ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s commerce minister Syed Naveed Qamar said on Wednesday the country would aim to increase its pharmaceutical exports to $1 billion within the next two years and another $5 billion by 2030, according to an official statement.
Pakistan has experienced a decline in its exports in recent months after commercial banks refused to open letters of credit due to a dollar liquidity crunch triggered by a massive financial crisis faced by the country.
While the International Monetary Fund (IMF) signed a $3 billion bailout deal with the cash-strapped country last month to avert the possibility of default, the economic slowdown has exacerbated the overall production potential of the industrial sector that has also affected the overall exports.
“Pakistan’s objective is to increase pharmaceutical exports to $1 billion by 2025 and $5 billion by 2030,” the statement quoted the minister as saying.
Addressing a ceremony in Islamabad, he added that Pakistan had “immense opportunities for growth” in the global pharmaceutical market which was valued at $1.4 trillion.
Qamar stressed the significance of local production of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to reduce import dependence, adding it was essential for the public to have access to medicines at affordable prices.
“We will listen to the issues of this industry and find solutions to them,” he said. “Promoting self-reliance in this sector will not only aid the industry’s progress but will also create opportunities for revenue-based growth.”
The minister highlighted that the government was actively working to rationalize and create an enabling regulatory environment in the pharmaceutical sector and encourage stakeholders to seek opportunities for growth, invest in research and development, and strive for excellence.
Last month, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also maintained the country would need to increase its exports to shore up its forex reserves and gradually come out of the economic crisis.
ISLAMABAD: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud discussed efforts to de-escalate tensions between Pakistan and India as South Asia faces the risk of a major conflict, his office said on Thursday.
The development follows Indian missile strikes a day earlier that killed 31 people and injured 57 in different Pakistani cities, with New Delhi calling it a response to an April 22 attack in the disputed Kashmir region that left 26 tourists dead and which it blamed on Pakistan despite Islamabad’s repeated denials.
Pakistan said it shot down five Indian fighter jets and destroyed several border posts in the military clash that followed. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif termed the Indian missile attacks a “grave mistake” and warned that New Delhi “will have to face consequences.”
“The secretary and the foreign minister discussed regional security matters, economic engagement and efforts to de-escalate tensions between India and Pakistan,” US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce said.
She added the US state secretary also commended the Saudi government for its efforts to help stabilize Syria, to stop the fighting in Sudan and continued engagement with Lebanon and the issues in the Red Sea.
World leaders including President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged restraint and pressed for a peaceful resolution between the nuclear-armed neighbors amid rising fears of a broader military confrontation.
Earlier on Thursday, Pakistan’s military said it had shot down 12 Israeli-made Harop drones launched by India at multiple locations, adding that the cross-border campaign was continuing and had left one civilian dead and four army officers injured.
India and Pakistan have fought multiple wars since independence over the disputed Himalayan region which they both claim in full but control in parts.
KARACHI: The Pakistan military said on Thursday it had shot down 25 Israeli-made Harop drones launched by India at multiple locations, a day after Indian strikes in the country raised fears of a larger military conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
India said it struck nine “terrorist infrastructure” sites on Wednesday, some of them linked to an attack by militants that killed 26 in Indian-administered Kashmir on Apr. 22. Pakistan said 31 were killed in the Indian strikes and vowed to retaliate, subsequently saying it had shot down five Indian aircraft and a combat drone.
The conflict between India and Pakistan has been confined in recent decades mostly to the disputed mountainous region of Kashmir. But the air strikes on Wednesday morning, which also hit the towns of Bahawalpur and Muridke in the heart of the country, were seen in Islamabad as a major escalation.
Early on Thursday morning, reports started emerging from multiple Pakistani cities of explosions and firing. The military’s media wing subsequently confirmed that India was “attacking Pakistan with Israeli-made Harop drones in panic.”
The Harop is a standoff loitering munition attack weapon system designed to locate and precisely attack targets, manufactured by Israel Aerospace Industries.
“So far, 25 Israeli-made Harop drones have been shot down by the Pakistani army’s soft kill (technical) and hard kill (weapons),” the army said in a statement. “The debris of Israeli-made Harop drones is being collected from different areas of Pakistan.”
A paramilitary official stands near an Indian drone in Ghotki, in the border region of Pakistan's southern Sindh province, on May 8, 2025. (Qazi Agan Shar)
In the context of military defense, hard kill refers to destroying or neutralizing an incoming threat, such as a missile or drone, by physically destroying it or its components. Soft kill, on the other hand, aims to defeat the threat by disrupting its guidance or communication signals, often using electronic countermeasures or decoys.
Drones had been “neutralized” in Lahore, Gujranwala, Chakwal, Rawalpindi, Attock, Bahawalpur, Miano, Chhor and near Karachi, military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in a separate televised statement.
One drone, he added, had managed to “partially” engage a military target near Lahore, the capital of Pakistan’s largest province of Punjab.
“Four men of the Pakistan Army have been injured in this attack near Lahore and partial damage to an equipment has occurred,” Chaudhry said.
“As we speak, the process of India sending across these Harop drones, this naked aggression, continues, and the armed forces are on a high degree of alert and neutralizing them.”
Earlier in the day, police reported a civilian casualty in the southern Sindh province, also confirmed by Chaudhry, when a drone crashed in the Sarfaraz Leghari village, located in Ghotki district.
“This morning, a drone fell over two villagers... killing one man and injuring another,” Senior Superintendent of Police Dr. Samiullah Soomro told Arab News over the phone, saying more details would be confirmed following a visit to the site.
Eyewitnesses in Ghotki said the drone hovered over the village before it was hit by Pakistani forces in the morning, following which it crashed near a canal.
