PESHAWAR: Thousands came out in protest in Swat valley in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, days after a roadside bomb hit a convoy of foreign diplomats visiting the area, killing a police officer in their security detail.
While most militant attacks in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan are claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, also known as the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the group has distanced itself from last week’s attack on the diplomats convoy, which took place as it was en route to a hill station and ski resort called Malam Jabba. All the nearly dozen diplomats were unhurt.
Pakistan has seen a rise in militancy in recent months, with most attacks taking place in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Islamabad says fighters mainly associated with the Pakistani Taliban or TTP group frequently launch attacks from hideouts in Afghanistan, targeting police and other security forces. Islamabad has even blamed Kabul’s Afghan Taliban rulers for facilitating anti-Pakistan militants. Kabul denies the charges.
Over 80 policemen have been killed in attacks, ambushes and target killings in KP in 2024, according to police data.
“The protest is meant to give a message for the restoration of peace,” said Mazhar Azad, a representative of the Swat Qami Jirga that led Friday’s protest in a famous town square in Mingora city called Nishat Chowk.
“We want peace at any cost, we want an end to terrorism. We don’t want any kind of war on our land.”
The protest was joined by representatives of nearly all political parties, members of the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement civil rights group as well as activists, lawyers and trade union representatives from Swat.
Friday’s protest took place despite the Deputy Commissioner’s Office in Swat issuing a “high-level” threat alert for district Swat on Thursday, banning large public gatherings.
“We are being told that militants are present in the mountains of Swat,” Swat Qami Jirga member Khalid Mehmood Khan said as he addressed the gathering. “If this is true, then it is evidence of state failure. We will no longer accept unrest and militancy in Swat under any circumstances.”
When asked about public reservations about the deteriorating security situation in Swat and the rest of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a spokesperson for the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government, Muhammad Saif, said KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur had constituted a fact-finding committee on the attack on foreign diplomats:
“The government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is doing everything possible to restore and maintain peace in the province.”
Spokesperson for Swat Police, Moen Fayaz, said Friday’s protests had concluded in a “peaceful manner.”
“People of Swat and police have given sacrifices in the past and the police are ready to fight against militancy in future,” he told Arab News. “Both government and public respect the sacrifices of police and police will fight in the future as well to restore peace in the region.”
Pakistani army and counter-terrorist forces maintain a strong presence in Swat valley, which has long been a hotbed of militant insurgency, though militants have stepped up their attacks since late 2022 after breaking a ceasefire with the government.
In 2012, Islamist militants shot and wounded Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai in the valley. TTP insurgents took partial control of Swat Valley in 2007, before being driven out by years-long military operations.
Thousands rally for peace in Pakistan’s Swat valley after attack on diplomats’ convoy
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Thousands rally for peace in Pakistan’s Swat valley after attack on diplomats’ convoy
- Pakistani army and counter-terror forces maintain a strong presence in Swat valley, long a hotbed of militant insurgency
- TTP insurgents took partial control of Swat Valley in 2007, before being driven out by years-long military operations
Pakistan receives $1.02 billion first tranche from new IMF bailout
- IMF board on Wednesday approved a long-awaited $7 billion bailout deal
- First tranche to be reflected in SBP liquid reserves to be released on Oct. 3
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s central bank said on Friday it had received $1.0269 billion from the International Monetary Fund as the first tranche of a $7 billion bailout to stabilize the economy, two days after the global lender’s board approved the package.
The IMF’s board on Wednesday approved a long-awaited 37-month $7 billion bailout deal that will require “sound policies and reforms” to strengthen macroeconomic stability and address structural challenges alongside “continued strong financial support from Pakistan’s development and bilateral partners.”
“Following the approval of the IMF Executive Board of 37-month Extended Fund Facility amounting to $7 billion, SBP has received the first tranche of SDR 760 million (equivalent to USD 1026.9 million) from the IMF today [Friday],” the central bank said.
“These inflows will be reflected in SBP liquid reserves to be released on Thursday 03 Oct 2024.”
Pakistan has been struggling with boom-and-bust economic cycles for decades, leading to 22 IMF bailouts since 1958. Currently the country is the IMF’s fifth-largest debtor, owing the Fund $6.28 billion as of July 11, according to the lender’s data.
The latest economic crisis has been the most prolonged and has seen Pakistan facing its highest-ever inflation, pushing the country to the brink of a sovereign default last summer before a stop-gap last-minute IMF bailout.
Inflation has since eased and credit ratings agency Moody’s has upgraded Pakistan’s local and foreign currency issuer and senior unsecured debt ratings to ‘Caa2’ from ‘Caa3’, citing improving macroeconomic conditions and moderately better government liquidity and external positions.
With inputs from Reuters
Cricket umpire Aleem Dar to quit next year after Pakistan domestic season
- The 56-year-old Dar is among four Pakistani umpires on the ICC international panel
- Dar says its the right time to step down, give opportunities to other emerging Pakistani umpires
ISLAMABAD: Three-time world cricket umpire of the year Aleem Dar will step down in 2025 after the Pakistan domestic season.
