ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday expressed his hopes for an “agricultural revolution” in the country following the training of 1,000 local experts in China, Pakistani state media reported.
The statement came during a meeting presided over by Iqbal with regard to training of these experts in China as part of collaboration between the two friendly countries, the state-run APP news agency. The report did not mention a timeline of the training program.
Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy and constitutes its largest sector. According to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS), agriculture contributes about 24 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for half of the employed labor force in the country.
During the meeting, Iqbal said Pakistan is sending its agricultural experts to China to get training and transform the sector on modern lines, adding that Pakistan has the best resources and minds but needed to acquaint its experts with modern technology and techniques to boost production.
“Developing agriculture on modern lines is the need of the hour,” he was quoted as saying. “Promoting research and education in this sector is among the top priorities of the government.”
The meeting was attended by National Food Security Minister Rana Tanveer Hussain and other senior officials, according to the report.
Tanveer reaffirmed the government’s commitment to developing the agricultural sector and adopting latest agricultural methodologies to achieve bumper crops and to change old harvesting methods.
Pakistan, which has been faced with an economic crisis, is currently looking to boost its agricultural production and exports to earn precious foreign exchange to support its economy.
In June this year, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had said that he was looking forward to exploring new avenues to benefit from China’s agricultural prowess and “modernization.” The statement came after the premier arrived in the Chinese city of Xi’an in the third leg of his five-day visit to China
“Looking forward to learning about China’s agricultural modernization and innovation from the world class facilities of this great city,” the prime minister said on X, after landing in Xi’an.
“Keen to explore new avenues of cooperation and further deepen our linkages in agriculture to enhance Pakistan’s food productivity and quality.”
Pakistan hopes for ‘agricultural revolution’ after training of 1,000 local experts in China
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Pakistan hopes for ‘agricultural revolution’ after training of 1,000 local experts in China
- Agriculture is the largest sector in Pakistan, contributing about 24 percent of the GDP and accounting for half of the employed labor force
- In June, PM Shehbaz Sharif said he was looking forward to exploring new avenues to benefit from China’s agricultural prowess, ‘modernization’
Pakistan says India planning strike within ‘24 to 36 hours’ as US calls for restraint
- Ataullah Tarrar warns ‘onus of escalatory spiral and its ensuing consequences shall squarely lie with India’
- US says Secretary of State Marco Rubio will contact Pakistan and India ‘as early as today or tomorrow’
ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information Ataullah Tarrar said on Wednesday Islamabad had “credible intelligence” India was planning to launch a military strike against Pakistan within the next “24 to 36 hours,” as the United States urged both nuclear-armed neighbors to resolve their differences peacefully.
Relations between the two South Asian nations have deteriorated sharply following an attack on April 22 in Pahalgam, a tourist hotspot in Indian-administered Kashmir, which killed 26 people.
New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing the assault, but Pakistan denied any involvement and called for an independent investigation while warning India against any escalation.
Tarrar issued the warning in a video statement, hours after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with his top military commanders alongside the country’s defense minister and national security adviser, reportedly granting them “operational freedom” to respond to last week’s attack.
“Pakistan has credible intelligence that India intends carrying out military action against Pakistan in the next 24 to 36 hours on the pretext of baseless and concocted allegations of involvement in the Pahalgam incident,” he said.
“Indian self-assumed hubristic role of judge, jury and executioner in the region is reckless and vehemently rejected,” he added.
Tarrar reiterated that Pakistan had itself suffered from militancy and “always condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations anywhere in the world.”
He said Islamabad had proposed a credible and transparent probe by a neutral commission of experts to ascertain facts around the Pahalgam attack, but “India had decided to tread the path of confrontation.”
“Evasion of credible investigation is in itself sufficient evidence exposing India’s real motives, consciously making strategic decisions hostage to public sentiments purposefully trumped up for securing political objectives is unfortunate and deplorable,” he said.
