KARACHI: Pakistan’s state-owned insurance company plans to create more than 500,000 jobs at home and abroad under its new marketing structure and Gulf operation plan, its top management said on Sunday.
According to industry stakeholders, the insurance penetration rate in Pakistan amounts to 0.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is much below the international average of 3.5 percent.
Given the country’s overall economy, experts say this rate should be somewhere around seven percent.
“Under the five-year plan, we intend to recruit 500,000 educated, unemployed youths in Pakistan by offering them various incentives under the new recruitment policy to enhance the insurance penetration rate,” Khalid Mahmood Shahid, divisional head of marketing at the State Life Insurance Company, told Arab News.
“Under the new policy, recruitment will start immediately and 50,000 people will be hired within the next four months,” he continued. “This number will be gradually increased to 100,000 and the target of 500,000 will be achieved in the next five years.”
The company, the only state-owned entity in the life insurance industry in the country, covers over half a million Pakistani workers in places like Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other Gulf countries.
Its management is also keen to enhance coverage of overseas Pakistanis by setting up new offices in the Middle East.
“We are going to revive our Gulf operations and establish new centers in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain under the expansion plan,” Shahid continued. “The same recruitment policy will be adopted in the Gulf region with the hiring of about 3,500 people from the next month.”
He said that his company wanted to increase its focus on Takaful-base insurance for the nationals of the Gulf region.
“We are targeting to increase our business in the region by more than 100 percent and offer job opportunities to those rendered unemployed in the region,” he added.
Other officials at the insurance company said the new strategic direction of the organization had been determined after considerable research.
“We have done extensive market research and are confident that our compensation plans remain highly competitive and attractive to our current, as well as, future agents,” Shoaib Javed Hussain, chairman and chief executive officer of the company, said in a statement on Saturday.
According to the Pakistan Credit Rating Agency (PACRA), the life insurance industry’s market size in the country with respect to the Gross Premiums Written (GPW) was about Rs291 billion in 2021 which was up by 25 percent on an annual basis.
The life insurance sector in Pakistan has a total of nine operational companies out of which the only public sector company, the State Life Insurance, possesses a sizeable share of about 61 percent.
The private sector players with Window Takaful Operations, two are dedicated to family Takaful while six operate as conventional insurance companies.
PACRA says the industry can create a bigger market for itself by introducing shariah-compliant products.
Pakistan’s state-owned insurance company aims to recruit 500,000 people, strengthen Gulf operations
https://arab.news/bg26n
Pakistan’s state-owned insurance company aims to recruit 500,000 people, strengthen Gulf operations
- State Life Insurance Company plans to set up business centers in the Middle East and hire 3,500 people in the region
- The company hopes to increase insurance penetration rate in Pakistan by offering better incentives under its new policy
Pakistan stresses increasing defense, agriculture and economic cooperation with Italy
- Pakistan, Italian delegations hold sixth round of Bilateral Political Consultations in Rome
- Both sides appreciate “similarity of views” on regional, international issues, says state media
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign secretary stressed increasing bilateral cooperation with Italy in defense, agriculture, and economic sectors, state-run media reported this week, as the South Asian country eyes increased foreign trade and investment with other nations.
Pakistan has always aimed to enhance its ties with European Union (EU) countries. The EU is Pakistan’s second most important trading partner, accounting for over 14 percent of Pakistan’s total trade and absorbing 28 percent of Pakistan’s total exports.
The sixth round of Pakistan-Italy Bilateral Political Consultations (BPC) convened in Rome on Saturday, in which both sides expressed satisfaction at the “positive trajectory” of bilateral relations, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan (APP) reported.
“Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch while highlighting the growing trade relations between the two countries underscored the immense potential to further expand cooperation in the areas of economy, development, agriculture, defense, higher education and people-to-people contacts,” APP said.
Italian foreign ministry’s Secretary General Ricardo Guariglia led the talks from the Italian side, state media said.
“Both sides appreciated the similarity of views on a number of international and regional issues as well as close coordination in the UN,” the report said.
