ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif arrived in Beijing on the second day of his five-day visit to China on Wednesday, he is scheduled to meet the top Chinese leadership including President Xi Jinping and oversee the signing of trade and investment agreements in various fields, amid Islamabad push for enhanced economic cooperation with its ally.
Sharif was received by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong upon his arrival at the Beijing airport. The premier is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar and other members of the cabinet and senior officials, a statement from Sharif’s office said.
“The Prime Minister has an extensive program in Beijing reflecting depth and breadth of Pakistan-China ties,” the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
“He will meet the President, the Premier and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.”
Sharif will also attend a Pakistan-China Friendship and Business event, and hold meetings with the chief executive officers of leading Chinese companies working on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects.
“A number of MoUs between the two countries on cooperation in various fields are likely to be signed,” the statement said.
’FULL SUPPORT’ FOR CHINESE INVESTORS
Earlier, the prime minister said his administration would provide “full support” to Chinese investors entering Pakistan’s market, as the South Asian nation seeks to woo foreign investors amid efforts to stabilize its $350 billion economy.
The premier was speaking at a joint business forum in Shenzhen, a major global technology hub, where he arrived on Tuesday for the first leg of his visit to China from June 4-8. At the top of the agenda are business-to-business meetings and efforts to seek an upgrade for CPEC, a flagship of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, through which Beijing has pledged over $60 billion in energy and infrastructure Pakistan since 2015.
Islamabad now hopes CPEC collaborations will enter the industrial, IT and agricultural sectors and is encouraging the involvement of the private sector and business-to-business (B2B) engagements.
Around 79 Pakistani companies are in China to attend the business forum in Shenzhen.
“Today is the opportunity, today is the time,” Sharif said in his address to Pakistani and Chinese executives. “Today is the moment for you to capture, sit down with our Chinese friends and brothers and have serious discussions.
“I want to assure you as not only as the prime minister of Pakistan but as the chief executive officer of Pakistan that I will give you full support like never before to promote your efforts to stitch these deals so that Pakistan and Chinese businessmen they benefit jointly have mutual benefits.”
In his address at the forum, Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue Muhammad Aurangzeb laid out the government’s broader roadmap, emphasizing export-led growth and the crucial role of special economic zones. He said Pakistan was seeking foreign direct investment through government-to-government and business-to-business arrangements and aimed to access international capital markets and tap into Panda Bonds, Renminbi (RMB)-denominated bonds from a non-Chinese issuer, which are sold in mainland China.
Aurangzeb acknowledged “temporary hiccups” in payments and repatriations for Chinese companies but assured that such issues would soon be resolved.
Pakistan has frequently sent high-level official delegations to China, its closest regional ally, in the past. However, most of these visits have been to Beijing and revolved around state-level interactions between the top officials of the two countries.
Sharif’s latest visit comes at a time when his administration is actively trying to put Pakistan’s economy back on track amid prolonged financial troubles that have compelled the country to repeatedly urge friendly nations and international lenders for loans.
In recent months, Pakistani authorities have said they are no longer striving to borrow money from allies but asking them to make “mutually beneficial” investments and explore the possibility of collaborating with local businesses.
Chinese investment and financial support since 2013 have been key for the South Asian nation’s struggling economy, including the rolling over of loans so that Islamabad can meet its external financing needs at a time when its foreign reserves are critically low.
B2B MEETINGS
Earlier, the prime minister met with Zhu Zhaojiang, the founder and chairman of Transsion Holdings, a Chinese multinational company specializing in manufacturing mobile phones.
Zhu expressed interest in expanding investment in Pakistan, particularly in mobile manufacturing units and exploring opportunities in electric bikes, modern agriculture and fintech sectors, according to a statement from Sharif’s office.
The prime minister directed federal ministers and Pakistan’s ambassador to China to swiftly develop a plan of action for Transsion and encouraged the company to produce locally and increase exports from Pakistan whose greatest strength was its young workforce.
During the meeting, Zhu informed Sharif about his company’s existing operations in Pakistan, its global exports and plans for further investments, including an already established unit that employs over 5,000 Pakistan nationals.
On Wednesday afternoon, Sharif also visited the Nanshan One-Stop Service Center and Shenzhen Exhibition Museum and directed his ministers to “immediately coordinate with the Center to replicate a similar modern system in Pakistan,” state-run APP reported.
“He was briefed about the digital system established at the Center to register companies and carry out other processes under one roof. He lauded the modern systems developed at the Nanshan One-Stop Services for the registration of companies and businesses,” APP said.
