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Bike-hailing services losing 90% business to Pakistan’s pillion-riding ban

Women wearing facemasks ride on a motorbike in Karachi, Pakistan, on June 8, 2020. Provincial authorities across the country have banned pillion riding amid other measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus. (AFP)
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Updated 27 July 2020
Khurshid Ahmed
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Bike-hailing services losing 90% business to Pakistan’s pillion-riding ban

  • Information ministry says has requested authorities to lift the ban to help ride-hailing businesses resume service
  • The ban has affected around 60 million urban dwellers in major Pakistani cities, says Bykea founder
Updated 27 July 2020
Khurshid Ahmed

KARACHI: Pakistan’s online ride-hailing service providers are losing 90 percent of their business to a ban on pillion riding which remains in place despite the easing of other coronavirus-related restrictions, stakeholders say. 

Provincial authorities across the country have banned motorcycle pillion riding amid other measures taken to prevent the spread of coronavirus, right after the government imposed a countrywide lockdown in March following a spike in infection figures. 

“During lockdowns, our business was completely shut down,” Muneeb Maayr, founder and CEO of Bykea, an Urdu-language bike-hailing and logistics app, told Arab News on Friday.

“The official ban on pillion riding still goes on despite lockdown easing. It has impacted the business up to 80-90 percent.” 

The ride-haling sector’s stakeholders have asked the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC), which oversees Pakistan’s coronavirus response, that the ban be lifted as lockdowns and restrictions on other businesses have already been eased. 

Information Technology Minister Syed Amin ul Haque told Arab News on Thursday that the ministry has written to NCOC to direct provinces to lift the ban.

“This is a provincial matter and we have written a letter to NCOC that the all provinces be directed to lift the ban on pillion riding so that the systems of Bykea and Careem move toward improvement,” the minister said, “I had a meeting with the Bykea chief, they are facing big problems due to the ban in the big cities where they operate.” 

Bykea has a network of over 500,000 drivers, offering services in Rawalpindi, Lahore and Karachi. With the company’s operations downscaled to 10 percent, only delivery services have been entertained by them since the ban. Those who ordered motorbikes to go to commute to work are now forced to travel by taxi or rickshaw, which costs them much more.

“Bike is mode of transportation of middle-class segment of society,” Bykea’s Maayr said, “The ban has impacted around 60 million urban dwellers in major cities of Pakistan.”

Regarding measures to protect customers from the virus, he said a standard procedure should be that they bring their own helmets. “Wearing helmets by both riders would be the safest way of traveling as compared to other modes of transportation like cars and rickshaws.” 

Topics: Pakistan ride hailing Pillion ride ban

Pakistan set to hold rates as Israel-Iran conflict overshadows growth push

Updated 13 June 2025
Reuters
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Pakistan set to hold rates as Israel-Iran conflict overshadows growth push

  • Several brokerages initially expected a cut but revised their forecasts after Israeli strikes sparked fears of a broader conflict
  • Escalating hostilities triggered a sharp spike in oil prices, a worry for Pakistan given the broader impact on imported inflation
Updated 13 June 2025
Reuters

KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank is expected to hold its policy rate on Monday, a Reuters poll showed, as many analysts shifted their previous view of a cut in the wake of Israel’s military strike on Iran, citing inflation risks from rising global commodity prices.

Israel said on Friday it targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders in a “preemptive strike” to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.

Several brokerages had initially expected a cut but revised their forecasts after the Israeli strikes sparked fears of a broader conflict. The escalating hostilities triggered a sharp spike in oil prices — a worry for Pakistan given the broader impact on imported inflation from a potentially prolonged conflict and tightening of crude supplies.

Eleven of 14 respondents in a snap poll expected the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) to leave the benchmark rate unchanged at 12 percent. Two forecast a 100 basis-point cut and one predicted a 50 bps cut.

“There remains an upside risk of a rise in global commodity prices in light of geopolitical tensions which could mark a return to inflationary pressures,” said Ahmad Mobeen, senior economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

“The resultant higher import bill could also threaten external sector performance and bring pressure to the exchange rate.”

Inflation in the South Asian country has been declining for several months after it soared to around 40 percent in May 2023.

Last month, however, inflation picked up to 3.5 percent, above the finance ministry’s projection of up to 2 percent, partly due to the fading of the year-go base effects. The SBP expects average inflation between 5.5 percent and 7.5 percent for the fiscal year ending June.

The central bank paused its easing cycle in March after cumulative cuts of 1,000 basis points from a record high of 22 percent, and resumed it with a 100-basis-point reduction in May.