The two representatives agreed to convene the seventh session of the dialogue next year in Pakistan, APP said.
Pakistan has increasingly eyed foreign trade and investment from friendly countries and regional partners ever since it came to the brink of a sovereign default in 2023, before it was saved by a last-gasp bailout deal that it clinched with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The South Asian country has since then attempted to undertake long-term financial reforms, increasing its exports and attracting foreign investments from other countries to ensure sustainable growth.
It formed the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to attract international investment in agriculture, energy, livestock, tourism, mining and minerals and other priority sectors.
Pakistan begins Ramadan 2025 after Taraweeh prayers, suhoor meals
- Taraweeh is a non-obligatory night prayer offered across mosques worldwide during holy month of Ramadan
- Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country where more than 90% of its over 240 million people practice Islam
ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis offered special Taraweeh prayers late last night and consumed pre-dawn suhoor meals across the nation, marking the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan from today, Sunday.
Ramadan, the exact start date of which depends on the sighting of the new moon, began in Pakistan on Sunday, the first day of fasting, and a day after it started in most other parts of the world.
Fasting in Ramadan, the ninth and the holiest month in the Islamic calendar, is one of the five pillars of Islam and this is the time of the year when religious fervor is rekindled throughout the Muslim world.
One of the significant features of Ramadan each year is the Taraweeh prayer, a non-obligatory night prayer during the holy month. Thousands across the country offered the Taraweeh prayers in well-lit mosques on Saturday night.
“Today is the first day of Taraweeh,” Nadeem Aftab, a resident of Karachi, told Reuters on Saturday night. “We have to keep up this prayer the whole month with enthusiasm and should also invite others to this prayer every day.”
Others were busy buying items for the first suhoor meal or pre-dawn meal Muslims consume ahead of fasting.
Javed Ali Baloch was among several customers at a shop buying “pheni,” or fried vermicelli for suhoor.
“I am here to buy pheni, which is only available during Ramadan for suhoor, and people love to eat it,” he said. “I buy it for my family.”
Pakistan is a predominantly Muslim country where more than 90% of its over 240 million people practice Islam, and most of them fast during the holy month.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Saturday launched a Rs20 billion ($71.4 million) relief package for Ramadan which aims to benefit 4 million families across the country.
As part of the package, the government has decided to provide Rs5,000 ($17.87) each to around 4 million families across the country to support them during the month of Ramadan, officials said.
Attorneys sue to keep 10 migrants, including Pakistani, out of Guantanamo Bay
- Out of 10, seven men are from Venezuela, others from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan
- As per the lawsuit, Afghan and Pakistani migrants came to US fleeing threats from Taliban
Civil rights attorneys sued the Trump administration Saturday to prevent it from transferring 10 migrants detained in the US to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and filed statements from men held there who said they were mistreated there in conditions that of one of them called “a living hell.”
The federal lawsuit came less than a month after the same attorneys sued for access to migrants who were already detained at the naval base in Cuba after living in the US illegally. Both cases are backed by the American Civil Liberties Union and filed in Washington.
The attorneys also filed statements translated from Spanish into English from two men still held at Guantanamo Bay, four men held there in February and sent back to Venezuela, and a Venezuelan migrant sent back to Texas.
The men said they were kept in small, windowless cells, with lights on around the clock, hindering sleep, and had inadequate food and medical care. One man reported attempting suicide there, and two said they knew of others’ attempts. The men said migrants were verbally and physically abused by staffers.
“It was easy to lose the will to live,” said Raul David Garcia, a former Guantanamo detainee sent back to Venezuela. “I had been kidnapped in Mexico before, and at least my captors there told me their names.”
Another former detainee sent back to Venezuela, Jonathan Alejandro Alviares Armas, reported that fellow detainees were sometimes denied water or “tied up in a chair outside our cells for up to several hours” as punishment, including for protesting conditions.
“Guantanamo is a living hell,” he said.