The 56-year-old Dar served on the ICC elite panel of umpires from 2003-23. He is on the Pakistan elite panel and is among four Pakistani umpires on the ICC international panel, making him eligible to officiate in one-day internationals and Twenty20s.
“All great journeys must eventually come to an end, and the time has come for me to focus fully on my social and charity work,” Dar said on Friday. “My hospital project and other initiatives are very close to my heart and require my full devotion and attention.”
Dar played 17 first-class matches and 18 List A games from 1986-98 before he made his first-class umpiring debut in Pakistan’s premier domestic competition, the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, in 1999.
“Umpiring has been my life for nearly 25 years and I have cherished the privilege of officiating some of the most iconic matches involving the greatest players of this generation,” Dar said. “Throughout my career, I’ve strived to uphold the highest standards of sportsmanship, and it has been an honor to work alongside some of the finest match officials in the world.”
Dar said it was the right time to step down and give opportunities to other emerging umpires from Pakistan.
“I will remain committed to mentoring and supporting the next generation of match officials and will always be available to offer guidance to those pursuing a career in this noble profession,” he said.
Dar officiated in 145 test matches, 231 ODIs, 72 T20s, and five T20 World Cups.
Pakistan invites investment from American banks as it seeks sustainable external financing
- On Friday, Sharif met officials of top American banks including JP Morgan, Natixis Corporate & Investment Bank, Goldman Sachs
- IMF bailout loan is contingent on “continued strong financial support from Pakistan’s development and bilateral partners”
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday invited American banks to invest in Pakistan’s infrastructure, energy, technology and agriculture sectors as the South Asian country seeks sustainable forms of external financing like direct investment.
On Friday, the IMF said Pakistan had received “significant financing assurances” from China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates linked to a new International Monetary Fund program that go beyond a deal to roll over $12 billion in bilateral loans owed to them by Islamabad.
The IMF’s Executive Board on Wednesday approved the new $7 billion, 37-month loan agreement for Pakistan that will require “sound policies and reforms” to strengthen macroeconomic stability and address structural challenges alongside “continued strong financial support from Pakistan’s development and bilateral partners.”
The approval releases an immediate $1 billion disbursement to Islamabad.
On Friday, Sharif met a delegation of officials from top American banks in New York, including JP Morgan, Natixis Corporate & Investment Bank, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Goldman Sachs, Citizens Bank, Lazard and Audax Private Equity Partnering.
“The Prime Minister assured the delegation of the government’s commitment to maintaining a stable macroeconomic environment to facilitate foreign investors,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan said in a report after the meeting.
“The Prime Minister informed the delegation about the key initiatives taken by the Government to stabilize the economy and attract foreign investment to Pakistan, including broadening the tax base, enhancing the ease of doing business, and ongoing reforms in the state-owned enterprises.”
These steps had resulted in improved economic indicators and the up-gradation of Pakistan’s credit rating by international rating agencies, including, Fitch and Moodys.
“He also briefed the delegation on the establishment of a Sustainable Finance Framework, which will allow the government to carry out a green and sustainability bond issuance in the international capital markets,” Radio Pakistan reported.
Islamabad had been working on implementing the IMF’s conditions, which Sharif had previously called “strict” to secure the 37-month loan program agreed in July.
One condition was to secure additional external financing, which the country was struggling to do.
The IMF said in a statement on Wednesday that Pakistan had taken key steps to restore economic stability with consistent policy implementation under the 2023-24 standby arrangement.
It added that growth had rebounded to 2.4 percent and inflation has receded significantly, falling to single digits, amid appropriately tight fiscal and monetary policies.
A contained current account and calm foreign exchange market conditions have allowed the rebuilding of reserve buffers, and the central bank of Pakistan has been able to cut the policy rate by a total of 450 bps since June, the statement said.
Despite this progress, it said, Pakistan’s vulnerabilities and structural challenges remain formidable, adding that the tax base remains too narrow.
“Without a concerted adjustment and reform effort, Pakistan risks falling further behind its peers,” it warned.
With inputs from Reuters
Pakistani PM says Israel threatening to drag entire Middle East into war
- Sharif was addressing UN General Assembly, where he spoke about Gaza, Kashmir, Pakistan’s fight against terror
- Sharif also lamented that UN Security Council Resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir had not been implemented
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Friday a failure to implement United Nations resolutions concerning Palestine had emboldened Israel and it was threatening to drag the entire Middle East into war.
Sharif was addressing the UN General Assembly, where he spoke about the war in Gaza, India’s ‘occupation’ of Kashmir, Pakistan’s fight against militancy and its struggle to shore up its economy, among other issues.
Gaza health authorities list more than 41,000 Palestinians confirmed killed in Israel’s air and ground assault, launched after Hamas fighters attacked Israeli towns on Oct. 7 last year, killing 1,200 people and capturing around 250 hostages. Israel’s airstrikes in recent days in Lebanon have killed hundreds of people and heightened fears of a regional war.
