycles and rickshaws, aims to accelerate Pakistan’s transition to sustainable transport, reduce reliance on fossil fuels and curb climate-warming emissions.
Pakistan imports the majority of its energy, and its urban centers rank among the most polluted in the world, primarily due to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions.
This severe air pollution poses a serious threat to public health, undermines economic productivity and diminishes the quality of life for millions of residents.