“He also directed the relevant authorities to take necessary measures to establish a similar system in the country with Chinese cooperation.”
The prime minister also visited the Shenzhen Exhibition Museum where he was briefed about the development journey of Shenzhen city, as well as
the headquarters of Huawei in Shenzhen where he was received by the company’s chairman Liang Hua.
“Chairman Huawei informed the Prime Minister about the operations of Huawei around the world, especially in Pakistan, and expressed deep interest in investing in various sectors of Pakistan,” PMO said.
“The Prime Minister appreciated the innovation of Huawei’s operations and encouraged Huawei to expand its investment in Pakistan.”
After a briefing on e-governance, digital banking, telecommunication and artificial intelligence, Sharif invited Huawei to establish Safe City projects on a priority basis in Pakistan, especially in cities where work on CPEC projects was ongoing.
“The government is taking steps to digitize government offices on a priority basis,” Sharif said. “There are vast investment opportunities in Pakistan for a big company like Huawei in the fields of tax system, e-governance and artificial intelligence.”
Sharif also invited the chairman of Huawei to invest in modern technology in the agricultural sector in Pakistan and attended the signing ceremony of a framework agreement between Huawei and the Pakistani science ministry.
Under the framework agreement, Huawei will provide free training to 200,000 Pakistanis in the field of information technology including artificial intelligence and provide full support in the establishment of Safe Cities, e-governance and digitization of the economy in Pakistan.
During the China visit, the Pakistani prime minister will also meet President Xi Jinping and other senior officials in Beijing before concluding the five-day trip on June 8.
Pakistan seeks to woo Chinese investors at business forum, B2B meetings
https://arab.news/ry6gm
Pakistan seeks to woo Chinese investors at business forum, B2B meetings
- Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is on five-day visit to China from June 4-8
- Sharif to meet Chinese leadership, including President Jinping, in Beijing
Pakistan installs first smog cleaning tower in Lahore for field testing
- Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, often ranks among the most polluted places in world
- Smog towers are large-scale air purifiers that create localized zones of improved air quality
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has installed its first locally designed smog cleaning tower in Lahore, a city that frequently ranks among the most polluted in the world during the winter season, the Environmental Protection Agency of Punjab announced this week.
Smog towers are large-scale air purifiers designed to reduce pollution by filtering out fine particulate matter and other harmful pollutants. Using fans, the towers draw in polluted air, which passes through high-efficiency filters to capture PM2.5 and PM10 particles, which pose severe health risks. The cleaned air is then released back into the surrounding area, improving local air quality.
While smog towers offer potential short-term relief, their efficacy in addressing large-scale urban air pollution remains debated.
“Pakistan’s first locally designed Smog Cleaning Tower installed in Lahore,” the provincial environmental agency said in a social media post this week. “A 15-day field test will be conducted to assess its performance for further installations.”
The smog tower, located in Mehmood Booti, is capable of purifying 50,000 cubic meters of air per hour and is designed to reduce harmful PM2.5 particulate matter.
Lahore, Pakistan’s second-largest city, suffers from severe air pollution during the winter, largely due to the phenomenon of smog. A combination of vehicle emissions, industrial output and crop burning in Punjab contributes to hazardous levels of fine particulate matter, with the city often topping global rankings for poor air quality.
Residents endure weeks of poor visibility, health warnings and respiratory illnesses as the Air Quality Index (AQI) frequently exceeds 300, categorized as “hazardous” by international standards. This year, the AQI reached unprecedented levels in several cities of Punjab, rising well over 1,000.
Smog towers can create localized zones of improved air quality, especially in high-density urban areas. However, they are expensive to build and maintain, with limited coverage areas.
Imran Khan says he declined house arrest, urges overseas Pakistani to halt remittances
- Ex-PM’s social media post hints at a backchannel offering him a ‘deal,’ without naming interlocutors
- Khan criticizes military trials and sentencing of supporters, says the proceedings violated basic rights
ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has been in jail for well over a year, said in a social media post on Friday he rejected a house arrest deal, as he also urged Pakistanis abroad to boycott remittances in protest against the country’s political situation.
Khan’s statement comes only a few days after the government began formal negotiations with his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party to address mutual differences and ease the country’s growing political polarization.
Talks began after Khan threatened civil disobedience, urging overseas Pakistanis to halt remittances unless the government freed PTI political prisoners and formed judicial commissions to probe violent protests on May 9 and Nov. 26, blamed on his supporters.
His latest message hints at a backchannel offering “a deal,” without naming interlocutors.
“The proposal I received for a deal was: ‘Negotiate with us, and we will give your party political space, but you will be placed under house arrest and moved to [your] Bani Gala [residence],’” read a message posted from Khan’s account on X, formerly Twitter.
