KARACHI: Pakistan is planning to launch 5G Internet services within a year to facilitate the country’s growing e-commerce industry that is expected to create 780,000 new employment opportunities through online sales, a top government official and experts told Arab News on Wednesday.
“The country’s first trial of 5G was successful and it will carry out the next one in June,” Federal Minister for Information Technology and Telecommunication Syed Amin ul Haque informed. “We will launch 5G mobile Internet services in Pakistan within a year
While no official figures have been compiled by the government, e-commerce has witnessed an upward trajectory in the country due to the growing number of broadband and mobile phone subscribers.
“We have taken an initiative with the help of PTCL and other telecommunication companies to reduce the cost of broadband services,” he added. “When the Internet cost will go down, people living in the remote areas of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will benefit and we will see improved connectivity in the country.”
The federal minister said the government was trying to introduce high-speed Internet facility to the remote areas of the country to bridge the digital gap between Pakistan’s rural and urban centers to enhance employment opportunities.
Chinese experts also claim that by emulating the online business model of China, Pakistan can create more than a million jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“If Pakistan pursues the development of logistical and instant delivery services and reaches China’s level, it will create 780,000 employment opportunities for Pakistanis according to the proportion of its population. The number may grow to 1.56 million in the future,” Cheng Xizhong, visiting professor at the Southwest University of Political Science and Law in Chongqing, said on Tuesday in an article published in China Economic Net
In Pakistan, Xizhong added, e-commerce was developing rapidly, though he also pointed out that mobile communication and logistics could be a little behind in rural areas where some people still did not have cellphones.
However, the federal minister said the government was taking every possible measure to increase the mobile phone penetration and accessibility in remote areas, adding that it was in the process of introducing 3G and 4G services in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan
“We are in talks with the Federal Board of Revenue to reduce taxes so that consumers may benefit from these services,” Haque said.
Pakistan’s small and medium enterprises (SMEs) agree with Xizhong that online sales platforms provide new opportunities amid the pandemic.
“Unfortunately, many Pakistanis are likely to lose their jobs both in and outside the country due to the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic, but the situation has also created opportunities for 6 million SMEs that can resort to online trade activities,” Zulfikar Thaver, president of the Union of Small and Medium Enterprises, told Arab News. “We have sought government’s intervention to facilitate the SMEs in this regard.”
Recently, the provincial administration in Sindh allowed small businesses to run online trades, though their volume was not significant.
“People were more interested in offline shopping because they wanted to draw maximum satisfaction by physically visiting shops and selecting goods. The online shopping hardly constituted about five percent of the total sales,” Atiq Mir, chairman of Karachi Tajir Itehad, said.
However, Pakistani retailers anticipate a major shift in the focus of their business toward online trading and expect rapid growth in that area.
“There can be a rapid surge in online sales in Pakistan. This will also create opportunities for various service providers,” Rana Tariq Mehboob, who manages Chainstore Association of Pakistan, told Arab News.
However, he added that an upward trajectory in e-commerce also depended on the overall performance of the economy. “I don’t think that online trade will increase if the economy is shrinking,” he said.
Pakistan is also going to set up two IT Parks in Islamabad and Karachi.
“These parks will attract multinational IT companies to the country and create a large number of jobs in both cities,” said the federal minister for information technology.
Pakistan to launch 5G services to support growing e-commerce – IT minister
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Pakistan to launch 5G services to support growing e-commerce – IT minister
- The country can create 780,000 new employment opportunities through online sales, says a Chinese professor
- Pakistani retailers are anticipated to embrace online trading in the coming days
Silent streets, shuttered shops: Fear grips Kotli after India strikes in Azad Kashmir
- District official says missile strike on house and mosque killed two siblings and injured two others
- Residents deny India’s claim of targeting ‘terrorist infrastructure,’ say civilians were the target
KOTLI, Azad Kashmir: A convoy of journalists escorted by the Pakistani military and officials traveled through the scenic but tense roads of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) this week, arriving in the afternoon in Kotli, where an Indian strike on a mosque on Wednesday early morning had killed two people.
The usually bustling city stood silent, its shops shuttered, roads empty and anxious residents watching from a distance.
