ISLAMABAD: Militants have stepped up attacks on security forces in northwest Pakistan raising fears of a revival of their insurgency and a return of lawlessness as brighter prospects for peace in Afghanistan herald shifting Islamist alliances.
The ethnic Pashtun border region was for years a haven for militants who fled the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. But the Pakistani military cleared out the strongholds in a 2014 offensive, driving most of the fighters into Afghanistan.
But since March, Al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani Taliban, facing the risk of losing havens on the Afghan side of the border if their Afghan Taliban allies make peace there, have unleashed a wave of attacks on the Pakistani security forces.
Bolstering their bid to re-establish themselves in the border lands, the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), struck an alliance in July with half a dozen small militant factions.
“The group’s capability and military strength has increased, as has their reach,” said Mansur Khan Mahsud, executive director of the Islamabad-based FATA Research Center.
September has seen near daily incidents, from roadside bombs to sniper attacks, to ambushes and the killing of residents accused of collaborating with government forces.
The militants have killed at least 40 soldiers since March, according to a Reuters tally of official figures.
At least 109 people were killed in 67 attacks between January and July — twice the number in 2019, according to the FATA Research Center.
“TTP’s regrouping is concerning both because of its own activities and its links to groups like Al-Qaeda,” said Elizabeth Threlkeld, a former State Department official who served in Pakistan, now deputy-director for the South Asia program at the Washington-based Stimson Center.
“It could again provide significant support to international terror groups if it continues to regain ground.”
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCE
Militant violence surged in Pakistan after it was pressed to sign on to the US-led war on terror after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, even though it had for years supported the Afghan Taliban.
Soon the Pakistani government found itself under attack from home-grown Taliban but the military succeeded in pushing them out of the region, known as the tribal areas, in 2014, forcing the Pakistani Taliban into Afghanistan.
Millions of residents were displaced by the fighting but since then, militant violence in Pakistan has largely ceased.
But now fears are growing that the surge of Pakistani Taliban violence is an unintended consequence of efforts to make peace in Afghanistan.
In February, the Afghan Taliban and the United States struck a deal allowing for the withdrawal of US forces in exchange for Afghan Taliban guarantees they would not harbor other militants.
The United Nations said in a report in July there were more than 6,000 Pakistani fighters in Afghanistan, most affiliated with the TTP, who could be heading home if they lose their refuge.
“It’s a concern for everyone,” a Western security official based in Pakistan told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Pakistan’s military did not respond to a request for comment on the violence but its spokesman said on Twitter recently that the attacks were “meant to derail (the) Afghanistan Peace Process.”
For those living in the area, insecurity is again becoming a daily worry.
The TTP issued a statement this week telling residents to leave “until peace returns”.
“Our war against Pakistan is continuing and you will continue to see daily attacks,” the militants said.
Attacks surge in northwest Pakistan as Afghan peace effort brings shifting sands
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Attacks surge in northwest Pakistan as Afghan peace effort brings shifting sands
- Militants have killed at least 40 Pakistani soldiers since March, according to a Reuters tally of official figures
- Bolstering their bid to re-establish themselves in Pakistan’s border lands, Pakistani Taliban have struck an alliance with half a dozen small militant factions
Etihad Airways announces new Peshawar route, expanding Pakistan network
- Five weekly flights to Peshawar will launch in September, increasing to daily service from November
- Peshawar will become Etihad’s fourth gateway to Pakistan and its sixteenth new destination in 2025
ISLAMABAD: Etihad Airways said this week it would launch a new route to Pakistan’s northwestern Peshawar city in September as part of a broader expansion of its global network.
The route will link Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport with Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar starting September 29.
Etihad, the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates, already operates flights to Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, making Peshawar its fourth nonstop destination in Pakistan.
“We are thrilled to further expand our presence in Pakistan with the launch of our daily service between Abu Dhabi and Peshawar,” Antonoaldo Neves, the airline’s chief executive officer, said.
“This new route reflects our commitment to providing vital connectivity for travelers between Pakistan and the Gulf, Africa, Europe and North America,” he added.
Etihad will initially operate the route five times a week using Airbus A320 family aircraft, with daily service beginning November 22. The aircraft will feature eight Business Class and 150 Economy Class seats.