“My response was that all other political prisoners must first be released. I would rather stay in jail than accept any deal. I will neither go into house arrest nor to any jail in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” he added, referring to the province ruled by his party.
Khan doubled down on his call for overseas Pakistanis to boycott remittances, framing it as part of a campaign for “true freedom and the restoration of democracy.” It is not clear how his stance might affect the ongoing negotiations between his party and the government.
“Currently, the government is playing ‘committee after committee’ regarding our demands,” he said, adding that the boycott campaign would be halted if negotiations produced positive results.
Khan also assured his supporters that the coming year would bring better prospects for democracy in the country while pledging to remain steadfast.
Criticizing military trials and recent sentencing of his party supporters arrested in the wake of the May 9 protest last year, Khan said they had violated basic rights of civilians and caused international embarrassment for Pakistan.
“If these trials had been conducted in open courts, the video footage of the events of May 9 would have had to be presented,” he said, adding transparent trials were also guaranteed in Pakistan’s constitution.
Hundreds of people carrying flags of Khan’s party attacked government and military installations last year on May 9 after he was briefly detained on corruption charges.
The government is yet to react to the former premier’s statement.
Pakistan using dual approach of diplomacy, military action against Afghan-based militants — analysts
Pakistan using dual approach of diplomacy, military action against Afghan-based militants — analysts
- PM Sharif says cross-border attacks from against civilians, security forces ‘unacceptable’ for Pakistan
- An Afghan analyst believes Pakistani airstrikes in his country can create sympathy for groups like TTP
KARACHI: Pakistan is using both political engagement and military action to counter militant groups operating from Afghanistan, analysts said on Friday, after Afghan authorities reported airstrikes conducted by Pakistani forces this week that killed 46 people.
The strikes, which targeted alleged hideouts of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), came amid allegations by Pakistani officials of cross-border militant attacks, as extremist violence targeting civilians and security forces has surged more recently.
Afghan authorities claimed the victims included residents from Pakistan’s border regions, who were uprooted during military operations against TTP fighters in recent years, as the United Nations expressed concern over civilian casualties and urged an investigation.
While Pakistan has not officially confirmed the airstrikes, with both the foreign office and the military’s media wing declining to comment, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the TTP cross-border attacks constituted a “red line” for his government, asking Afghan authorities to take action against militants using their soil.
The reported airstrikes coincided with a visit to Kabul by Mohammad Sadiq, Pakistan’s special representative for Afghanistan, to discuss trade and regional ties.
“It seems that Pakistan wants to continue to talk to the Taliban while also flexing its military muscle, just as the Taliban did once they engaged in talks with the US,” Husain Haqqani, a former Pakistani ambassador, told Arab News.
He maintained that Pakistan’s military leadership believed its past support for the Afghan Taliban, when the US-led international forces were still operating in Kabul, would shield it from violent attacks, adding these armed groups did not consider any Muslim country “exempt from imposition of their extreme ideology.”
However, Sami Yousufzai, an Afghan political analyst, highlighted the delicate nature of Pakistan-Afghanistan ties, saying such strikes were viewed as a direct affront by Kabul.
“Afghanistan is particularly sensitive to invasions or attacks within its borders,” he told Arab News, acknowledging that the airstrikes resulted from growing pressure on Pakistan due to the surge in TTP attacks.
However, he maintained Pakistan had made errors of judgment relating to the timings of the attack, as one of its senior diplomats, Ambassador Sadiq, was in Afghanistan, and the number of civilian casualties.
Yousufzai informed that Afghan authorities had recently taken confidence-building measures at Pakistan’s request by relocating 200 TTP families from border areas to central Afghanistan, adding that the move had been undermined by the airstrikes.
“Afghanistan has little to lose, but as a more stable nation, Pakistan should avoid irresponsible actions,” he continued. “Such attacks will not eliminate the TTP. Instead, it will likely increase their support.”
He maintained the real issue was the TTP presence in Pakistan, adding that its fighters were even residing in districts like Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, which do not share border with Afghanistan, though they have experienced several deadly attacks.
Mehmood Jan Babar, a Peshawar-based journalist specializing in Afghan and tribal affairs, argued the strikes did not derail diplomacy, as evidenced by continued meetings between Sadiq and Afghan officials, including Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.
Asked about Afghan warning of consequences to Pakistan, he said: “Such speeches and statements are often for public consumption.”
Syed Khalid Muhammad, a security expert in Islamabad, dismissed the claims of civilian casualties, arguing that militants deliberately use civilian populations as shields.
