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Ex-PM Sharif, allies agree to form coalition government

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Former Pakistani PRime minister Shahbaz Sharif (L), Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) party (C) and Pakistan's former President Asif Ali Zardari pictured during a press conference in Lahore, Pakistan on February 13, 2024. (Photo courtesy: @pmln_org/X)
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Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (C) speaks during a press conference in Islamabad on February 13, 2024. (AFP)
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Updated 14 February 2024
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Ex-PM Sharif, allies agree to form coalition government

  • Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz nominates Shehbaz Sharif as candidate for PM, Maryam Nawaz for Punjab CM posts
  • IPP, PML-Q, MQM-P and BAP parties affirm support for PML-N-led government, vow to unite to tackle Pakistan’s crises
Updated 14 February 2024
Aamir Saeed

ISLAMABAD: Six Pakistani political parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) announced on Tuesday that they have agreed to form a coalition government at the center, seeking to end a political stalemate after last week’s inconclusive elections.

Political parties have been scrambling since last week to forge alliances for a coalition government at the center. Thursday’s general elections saw independent candidates backed by ex-PM Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) win 93 seats, while PML-N obtained 75 seats, and the PPP won 54.

Khan’s PTI ruled out the possibility of a coalition government with the PPP or the PML-N, saying that it would instead forge alliances with religious parties Majlis Wahdat-e-Muslimeen (MWM) and the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) to form coalition governments in the center, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

“Friends, we have decided that we will sit together to form a government and pull Pakistan out of its problems,” PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari told reporters at a news conference held at the residence of Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) party. 

The press conference took place after Zardari, PML-N President Shehbaz Sharif, Istehkam-e-Pakistan Party (IPP) leader Aleem Khan, Balochistan Awami Party (BAP) representative Sadiq Sanjrani, Muttahida Quami Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Hussain held a detailed meeting. 

Zardari called for reconciliation, inviting the PTI to hold talks with other parties on tackling the host of crises that Pakistan faces.

“We welcome them [PTI] to join us in this process, and all political forces are invited to engage in discussions about reconciliation,” the PPP co-chairman said. 

In a surprise development, PML-N information secretary Marriyum Aurangzeb announced on social media platform X that the party’s chief, Nawaz Sharif, had nominated his younger brother, Shehbaz Sharif, as its candidate for the prime minister’s post. 

She said he had also nominated his daughter, Maryam Nawaz Sharif, for the post of Punjab chief minister. 

Speaking at the press conference, Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan’s economic crisis was the most important challenge facing the country at the moment. 

“Only those nations move forward whose leadership unites and decides to end their differences to ensure their people’s progress,” he said. He pointed out that the new government would have to “fight a war” against unemployment and inflation. 

MQM-P leader Siddiqui vowed to support a PML-N-led government at the center. 

“With mutual cooperation, we will strengthen democracy and support Mian Shehbaz Sharif,” he told reporters. “We have supported him before and will do so in future.”

Political parties need to boost their seat count to the required 169 in the National Assembly. Along with the 266 directly elected seats, there are also 70 reserved seats — 60 for women and 10 for non-Muslims— allocated based on each party’s strength in the National Assembly, to determine their final standing.

A prime ministerial candidate needs to demonstrate a simple majority of 169 seats in the National Assembly, which consists of 336 seats.’

While the PPP, PML-N and MQM-P have a combined strength of 146 seats, the IPP has two seats, the PML-Q has three seats and the BAP has one. 

Bhutto Zardari says PPP not to be part of government 

Earlier on Tuesday, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had announced his party would support the PML-N’s candidate for the prime minister’s post. However, he said the PPP would not be part of the government and that he would pull out of the race for the premiership. 
 
“We are not in a position to join the federal government ourselves, we are not interested in taking ministries, but we also don’t want to see political chaos and perpetual chaos in the country,” Bhutto Zardari told reporters at a news conference at Zardari House in Islamabad. 

“We will be willing to support [the PML-N] on an issue-to-issue basis, in case of important votes, candidate for prime minister of Pakistan and to ensure the government is formed, and political stability is restored,” he added. 

The Bhutto scion said he was pulling out of the race for Pakistan’s prime minister. 

“The reality is that the Pakistan Peoples Party does not have a mandate to form the federal government and because of that, I will not be putting myself forward for the candidacy of prime minister of Pakistan,” he announced. 

