KARACHI: When Tamim Iqbal played a gentle stroke during Saturday’s match between Bangladesh and Pakistan toward square leg for one, it took his team’s total to eight runs, and signalled the end of a World Cup for Pakistan — mid-match in a game Pakistan went on to win by 94 runs, becoming the first team to fail to reach the knockouts despite winning four matches in a row.
Such was the bizarre mathematics of Pakistan’s razor-slim chances of qualification for the semifinals that despite scoring 315/9 batting first, they had to dismiss Bangladesh for under 8 runs in order to make it through. Teenager Shaheen Shah Afridi, one of the finds of the tournament, ended with the best figures for any Pakistani at a World Cup, with 6/35 after Babar Azam’s 96 meant his debut campaign was the most prolific for any Pakistan batter at the tournament ever. Bangladesh, whose game-changing lethargy while fielding was the first of several suggestions that they weren’t truly invested in a match with no stakes, never truly got into the game. Pakistan were far more invested in the win, but from the very first overs of their chase, it became clear that the team wasn’t playing for qualification.
Afterwards, Bangladesh captain Mashrafe Mortaza, reflecting on the tournament, took to apologizing to star player Shakib al Hasan, whose 63 capped what should surely be a player of the tournament effort from him. “I want to say sorry to Shakib, if we had stepped up, the tournament could’ve been different…he was fantastic. During some of the important matches, our fielding wasn’t good, and that cost us a lot.”
His counterpart, Sarfaraz Ahmed, reflected on a topsy-turvy campaign for Pakistan: “It’s very unfortunate — we played good cricket but haven’t qualified. That one game, against West Indies, cost us the tournament,” he said, referring to the opening defeat that led to the impossible equations of this last match.
Despite not qualifying, this latest victory bookended arguably the best Pakistani performance at a World Cup in 20 years. While the 2011 (semifinals) and 2015 (quarter-finals) squads both played the knockout rounds, they qualified via easier formats, and each really had only one major win against a top side. In contrast, 2019’s run was something else.
Consider, for a second, the seemingly undeniable fact that the world is ending. There is the constant terror of climate change and its impending threat of ending life as we know it; there is the distinct possibility of a nuclear war being sparked by an ill-advised tweet; there is the rise of angry politics fueled by social media. In such chaotic end-times, one of the most precious commodities is attention, perhaps because we are all seeking to escape the horrors of reality. Technology has created a world where we have never-ending, constant-streams of attention demanding moments, people, ideas. But there are few ideas, people or moments that are so shocking and original that they demand our attention. And one such moment was the 2019 Pakistan world cup experience, from its team to its hysterical media and dramatic, hilarious fans.
To begin the tournament, Pakistan gave one of the all-time worst batting performances at a World Cup. All time in a list that includes amateur sides from the past. To a team that wouldn’t win another match until it’s very last against Afghanistan. It’s one thing to lose, it’s another to do so with this much spectacle, with the net run-rate from this match planting the seeds of their eventual destruction.
How does one bounce back from such a match?
Of course, by smashing the hosts and favorites England for a huge total, one of the highest in their tournament history, and then strangling the supposedly strongest batting lineup ever conceived to take victory. In their next match against Australia, the team that is now the tournament’s favorite, Pakistan’s bowlers almost batted to a sensational win when their batters threw it away, in the process exposing many of their rival’s weaknesses.
The loss versus India, both insipid and totally one-sided, would have been immediately forgotten had it not been for the hilarious reactions of Pakistani fans and the volcanic vitriol of ex-players on the media. Burgers, pizzay, yawns, late-night sheeshas, parenting advice from Veena Malik, fitness tips from Shoaib Akhtar, and historical, era-defining memes — the world couldn’t help but notice.
The wins over South Africa and New Zealand were remarkable for Pakistan fans, but the rest of the world wouldn’t have thought about it so much had it not been for the eerie connections with the 1992 World Cup, which put even these otherwise routine matches into moments within a three-decade old prophecy that had ensnared Disney releases and weather patterns. Pakistani fandom had truly gone mainstream. The Afghanistan match brought with it an entire university course of sociopolitical subtext, but that wasn’t going to be enough. One of the matches of the tournament played out to a forbiddingly tense finale, ensuring that everyone possible was engrossed at multiple levels. And finally, even this final match against Bangladesh should have been a dead rubber, the media’s hype briefly took the dream of 500 as a possibility.
The World Cup still has a week to go, but it just lost it’s most compelling story. Pakistan’s World Cup campaign, in both its highs and lows, its beauty and its crassness, was so contemporary, so of the moment that even though it ended at Lord’s, it should now be curated for posterity across the River Thames at the Tate Modern. This campaign was little short of art.