The announcement comes amid a busy year for the airline, which has added 16 new destinations in 2025, including Prague, Warsaw, Algiers, Tunis, Atlanta and Addis Ababa.
Etihad is also boosting frequency to Karachi to 17 flights a week starting October 1 and expanding service to major European cities such as Paris, Milan and Frankfurt.
Passengers traveling through Abu Dhabi will also have access to the airline’s Stopover program, offering up to two complimentary nights at premium hotels in the UAE capital.
Pakistan eyes fan exports to Gulf, Africa in push to boost economy
- Muhammad Aurangzeb calls for enhanced productivity to compete in global markets
- Pakistan’s exports rose 8 percent to $24.7 billion in the current fiscal year through March
KARACHI: Pakistan’s Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb on Friday hinted at the export of locally produced electric fans with new and improved technology to Gulf and African countries, saying it could potentially boost the country’s export economy.
Pakistan’s fan industry is primarily concentrated in the Punjab cities of Gujranwala and Gujrat, both of which play a key role in domestic production through numerous small and medium enterprises. The country’s leading brands in the sector are all based in these two urban centers, supplying products nationwide.
The finance minister’s statement comes as Pakistan looks to diversify its export base and reduce reliance on traditional sectors like textiles. With energy-efficient appliances such as fans in growing demand globally, particularly in warmer regions like the Gulf and Africa, the government is exploring ways to modernize local manufacturing and align with international standards to reinvigorate industrial output and foreign exchange earnings.
“We are looking forward for these products to not only be used in Pakistan but also have a very good market share in the exports market going forward,” Aurangzeb said while speaking on the sidelines of the “Made in Gujranwala Exhibition” at a local hotel in Islamabad.
“Our efforts now should be to take it to the exports level if we have this much productivity and it is internationally competitiveness as well,” he continued, adding it was important to figure out “how we have to take this initiative ahead to move old fans and the new technology forward.”
According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan’s exports rose by 11 percent to $30.7 billion in the last fiscal year ending June 2024. As of March this year, the country has exported $24.7 billion worth of goods, marking an eight percent increase compared to the same period a year earlier.
Aurangzeb said African and Gulf markets were ideal for the export of Pakistani products.
“We have to move toward an export-led growth,” he noted, assuring businesses of the full support of the finance ministry. “Every single sector in this country has to export.”
The government is working to revive Pakistan’s economy with the help of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF’s executive board is expected to approve a $1 billion tranche for Pakistan under its new loan program in the coming weeks.
Pakistan, Belarus sign MoUs for cooperation in defense, commerce, environment sectors
- PM Sharif is on official visit to Republic of Belarus, holds talks with President Aleksandr Lukashenko
- Corresponding with Sharif’s arrival, second Pakistan-Belarus Business Forum held on Thursday in Minsk
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Belarus on Friday signed a series of agreements and memorandums of understanding (MoUs) aimed at enhancing cooperation across sectors such as defense, commerce and environmental protection, state-run APP news agency said.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is on an official visit to the Republic of Belarus during which he held talks with President Aleksandr Lukashenko on Friday to review progress on bilateral cooperation. Delegation-level talks were also held between the two sides encompassing discussions on bilateral cooperation as well as regional and international issues.
Over the past six months, a series of high-level bilateral engagements, including the 8th Session of the Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) in February 2025 and a subsequent visit by a high-powered mixed ministerial delegation to Belarus in April 2025, have laid the groundwork for Sharif’s visit.
“The governments of Pakistan and Belarus signed a Readmission Agreement as well as an Agreement on Cooperation between the interior ministries of two countries,” APP said, saying another agreement was signed on cooperation between the defense ministries of the two countries.
“The two sides signed a Program (Roadmap) of the Military-Technical Cooperation between the State Authority for Military Industry of the Republic of Belarus and the Ministry of Defense Production for 2025-2027,” APP added.
“Bilateral accords were also signed for cooperation on environmental protection, postal services, business support, trade development and cooperation between trade bodies.”
Pakistan has moved in recent months to increase trade and economic cooperation with landlocked Central Asian republics and other states, hoping to leverage its strategic position as a key trade and transit hub to connect these nations to the global market, while earning much-needed foreign exchange.