He said the PPP had formed a committee to engage with other parties to form the government. He said the committee would deliberate on the PPP’s vote on important issues such as the national budget, the prime minister’s election, and important legislation. Bhutto Zardari said the party would also field its candidates for the National Assembly speaker, chairman of the Senate, and president.
 

Topics: Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) elections 2024

Pakistani cricketers Saud Shakeel, Noman Ali break into ICC top 10 Test rankings

Updated 9 sec ago
Shahjahan Khurram 
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Pakistani cricketers Saud Shakeel, Noman Ali break into ICC top 10 Test rankings

  • Saud Shakeel and Noman Ali were both instrumental in Pakistan’s recent Test win against West Indies in Multan
  • Shakeel moves up to number 8 in batter’s rankings as Noman Ali moves to number 9 in ICC bowler’s rankings
Updated 9 sec ago
Shahjahan Khurram 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani cricketers Saud Shakeel and Noman Ali have broken into the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) top 10 Test batter’s and bowler’s rankings, the cricket governing body said on Wednesday, after their recent heroics against the West Indies at home. 
Shakeel, Ali and spinner Sajid Khan were instrumental in Pakistan’s 127-run convincing victory against the West Indies in Multan last week. Noman grabbed six wickets in the Test match, including a fifer in the West Indies’ first innings that helped dismiss the Caribbean team before they could amass a sizable lead over Pakistan’s first innings total. 
Shakeel scored a heroic 84-run knock to steer Pakistan out of the woods in the first innings, helping the team reach 230 runs before they were dismissed. 
“Batter Saud Shakeel and bowler Noman Ali are Pakistan’s big movers in the newly updated ICC Men’s Test Rankings,” the ICC said in a report on its website. “Saud Shakeel (753 ratings points) scored 84 in the first innings, climbing three Rankings spots to 8th on the batting list, moving above Steve Smith (746, 9th) and Rishabh Pant (739, 10th).”
Ali, with 761 points to his credit, broke into the top 10 by securing the number nine position. India’s Jasprit Bumrah with 908 points and Australia’s Pat Cummins with 841 points occupy the first and second position, respectively. 
“Other notable movers include Pakistan’s Sajid Khan (621), who climbed 18 places to No. 23 after his standout performance in Pakistan’s victory in the first Test,” the ICC said. 
Pakistan, who lead 1-0 in the two-match Test series, will next face the West Indies in Multan for the second Test on Jan. 25. Both teams are placed at the bottom of the World Test Championship after successive losses to other teams. 
Pakistan are expected to head into the second Test with both Khan and Ali in the playing XI. The South Asian team have been making spin-friendly tracks in Multan and other venues across the country ahead of Test series to capitalize on its home conditions. 
Pakistan beat England 2-1 in a three-match Test series at home, capitalizing again on the spin-friendly tracks. However, the South Asian team lost to South Africa 2-0 in an away Test series this month.

Topics: noman ali Saud Shakeel

Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province launches cash cards for minorities

Updated 22 January 2025
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Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province launches cash cards for minorities

  • Punjab government to provide $37.65 per family every quarter to minorities under ‘Minority Card’
  • Pakistan’s minorities have suffered attacks from religiously motivated militants in the recent years
Updated 22 January 2025
Hasaan Ali Khan

ISLAMABAD: The chief minister of Pakistan’s most populous Punjab province, Maryam Nawaz, launched cash cards for minorities on Wednesday, stressing the importance of undertaking measures to ensure they are not marginalized in the country. 
Nawaz announced the ‘Minority Card’ in October last year during the Hindu festival of Diwali. Through the card, the provincial government will provide Rs10,500 [$37.65] per family every quarter to Sikhs, Christians, Hindus and other minorities residing in Punjab. 
The chief minister had said that 50,000 individuals from minority communities in Punjab would receive the card during the first phase of its launch. She had said that the provincial government would increase both the number of beneficiaries to 75,000 and the per quarter funds as well. 
“I am very happy that that for the first time in Pakistan and Punjab’s history we have launched the minority card,” Nawaz said at the launching ceremony of the card. 
She thanked Punjab Minority Affairs Minister Sardar Ramesh Singh Arora and the Bank of Punjab for helping the provincial government in “making and implementing” the card.
Emphasizing that minorities were like the “crown on her head,” Sharif said the true identity of minorities was not non-Muslims but “true Pakistanis.” She distributed minority cards among participants at the ceremony.
Pakistani minorities have often suffered attacks at the hands of religiously motivated militants and hard-liners. There have been dozens of instances of mob violence against religious minorities in the South Asian nation in recent years, including an attack on Christians in Punjab’s Jaranwala town in August 2023. An angry mob had torched churches, homes and businesses targeting the Christian community there over blasphemy allegations. 
In the country’s southern Sindh province, Hindus have frequently complained about forced conversions, particularly of young girls, and attacks on temples.
Over 96 percent of Pakistan’s population is Muslim, according to the population census of 2023, with the remaining four percent comprising 5.2 million Hindus, 3.3 million Christians, 15,992 Sikhs and others.