Pakistan’s tournament exit despite win robs World Cup of its best story
Pakistan’s tournament exit despite win robs World Cup of its best story
- Despite not qualifying, latest victory bookended arguably the best Pakistani performance at a World Cup in 20 years
- Pakistan’s World Cup campaign, in both its highs and lows, was little short of art
India plans $230 million drone incentive after Pakistan conflict
- India’s push to build more home-grown drones stems from its assessment of the four-day clash with Pakistan in May
- The standoff marked the first time New Delhi, Islamabad utilized unmanned aerial vehicles at scale against each other
NEW DELHI: India will launch a $234 million incentive program for civil and military drone makers to reduce their reliance on imported components and counter rival Pakistan’s program built on support from China and Turkiye, three sources told Reuters.
India’s push to build more home-grown drones stems from its assessment of the four-day clash with Pakistan in May that marked the first time New Delhi and Islamabad utilized unmanned aerial vehicles at scale against each other. The nuclear-armed neighbors are now locked in a drones arms race.
New Delhi will launch a 20 billion Indian rupees ($234 million) program for three years that will cover manufacture of drones, components, software, counter drone systems, and services, two government and one industry source, who did not want to be named, told Reuters.
Details of the program have not been previously reported and its planned expenditure is higher than the modest 1.2 billion rupees production-linked incentive scheme New Delhi launched in 2021 to promote drone start-ups, which have struggled to raise capital and invest in research.
India’s civil aviation ministry, which is leading the incentives program, and defense ministry did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Reuters previously reported that India plans to invest heavily in local industry and could spend as much as $470 million on unmanned aerial vehicles over the next 12 to 24 months, in what government and military officers said would be a staggered approach.
In the past, India has mainly imported military drones from its third-largest arms supplier, Israel, but in recent years its nascent drone industry has scaled up its cost-effective offerings, including for the military, although reliance on China continues for certain components such as motors, sensors and imaging systems.
Through the incentives, India is aiming to have at least 40 percent of key drone components made in the country by the end of fiscal year 2028 (April-March), the two government sources said.
“During (the India-Pakistan) conflict there was quite a lot of use of drones, loitering munitions and kamikaze drones on both sides,” Indian Defense Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh said last week.
“The lesson that we’ve learned is that we need to double down on our indigenization efforts to ensure that we build a large, effective, military drone manufacturing ecosystem.”
India bans import of drones but not their components and the government has planned additional incentives for manufacturers that procure parts from within the country, the two government sources said.
The state-run Small Industries Development Bank of India would also support the incentive program by providing cheap loans for working capital, research and development needs for the firms, the government sources added.
Currently, there are more than 600 drone manufacturing and associated companies in India, according to estimates shared by an industry source involved in the discussions for the incentives program.
Pakistan to use $1.4 billion IMF climate loan to expand green investment, fiscal space
- IMF says reforms will create fiscal space, embed climate goals in budgets and public investment
- Program aims to unlock private capital, improve disaster coordination, irrigation infrastructure across provinces
KARACHI: Pakistan will use a $1.4 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund’s climate resilience fund to expand fiscal space, embed climate planning into public investment decisions and unlock private-sector capital for green projects, the IMF said on Friday.
The financing, approved by the IMF’s Executive Board in May under its Resilience and Sustainability Facility (RSF), is part of a broader reform program that aims to help Pakistan adapt to increasingly frequent and devastating climate shocks.
Pakistan is the first country in the Middle East and Central Asia region to access the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility. The fund was launched in 2022 to help climate-vulnerable low- and middle-income countries make the structural changes needed to protect their economies and populations.
“The RSF will help build climate resilience in Pakistan by creating fiscal space to address climate vulnerabilities, such as the need to improve climate-resilient adaptation infrastructure,” Mahir Binici, the IMF’s resident representative in Pakistan, told Arab News in a written response.
“It will also boost climate’s prominence in public investment management and budget processes,” he said, “helping Pakistan better identify and target projects needed to strengthen resilience to climate shocks.”
A third pillar of the reforms, Binici said, is improving the overall “enabling environment for green investment” so that banks and private firms could incorporate climate-related risk considerations into their risk management and investment activities.
The RSF financing will be disbursed over a 28-month period and runs alongside Pakistan’s $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF), whose first review was also approved in May, releasing roughly $1 billion in immediate support.
CLIMATE-FINANCE GAP
Pakistan, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries, has long struggled to align its public finances with the scale of climate risk it faces. The 2022 floods alone affected over 33 million people and caused more than $30 billion in damages and economic losses.
By reforming how climate priorities are reflected in budget planning and investment screening, the IMF says Pakistan will be better equipped to attract funding and respond to future disasters.
The RSF does not fund individual infrastructure projects. Instead, it supports “policy and institutional reforms that make climate action more effective,” Binici explained.
These include reforms in disaster coordination, water and irrigation infrastructure, and provincial implementation capacity.
Binici said the IMF program supports better coordination between the federal and provincial governments on disaster risk financing, a chronic weakness in past emergency responses, and policy changes that would strengthen water and irrigation management.
“Policy reforms that directly target Pakistan’s water management and irrigation infrastructure would help make farmers more resilient to climate shocks,” he said, adding the focus would be on improving irrigation service standards, reliability, and water supply adequacy.
The reforms also aim to reduce waterlogging, salinity, groundwater depletion, and growing water insecurity, issues that disproportionately impact poor rural communities.