“The key thing to understand about the Pakistani airstrikes on the TTP is that the militants have hidden themselves among the civilian population, much like every terror group globally, which serves a greater purpose for them,” he added. “It allows them to manufacture an alternative narrative to gain sympathy.”
Meanwhile, Pakistani military’s spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said his country had repeatedly pointed out to the Afghan government on state level that the TTP and other militants had been launching cross-border attacks in Pakistan in a news conference earlier today.
“Pakistan will leave no stone unturned in dismantling terrorist networks and safeguarding its citizens against terrorism,” he told the media without confirming the airstrikes.
Pakistani investigation agency says has arrested human smuggler with India links
- Five Pakistani illegal migrants were killed this month when their boat capsized near a Greek island
- FIA says suspected human smuggler worked with an Indian in Azerbaijan to send people to Poland
KARACHI: Pakistani authorities on Friday announced the arrest of a human smuggler from Karachi, accusing him of working with an Indian agent to illegally send people to Europe, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif stressed the need to eradicate the practice while presiding over a meeting in the federal capital.
The arrest follows a renewed government drive against human smuggling after five Pakistani nationals died in a boat tragedy near the Greek island of Gavdos earlier this month.
Last year, the issue of illegal migration to Europe drew national attention when hundreds of people, including 262 Pakistanis, drowned after their overcrowded vessel capsized off the southwestern Greek coastal town of Pylos during a voyage from Libya.
The Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) announcement of the arrest of Abdul Shakoor, the suspected human smuggler, has brought yet another illegal migration route to Europe under the spotlight, as it said the accused collaborated with an Indian national based in Central Asia.
“An Indian agent named Gautam Sharma, residing in Azerbaijan, was coordinating the illegal transportation of the suspects from Azerbaijan to Poland,” the FIA informed, adding three other suspects, Hasib Ahmed, Qaiser Ahmed and Usman Ali, hailing from different areas of Punjab province, were also arrested.
“Human smuggler Abdul Shakoor had made agreements to send the other suspects to Poland, charging $5,028.89 per person,” the statement added. “The suspects paid the agent an advance of $898.02 per person.”
The FIA also named the organizations that helped the suspects obtain visas.
Separately, the prime minister chaired a review meeting on measures to curb human smuggling, wherein he reviewed the report of a committee formed to investigate the latest migrant boat tragedy near Greece and present its findings.
Sharif instructed the formation of a committee, led by Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, to develop sustainable solutions for tackling human smuggling.
“The Prime Minister directed that all individuals involved in the heinous human smuggling trade be arrested within a week and legal action be taken against them,” said an official statement circulated by his office after the meeting.
The prime minister questioned why no disciplinary action had been taken so far against complicit government officials facilitating smugglers and directed authorities to ensure stricter visa checks and compliance with travel regulations for all outbound migrants.
The meeting was also provided an update on the identification of Pakistani nationals involved in the boat capsize near Greece this month and the progress of repatriating their bodies.
Pakistan rescues nine crew members from Indian cargo vessel after distress alert
- The rescue followed another operation this month in which 12 Indian crew members were saved
- Incident reflects sporadic cooperation between the two nuclear rivals amid continuing tensions
KARACHI: The Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) successfully rescued nine crew members from an Indian cargo vessel, according to an official statement, after receiving a distress alert from Mumbai.
The incident marks the second such rescue operation by the PMSA within a month, highlighting sporadic cooperation between the two nuclear-armed rivals amid continued tensions.
Diplomatic ties between India and Pakistan remain strained. Both sides also detain each other’s fishermen who inadvertently cross maritime boundaries, often leaving them to languish in prison for extended periods.
The distressed Indian vessel, Tajdare Haram, reportedly experienced water ingress approximately 120 nautical miles south of Karachi, forcing the crew to abandon ship and take refuge in a life raft.
“Upon receiving the distress alert from the Maritime Rescue Coordination Center (MRCC) Mumbai, PMSA immediately launched a coordinated rescue effort,” the Pakistani agency announced in a statement Thursday.
“PMSA deployed an aircraft and directed nearby merchant vessels and PMSA ships to the scene of the incident,” it added. “The PMSA aircraft successfully located the survivors and facilitated the Indian Coast Guard vessel operating in nearby Indian waters for subsequent recovery.”
The rescue followed another operation earlier this month when the PMSA saved 12 Indian crew members from MSV Peeran-e-Peer in a similar situation.
The PMSA said it remained steadfast in its commitment to ensuring maritime safety and upholding international obligations under the Safety of Life at Sea Convention.
