ISLAMABAD: The French government’s development arm has entered into a “landmark partnership” with Pakistani financial companies to support small women-led businesses and green technologies in the country, a statement announced on Tuesday, describing it as the first credit risk guarantee offered by the French entity in Pakistan.
Established in 1977, Proparco provides financing to businesses in developing and emerging economies and has partnered with Pakistan’s financial services companies Karandaaz and Parwaaz to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).
The partnership was announced at a signing ceremony in Islamabad, which included a panel discussion on mechanisms to strengthen gender and climate finance. The event brought together experts and stakeholders to discuss challenges and opportunities in both areas.
“Proparco, Karandaaz Pakistan and Parwaaz Financial Services Limited (PFSL) have entered into a landmark partnership to support small business finance in Pakistan,” Karandaaz said in a statement on Tuesday. “This is the first credit risk guarantee offered by Proparco in Pakistan.”
It mentioned that Karandaaz had allocated over $4.3 million to finance around 90 SMEs under existing programs.
The statement said the partnership with Proparco will make it possible to expand credit access to small businesses.
“It’s one of the priority result areas for [Karandaaz] to grow financing of women-led businesses and help scaling of innovative green technologies,” the organization’s chief executive officer, Waqas ul Hasan, said. “We are thrilled that Proparco will be a partner in our journey. We will keep looking for more opportunities for such partnerships which further our mission.”
The statement also quoted the French deputy head of mission, Guillaume Dabouis, as saying that his country’s embassy was proud to support the partnership between Proparco and Karandaaz, adding it aligned “with our commitment to fostering sustainable economic development and gender equality in Pakistan.”
Proparco South Asia Regional Director Diane Jegam described the partnership as a powerful step toward unlocking the potential of Pakistani SMEs, especially those led by women and focusing on climate action.
“By bridging the financing gap, we are empowering entrepreneurs to drive sustainable growth and create a more inclusive and resilient future for all,” she said.
French government development arm partners with Pakistan firms to boost gender, climate finance
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French government development arm partners with Pakistan firms to boost gender, climate finance
- Proparco partners with Karandaaz and Parwaaz to support women-led initiatives focusing on climate action
- Karandaaz says the partnership will help expand financing after allocating over $4.3 million to nearly 90 SMEs
Chinese shipyard completes second submarine for ally Pakistan
- The Hangor class is believed to be an export version of China’s 039A submarine, with a crew of 38 and equipped with anti-ship missiles
- Pakistan contracted to buy eight of the submarines, the final four of which are to be built by the Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works
TAIPEI: A Chinese shipyard has completed a second submarine for the Pakistan navy, further strengthening military ties between the two countries.
The diesel-electric Hangor class craft was launched on Thursday at China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation’s shipworks in the central city of Wuhan on the Yangtze River, Chinese state media reported Sunday.
Pakistan contracted to buy eight of the submarines, the final four of which are to be built by the Karachi Shipyard & Engineering Works in the Pakistani port city of the same name.
The Hangor class is believed to be an export version of China’s 039A submarine, with a crew of 38 plus eight spaces for special forces troops and equipped with torpedoes and anti-ship missiles.
Pakistan has used submarines in the past to confront India as part of their land wars over disputed territory in the north. Prohibitions on dual military and civilian use of technology by European nations that make diesel submarines has left China Pakistan’s best option for modern military equipment.
According to a Swedish military think tank, China has accounted for more than 81 percent of Pakistan’s weapons imports over the past five years. Joint venture projects include the Hangor as well as the JF-17 fighter jet.
Meanwhile, China and India have agreed to work toward a solution to their long-running border dispute in the Himalayas after a military standoff that flared with a deadly clash in 2020 but dates back decades.
Pakistan health minister expresses concern over rising polio cases in Sindh
- Syed Mustafa Kamal asks authorities to submit detailed report on parents refusing polio vaccination for children
- Pakistan has so far reported six polio cases in first three months of 2025, with four of those reported from Sindh
KARACHI: Pakistan’s Federal Health Minister Syed Mustafa Kamal expressed concern over the rising number of poliovirus cases being reported from Sindh, the health ministry said on Sunday, directing authorities to submit a detailed report on the number of families refusing to get their children vaccinated.
Pakistan has so far reported six polio cases in the first three months of 2025. Four out of the six cases have been reported from Sindh, as per official data.
Kamal paid a visit to the provincial Emergency Operation Center (EOC) in Karachi, Sindh’s capital, on Sunday where he sought a detailed report from authorities about parents refusing polio vaccinations for their children.
“The health minister has expressed concern over four polio cases [reported] from Sindh,” the health ministry said in a statement.
“Forty-three thousand patients in Sindh refused vaccination out of which about 42,000 are from Karachi,” Kamal was quoted as saying.
The minister was given a detailed briefing on the ongoing polio vaccination campaigns and the challenges faced by authorities.
Kamal said eliminating polio from Pakistan was a national priority, directing authorities to utilize all resources to eradicate the disease.
Polio is a paralyzing disease with no cure, and multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine, along with the completion of the routine vaccination schedule for children under five, are essential to providing immunity against the virus.
