Posts

The flaws of coercive sustainability

The new federal agricultural financing scheme, Zarkhez-e , is being touted by the authorities as a major government-backed intervention aimed at expanding collateral-free credit to small, subsistence farmers. However, many bankers insist that it risks becoming a repeat of the yellow cab scheme from the 1990s as it imposes “directed lending” on commercial banks in a weak legal and recovery environment. “It is a model that has repeatedly failed in Pakistan and sits uneasily with market principles the country has committed to adhere to under the IMF [International Monetary Fund] programme,” argued the head of retail banking at a mid-sized bank who requested anonymity. Zarkhez-e , also branded as Asaan Digital Zarai Qarza , aimed at expanding collateral-free agricultural lending for smallholders and tenants across the country, was launched by the State Bank (SBP) in October last year. Introduced under the National Subsistence Farmers Support Initiative, the project seeks to provide clean...
Post a Comment
Read more

FIA sets up pre-departure facilitation desks nationwide following large-scale offloading complaints

RAWALPINDI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has set up pre-departure facilitation desks at all its zonal offices nationwide to assist international travellers, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi said on Sunday, following widespread complaints over passenger offloading at airports. The move comes after around 66,154 passengers were offloaded last year despite holding valid documents, particularly at Lahore and Karachi airports, amid a post-2024 Greece boat tragedy crackdown on migrant smuggling, which claimed several Pakistani lives. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had ordered the formation of a special committee to probe the frequent offloading of travellers, which has triggered growing concern and criticism from affected passengers. Taking to his X account, Naqvi wrote: “Pleased to share that the Federal Investigation Agency ( @FIA Pakistan) has launched Pre-Departure Facilitation Desks across all zonal offices with immediate effect.” According to the FIA, the initiative...
Post a Comment
Read more

India’s ‘abeyance’ claim has no standing under treaty law: Pakistan commissioner for Indus Waters

Image
Pakistan Commissioner for Indus Waters Syed Muhammad Mehar Ali Shah on Sunday said India’s claim of placing the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in “abeyance” has no legal basis and that the treaty remains fully in force under international law. In April 2025, India held the IWT in abeyance following the attack on tourists in occupied Kashmir’s Pahalgam that killed 26 — an incident New Delhi blamed on Islamabad without evidence. Pakistan termed any attempt to suspend its water share an “act of war” . In June, the Permanent Court of Arbitration held that India cannot unilaterally hold the treaty in abeyance. Speaking on Geo News ‘ programme ‘Jirga’, Shah talked about the legality of India holding the IWT in abeyance and said: “As far as holding the treaty in abeyance is concerned, the word ‘abeyance’ is not recognised under international treaty law. It is a coined term, because we believe India understands that it cannot suspend, breach or terminate the treaty.” However, he cautioned tha...
Post a Comment
Read more

FAO launches Year of Woman Farmer to highlight contribution to agriculture

• Women make up 40pc of the global agrifood workforce, nearly equal to men • In Pakistan, 74pc of working women are engaged in farm sector ISLAMABAD: The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations has launched ‘International Year of the Woman Farmer 2026’, a global campaign aimed at recognising women’s indispensable yet often overlooked contributions to global agrifood systems and to galvanising efforts to close persistent gender gaps. Women make up a significant proportion of the world’s agricultural workforce and play a central role across agrifood value chains — from production and processing to distribution and trade — while also ensuring household food security and nutrition. In 2021, agrifood systems employed 40 per cent of working women globally— nearly equal to men. Despite their vital role, women’s contributions remain undervalued and their working conditions are often more precarious: irregular, informal, part-time, low-paid work that is labour-intensiv...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mock house, CIA source and Special Forces: The US operation to capture Maduro

At 4:21 on Saturday morning, President Donald Trump sent a message on his Truth Social platform: the United States had carried out a daring mission to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife. The action came as a surprise, but according to sources familiar with the matter, planning for one of the most complex US operations in recent memory had been in the works for months and included detailed rehearsals. Elite US troops, including the Army’s Delta Force, created an exact replica of Maduro’s safe house and practiced how they would enter the strongly fortified residence. The CIA had a small team on the ground starting in August who were able to provide insight into Maduro’s pattern of life that made grabbing him seamless, according to one source familiar with the matter. Two other sources told Reuters the intelligence agency also had an asset close to Maduro who would monitor his movements and was poised to pinpoint his exact location as the operation unfolded. Wit...
Post a Comment
Read more

Iran indignant after Trump says military ‘locked and loaded’

• US president says ready to intervene if Iran kills protesters; Tehran warns intervention will put US troops, regional stability at risk • Israel mounts online campaign urging Iranians to revolt; shares fake AI-generated videos, images DUBAI: Donald Trump warned on Friday that the US was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran’s security forces killed protesters, prompting Tehran to caution that any intervention would destabilise the region already on edge as unrest spread across the country amid a spiralling economic crisis. Clashes between demonstrators and security forces were reported in Iran’s several cities on Thursday, with at least six people said to have been killed in the first fatalities since protests over prices and the plunging rial escalated this week. What began with shopkeepers striking in Tehran on Sunday has since rippled to at least 15 cities, largely in the west, in the most serious challenge to Iran’s clerical establishment since the nationwide protests of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gunmen attack brother of PTI’s Sheikh Waqas Akram in Jhang; guard killed, 3 others injured

LAHORE: Gunmen on Friday attacked the convoy of Jhang Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Sheikh Fawad Akram — the brother of PTI Information Secretary Sheikh Waqas Akram — leaving one of his guards dead and three others injured near Jhang’s General Bus Stand (GBS), said police. Reports said the incident took place near a petrol pump near GBS, as Fawad was headed to his office. The four security guards who were injured in the attack were rushed to DHQ Hospital. However, hospital authorities referred a critically injured guard to Faisalabad, but he succumbed to his injuries. Jhang police, meanwhile, arrested four suspects, including two alleged gunmen and Fawad’s stepbrother, a statement from a police spokesperson read. Police said that Fawad and his stepbrother were travelling in separate convoys when their vehicles collided with each other. The collision triggered a scuffle between guards from both groups. The gunmen of another suspect, who was travelling with the stepbrot...
Post a Comment
Read more