ISLAMABAD: The Chinese foreign ministry said on Sunday it would provide Pakistan a “batch” of coronavirus vaccines as “aid” and had directed Chinese companies to speed up the export of doses to Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said on Thursday China had agreed to provide half a million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine free of cost to Pakistan by January 31.
“In order to support our brothers and sisters in Pakistan, the Chinese government has decided to provide a batch of vaccines as aid and will actively coordinate with the relevant Chinese enterprise to speed up export of vaccines to Pakistan,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying said at a media briefing, adding that Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi had informed Pakistan’s foreign minister of the decision of the Chinese government.
“They have said send your aircraft and airlift this vaccine immediately. So this is a happy bit of news for us, and we will hopefully be successful in protecting ourselves using this vaccine,” Pakistan’s Qureshi had said at a press conference in Islamabad.
Pakistani regulators approved the Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use last Monday, two days after AstraZeneca’s vaccine developed with Oxford University was also approved.
“I thanked them and also told them we need more than this, and in the future we will need 1.1 million doses, and they reassured us and said by the end of February we plan to meet this requirement for you as well,” Qureshi added.
Qureshi said he had also raised the possibility of jointly manufacturing vaccines with China.
China confirms will provide Pakistan a ‘batch’ of coronavirus vaccines as ‘aid’
https://arab.news/jg2nr
China confirms will provide Pakistan a ‘batch’ of coronavirus vaccines as ‘aid’
- Pakistan said last week China would provide half a million doses of Sinopharm vaccine free of cost by January 31
- Pakistan has also raised the possibility of jointly manufacturing vaccines with China
Pakistan, India exchange list of nuclear installations and facilities
- India and Pakistan are signatories to an agreement that bars them from attacking each other’s nuclear facilities
- Pakistan hands over list of nuclear facilities to Indian High Commission representative in Islamabad, says state media
ISLAMABAD: India and Pakistan exchanged lists of their nuclear assets on Wednesday as part of a bilateral pact that prohibits them from attacking each other’s nuclear facilities, state-run media reported.
The ‘Agreement on Prohibition of Attacks against Nuclear Installations and Facilities’ between the two countries was signed in December 1988. It requires that both sides inform each other of their nuclear installations and facilities on Jan. 1 each year. The two countries have been exchanging the lists since 1992.
“Accordingly, the list of nuclear installations and facilities in Pakistan was officially handed over to a representative of the Indian High Commission in Islamabad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
Accordingly, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs handed over the list of India’s nuclear installations and facilities to a representative of the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought two of three wars after independence from British rule in 1947 over the disputed former princely state of Kashmir. The first war was fought in 1947, the second in 1965, and a third, largely over what became Bangladesh, in 1971.
Both countries claim the disputed territory in full but control only parts of it. Tensions between the two countries escalated last month when India’s top court upheld a 2019 decision by New Delhi to scrap Indian-administered Kashmir’s special status.
India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974, with Pakistan carrying out its first test in 1988.
Pakistan’s annual inflation slowed to 4.1% in December
- Annual inflation already slowed to 4.9% in November, largely due to high base a year earlier
- Inflation slowed due to stable currency, lower global commodity prices, says financial analyst
KARACHI: Pakistan’s consumer inflation rate slowed to 4.1% year on year in December, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday, the lowest in more than 6-1/2 years.
The South Asian country is navigating a challenging economic recovery path buttressed by a $7 billion facility from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) granted in September.
Consumer prices in December rose 0.1% from the month before, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics.
In its monthly report released last week, the finance ministry said that the annual inflation rate was expected to hold in the range of 4-5% in the final month of the year.
Annual inflation had already slowed to 4.9% in November, largely due to a high base a year earlier, coming in below the government’s forecast and significantly lower than a multi-decade high of around 40 percent in May 2023.
“Inflation has come down on the back of stable currency, lower global commodity prices and improved supply chain,” said Samiullah Tariq, head of research and development at Pak Kuwait Investment Company.
Pakistan’s central bank previously targeted 5-7% inflation in the medium term but its head has said the level is now in sight within the next 12 months.
The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) cut its key policy rate by 200 basis points to 13% in December, the fifth straight reduction since June, to bring cumulative rate cuts for 2024 to 900 basis points and making it one of the most aggressive emerging market central banks in the current easing cycle.
Inflation during the first half of the current fiscal year to end-June 2025 has averaged 7.22% compared to 28.79% in the year-earlier period.
Pakistan hikes petrol and diesel prices by up to Rs2.96 per liter
- Government fixes fuel prices every fortnight to account for market fluctuations, dollar-rupee parity
- After the latest revision, petrol will now sell for Rs252.66 while diesel will cost Rs258.34 per liter
ISLAMABAD: The government has increased the price of petrol and high-speed diesel by Rs0.56 and Rs2.96 per liter, respectively, according to the finance ministry on Tuesday.
Fuel prices are fixed on a fortnightly basis by in Pakistan, which adjusts them after evaluating changes in the global energy market and considering rupee-dollar parity. This allows the government to pass on the net effect to consumers to finance the country’s fuel imports.
“The Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority has worked out the consumer prices of petroleum products in view of the fluctuations in the international market in the last fortnight,” the finance ministry said in a notification.
“It has accordingly revised the prices of the petroleum products for the next fortnight starting from Jan. 1, 2025,” it added.
After the latest revision, a liter of petrol will cost Rs252.66, while high-speed diesel will sell for Rs258.34 per liter.
Petrol is mostly used in Pakistan for private transport, small vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers. At the same time, any increase in the price of diesel is considered highly inflationary, as it is mostly used to power heavy transport vehicles and particularly increases the prices of vegetables and other eatables.
On Dec. 15, Pakistan reduced the price of high-speed diesel by Rs3 per liter but kept the price of petrol unchanged.