“Pakistan reiterates that any such military adventurism by India would be responded to assuredly and decisively,” he added. “The international community must remain alive to the reality that the onus of escalatory spiral and its ensuing consequences shall squarely lie with India.”
Meanwhile, the United States said it was closely monitoring the situation and had reached out to both governments.
“We’re also monitoring the developments across the board in that region, and we ... are in touch with the governments of India and Pakistan, not just at the foreign minister level, certainly, but at multiple levels,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said during a media briefing.
“The Secretary [of State Marco Rubio] expects to speak with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and India as early as today or tomorrow,” she added. “He is encouraging other national leaders, other foreign ministers, to also reach out to the countries on this issue.”
On Friday, US President Donald Trump had sought to downplay the tensions, saying tensions over Kashmir had lingered for a significantly long period and the matter would be “figured out, one way or another.”
Pakistan says will defend itself as Modi gives Indian army ‘operational freedom’ over Kashmir
- Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing an attack in Kashmir that killed 26 tourists
- PM Shehbaz Sharif rejects Indian allegations and calls for a neutral investigation in conversation with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday told United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that Pakistan shall defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity with full force as Indian PM Modi gave the country’s military “operational freedom” to respond to last week’s attack in Kashmir, amid soaring tensions between the two nuclear-armed neighbors.
Modi on Tuesday held a closed-door meeting with army and security chiefs a week after the deadliest attack in years that killed 26 civilians, and told the armed forces that they had the “complete operational freedom to decide on the mode, targets and timing of our response to the terror attack,” AFP reported, citing a government source.
Relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors have plummeted after India accused Pakistan of backing the attack on April 22. Islamabad has rejected the charge and both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir, taken diplomatic measures against each other, expelled citizens and ordered the border shut. Modi last week vowed to pursue those who carried out the attack in Pahalgam and those who had supported it.
Amid heightened tensions, UN chief Guterres called PM Sharif and Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar on Tuesday and underscored “the need to avoid a confrontation that could result in tragic consequences,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement. Gutterres offered his good offices to support the de-escalation efforts.
“While underscoring that Pakistan shall defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity with full force in case of any misadventure by India, the prime minister encouraged the UN Secretary-General to counsel India to act responsibly and exercise restraint,” Sharif’s office said.
“The prime minister categorically rejected any attempt to link Pakistan with the Pahalgam incident and reiterated his call for a transparent and neutral investigation into the incident.”
India on April 23 suspended the World Bank-mediated Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 that ensures water for 80 percent of Pakistani farms, saying it would last until “Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.” Islamabad described India’s move as an “act of war” and closed the Pakistani airspace for Indian airlines.
Guterres’ call came amid fears that India may conduct limited airstrikes or special forces raids near its border with Pakistan.
In his conversation with the UN chief, Sharif reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment toward fostering international peace and security as a responsible member of the international community and a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council.
“He particularly highlighted India’s weaponization of the waters of the Indus Basin as unacceptable, while noting that water was the lifeline of 240 million people,” Sharif’s office said.
Also on Tuesday, Pakistani Deputy PM Ishaq Dar claimed India had been attempting to alter the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, which determines the river water-sharing mechanism between both countries, for the past two years.
“I have my doubt, much like other people, that this drama was staged to suspend this treaty,” he said, referring to the Pahalgam attack.
“We obviously don’t have evidence that they have staged this drama,” he continued. “What we do say with full confidence is that Pakistan has nothing to do with this [attack].”
Tensions have been boiling between the two nations since the attack in Kashmir, which has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. Both countries have fought two wars over the disputed region they rule in part but claim in full.
The worst attack in recent years in Indian-administered Kashmir took place in Pulwama in 2019, when an insurgent rammed a car packed with explosives into a security forces convoy, killing 40 and wounding 35.
Indian fighter jets carried out air strikes on Pakistani territory 12 days later. The strikes were followed by the downing of an Indian fighter jet by Pakistan and the capturing of an Indian Air Force (IAF), who was released as a result of diplomatic efforts later.