Amid the most intense military flare-up between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan in decades, New Delhi said it had struck nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan and AJK early Wednesday. AJK is the part of the disputed Kashmir valley administered by Pakistan while Jammu and Kashmir is a region administered by India.
India described Wednesday’s strikes as retaliation for an April 22 attack in its part of Kashmir that killed 26 tourists. Delhi attributed that attack to Pakistan, a claim Islamabad has repeatedly denied.
Pakistani authorities said six locations were hit across the country during Indian strikes, resulting in 31 deaths and 57 injuries. The Pakistan army spokesperson said the military responded by downing five Indian aircraft.
“It [the attack] happened after 12:30 a.m. on [Wednesday], when people were asleep and were jolted awake by the sound of the blasts,” Dawood Ahmed, a local resident, told Arab News near the mosque in Kotli that was hit by Indian strikes.
“It happened so suddenly, and people were so terrified that they rushed out of their homes with their children ... We thought a major attack had occurred and that Kotli had been surrounded.”
Ahmed said the Nakial sector on the Line of Control (LoC), the restive de facto border separating the Pakistani and Indian sides of Kashmir, was about 22 kilometers from the area.
“So, we are not used to regular firing or skirmishes,” he added. “This was something entirely new for us.”
Asked about the Indian claim that it had targeted a militant facility, Ahmed said the building was just a mosque. No one lived there and it was occupied only when the imam came to lead prayers.
Arab News could not independently verify this.
“PLACE OF WORSHIP”
Nasir Rafiq, the area’s deputy commissioner, said a house located next to the mosque was also hit by the Indian strikes.
“Two people, a 19-year-old girl and a 12-year-old boy, both siblings, were killed in the attack, and two others were injured including a woman and her son,” he told Arab News, standing in front of the destroyed house and mosque.
He said the siblings, both students, had come from the nearby Nakial town. The elder sister was attending university and the younger brother was in school.
As the media delegation remained at the site, more residents gathered, listening closely to the conversations between journalists and locals.
Dr. Mazhar Iqbal Tahir, head of a local hospital, said the blast was so massive that staff couldn’t immediately understand what had happened.
“We immediately imposed emergency [at the hospital] and called all doctors and health care professionals,” he told Arab News.
Tahir said the hospital treated the injured, but both siblings had died before they were brought in.
Umar Farooq, a local university professor, said Kotli was one of the most populated cities in AJK and far from the LoC, questioning how India could have bombed such a place.
“There is no military target here, there is no paramilitary target here, and this is the question that I am raising,” he told Arab News.
“Just take a look around,” he said, gesturing toward the mosque. “This is a place of worship. India is the signatory of the Geneva Conventions and other international humanitarian agreements. Still they have done this to us.”
‘Big lie,’ says Pakistan on New Delhi’s accusations it tried to strike inside India
- India says “neutralized” Islamabad’s attempts to strike military targets with drones, missiles on Thursday
- Pakistan army said it had downed 29 Israeli-manufactured Harop drones launched from India overnight
ISLAMABAD: Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Thursday described New Delhi’s accusations that Pakistan had tried to carry out strikes inside India overnight as a “big lie,” after India said it had “neutralized” Islamabad’s attempts to target military targets with drones and missiles.
Fighting has escalated between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbors since Wednesday when India struck multiple locations in Pakistan in response to a deadly April 22 attack targeting tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blames on its neighbor.
Pakistan, which denies any link to the Kashmir violence, said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in retaliation. Thursday brought more violence as Pakistan said it had downed 29 Israeli-manufactured Harop drones launched from India overnight and New Delhi said Islamabad had launched an air attack using “drones and missiles” before it retaliated to destroy an air defense system in Lahore.
“Today, a politically based and motivated story was issued that last night Pakistan attacked different Indian military installations and military areas. It’s a big lie. It’s a very big lie,” Dar, who is also the country’s foreign minister, told reporters.
He said India had “concocted” the story to justify attempting to carry out waves of drone attacks inside Pakistan.
“What they did today [sending drones], from Islamabad to South Pakistan till Karachi, in at least two dozen places, is shameful, regretful and condemnable,” Dar added.