Topics: chief minister maryam nawaz sharif Pakistan Minority Day

Islamabad, Ankara discuss enhancing training and job opportunities for Pakistanis in Turkiye

Updated 22 January 2025
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Islamabad, Ankara discuss enhancing training and job opportunities for Pakistanis in Turkiye

  • Pakistan’s religious affairs minister meets Turkish Ambassador Irfan Nazir Oglu in Islamabad to discuss matters of bilateral interest
  • Foreign remittances sent by thousands of overseas Pakistanis help cash-strapped country keeps fragile $350 billion economy afloat
Updated 22 January 2025
SAIMA SHABBIR

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Religious Affairs Minister Chaudhry Salik Hussain met Turkish Ambassador Irfan Nazir Oglu on Wednesday to discuss provision of modern technical education and enhancing job opportunities for the country’s skilled workers in Turkiye, the religion ministry said in a statement.
Pakistan exports skilled manpower to several countries around the world such as Turkiye and the Gulf countries. Foreign remittances sent by overseas Pakistanis help the cash-strapped country keep its fragile $350 billion economy afloat.
Pakistan enjoys cordial relations and cooperation with Turkiye in various sectors such as trade, defense, media and economy. In May 2024, both countries resolved to enhance the volume of bilateral trade to $5 billion.
“During the meeting, various proposals were discussed regarding religious harmony, respect for humanity and providing more job opportunities for Pakistani workers in Turkiye,” Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs said. 
Hussain pointed out that both countries share similar stances on regional and global issues, and have supported each other on various global issues at the international stage.
“Turkish Ambassador Irfan Nazir Oglu expressed sorrow over the deaths of Pakistanis in the Morocco boat incident and reaffirmed the commitment to providing more job opportunities for skilled Pakistanis in Turkiye,” the religion ministry said.
The ambassador pointed out that Turkiye is working on increasing the supply of machinery to Pakistani industries and expanding technical training and educational projects in the South Asian country.
He said that though several Turkish companies are operating in Pakistan, there remains significant potential to increase joint investment and trade volume between the two countries, the religious affairs ministry said.
Hussain said 600,000 Pakistanis went abroad for employment last year, adding that by December 2024 overseas Pakistanis sent a record remittance of 3.1 billion dollars to Pakistan. 
“The establishment of better banking channels between Turkiye and Pakistan is also essential for promoting mutual trade,” the ministry said. 
It said the meeting concluded with an agreement to enhance cooperation toward eliminating extremism and “terrorism,” promoting interfaith harmony and providing skilled Pakistanis with modern technical education.

Topics: Pakistan Turkiye ties Pakistani religion ministry

Pakistan seeks to boost trade through infrastructure, logistics cooperation with Dubai’s DP World

Updated 22 January 2025
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Pakistan seeks to boost trade through infrastructure, logistics cooperation with Dubai’s DP World

  • Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb meets top officials from logistics giant DP World on sidelines of Davos conference
  • Meeting comes days after DP World launched a feeder service to transport shipping containers from Dubai to Karachi
Updated 22 January 2025
Arab News Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb met top officials from Dubai-based logistics giant DP World and discussed boosting trade through cooperation in infrastructure and logistics frameworks, Pakistani state media reported on Wednesday. 

The meeting comes days after DP World, in collaboration with Pakistan’s National Logistics Corporation, launched a feeder service to transport shipping containers from Dubai to Karachi. DP World operates in over 75 countries, specializing in port operations, terminal management and logistics services. Feeder services use smaller vessels to transport containers between regional ports, reducing shipping costs and transit time. 

Earlier this month, Pakistani officials and DP World also finalized terms for a freight corridor project from Karachi Port to the Pipri Marshalling yard in southern Pakistan.

“Aurangzeb met with Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of DP World Rizwan Soomar and Deputy CEO and Chief Financial Officer Yuvraj Narayan in Davos, Switzerland,” Radio Pakistan reported after the meeting. 