The IMF said its climate program in Pakistan takes a “whole-of-government” approach, with many reforms to be implemented at the provincial level.
“Much of the focus is on improving coordination mechanisms between the federal government and the provinces,” Binici said.
One killed, five injured as residential building collapses in Pakistan’s Karachi
- The multi-story building in Karachi’s Lyari neighborhood housed several families
- Efforts underway to rescue several residents believed to be trapped under rubble
KARACHI: At least one person was killed and five others were injured on Friday after a multi-story residential building came crashing down in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, the Edhi rescue service said.
Local media reported that the building, located in Karachi’s Lyari neighborhood, housed several families and a number of residents were still believed to be trapped under the rubble.
Television footage showed rescue workers and locals trying to rescue people from under the debris.
“So far one body has been recovered which was shifted through ambulance to Civil Hospital,” the Edhi rescue service said in a statement.
“Five people, including three women, were injured.”
It said rescue efforts were underway to find out survivors.
There was no immediate comment from the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), which regulates buildings and other structures in Karachi, and other civic agencies on whether the building had been declared dangerous.
In Karachi, home to over 20 million people, building collapses often result in significant casualties, with officials accused of allowing faulty construction.
In June 2020, a five-story residential building had collapsed in the same neighborhood, killing at least 25 people.
On April 22, 2024, a three-story building collapsed in North Nazimabad, killing one man and injuring four others. In October 2023, a building collapse in Shah Faisal Colony resulted in five deaths and two injuries.
Trade, connectivity, regional cooperation in focus as Pakistani PM at ECO summit
- Theme of this year’s summit is “New ECO Vision for a Sustainable and Climate Resilient Future”
- Sharif will hold bilateral meetings with other leaders attending summit to discuss matters of mutual interest
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will address the 17th Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) summit in Khankendi, Azerbaijan today, where he is expected to present Pakistan’s views on regional and global challenges, trade promotion, sustainable development and enhanced connectivity.
According to a statement issued by the Prime Minister’s Office, Sharif will also hold bilateral meetings with other leaders attending the summit to discuss matters of mutual interest.
The theme of this year’s summit is “New ECO Vision for a Sustainable and Climate Resilient Future.”
“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the ECO summit in Khankendi, Azerbaijan, where he will speak on global and regional issues, trade promotion, sustainable development, regional connectivity and solutions to regional challenges,” the PMO said.
The summit brings together heads of state and government from ECO member states to discuss economic and political cooperation.
This is Sharif’s third visit to Azerbaijan in 2025. He last traveled to Baku in May, where he held talks with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on strengthening bilateral cooperation in energy and trade.
The Economic Cooperation Organization was established in 1985 by Iran, Turkiye and Pakistan and later expanded to include Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. The ten-member bloc aims to promote economic, technical and cultural collaboration across Central and South Asia, the Caucasus and the Middle East.
Pakistan says 30 ‘Indian-sponsored’ militants killed trying to cross from Afghanistan
- Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in militant violence in its western regions that border Afghanistan
- Islamabad often blames these attacks on India and Afghanistan, a charge denied by Kabul and New Delhi
ISLAMABAD: At least 30 “Indian-sponsored” militants were killed while attempting to cross into Pakistan through its border with Afghanistan this week, the Pakistani military said on Friday.
Pakistani security forces intercepted the militants in the restive North Waziristan district, according to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the military’s media wing.
All 30 militants, belonging to “Indian proxy Fitna Al-Khawarij,” a reference to the Pakistani Taliban, were killed as a result of “precise and skillful engagement.”
“A large quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives was also recovered from the killed Indian-sponsored Khawarij [militants],” the ISPR said in a statement.
“The interim Afghan government also needs to check and prevent the use of Afghan soil by ‘foreign proxies’ for orchestrating terrorist activities against Pakistan.”
New Delhi has not yet commented on the latest statement by the army but has repeatedly denied in the past that it is involved in militancy in Pakistan.
Pakistan has witnessed a sharp rise in violence in its western regions bordering Afghanistan, with Islamabad accusing India of backing militant groups and Afghanistan of allowing the use of its soil for attacks against Pakistan. Kabul and New Delhi deny the allegation.
The North Waziristan district has long been a stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban, who have mounted their attacks against Pakistani security forces and checkposts, and law enforcers since late 2022, when their fragile, months-long truce broke down with Islamabad.
On June 28, a suicide attack, claimed by Hafiz Gul Bahadur group of the Pakistani Taliban, killed 13 Pakistani soldiers and injured 29 people, including civilians, in the volatile district that borders Afghanistan, local government and police officials said.
A day later, the district administration imposed a 30-day restriction on the movement of people and vehicles from dusk till dawn, saying it was in the interest of “public safety, law and order, movement of security forces and [to] restrict the movement of outlaws.”
In a statement issued from his office, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised Pakistani security forces for foiling the militant infiltration attempt in North Waziristan.
“We are determined to completely eradicate all forms of terrorism from the country,” he said. “The entire nation salutes their security forces.”