The foreign minister’s press conference followed a statement by India’s defense ministry that said Pakistan on Thursday morning “attempted to engage a number of military targets ... using drones and missiles,” which were “neutralized” by air defense systems.
New Delhi said areas targeted included sites in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, and India’s Punjab state, including the key cities of Amritsar, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, as well as Bhuj in Gujarat state.
“The debris of these attacks is now being recovered from a number of locations,” it added.
The defense ministry said in retaliation, its military had “targeted air defense radars and systems at a number of locations in Pakistan,” saying the “response has been in the same domain, with the same intensity, as Pakistan.”
It added that it had been “reliably learnt that an air defense system at Lahore has been neutralized.”
Dar, and military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, have both rejected the claim.
“29 drones so far have been neutralized,” Chaudhry said at the press conference alongside Dar.
“Only one managed to partially engage its target for which it came. Some equipment was damaged and four soldiers were injured.”
He said three civilians had been killed and four injured during the exchange.
The conflict between India and Pakistan has been confined in recent decades mostly to the disputed mountainous region of Kashmir. But the air strikes on Wednesday morning, which also hit the towns of Bahawalpur and Muridke in the heart of the country, and the drone incursions into some of the country’s largest cities on Thursday, were seen in Islamabad as a major escalation.
One drone was shot down over the garrison city of Rawalpindi, home to the Pakistan army’s heavily fortified headquarters.
One drone hit a military target near Lahore, the capital and largest city of the province of Punjab, and the second-largest city in Pakistan after Karachi.
Other places where drones were neutralized were Gujranwala, Chakwal, Attock, Bahawalpur, Miano, Chor and near Karachi, which the country’s largest city and commercial capital.
India has also accused Pakistan of having “increased the intensity of its unprovoked firing across the Line of Control using mortars and heavy caliber artillery” across the de facto border that divides Kashmir between the two nations.
India said the number of people who had been killed by Pakistani firing since the escalation of violence on Wednesday had risen to 16, including three women and five children.
Speaking in parliament, Pakistani Information Ministers said Pakistan had killed 40-50 Indian soldiers and destroyed a brigade headquarters along the Line of Control. The claims could not be independently verified and India has not commented on it.
India and Pakistan have fought three wars in the past, two of them over Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.
Since April 22, they have intensified firing and shelling across the Line of Control.
For decades India has accused Pakistan of supporting militants in attacks on Indian interests, especially in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan denies such support and in turn accuses India of backing separatist and other insurgents in Pakistan, which New Delhi denies.
With inputs from AFP and Reuters
Pakistan advises Hajj pilgrims to verify approved private operators before bookings
- Private operators were allotted 89,801 slots initially but the final number was reduced to around 23,620 last month
- Due to non-compliance with Saudi regulations, private sector failed to secure accommodations by Feb. 14 deadline
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs has advised all pilgrims performing Hajj through private tour operators to verify the authenticity and quota approval of a particular company before making bookings and payments, state-run APP news agency said on Thursday.
The total quota granted to Pakistan for Hajj 2025 was 179,210, which is usually divided equally between the government and the private schemes. This year, however, the private Hajj quota has been significantly reduced, impacting over 67,000 pilgrims.
Private operators were allotted 89,801 slots initially, but the final number was reduced to around 23,620 last month due to non-compliance of the private sector with Saudi booking regulations and deadlines.
In a report published by the Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) on Thursday, Religious Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Muhammad Umar Butt issued guidelines for Hajj pilgrims, including verifying the authenticity and quota approval of private tour operators before making payments, visiting the ministry’s official website to confirm registration and avoiding reliance on unverified advertisements or information.
“The Ministry of Religious Affairs and Interfaith Harmony has advised all prospective pilgrims intending to perform Hajj under the private Hajj scheme to exercise utmost caution when booking packages through private tour operators (Munazzameen),” APP said.
“The advisory comes after some private organizers failed to pay dues ... within the timeline set by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah,” because of which they did not get permission to serve as Hajj operators.
Butt added that Hajj operators should not book pilgrims beyond their approved quotas.
While a precise number of worldwide pilgrims for Hajj 2025 is difficult to determine in advance, projections suggest it will be a record-breaking year, with over 2.5 million Muslims performing the pilgrimage.