Earlier, on Dec. 1, the price of petrol was increased by Rs3.72 per liter due to varying petroleum product prices in the international market.
Fuel prices in energy-starved Pakistan are instrumental in contributing to inflation. The South Asian country saw inflation hit a record high of 38 percent in May 2023.
Pakistan’s annual consumer inflation slowed to 4.9 percent in November, cooling from 7.2 percent in October.
Pakistani village, birthplace of late Indian PM Manmohan Singh, mourns his death
- Singh, who passed away on December 26, was born in the village of Gah in 1932
- Villagers invite Singh’s family to visit, saying they will find ‘a home away for home’
ISLAMABAD: A village in Pakistan’s populous Punjab province, the birthplace of former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, mourned his passing during a vigil held on Tuesday, according to Reuters, following his death last week.
Gah village, located about 100 kilometers southwest of Islamabad in Pakistan’s Chakwal district, was Singh’s hometown, where he was born on Sept. 26, 1932.
Singh, an economist and the first Sikh to serve as India’s prime minister, passed away on Dec. 26 at the age of 92. His family migrated to India after the partition in 1947. The late Indian prime minister’s father, Gurmukh Singh, was a cloth merchant, and his mother, Amrat Kaur, a homemaker.
Despite his humble beginnings, Singh studied at Oxford and Cambridge, earning recognition as a scholar before spearheading economic reforms that lifted India out of a financial crisis in the early 1990s.
“When he [Manmohan Singh] became [India's] prime minister, the whole village erupted with joy and celebrated,” said Malik Haq Nawaz Awan, a resident of Gah, speaking in Punjabi. “In the same way, there was an environment of sorrow [over his passing]. Everyone was sad.”
The local school, where Singh received his early education, holds a special place in the village. The late Indian premier’s roll number was 187, and his admission date, April 17, 1937, is still recorded in the school register.
Villagers credit the school’s renovation and the development of their settlement to Singh’s success. His rise to prominence in the neighboring country made the people of Gah proud, and his death has left a profound void.
“I belong to this village as well, and the proudest thing for me is that Singh was my father’s classmate,” said Altaf Hussain, head of the Government Primary School in Gah. “When I went to school, I’d see his name in the records. Every time I saw ‘Manmohan Singh’ in our school records, I felt happy and proud knowing that a child from our small village, who studied on the ground, became India’s prime minister and managed its economy.”
Another villager, 65-year-old Raja Abdul Khaliq, recalled inviting Singh to visit the village, though the Indian premier could not make the trip.
“His family remains, and we invite them to visit us,” he said. “Whenever they come, they’ll find in this village a home away from home. We’ll welcome them with open arms, and our hospitality will be etched in history all thanks to him because of the debt of gratitude our village owes him.”
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has faced criticism in Indian media for not condoling Singh’s death. However, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar expressed grief over Singh’s passing, praising his leadership for prioritizing dialogue and mutual understanding to address regional issues, which improved ties between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
In 2019, Pakistan’s former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi invited Singh to attend the opening ceremony of the Kartarpur Corridor, but he was unable to join. In 2012, President Asif Ali Zardari and Singh met in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg, describing their meeting as friendly and constructive.
Relations between the two countries have been fraught for years, with visits by senior officials to each other’s nations remaining rare. The two neighbors have fought three wars, two of them over the Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.
Deputy PM labels Gaza war UN’s ‘crisis of credibility’ as Pakistan joins Security Council
- Ishaq Dar highlights global challenges in an address to envoys after Pakistan gets two-year UNSC term
- Deputy PM calls for multilateralism, vows to bridge international divides by working with other nations
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Wednesday described the ongoing war in Palestine as a “crisis of credibility” for the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), highlighting foreign occupations depriving people of the right to self-determination, as the country begins its two-year term as a non-permanent member of the council.
Elected in June 2024 with overwhelming support, Pakistan secured 182 votes in the 193-member General Assembly, marking its eighth term on the UNSC.
The council is the most powerful chamber of the global body, comprising five permanent members with veto power and 10 non-permanent members elected for two-year terms. While non-permanent members cannot veto resolution, they play a crucial role in decision-making and contribute significantly to the council’s functioning.
Addressing a group of envoys in Islamabad, Dar expressed gratitude for the international community’s confidence in Pakistan’s role on the council, pledging to collaborate with other states to uphold the UN Charter and bridge international divides amid pressing global challenges.
“Pakistan is beginning to pursue its role in the UN Security Council at a time when we are confronted with many unprecedented challenges,” he said. “Situations of conflict and continued foreign occupation defy the promise of the United Nations to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war and guarantee self-determination.”
“Longstanding unresolved disputes from Jammu and Kashmir to Palestine continue to simmer,” he added. “The ongoing situation in Gaza, including the blatant war crimes and acts of genocide being committed against the innocent Palestinians, represents a crisis of credibility for the United Nations Security Council.”
The deputy premier also highlighted the breakdown of arms control regimes, escalating arms races and the rise of intolerance and extremist ideologies as critical global concerns.
“Today, as we stand at a critical juncture, we remain ready to contribute meaningfully to the council’s work, drawing on our rich legacy and faith in multilateral diplomacy,” he said. “We look forward to playing a constructive role in bridging existing divides, fostering consensus and upholding the council’s mandate in accordance with the UN Charter.”
Outlining Pakistan’s priorities for its UNSC term, he reiterated a firm commitment to the world body’s charter.
“We will remain committed to pursuing just and peaceful resolution of outstanding and ongoing disputes, opposing the resort to unilateral and illegal use or threat of use of force, combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, supporting effective UN peacekeeping, peace enforcement and peacebuilding efforts, and contributing effectively toward the resolution of regional and global crises.”
