ISLAMABAD: Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev has called for joint ventures with Pakistan in the defense, energy, economy, logistics and transport sectors to expand Baku’s strategic partnership with Islamabad, state media reported on Sunday. 

Aliyev wrote a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday on the occasion of Pakistan’s 85th Republic Day. 

The letter comes weeks after Sharif visited Baku and announced that the two nations would sign deals in April to boost bilateral investments to $2 billion. Multiple agreements for cooperation in the trade, energy, tourism, education and other sectors were signed during the visit. 

In September last year, Azerbaijan bought JF-17 Block III fighter jets from Pakistan, reportedly in a $1.6bn deal.

During Aliyev’s Pakistan visit last year, a joint committee was set up to materialize projects in trade, commerce, information technology, tourism, telecommunication, mineral resources and other sectors. Sharif said at the time the current trade volume of $100 million did not reflect the “true” trade potential between the two countries.

“In a letter to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he [Aliyev] expressed his determination to further expand the strategic partnership and mutual cooperation between Pakistan and Azerbaijan,” Radio Pakistan reported. 

“Aliyev emphasized that successful joint efforts in areas such as the economy, transport, logistics, energy, investment, and the defense industry are crucial for strengthening bilateral relations.”

Cash-strapped Pakistan is currently under a $7 billion International Monetary Fund bailout program and navigating a tricky path to recovery. Pakistan is looking to generate revenue through investment deals with friendly nations and regional and international allies, and to focus on export-led growth. 

In 2023, Pakistan set up the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), a civil-military hybrid body, to fast-track foreign investment deals. 

The country has teetered on the brink of economic crisis for several years and economists and international financial institutions have called for major economic reforms.

QUETTA: Pakistan on Sunday charged a Baloch rights activist with terrorism, sedition and murder after she led a demonstration which ended in the death of three protesters, according to police documents.

Mahrang Baloch, one of Pakistan’s most prominent human rights advocates, has long campaigned for the Baloch ethnic group, which claims it has been targeted by Islamabad with harassment and extrajudicial killings.

Pakistan’s military and the central government in Islamabad strongly refute her allegations. 

Pakistan has been battling a separatist insurgency in Balochistan for decades, where militants target state forces and foreign nationals in the mineral-rich southwestern province bordering Afghanistan and Iran.

On Friday, she and other activists took part in a sit-in protest outside the University of Balochistan in the provincial capital of Quetta.

They demanded the release of members of their support group, whom they allege had been detained by security agencies.

Police launched a pre-dawn raid on Saturday, arresting Baloch and other activists, during which at least three protesters died. Both sides blamed each other for the deaths.

Mary Lawlor, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, said she was “very concerned” at Baloch’s arrest.

Baloch and other protesters have been charged with terrorism, sedition and murder, according to the police charge sheet seen by AFP.

Hamza Shafqaat, a senior administrative official in Quetta, said that Baloch and other activists were held under public order laws.

Her lawyer, Imran Baloch, confirmed she was detained in a jail in Quetta.

Baloch was barred from traveling to the United States last year to attend a TIME magazine awards gala of “rising leaders.”

Protests among the Baloch are often led by women. Baloch, now in her 30s, began her activist career aged 16 when her father went missing in what his supporters said was an alleged “enforced disappearance.” His body was found two years later.

Earlier in March, the separatist Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) — which accuses outsiders of plundering the province’s natural resources — launched a dramatic train siege that officials said ended in around 60 deaths, half of whom were separatists behind the assault.