“During the meeting, discussions focused on enhancing infrastructure and logistical frameworks in Pakistan to boost trade,” the report said, adding that the finance minister assured DP World it wanted to advance business-to-business and business-to-government collaboration with the company. 

The UAE is Pakistan’s third-largest trading partner after China and the United States, and a major source of foreign investment, valued at over $10 billion in the last 20 years, according to the UAE foreign ministry. It is also home to more than a million Pakistani expatriates.

In January last year, Pakistan and the UAE signed multiple agreements worth more than $3 billion for cooperation in railways, economic zones and infrastructure.

The agreements cover the development of a dedicated freight corridor, multi-modal logistics park, and freight terminals. 

Under the agreements, DP World will carry out infrastructure improvement at Qasim International Container Terminal, Pakistan’s leading trade gateway. The Emirati firm also plans to develop an economic zone near the terminal.

DP World is also involved in the Karachi Freight Corridor, an infrastructure project in Pakistan aimed at improving the movement of freight from the port city of Karachi, Pakistan’s largest, to various parts of the country. The project involves the construction of a dedicated double-track corridor and other related facilities that will run 50 km from Karachi port to the Pipri Marshalling yard.

Topics: Pakistan DP World

Militants launch fresh attacks in southwest Pakistan, targeting paramilitary check-post, trucks convoy

Updated 22 January 2025
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Militants launch fresh attacks in southwest Pakistan, targeting paramilitary check-post, trucks convoy

  • In one attack on Wednesday, unidentified gunmen attacked, set on fire paramilitary Levies check-post in Panjgur
  • In second attack on Tuesday, attackers stopped and set on fire a convoy of trucks carrying minerals in Nushki 
Updated 22 January 2025
SAADULLAH AKHTER

QUETTA: Militants set on fire a paramilitary forces check-post and a convoy of trucks carrying minerals in two separate attacks in Pakistan’s Balochistan province, officials said on Wednesday, the latest assaults in a region plagued by a decades-long separatist insurgency. 

Groups like the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) seek independence for Balochistan, a mineral-rich, southwestern province bordering Afghanistan to the north and Iran to the west. The region, Pakistan’s largest in terms of land mass but its most impoverished, is home to key mining projects, including Reko Diq, run by mining giant Barrick Gold, and believed to be one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines. China also operates a gold and copper mine in the province, is building a deep-sea port in the coastal town of Gwadar and has funded an international airport, among several other projects that are part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) scheme. 

Separatist groups often target key infrastructure projects and security posts in Balochistan as well as Chinese interests, in particular the port of Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, accusing Beijing of helping Islamabad to exploit the province.

Nearly 300 people, including soldiers, were killed and dozens injured in more than 500 attacks reported in Balochistan in 2024.

In the last attack, Zahid Langove, Deputy Commissioner Panjgur, told Arab News unidentified gunmen attacked a paramilitary Levies check-post with a rocket in the district’s Pullabad area during the early hours of Wednesday.

“The midnight attack on Levies check-post was not of a large-scale,” Langove said. “No casualty was reported in the attack but the attackers set the check-post ablaze and escaped in the nearby mountains.”

In a separate attack, unidentified gunmen attacked a convoy of trucks carrying minerals in the province’s Nushki district. 

Zafar Sumalani, Station House Officer at the Nushki Police Station, said unidentified attackers stopped a convoy of trucks on the Pak-Iran highway, some four kilometers outside of Nushki city on Tuesday night. 

“Two trucks carrying minerals were torched and the attackers burst the tires of a truck with gunfire,” Sumalani said. 

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the two attacks but most attacks in the region are claimed by the BLA and other separatists who accuse Islamabad of exploiting the province’s natural resources such as gold and copper while neglecting the local population. Successive Pakistani governments have denied the allegations, saying they have prioritized Balochistan’s development through investments in health, education and infrastructure projects.

On Jan. 13, the military said Pakistani security forces had killed 27 militants in Balochistan in an intelligence-based operation in Kacchi district. 

The operation came after dozens of fighters of the BLA stormed the small town of Zehri in Khuzdar district and took control of the town for hours. The group set government buildings, including a Levies police station, ablaze and robbed 768,000 rupees ($2745) from a private bank.

In August last year, separatists killed over 50 people, including security forces, in a string of coordinated attacks in Balochistan, the deadliest the region had seen in decades. 

Topics: Pakistan Balochistan

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