In another, separate federal lawsuit filed in New Mexico, a federal judge on Feb. 9 blocked the transfer of three immigrants from Venezuela being held in that state to Guantanamo Bay.
Trump says Guantanamo Bay can hold thousands of ‘the worst’.
The White House and the Defense and Homeland Security departments did not immediately respond to emails Saturday seeking comment about the latest lawsuit. The two agencies are among the defendants.
Trump has promised mass deportations of immigrants living in the US illegally and has said Guantanamo Bay, also known as “Gitmo,” has space for up to 30,000 of them.
He also has said he plans to send “the worst” or high-risk “criminal aliens” to the base in Cuba. The administration has not released specific information on who is being transferred, so it is not clear what crimes they are accused of committing in the US and whether they have been convicted in court, or merely been charged or arrested.
At least 50 migrants have been transferred already to Guantanamo Bay, and the civil rights attorneys believe the number now may be about 200. They have said it is the first time in US history that the government has detained noncitizens on civil immigration charges there. For decades, the naval base was primarily used to detain foreigners associated with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
A separate military detention center once held 800 people, but that number has dwindled to 15, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Critics have said for years that the center is notorious for poor conditions for detainees. A 2023 report from a United Nations inspector said detainees faced “ongoing cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment,” though the US rejected much of her criticism.
Migrants say they were tortured or threatened before coming to the US
The 10 men involved in the latest lawsuit came to the US in 2023 or 2024, seven from Venezuela, and the others from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
The lawsuit said the Afghan and Pakistani migrants were fleeing threats from the Taliban, and two of the Venezuelans had been tortured by the government there for their political views. One of the Venezuelans, Walter Estiver Salazar, said government officials kidnapped him after he refused to follow an order to cut off his town’s electricity.
“The officials beat me, suffocated me, and eventually shot me,” he said. “I barely survived.”
Salazar said he had been convicted in the US of driving under the influence, “which I deeply regret,” while another of the Venezuelans said charges against him tied to a domestic dispute had been dropped.
The men’s attorneys allege that many of the people who have been sent to Guantanamo Bay do not have serious criminal records or even any criminal history.
Four Venezuelans said they had been falsely accused of being gang members based on their tattoos, including one who said his tattoo was of a Catholic rosary.
Transfer to Guantanamo violates constitutional right, attorneys say.
The latest lawsuit contends that the transfers violate the men’s right to due legal process, guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution.
The lawsuit also argues that federal immigration law bars the transfer of non-Cuban migrants from the US to Guantanamo Bay; that the US government has no authority to hold people outside its territory; and the naval base remains part of Cuba legally. The transfers are also described as arbitrary.
Their first lawsuit, filed Feb. 12, said Guantanamo Bay detainees had “effectively disappeared into a black box” and couldn’t contact attorneys or family. The Department of Homeland Security said they could reach attorneys by phone.
One of the formerly detained Venezuelans, Yoiker David Sequera, said he was permitted to make one phone call to the ACLU, but when he asked to speak with his family, he was told “it was not possible.”
A current detainee, Tilso Ramon Gomez Lugo, said that for two weeks he was not able to communicate “with anyone in the outside world” until he was allowed to make a single call to attorneys.
The lawsuit also argues that Guantanamo Bay “does not have the infrastructure” to hold even the 10 men. Garcia said a part of the base for migrants like him known as Camp 6, where he was confined, seemed “prepared at the last minute” and was “not even finished.”
“It was freezing, and I felt like chicken trapped in an incubator,” he said.
Pakistan and Denmark discuss multilateral cooperation, strengthening economic ties
- Both countries began their two-year terms as non-permanent Security Council members in January
- They discuss trade and investment by leveraging public-private partnership, says the foreign office
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar on Saturday discussed cooperation on multilateral platforms with Denmark’s Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, with the foreign office in Islamabad describing their conversation as “productive.”
Both Pakistan and Denmark began their two-year terms as non-permanent members of the United Nations Security Council in January 2025, joining the 15-member body responsible for maintaining international peace and security.
The Council comprises five permanent members — China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States — and ten non-permanent members elected for two-year terms by the General Assembly.