PSX sees largest single-day decline in its history on escalation in India-Pakistan conflict
- Record-breaking 6,482-point plunge on Thursday stunned Pakistan Stock Exchange, which closed at 103,527
- Market crash followed as army said it had neutralized 25 drones launched by India, with four troopers injured
KARACHI: A record-breaking 6,482-point plunge on Thursday stunned the Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX), marking the largest single-day decline in the index’s history as investors feared escalation amid an ongoing standoff between India and Pakistan.
The bloodbath comes as Pakistan and India indulged in the worst fighting between them in decades this week, with India striking multiple locations in Pakistan on Wednesday after a deadly April 22 attack targeting tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir that New Delhi blames on its neighbor.
Pakistan, which denies any link to the Kashmir violence, said it had shot down five Indian fighter jets in retaliation. Thursday brought more violence as Pakistan said it had downed 25 drones from India overnight and New Delhi said it “neutralized” Pakistani attempts to strike military targets with drones and missiles.
“The market crash followed alarming geopolitical developments after ISPR Director General Lt Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry announced that Pakistani forces had neutralized 25 drones sent by India,” Topline Securities said in its daily market review.
“He also confirmed that four army personnel were injured after one drone managed to partially strike a military target, despite the majority being intercepted.”
The statement sent shockwaves through financial markets, triggering widespread panic selling as investors rushed to offload positions, leading to a broad-based decline across sectors.
Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 Index started the day with a 1.7 percent rally but turned bearish and slumped as much as eight percent after reports of India’s drone strikes triggered panic selling at the bourse.
The stock gauge, bullish otherwise, ended the day with a 5.89 percent decline to 103,526, according to PSX data.
The selling pressure came largely from leveraged investors, Shahid Ali Habib, the chief executive officer at Arif Habib Ltd., told Arab News.
“Pakistan’s stocks are under pressure as it now seems that Pakistan will also go on to respond [to India] and that response will also escalate further,” he said.
“It’s not going to end actually soon and the escalation is happening.”
However, Habib said he expected a “sharp rebound” for Pakistan’s stocks once a third party like the US or longtime ally China mediated and defused the conflict.
The renewed geopolitical tension has caused Pakistan’s market to fall about 12 percent from April 23 to May 8.
The latest conflict with India is a setback for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s effort to revive the country’s debt-ridden economy through increasing revenues and exports with the help of an International Monetary Fund’s $7 billion reforms-oriented loan program.
Pakistan postpones PSL match after Indian drone shot down near Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium
- Pakistan military said on Thursday it had shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones launched by India at multiple locations
- One drone was shot down over garrison city of Rawalpindi where Peshawar Zalmi And Karachi Kings match was to take place
KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board has rescheduled the HBL PSL X match between Peshawar Zalmi and Karachi Kings after Pakistan shot down an Indian drone near the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium where the game was set to take place today, Thursday.
The Pakistan military said on Thursday it had shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones launched by India at multiple locations. One drone was shot down over the garrison city of Rawalpindi, military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in a televised statement. Rawalpindi is home to the Pakistan army’s heavily fortified headquarters.
The drone was shot down near the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
“The PCB will announce the revised date in due course,” the cricket board said, saying VIP Gallery and enclosures ticket holders could obtain refunds from TCS Express Centers while tickets bought online would be automatically reimbursed in the accounts used at the time of booking.
The PCB’s statement did not mention the drone attacks, but the postponement comes in the wake of violence between neighbors India and Pakistan, who this week have engaged in the worst direct military confrontation in decades.
Fighting has escalated between the nuclear-armed neighbors since Wednesday when India said it struck nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites in Pakistan, some of them linked to an attack by militants that killed 26 in Indian-administered Kashmir on Apr. 22. Pakistan said 31 people were killed in the Indian strikes and vowed to retaliate, subsequently saying it had shot down five Indian aircraft and a combat drone.
On Thursday, the Pakistan army said India was “attacking Pakistan with Israeli-made Harop drones in panic” while India’s defense ministry said Islamabad had launched an overnight air attack using “drones and missiles” before New Delhi retaliated to destroy an air defense system in the eastern city of Lahore. The Pakistani defense minister has rejected India’s claims.