Speaking at a ceremony during his visit, Sharif said Belarus was very strong in manufacturing of equipment used in mining, emphasising a closer collaboration between the two countries.
“I think there is no reason why we shouldn’t benefit from your experience because Pakistan, by the grace of God, has mineral deposits to the tune of trillions of dollars,” he said.
The prime minister maintained an air link between the two state could prove pivotal in further strengthening their partnership. He also thanked President Aleksandr Lukashenko for allowing nearly 150,000 young, highly skilled Pakistan laborers to contribute in nation building efforts in Belarus.
Sharif also spoke of strengthening Pakistan’s agriculture sector with mutual cooperation, saying 65 percent of the country’s population lived in rural areas.
“We need your expertise,” he said. “We need to have joint ventures between Belarus and Pakistani companies to manufacture agricultural equipment in Pakistan so we can offer to the farmers at very economical rates, both companies from Belarus and Pakistan, they will have win-win situation.”
Pakistan-Belarus Business Forum
Corresponding with Sharif’s arrival, the second Pakistan-Belarus Business Forum was held on Thursday in Minsk, marking a “significant step toward strengthening bilateral trade and economic cooperation between the two countries,” state-owned Pakistan Television reported.
Senior government officials, business leaders and other key stakeholders from both nations attended.
In recent years, the volume of trade between Belarus and Pakistan has ranged between $50 to 65 million annually, according to foreign office data.
“Our presence here is part of a journey that reflects the evolving and deepening partnership between our two countries,” Pakistani Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan said as he addressed the forum.
He said the eighth session of the Pakistan-Belarus Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC), held earlier this year in Minsk, had opened “new avenues of cooperation” in sectors such as trade, agriculture, education, technology, and pharmaceuticals, emphasizing that both governments were committed to removing trade barriers and promoting involvement of the private sector.
Discussing potential trade opportunities, Khan identified key areas for joint ventures including textile machinery, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, renewable energy, information technology, and e-commerce.
He also announced recent cooperation agreement between the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and the Belarusian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BelCCI), describing it as an active platform for trade promotion and partnership development.
Khan invited Belarusian investors to explore opportunities in Pakistan’s Special Economic Zones, saying they offered attractive incentives and access to markets of over three billion people. He also noted the recent reduction in Pakistan’s energy tariffs as an additional facilitative measure for investment.
“Today’s forum is not just a ceremonial gathering but a practical advancement. We are witnessing the signing of a cooperation agreement between TDAP and BelCCI that will provide an institutional foundation. This includes participation in trade exhibitions, B2B events, exchange of market intelligence, and facilitation of sector-specific delegations,” Chief Executive of the Trade Development Authority, Faiz Ahmed, said in his address at the business forum.
“This formal collaboration will ensure that the momentum created today translates into tangible outcomes in the coming months.”
Month after Pakistan train hijacking, survivor recalls horror of militant siege
- Separatists’ hijacking of train in Pakistan’s southwestern mountains last month killed 31 soldiers, staff and civilians
- Over 300 hostages rescued after over day-long clearance operation in remote mountain pass in Balochistan province
QUETTA: On Mar. 11, as the dawn light began to cast a soft golden glow over the sky, railways employee Assad Ali finished his suhoor morning meal and left for work as his family slept at their home in Quetta, the provincial capital of Pakistan’s remote southwestern province of Balochistan.
An examiner in the Railway Train Lighting (RTL) department for the last 18 years, Ali, 40, arrived at the washing line, an area designated at the Quetta Railway Station for the maintenance and cleaning of passenger trains. He checked and okayed the electricity supply and fan and air conditioners of the Quetta-Peshawar bound Jaffar Express and then returned home to check on his ailing parents before leaving once more for the station to board a train as it departed at 9am.
It was meant to be just another day in Ali’s life, who regularly undertook the 1,600km journey on the Jaffar Express from Quetta to Peshawar in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. But fate had other plans. Four hours into the trip, separatist militants took over the train as it crossed a remote mountain pass, blowing up the tracks and then holding passengers hostage in an over day-long standoff. There were 425 people on board, including personnel from the Pakistani army and other security forces who were traveling on leave.