The South Asian country last year reported 74 polio cases. Pakistan has planned three major polio campaigns in the first half of 2025, with the next rounds scheduled for April and May.
Pakistan and Afghanistan are the last two countries in the world where polio remains endemic.
Pakistan’s polio program began in 1994 but efforts to eradicate the virus have since been undermined by vaccine misinformation and opposition from some religious hard-liners who say immunization is a foreign ploy to sterilize Muslim children or a cover for Western spies.
Militant groups also frequently attack and kill members of polio vaccine teams.
Blast kills five paramilitary soldiers, injures 11 in southwestern Pakistan
- Blast targets convoy of buses carrying paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel in Nushki district, says police official
- No group has claimed responsibility but suspicion is likely to fall on separatist Baloch Liberation Army militant outfit
QUETTA: At least five soldiers of the paramilitary Frontier Corps (FC) personnel were killed and 11 others injured on Sunday morning after their convoy was targeted in a blast in southwestern Pakistan, a police official said.
The latest attack took place at the N-40 highway connecting Pakistan to neighboring Iran in Nushki district. A convoy of seven Frontier Corps buses was traveling to Taftan from the provincial capital of Quetta when it was hit by a “powerful explosion” near Rakhshani Mill, Zafar Sumalani, station house officer at the Nushki Police Station, told Arab News.
“Five security personnel were killed in the attack and 11 others injured,” Sumalani said. “The number of casualties might increase as the bus carrying dozens of FC soldiers was completely destroyed.”
The doctor said the critically injured were shifted to the Combined Military Hospital (CMH) in Nushki and were later shifted to Quetta for treatment.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the blast in a statement shared by his office. The prime minister directed authorities to provide medical treatment to the injured, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said.
“Such cowardly acts cannot shake our resolve against terrorism,” Sharif was quoted as saying by the PMO.
No group has claimed responsibility for the blast but suspicion is likely to fall on the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the most prominent ethnic Baloch separatist outfit in the province.
The blast takes place days after BLA militants stormed the Jaffar Express train on Tuesday in a remote mountain pass in Balochistan after blowing up train tracks. The militants held over 400 passengers hostage in a day-long standoff before the military rescued them.
Pakistan security forces killed 33 insurgents, rescued 354 hostages before bringing the siege to a close on Wednesday, according to army spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry. A final count showed 23 soldiers, three railway employees and five passengers had died in the attack.
Oil-and-mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated province. Ethnic Baloch separatists have long accused the central government of discrimination, which Islamabad denies.
The military has a huge presence in Balochistan bordering Afghanistan and Iran. The army has long run intelligence-based operations against insurgent groups such as the BLA, who have escalated attacks in recent months on the military and nationals from longtime ally China, which is building key projects in the region, including a port at Gwadar.
More than 50 people, including security forces, were killed in August last year in a string of assaults in Balochistan that were claimed by the BLA.
Bomb targeting bus carrying security forces kills 5, wounds 10 in southwestern Pakistan
- Bomb attack takes place in Nushki district in militancy-wracked Balochistan province, say police
- No one has claimed responsibility but suspicion likely to fall on separatist Baloch Liberation Army
QUETTA, Pakistan: A roadside bomb exploded near a bus carrying security forces in restive southwestern Pakistan on Sunday, killing at least five officers and wounding 10 others, police said.
The attack occurred in Nushki, a district in Balochistan, said Zafar Zamanani, a local police chief. He said the blast also badly damaged another nearby bus. The dead and wounded were transported to a nearby hospital.
Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister of Balochistan, condemned the attack.
No one immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion is likely to fall on the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, which days ago ambushed a train, took about 400 people on board hostage and killed 26 hostages before security forces launched an operation and killed all 33 attackers.
Oil- and mineral-rich Balochistan is Pakistan’s largest and least populated province. Ethnic Baloch residents have long accused the central government of discrimination — a charge Islamabad denies.
Baloch Liberation Army has been demanding independence from the central government.
Iraqi Special Forces personnel complete counter-terror training course in Pakistan
- Iraqi personnel complete over two-month-long training at National Counter Terrorism Center
- Military training cooperation between two nations dates back to 1955, says state broadcaster
ISLAMABAD: Iraqi Special Forces have completed an over two-month-long training course at the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC) in northwestern Pakistan, state-run media reported on Sunday, as both countries eye bolstering military and defense cooperation for regional security.
The Iraqi personnel arrived in Pakistan in December 2024 to undergo training at the NCTC located in Pabbi town in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.
“Pakistani military institutions are playing an important role in providing counter-terrorism training and enhancing security cooperation in the region,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
It added that the cooperation for military training between the two states dates back to 1955, under which the Pakistan Army agreed to train Iraqi Special Forces.
The state broadcaster said that the Pakistan Army will train more Iraqi Special Forces personnel at the NCTC, describing the center as an “internationally renowned training center with modern facilities.”
Pakistan and Iraq have strengthened ties in recent years through defense cooperation, with Islamabad frequently providing training to Iraqi security forces.
In 2014, Iraq procured Super Mushak trainer aircraft from Pakistan to bolster defense relations between the two Muslim-majority nations.