The UN has urged the arch-rivals to talk, while China, which shares its border with both India and Pakistan, on Tuesday repeated its call on both sides to “exercise restraint.” Saudi Arabia has said Riyadh was trying to “prevent an escalation,” while Iran has offered to mediate the crisis.
Britain calls for calm in Indian and Pakistani communities after Kashmir attack
- Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan have taken a raft of measures against each other, amid tensions soaring since the April 22 attack
- Britain is home to one of the world’s biggest Indian, Pakistani communities who have held ill-tempered protests outside each other’s high commissions
LONDON: Britain called on Tuesday for calm between Indian and Pakistani communities in London after lawmakers voiced concerns that tensions over a deadly militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir region could spill into the diaspora.
Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan have taken a raft of measures against each other since the April 22 attack in the popular tourist destination of Pahalgam, which killed 26 people.
Delhi has blamed Islamabad for the violence. Pakistan has denied any role and called for a neutral probe.
Britain is home to one of the world’s biggest Indian and Pakistani communities.
“These issues have long been discussed with passion on British streets and we call on sides, all community leaders, all involved to call for calm at a time of tension in the region,” Foreign office minister Hamish Falconer told parliament.
When Falconer appeared in parliament to answer an urgent question on the situation, lawmakers raised concerns about media reports of ill-tempered protests outside India and Pakistan’s high commissions in London.
Britain updated its travel advice following the attack, advising against all travel to the region of Jammu and Kashmir, with certain exceptions.
The British government’s long-standing position is that India and Pakistan are responsible for finding a solution to the situation in Kashmir that takes into account the wishes of the Kashmiri people, Falconer told parliament.
Pakistani pilgrims depart from multiple cities as Islamabad begins Hajj flight operation
- Over 89,000 pilgrims will travel under the government’s scheme during Pakistan’s Hajj flight operation
- They will travel to Makkah, Madinah via 342 flights, with the last one departing from Pakistan on May 31
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan kicked off its 33-day-long Hajj flight operation on Tuesday, the Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said, with flights departing from Islamabad, Lahore, Karachi and Quetta for the Saudi city of Madinah.
Over 89,000 pilgrims will travel under the government’s scheme during Pakistan’s Hajj flight operations. They will travel to Makkah and Madinah via 342 flights in total, with the last one departing from Pakistan on May 31.
The first Hajj flight for this year, Pakistan International Airlines’ PK-713, departed under the Route to Makkah Initiative from Islamabad at 4:45am, carrying 442 pilgrims. The second flight left the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore at 8:30am, with 147 pilgrims aboard, according to the PAA. The third flight left Quetta with 151 pilgrims and the fourth from Karachi, carrying 285 pilgrims.
Religious Affairs Minister Sardar Muhammad Yousaf and Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki bid farewell to the pilgrims in Islamabad. Yousaf advised Pakistani pilgrims to strictly adhere to Saudi Arabia’s laws and respect the local culture during the annual Islamic pilgrimage and said he would “soon” travel to Saudi Arabia to review Hajj arrangements.
“As Hajj pilgrims, you are traveling to the sacred land as the guests of Allah and ambassadors of Pakistan, and you are urged to respect the laws and culture of Saudi Arabia,” the minister said in a televised address.
“I will take every possible measure to resolve the issues faced by Pakistani pilgrims in Saudi Arabia and will personally be among them to provide facilities.”
The Makkah Route Initiative is designed to streamline immigration processes by enabling pilgrims to complete official travel formalities at their departure airports. Initially tested in Islamabad in 2019, the program was later expanded to Karachi, benefitting tens of thousands of Pakistani travelers. This saves pilgrims several hours upon arrival in the Kingdom, as they can simply enter the country without having to go through immigration again.
Around 50,500 Pakistani pilgrims will travel to Saudi Arabia under the initiative this year. The scheme was launched in 2019 by the Saudi Ministry of Hajj and Umrah and has been implemented in five countries: Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Morocco and Bangladesh.