The policy meeting follows the release a tight annual budget, which saw Pakistan raise defense spending by 20 percent but overall expenditure was reduced by 7 percent, with GDP growth forecast at 4.2 percent.

Pakistan says its $350 billion economy has stabilized under a $7 billion IMF bailout that had helped it staved a default threat.

Some analysts are skeptical of the government’s ability to reach the growth target amid fiscal and external challenges.

Abdul Azeem, head of research at Al Habib Capital Markets, which forecast a 50-bp cut, said a lower rate could “support the GDP target of 4.2 percent and reduce the debt financing burden.”

Topics: Pakistan Iran Ties

Pakistan condemns ‘illegitimate aggression’ as Israel launches widescale strikes on Iran

Updated 54 min 59 sec ago
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Pakistan condemns ‘illegitimate aggression’ as Israel launches widescale strikes on Iran

  • Israel hits nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders in operation to prevent Tehran from building atomic weapon
  • 200 Israeli jets took part in strikes and hit over 100 targets, military spokesman says, Tehran launches 100 drones toward Israel in retaliation
Updated 54 min 59 sec ago
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday condemned what it called Israel’s “unjustified and illegitimate aggression” against Iran after strikes targeted nuclear facilities, ballistic missile factories and military commanders as part of an operation to prevent Tehran from building an atomic weapon.

Israel launched strikes on Iran early Friday, with black smoke rising from around its main nuclear enrichment facility. Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards corps said its top commander, Hossein Salami, was killed and state media reported the unit’s headquarters in Tehran had been hit. Several children had been killed in a strike on a residential area in the capital, it said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Friday there was no increase in radiation levels at the Natanz nuclear site, citing information given by Iranian authorities.

Israeli military spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said 200 Israeli fighter jets took part in the strikes, hitting more than 100 targets in Iran, which had launched about 100 drones toward Israeli territory in retaliation.

“Pakistan strongly condemns the unjustified and illegitimate aggression by Israel against the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement, warning that the escalation posed “a serious threat to regional peace and security.”

The foreign ministry said Israel had violated Iran’s sovereignty and said the attacks were “contrary to the UN Charter and fundamental principles of international law.”

“Iran has the right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter,” the statement added.

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar described the Israeli strikes as a “brazen violation” of Iran’s sovereignty and said they “gravely undermine regional stability and international security.”

“Pakistan stands in solidarity with the government and the people of Iran,” Dar wrote on X.

Dar also said the embassy had set up a 24/7 Crisis Management Unit at the foreign ministry “to ensure safety & security of our nationals / pilgrims in Iran.”

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called on the international community and the United Nations to “take urgent steps to prevent any further escalation that could imperil regional and global peace.”

Israeli military spokesperson Defrin said all air defense systems had been activated in response to Iran’s retaliation and the country expected “difficult hours ahead.”

In Washington, the US administration said it was not involved in the Israeli operation, which raises the risk of a fresh escalation in tensions in the Middle East, a major oil producing region.

“Israel took unilateral action against Iran,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement released by the White House. “Our top priority is protecting American forces in the region.”

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry also condemned the Israeli strikes.

“The Kingdom condemns these heinous attacks and affirms that the international community and the Security Council bear a great responsibility to immediately halt this aggression,” the Saudi statement said.

Airlines cleared out of the airspace over Israel, Iran and Iraq and Jordan on Friday after the Israelis strikes, Flightradar24 data showed, with carriers scrambling to divert and cancel flights to keep passengers and crew safe.

Iran closed its airspace and Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport was closed until further notice.

Israeli military Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir said tens of thousands of soldiers had been called up and “prepared across all borders.”

“We are amidst a historic campaign unlike any other. This is a critical operation to prevent an existential threat, by an enemy who is intent on destroying us,” he said.

With inputs from AP and Reuters​​​​​​​

Topics: Pakistan Iran Ties

Pakistan, other nuclear states together spent $100 billion on weapons in 2024 — report

Updated 13 June 2025
AFP
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Pakistan, other nuclear states together spent $100 billion on weapons in 2024 — report

  • US spent $56.8 billion in 2024, followed by China at $12.5 billion, says International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons
  • ICAN says level of nuclear weapons spending in 2024 by these nine nations could have paid UN budget almost 28 times over
Updated 13 June 2025
AFP

GENEVA: Nuclear-armed states spent more than $100 billion on their atomic arsenals last year, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons said Friday, lamenting the lack of democratic oversight of such spending.

ICAN said Britain, China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States together spent nearly $10 billion more than in 2023.

The United States spent $56.8 billion in 2024, followed by China at $12.5 billion and Britain at $10.4 billion, ICAN said in its flagship annual report.