Non-permanent members play a crucial role in shaping the Council’s agenda, participating in decision-making processes, and contributing to resolutions on global issues.
“Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar had a productive phone conversation with Denmark’s Foreign Minister, Lars Løkke Rasmussen,” the foreign office said in a social media post. “The two leaders expressed their resolve to strengthen the long-standing friendship between Pakistan and Denmark into a strong economic partnership.”
“They explored ways to expedite collaboration in trade and investment through the promotion of Public-Private Partnerships,” it continued. “Additionally, as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for 2025 and 2026, they pledged to cooperate on multilateral platforms to advance mutual interests, peace, and sustainable development.”
In August 2022, Pakistan and Denmark signed the Green Framework Engagement Agreement, aiming to enhance collaboration on climate change mitigation, renewable energy and sustainable development. While the volume of trade between the two countries remains modest, Pakistan has sought to intensify economic diplomacy with European nations in recent years.
The relations between both sides have also faced challenges in the past. In 2005, anti-Islam caricatures published in a Danish newspaper led to public protests in Pakistan.
In 2008, the Danish embassy in Islamabad was targeted in a bombing that led to several casualties, with Al-Qaeda claiming responsibility and citing the cartoons as its motivation.
More recently, Denmark faced criticism from Muslim states for allowing public burnings of Islamic scripture.
In December 2023, however, the Danish government enacted a law criminalizing the public desecration of religious texts, deescalating tensions and aiding in the normalization of diplomatic relations with Muslim-majority countries.
Pakistan ruling coalition ally criticizes cyber law amendments, warns of threat to free speech
- Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act is widely criticized as a tool to stifle dissent
- PPP’s Raza Rabbani calls the PECA amendment bill ‘black law,’ says it can weaken the state
KARACHI: A senior Pakistani politician from a party supporting Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ruling coalition on Saturday condemned the recent amendments to the country’s cyber laws, warning they would jeopardize freedom of speech and weaken the state.
Pakistan’s Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) was originally enacted in 2016, but an amendment bill passed in January 2025 expanded its scope by broadening the definition of “fake news” and criminalizing defamation against government officials.
The law also established a new social media regulatory authority to oversee digital content and a cybercrime agency with the power to prosecute violations.
Speaking at a convention related to the issue, Raza Rabbani of the Pakistan Peoples Party denounced the PECA amendments as a “black law,” asserting they would further restrict an already regulated digital space, especially for journalists.
“Trying to stop or restrict freedom of the press actually weakens the state. Freedom of expression is a fundamental right,” Rabbani said, highlighting the law’s “vague provisions on fake news” and other reforms that he warned could be easily manipulated.
He criticized the government for failing to consult stakeholders before enacting the amendments and urged an immediate suspension of the law’s implementation. Rabbani called for dialogue with journalists, civil society and other relevant groups to revise the legislation.
Barrister Salahuddin Ahmed, a legal expert, told the gathering the amendments undermined democratic principles by granting the government disproportionate power.
He also warned against the new authority mandated to take swift action against social media platforms during his speech.
“This authority is empowered to block platforms and remove content within 24 hours of a complaint being filed,” Ahmed said. “This gives an alarming level of unchecked power to a single body, which could easily be misused to stifle dissent.”
Sohail Afzal Khan, secretary of the Karachi Press Club, where the convention was held, echoed these concerns, arguing PECA was designed to suppress journalists rather than combat disinformation.
“If the government had been sincere in combating fake news, it would have enacted legislation in consultation with journalist leadership and other stakeholders. Instead, it seeks to suppress the voice of journalists,” Khan said.
The event was attended by representatives from major political parties, lawyers, rights activists and media workers, culminating in a resolution rejecting PECA 2025.
The resolution called for the removal of restrictions on free speech and an end to legal actions against journalists under the pretext of combating misinformation.
“The meeting resolves to continue its struggle against PECA and similar laws, within democratic frameworks, by collaborating with civil society and democratic forces,” it said.