“My brother Mukhtiar Ahmed, who was only 25, was martyred,” Jabbar Laghari, a local schoolteacher, said. “He leaves behind three children. My father was also injured.”
India and Pakistan have fought three wars in the past, two of them over Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.
Since April 22, they have intensified firing and shelling across their de-facto Line of Control border in Kashmir.
For decades India has accused Pakistan of supporting militants in attacks on Indian interests, especially in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan denies such support and in turn accuses India of backing separatist and other insurgents in Pakistan, which New Delhi denies.
On Thursday, India warned that any Pakistan military action would be met with “a very, very firm response.”
“Our response was targeted and measured. It [is] not our intention to escalate the situation,” Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a speech to his visiting Iranian counterpart.
“However, if there are military attacks on us, there should be no doubt that it will be met with a very, very firm response.”
Jaishankar met Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is visiting New Delhi days after visiting Pakistan, as Tehran seeks to mediate between the neighbors.
Araghchi, in a statement on his arrival in India, said that it was “natural that we want to reduce tensions” between India and Pakistan.
“We hope that the parties will exercise restraint to avoid an escalation of tensions in the region,” Araghchi said.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani and Indian national security advisers established contact after New Delhi’s missile strikes on Pakistan killed at least 31 people, Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Wednesday, marking a rare official communication between the nuclear-armed rivals.
India said it launched the strikes targeting what it described as “terrorist infrastructure” inside Pakistan following a deadly assault on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam area, which it blamed on Pakistan despite Islamabad’s denials.
Pakistan said it shot down five Indian fighter jets and destroyed several border posts in the military clash that followed. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the Indian missile attacks a “grave mistake” and warned that New Delhi “will have to face consequences.”
In an interview with TRT World, the Pakistani deputy premier said India had done something that “is not condonable.”
“[Dar] confirmed that both a Pakistani national security adviser and Indian national security adviser spoke to each other after last night’s Indian missile strikes in Pakistan, as well as Pakistani-administered Kashmir and then Pakistan’s response, in which Pakistan said that five Indian fighter jets were shot down,” a TRT correspondent in Islamabad reported after the interview.
“However, he did not provide further details, but some people interpret that given the fact that now both sides have established contacts at the level of national security advisers, this means that some form of effort is underway to de-escalate tensions,” he added.
Pakistan recently named Lt. Gen. Muhammad Asim Malik, the head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), as its National Security Adviser, while his Indian counterpart is Ajit Doval.
The two countries have rarely maintained high-level official contacts in recent years. Pakistan downgraded diplomatic ties after India revoked the special constitutional status of the disputed Kashmir region in 2019 to integrate it with the rest of the Indian union.
The rivals, who have fought multiple wars over the Himalayan region they both claim in full but control in parts, also expelled each other’s diplomats following the recent Pahalgam attack.
It is not clear what the two NSAs discussed during their call, but Pakistan has vowed to retaliate after the missile strikes.
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry has launched a 24-hour helpline to assist Hajj pilgrims seeking updates on flight schedules, an official statement said on Thursday, as the country faces widespread air travel disruptions linked to escalating military tensions with India.
The measures follow a sharp military escalation between Pakistan and India in the early hours of Wednesday after Indian missile strikes killed at least 31 civilians in Pakistani territory.
Pakistan’s military responded by downing five Indian fighter jets, while Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) suspended all flights for 12 hours and several Asian carriers rerouted flights to avoid the region’s airspace.
“The help desk will operate 24 hours a day in two shifts,” the statement said while sharing the telephone numbers. “Hajj pilgrims can obtain information regarding their flights.”
Pakistan also announced it had temporarily suspended flight operations at Karachi, Lahore, and Sialkot airports, citing “national security” concerns.
Pakistan’s Geo News reported blasts in the eastern border city of Lahore, attributing them to suspected drone attacks, though police were still investigating the nature of the explosions.
Tensions continue to remain high between the two South Asian nuclear rivals, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described India’s missile attacks as a “grave mistake” in a speech on Wednesday night, saying New Delhi “will have to face consequences.”
The Indian army also said on Thursday the two neighboring states exchanged small arms and artillery fire overnight along their de facto border in the disputed Kashmir region split between the two countries.
The US president initially played down the crisis as part of old tensions between India and Pakistan
His administration has scrambled into action in the last 24 hours since the Indian strikes in Pakistan
Updated 08 May 2025
AFP
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump called Wednesday for India and Pakistan to immediately halt their fighting, and offered to help end the worst violence between the nuclear-armed countries in two decades.
“It’s so terrible,” Trump said at the White House. “I get along with both, I know both very well, and I want to see them work it out. I want to see them stop.
“They’ve gone tit-for-tat, so hopefully they can stop now.”
Trump’s comments came as India and Pakistan exchanged heavy artillery fire along their contested frontier, after New Delhi launched deadly missile strikes on its arch-rival.
At least 31 deaths were reported in the fighting, which came two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing an attack on the Indian-run side of disputed Kashmir, which Pakistan denied.
Pakistan has long been a key US military ally but Trump has been keen to build up relations with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whom he hosted at the White House in February.
“We get along with both countries very well, good relationships with both, and I want to see it stop,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
“And if I can do anything to help, I will be there.”
Trump initially played down the crisis as part of old tensions between India and Pakistan — even saying they had been at odds for 1,500 years, despite the two countries only forming after independence from Britain in 1947.
But his administration has scrambled into action in the last 24 hours since the Indian strikes.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to his counterparts from India and Pakistan on Friday, encouraging them to reopen dialogue to “defuse” the situation, the White House said.