Geneva-based ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize for its key role in drafting the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which took effect in 2021.

Some 69 countries have ratified it to date, four more have directly acceded to the treaty and another 25 have signed it, although none of the nuclear weapons states have come on board.

This year’s report looked at the costs incurred by the countries that host other states’ nuclear weapons.

It said such costs are largely unknown to citizens and legislators alike, thereby avoiding democratic scrutiny.

Although not officially confirmed, the report said Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkiye were hosting US nuclear weapons, citing experts.

Meanwhile Russia claims it has nuclear weapons stationed in Belarus, but some experts are unsure, it added.

The report said there was “little public information” about the costs associated with hosting US nuclear weapons in NATO European countries, citing the cost of facility security, nuclear-capable aircraft and preparation to use such weapons.

“Each NATO nuclear-sharing arrangement is governed by secret agreements,” the report said.

“It’s an affront to democracy that citizens and lawmakers are not allowed to know that nuclear weapons from other countries are based on their soil or how much of their taxes is being spent on them,” said the report’s co-author Alicia Sanders-Zakre.

Eight countries openly possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, Britain, France, China, India, Pakistan and North Korea.

Israel is widely assumed to have nuclear weapons, although it has never officially acknowledged this.

ICAN said the level of nuclear weapons spending in 2024 by these nine nations could have paid the UN budget almost 28 times over.

“The problem of nuclear weapons is one that can be solved, and doing so means understanding the vested interests fiercely defending the option for nine countries to indiscriminately murder civilians,” said ICAN’s program coordinator Susi Snyder.

The private sector earned at least $42.5 billion from their nuclear weapons contracts in 2024 alone, the report said.

There are at least $463 billion in ongoing nuclear weapons contracts, some of which do not expire for decades, and last year, at least $20 billion in new nuclear weapon contracts were awarded, it added.

“Many of the companies that benefited from this largesse invested heavily in lobbying governments, spending $128 million on those efforts in the United States and France, the two countries for which data is available,” ICAN said.

Standard nuclear doctrine — developed during the Cold War between superpowers the United States and the Soviet Union — is based on the assumption that such weapons will never have to be used because their impact is so devastating, and because nuclear retaliation would probably bring similar destruction on the original attacker.

Pakistan’s Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces to present budgets 2025-26 today

Updated 13 June 2025
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Pakistan’s Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces to present budgets 2025-26 today

  • Pakistan’s federal government announced its budget 2025-26, with total outlay of $62 billion, on Tuesday
  • Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah, who also holds finance portfolio, will present budget at 3:00 pm, says state media
Updated 13 June 2025
NAIMAT KHAN

KARACHI: Pakistan’s Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) provinces will present their annual budgets for the fiscal year 2025-26 today, Friday, in their respective assemblies, state-run media reported.

The development will take place a few days after Pakistan’s central government announced the federal budget for the fiscal year 2025-26 with a total outlay of Rs7.57 trillion ($62 billion). Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb presented the budget in parliament on Tuesday, which allocates Rs2.55 trillion ($9 billion) for defense spending in FY26, compared to Rs2.12 trillion in the fiscal year ending this month.

Pakistan’s provincial governments announce their annual budgets typically a few days after the federal government. KP Minister for Finance Aftab Alam Afridi will present the budget in the KP Assembly at 3:00 pm, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.

“In Sindh, Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, who also holds the portfolio of finance will present the budget in Sindh assembly in Karachi at three in the afternoon,” the report said.

The state media said Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province will announce its budget on Monday.

The federal government announced a significant income tax relief for the salaried class in its budget earlier this week, aiming to ease the burden on people amid high inflation and economic uncertainty. The income tax rate for individuals earning between Rs600,000 and Rs1.2 million ($2,128–$4,255) annually would be cut from 5 percent to 2.5 percent.

“For those earning up to Rs22,000,000 [$7,788], the tax rate has been proposed at 11 percent instead of 15 percent. Similarly, those who earn a higher salary, there is a proposition of tax reduction,” Aurangzeb said.

“For those who are earning between Rs22,000,000 [$7,788] up to Rs32,000,000 [$11,328], the tax rate has been proposed to be reduced from 25 percent to 23 percent,” he added.

For high-income earners making over Rs10 million ($35,460) annually, a 1 percent reduction in the additional surcharge has been recommended to help curb the ongoing brain drain, the minister said.