“First we heard a powerful blast that hit the engine and intense gun firing started at 12:55 in the afternoon,” Ali told Arab News, identifying the location as being five kilometers from the Paneer Railway Station in an area covered with rugged mountains with no road infrastructure or mobile telephone communication.
“The explosion happened inches away from me,” Ali, who was traveling with other railway employees in the last compartment of the Jaffar Express’s 10 carriages, recalled. “I saw one of my colleagues bleeding and dying in front of my eyes.”
Ali said around two hours after the siege began, attackers locked him and others inside a train compartment where he spent the next 28 hours “with the fear of certain death every second.”
The third among his five siblings and the father of three children, Ali spent those hours in prayer and remembrance of his family.
“We heard horrific sounds of blasts and firing sporadically during those hours,” he said. “I was reciting prayers and thinking, ‘the bullet will hit me now, the bullet will hit me now’.”
It was the 10th day of the holy month of Ramadan, Ali recalled, and he broke his fast in the train, while locked in the compartment, with some candies that he found in his pocket. The siege continued into the night and the time for the next suhoor meal arrived. He began his fast without eating anything.
“WE HAD SURVIVED“
The hijacking was immediately claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA)’s Majeed Brigade, one of the most prominent ethnic Baloch separatist groups fighting for independence for Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan and has been the site of a low-level insurgency for decades.
Baloch separatist groups accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources including gas, copper and gold, benefitting the country’s eastern Punjab and southern Sindh provinces.
Pakistani governments have variously denied the allegations, saying they are injecting funds into the infrastructure and economic development of the impoverished province.
Nearly two days after the siege began, the Pakistan Army said the Special Service Group (SSG) Commandos had completed a clearance operation, killing 33 militants. The death toll was 31 soldiers, staff and civilians, the military said.
Ali was among the last group in the train rescued by Pakistani security forces on the evening of Mar. 12 and moved back to Quetta.
“It was around 4 p.m. the next day when I heard passengers’ voices, I saw through the train window that passengers were running outside,” Ali said. “That moment gave me the sense that we had survived.”
Far away in Quetta, his family had gone through their own hell as they waited for news about the rescue operation and prayed for their son to return home alive.
“When I saw Assad at the Quetta Railway Station, we didn’t express our feelings with our tongues but with our eyes,” Muhammad Amir Refique, Ali’s cousin, told Arab News.
“Our minds and hearts were stuck on the assumption that Assad had been killed, but when you see that person alive, you can’t describe those feelings in words.”
One month after the siege, Ali has not been able to board a running train again though he has resumed his duties at the Quetta Railway Station.
“I am still in that mental trauma and not able to carry out my duties in a running train,” he said.
“People were martyred right in front of us, before our eyes, so, of course, there is fear in my heart. Now even when someone knocks on the door or someone comes from outside, in the mind it feels like the sound of a bullet.”
Pakistan army says ‘high value’ militant among two killed in northwest operation
- Army conducts frequent operations against militants it claims launch attacks from safe havens in Afghanistan
- Militants have intensified attacks on army and its bases since breaking ceasefire with government in late 2022
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army said on Friday a “high-value target” was among two militants killed in an intelligence-based operation in the Lower Dir district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
In recent months, the military has launched frequent operations in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan. The army’s target in the area are militants it says launch attacks inside Pakistan and against the army using safe havens in Afghanistan, a charge Kabul denies.
Groups like the Pakistani Taliban, commonly known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), have been waging a war against the Pakistani state for nearly two decades in a bid to overthrow the government and replace it with what they consider an Islamic system of governance.
“During the conduct of operation, own troops surrounded and effectively engaged the khwarij (terrorist) location and after an intense fire exchange, two khwarij including high value target Kharji Hafeezullah alias Kochwan were sent to hell,” the military said of the latest operation.
The army said Hafeezullah was involved in numerous militant activities targeting security forces and civilians and was wanted by law enforcement agencies, with a $35,714 (Rs10 million) bounty placed on his head by the government.
Earlier this week, the army said it had killed another “highly wanted” militant among nine others also in an intelligence-based operation in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Militants have intensified their attacks since revoking a ceasefire with the government in late 2022, with recent months witnessing significant strikes targeting the military and its bases.