A total of 28,400 pilgrims will leave for Saudi Arabia through 100 flights from the Islamabad airport, Pakistan’s religious affairs ministry said. Seven special immigration counters have been set up at the Islamabad airport to facilitate pilgrims under the Makkah Route Initiative. The remaining 22,500 pilgrims will avail the scheme at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.
This year’s annual pilgrimage will take place in June.
In Karachi, the departure ceremony was attended by Saudi Arabia’s Consul General Muhammad bin Nasser Al-Subaie, representatives from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and senior officials from various airport agencies.
“Special arrangements were made at the airport for the pilgrims, including dedicated check-in counters, guidance services, and improved facilities to ensure a smooth and comfortable travel experience,” the PAA said.
“Officials extended their best wishes to the pilgrims for a safe and spiritually fulfilling journey. The Saudi consul general praised the excellent coordination and arrangements made for Hajj operations.”
Punjab Minister for Specialized Healthcare Khawaja Salman Rafique and Balochistan Governor Sheikh Jaffar Mandokhail attended departure ceremonies in Lahore and Quetta, respectively.
Rafique appreciated efforts of the PAA and all concerned departments in ensuring a smooth conduct of Hajj operations and extended his heartfelt wishes to the pilgrims for a safe and peaceful journey.
Balochistan Director Hajj Ilyas Jaffar and representatives of other agencies were present alongside Balochistan Governor Mandokhail at the departure ceremony in Quetta.
“The Honourable governor and other dignitaries requested special prayers for the prosperity of Pakistan and the continued success of all institutions,” the PAA said.
Pakistan won’t strike first but will respond forcefully to Indian escalation — deputy PM
- Ishaq Dar says Pakistan shared its concerns with countries like Saudi Arabia following tensions with India
- The deputy PM says he suspects India may have staged tourist shootings to suspend the Indus Waters Treaty
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar said on Tuesday Islamabad would not be the first to strike India despite heightened tensions following a deadly attack in Indian-administered Kashmir, though it would respond forcefully to any escalatory move by its eastern neighbor.
India has blamed Pakistan for the April 22 assault in the Pahalgam area of the disputed Himalayan region that left 26 tourists dead, an allegation Islamabad has categorically rejected.
In the aftermath, New Delhi suspended the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) and expelled Pakistani diplomats. The latter move was reciprocated by the administration in Islamabad, though it also called for a “neutral” international investigation into the Pahalgam incident.
Dar, who also serves as his country’s foreign minister, shared the details of Pakistan’s diplomatic outreach while addressing the Senate earlier today.
“As of now, we’ve spoken to the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, China, the United Kingdom, Türkiye, Azerbaijan, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Hungary — except in the case of Qatar, where I spoke directly to the prime minister,” Dar told lawmakers.
“I walked them through what happened — India’s psyche, its history and our concerns about what intentions it may have in light of that history,” he continued.
Dar said Pakistan’s intelligence indicated that India was contemplating some form of escalation.
“We will not be the first one [to strike],” he said. “But if India does it, then this time there will be no tit-for-tat. Our response will be stronger than the Indian action.”
Referring to the 2019 Pulwama attack that killed 40 Indian paramilitary personnel and was blamed on a Pakistan-based militant group, the Pakistani deputy prime minister noted that New Delhi had used the incident as a pretext to revoke Article 370 of its constitution, which granted special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
The region was subsequently absorbed into India’s union territory framework, a move Pakistan has repeatedly condemned.
Dar also claimed that India had been attempting to alter the 1960 Indus Water Treaty, which determines the river water sharing mechanism between both countries, for the past two years, citing changing circumstances.
“I have my doubt, much like other people, that this drama was staged to suspend this treaty,” he said while referring to the Pahalgam attack.
“We obviously don’t have evidence that they have staged this drama,” he continued. “What we do say with full confidence is that Pakistan has nothing to do with this [attack].”
Dar also applauded China and Türkiye for expressing clear support for Pakistan since the crisis began.