BUDGET 2025-26 HIGHLIGHTS:

GDP/DEFICIT

* GDP growth projected to be 4.2 percent

* Nominal GDP seen at 129.57 trillion rupees

* Fiscal deficit expected to be 3.9 percent of GDP

* Targets primary surplus of 2.4 percent of GDP

INFLATION

* Targets inflation at 7.5 percent

EXPENDITURE

* Total spending seen at 17.57 trillion rupees

* Defense expenditure of 2.55 trillion rupees targeted

* Interest payments projected at 8.21 trillion rupees

REVENUE

* Total gross revenue of 19.28 trillion rupees targeted

* Targets total tax revenue of 14.1 trillion rupees

* Aiming for net external receipts of 106 billion rupees

($1 = 282.0000 Pakistani rupees)

Topics: Pakistan Budget 2025-26

In a Pakistan valley, a small revolution among women

Updated 13 June 2025
AFP
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In a Pakistan valley, a small revolution among women

  • Woman-led carpentry shop in Hunza Valley has trained around 100 women since 2008, employs 22 people
  • Experts say high literacy rate driving socio-economic progress of women in Hunza compared to rest of Pakistan
Updated 13 June 2025
AFP

KARIMABAD, Pakistan: In a sawdust-filled workshop nestled in the Karakoram Mountains, a team of women carpenters chisel away at cabinets — and forge an unlikely career for themselves in Pakistan.

Women make up just a fraction of Pakistan’s formal workforce. But in a collection of villages sprinkled along the old Silk Road between China and Afghanistan, a group of women-led businesses is defying expectations.

“We have 22 employees and have trained around 100 women,” said Bibi Amina, who launched her carpentry workshop in 2008 at the age of 30.

Hunza Valley’s population of around 50,000, spread across mountains abounding with apricot, cherry, walnut and mulberry orchards, follow the Ismaili branch of Shiite Islam.

Ismailis are led by the Aga Khan, a hereditary position held by a family with Pakistani roots now living in Europe.

The family opened a girls’ school in Hunza in 1946, kickstarting an educational investment that pushed the valley’s literacy rate to 97 percent for both men and women. That rate far outstrips the country average of around 68 percent for men and 52.8 percent for women.

As a result, attitudes have shifted, and women like Amina are taking expanded roles.

“People thought women were there to wash dishes and do laundry,” Amina said of the generation before her.

Trained by the Aga Khan Foundation to help renovate the ancient Altit Fort, Amina later used her skills to start her own business. Her carpenters are currently at work on a commission from a luxury hotel.

Only 23 percent of the women in Pakistan were officially part of the labor force as of 2024, according to data from the World Bank.

In rural areas, women rarely take on formal employment but often toil in the fields to support the family’s farming income.

In a Gallup poll published last year, a third of women respondents said their father or husband forbade them from taking a job, while 43.5 percent said they had given up work to devote themselves to domestic tasks.

Cafe owner Lal Shehzadi spearheaded women’s restaurant entrepreneurship in Hunza.

She opened her cafe at the top of a winding high street to supplement her husband’s small army pension.

Sixteen years later, her simple set-up overlooking the valley has become a popular night-time tourist attraction. She serves visitors traditional cuisine, including yak meat, apricot oil and rich mountain cheese.

“At the start, I used to work alone,” she said. “Now, 11 people work here and most of them are women. And my children are also working here.”

Following in Shehzadi’s footsteps, Safina quit her job to start her own restaurant around a decade ago.

“No one wanted to help me,” she said. Eventually, she convinced family members to sell two cows and a few goats for the money she needed to launch her business.

Now, she earns the equivalent of around $170 a month, more than 15 times her previous income.

The socio-economic progress of women in Hunza compared to other rural areas of Pakistan has been driven by three factors, according to Sultan Madan, the head of the Karakoram Area Development Organization and a local historian.

“The main reason is the very high literacy rate,” he told AFP, largely crediting the Aga Khan Foundation for funding training programs for women.

“Secondly, agriculture was the backbone of the economy in the region, but in Hunza the landholding was meager and that was why women had to work in other sectors.”

Women’s increased economic participation has spilled into other areas of life, like sports fields.

“Every village in the valley has a women’s soccer team: Gojal, Gulmit, Passu, Khyber, Shimsal,” said Nadia Shams, 17.

On a synthetic pitch, she trains with her teammates in jogging pants or shorts, forbidden elsewhere by Pakistan’s dress code.

Here, one name is on everyone’s lips: Malika-e-Noor, the former vice-captain of the national team who scored the winning penalty against the Maldives in the 2010 South Asian Women’s Football Championship.

Fahima Qayyum was six years old when she witnessed the killer kick.

Today, after several international matches, she is recruiting the next generation.

“As a girl, I stress to others the importance of playing, as sport is very good for health,” she told AFP.

“If they play well, they can also get scholarships.”

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