“In a span of a few days, Israel’s unrelenting bombing of Lebanon, has killed over 500 people, including women, and even small children,” Sharif told the UNGA.
“The failure to implement UN resolutions has emboldened Israel. It threatens to drag the entire Middle East into a war, whose consequences could be grave and beyond imagination.”
Sharif called for “durable peace” through a two-state solution.
“We must seek a viable, secure, contiguous and sovereign State of Palestine, based on the pre-1967 borders, with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its eternal capital. And to advance these goals, Palestine must also be immediately admitted as a full member of the United Nations,” Sharif said.
Sharif also lamented that UN Security Council Resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir had not been implemented. The Council has adopted several resolutions in 1948 and in the 1950s on the dispute between India and Pakistan over the region, including one which says a plebiscite should be held to determine the future of the mostly Muslim Kashmir.
Another resolution also calls upon both sides to “refrain from making any statements and from doing or causing to be done or permitting any acts which might aggravate the situation.”
UN peacekeepers have been deployed since 1949 to observe a ceasefire between India and Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.
“Instead of moving toward peace, India has resiled from commitments to implement the Security Council resolutions on Jammu and Kashmir. These resolutions mandate a plebiscite to enable the people of Jammu and Kashmir to exercise their fundamental right to self- determination,” Sharif said.
The Himalayan region has long been a flashpoint in ties between the nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan, who both claim it in full and rule it in part.
In August 2019, India stripped the part of Kashmir it administers of its special status, blocked the right of the state to frame its own laws and allowed non-residents to buy property there. Telephone lines, Internet and television networks were blocked and there were heavy restrictions on movement and assembly.
“Day in and day out, nine hundred thousand Indian troops terrorize the people of occupied Jammu and Kashmir, with draconian measures, including prolonged curfews, extra-judicial killings and the abduction of thousands of young Kashmiris,” Sharif said.
“At the same time, in a classic settler-colonial project, India is seizing Kashmiri lands and properties, and settling outsiders into occupied Jammu and Kashmir, to transform the Muslim- majority into a minority. This hackneyed tactic is employed by all occupying powers, but it has always failed. In Jammu and Kashmir too, it shall fail.”
Sharif said it was also “worrying” that India was engaged in a “massive expansion” of its military capabilities, which were essentially deployed against Pakistan:
“Its war doctrines, envisage a surprise attack and a ‘limited war under the nuclear overhang’. Thoughtlessly, India has spurned Pakistan’s proposals for a mutual “Strategic Restraint Regime”. Its leadership has often threatened to cross the Line of Control and “take-over” Azad Kashmir. Let me state in no uncertain terms that Pakistan will respond most decisively to any Indian aggression.”
Pakistan PM briefs US-Pakistan Business Council on special body set up for foreign investments
- Sharif’s government has actively pursued economic diplomacy in recent months and wants to strengthen ties with the US
- Islamabad aims to boost bilateral trade in goods and services, which Pakistani embassy in Washington says totals $12 billion
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday met a delegation of the US-Pakistan Business Council (USPBC) in New York, introducing them to a special civil-military investment body set up last year to attract foreign funding and briefing them on government measures taken to improve ease of doing business.
Sharif’s government has actively pursued economic diplomacy in recent months and wants to strengthen ties with the US — strained in recent years by political tensions — and boost bilateral trade in goods and services, which the Pakistani embassy in Washington says now totals about $12 billion.
Sharif’s meeting with USPBC took place on the sidelines of the annual United Nations General Assembly, which the PM is scheduled to address later today, presenting his country’s stance on Israel’s war on Gaza, the lingering Kashmir dispute, growing global security deficit and climate change risks.
“In introducing the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) to the participants, the Prime Minister underscored that SIFC was a high-level, one-window agency empowered to facilitate foreign investors in planning and implementing their ventures in four key areas: agriculture, IT, energy, and mining,” a statement from Sharif’s office said after he met the USPBC delegation.
“The Prime Minister added that the SIFC aimed at bolstering investor confidence and expediting project implementation through customized solutions and demand-driven facilitation.”
Sharif identified various areas in Pakistan’s economy, particularly agriculture, technology, pharmaceutical, oil and gas and mining where he said US companies could benefit through mutually beneficial investments.
As Pakistan has sought approval for a $7 billion IMF loan in recent months — the approval was received this week — it has actively sought external financing from allies as well as looked at more sustainable forms such as direct investment and climate financing.
On Friday, an IMF official said Pakistan had received “significant financing assurances” from China, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates linked to the new IMF program that go beyond a deal to roll over $12 billion in bilateral loans owed to them by Islamabad.
The IMF’s Executive Board on Wednesday approved the new 37-month loan agreement for Pakistan that requires “sound policies and reforms” to strengthen macroeconomic stability.
The approval releases an immediate $1 billion disbursement to Islamabad.
