RjNews

China has rolled over a $2 billion loan to Pakistan, Adviser to the Finance Minister Khurram Schehzad told Reuters in a text message on Saturday. The government is working to strengthen its finances after securing a $7bn International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout in September 2024. The first installment of the loan is currently under review , and if successful, the country will receive an additional $1bn. Securing external financing has previously been a key condition for the IMF to approve bail-out deals for the cash-strapped nation. The government needs to repay over $22bn in external debt in fiscal year 2025, including nearly $13bn in bilateral deposits, global credit rating agency Fitch said last month. According to the World Bank’s International Debt Report released in December, China has become Pakistan’s largest creditor with almost $29bn in loans. The World Bank put Pakistan’s total external debt (including IMF) at $130.85bn in 2023, accounting for 352 per cent of its t...

A lawyers’ protest organised by the Karachi Bar Association (KBA) and Hyderabad Bar Council in the provincial capital on Saturday led to a major traffic disruption on Sharea Faisal near the FTC flyover and roads leading to the press club. The legal bodies were protesting against controversial canal projects , the 26th Constitutional Amendment, handing over Sindh’s lands for corporate farming and the Prevention of Electronic Crimes (Amendment) Bill, 2025. Caravans of lawyers belonging to different district bars of the province arrived at the FTC flyover on Sharea Faisal where contingents of law enforcers were already deployed with containers parked, triggering traffic chaos and long lines of vehicles. The lawyers held successful talks with the police and district administration under which they were allowed to take the route of Lines Area towards the Karachi Press Club (KPC). The march, led by senior lawyers Javed Qazi, Sajjad Chandio, Asghar Narejo, Aqib Rajpar, Ashraf Samoo, Abi...

ISLAMABAD: The organisers of Aurat March in the capital vowed on Friday to go ahead with their planned event, and hold a rally from the National Press Club to D-Chowk today (Satur­day), despite not receiving formal permission from the administration. “We will have our show outside the National Press Club as per previous years and will try to march towards D-Chowk to mark the occasion [of Inter­national Women’s Day],” rights activist Dr Farzana Bari told Dawn on Friday night. Dr Bari, who is also one of the main organisers of the march, said they had submitted a formal application to the Islamabad admi­nistration months ago, seeking permission to hold the march from NPC to D-Chowk, but had not recei­ved a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) for the event so far. She said the march organisers had also written to PM Shehbaz Sharif, requesting him to direct the Islamabad administration to issue an NOC for the event. Instead, Dr Bari said, the administration had been asking them to postpo...

The creator of a controversial AI-generated video depicting battle-ravaged Gaza rebuilt into a seaside resort, shared by US President Donald Trump’s official social media accounts, has said that the video was meant to be a “satire about this megalomaniac idea about putting statues” in the territory, British news outlet The Guardian reports. In February, the US president proposed for the US to take over Gaza and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere, sparking widespread condemnation. Arab leaders adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza earlier this week that would avoid resettling Palestinians, in contrast to Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” vision. Last week, Trump posted an AI-generated video on social media, depicting Gazans’ living in the bombarded territory coming out of caves to a beach with skyscrapers, with cameos from the president himself and Elon Musk, who is leading Trump’s federal cost-cutting efforts, both enjoying life ...

A man allegedly shot his elderly mother and two siblings dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Nowshera district on Friday, a police spokesperson told Dawn.com . Nowshera police spokesperson Adnan Durani confirmed the incident to Dawn.com and said a case had been lodged with the police investigating the matter now. The victims’ bodies were handed over to their heirs, he added. The first information report (FIR) was registered at the Pabi police station under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of a sibling of the suspect and two of the dead. Rescue 1122 Nowshera spokesperson Nabeel Khan told Dawn.com that the Pabi station received reports of a shooting before Iftar earlier this evening. “By the time we [Rescue 1122] arrived, two women and a man were lying in a pool of blood,” he said. “All three people were critically injured when our team arrived and rushed them to the Tehsil Headquarters Hospital in Pabi, where they succumbed to their injuries...

US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Thursday that he planned to travel to Saudi Arabia to speak to Ukrainian envoys about a ceasefire with Russia and a “framework” for a longer agreement. “We’re now in discussions to coordinate a meeting with the Ukrainians in Riyadh, or even potentially Jeddah,” Witkoff told reporters. “The idea is to get down a framework for a peace agreement and an initial ceasefire as well,” he said. Witkoff said that US President Donald Trump was pleased by a letter sent by President Volodymyr Zelensky in the wake of a verbal confrontation in the White House last Friday. “He felt that Zelensky’s letter was a very positive first step. There was an apology. There was an acknowledgement that the United States has done so much for the country of Ukraine and a sense of gratitude,” Witkoff said. Trump and Vice President JD Vance at the meeting accused Zelensky of not thanking the United States sufficiently for billions of dollars’ worth of weapons since Russia’s invasio...

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday reaffirmed the federal government’s full support in the development and welfare of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s populace. “We are committed to the development of KP,” the prime minister said while talking to PML-N KP General Secretary Murtaza Javed Abbasi who called on him at the PM House. Abbasi invited the prime minister to visit KP and lay the foundation stone for an additional interchange on the Hazara Motorway to facilitate the people of Abbottabad and surrounding areas. The prime minister’s statement comes a day after KP Chief Minister Ali Amin Gandapur complained that the centre was not releasing due funds to the province. He criticised the federal government last month for “avoiding its Constitutional responsibility over the delayed National Finance Commission (NFC) Award” and warned that if the federal government failed to announce the new NFC Award by April, then a ‘decisive action’ would be taken in May. CM Gandapur had said ...

PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif recently celebrated his government’s one-year performance scorecard as a testament to its success in “steering the country out of multiple crises”. He spoke glowingly on the macroeconomic stabilisation achieved thus far, which has been made possible with the help of a bailout package from the IMF, assistance from friendly countries, and sharp adjustments in the domestic market which, though they have inflicted unbearable pain on ordinary citizens, have also helped tame runaway inflation. Mr Sharif’s exuberance may be excused — the present government faced extremely daunting challenges from the get-go, and it deserves to give itself a pat on the back. Admittedly, a more hard-nosed assessment of what the country has gained and lost over the past year may yield more sobering reflections, but as far as political statements go, this one, at least, wasn’t completely full of hot air. It is hoped, however, that it hasn’t made Islamabad lose sight of its bigger...

The federal government on Wednesday appointed Bilal bin Saqib as the chief adviser to the finance minister on the recently announced Pakistan Crypto Council. On February 25, the finance ministry announced it was considering “establishing a National Crypto Council” to adopt emerging digital currencies in line with global trends. An official statement said Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb had a meeting on digital assets with a foreign delegation, “including President Trump’s advisers for digital assets”. A press release issued today by the Finance Division said Saqib’s appointment as chief advisert “reaffirms Pakistan’s commitment to embracing technological advancement while ensuring sound policy measures that support the national economy, digital transformation, and a secure, transparent financial system for all”. According to Forbes , Saqib — who is part of their ‘30 under 30’ list — is the cofounder of Tayaba, which the publication describes as “a social enterprise that aims to ...

AS the country continues to face a multifaceted terrorism threat, the state has yet to come up with a matching response, even as we continue to lose a high number of security men and civilians to terrorist attacks. Figures released for February by the PICSS think tank point to the grim reality we face: over 100 lives were lost to terrorism last month, with civilian fatalities (55) overtaking those of security personnel (47). In keeping with earlier trends, the violence has been concentrated in KP and Balochistan, with religiously inspired militants such as the banned TTP , as well as Baloch separatists , spearheading the violent campaigns. Even in the current month, the past few days have seen numerous incidents of bloodletting. The latest incident occurred on Tuesday, when suicide bombers reportedly struck Bannu Cantonment . Earlier, an FC man was martyred on Monday when a woman suicide bomber, apparently belonging to the banned BLA, carried out an attack near Kalat. Four security...

• Remedial steps may include curbing development programme, higher revenue collection from retail, real estate • Pakistan ‘well positioned’ for first review of Fund’s bailout, says finance minister ISLAMABAD: The government may need to implement a combination of revenue measures and fiscal tightening — primarily by curbing development spending — in the final quarter of the current fiscal year before securing the next $1.1 billion disbursement from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Informed sources said that new fiscal measures, likely to take effect from April 1, could involve a three-pronged approach: stricter control over the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP); enhanced revenue collection from sectors with lenient enforcement, such as retail and real estate; and activation of contingency measures committed under the $7 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) last year to make up for the revenue shortfall in the first half of the year as well as subsequent months. Offic...

AN IMF delegation is in Islamabad to assess progress on the Fund’s ongoing $7bn funding programme amidst hopes that the review will not encounter any serious obstacles that could delay the next tranche. The mission will evaluate how Pakistan has done on quantitative performance criteria, structural benchmarks and indicative targets for the first half of the current fiscal year. There have been some “technical slippages”, such as delays in meeting the deadlines for certain goals, like legislation on agriculture tax . Officials insist that they have covered all the bases, although the failure to meet the tax target will likely remain a major source of worry. Yet, the officials are confident that the IMF will ignore the slippages in the tax target because of a “higher-than-targeted primary budget surplus and greater-than-estimated revenue-to-GDP ratio”. The FBR attributes the shortfall largely to reduced tax collection from imports, sluggish LSM growth and an unexpected drop in i...

BAJAUR / LAKKI MARWAT: A policeman was martyred by unidentified assailants in an attack in the Khar area of Bajaur, on Sunday. The cop, identified as Ismail Khan, was returning home from a nearby market after shopping when the assailants ambu­shed him in the Badisamoor area, rescue officials said while quoting locals. The 38-year-old victim was critically wounded in the attack and died while being administered first aid at the District Headq­uarters Hospital, Khar. District Police Officer (DPO) Waqas Rafiq said the martyred cop was head of the Quick Resp­onse Force of district police. Talking to reporters after the incident, the DPO said a police team immediately arrived at the scene to arrest the attackers, but they fled. He vowed to use all resources to trace the attackers, adding that an investigation has been launched into the incident. No group has claimed the responsibility for the attack. This is the second attack targeting police in Bajaur in a month. Body recovered Se...

Pope Francis remained stable through the day on Sunday and no longer required the use of mechanical ventilation to breathe, the Vatican said, in a sign of progress as the 88-year-old pontiff battles double pneumonia . Francis has been in Rome’s Gemelli hospital for more than two weeks. He was admitted on February 14 with a severe respiratory infection that triggered other complications. “The clinical conditions of the Holy Father have remained stable throughout the day,” said the latest detailed update about the pontiff’s condition on Sunday. The pope, it said, no longer needed the use of what the Vatican has called “non-invasive mechanical ventilation” but was continuing to receive oxygen via a small hose under his nose. The statement said the pope had not had a fever on Sunday. It said doctors were keeping his prognosis as “guarded” due to “the complexity of the clinical picture”, meaning the pope is not out of danger. Francis, who is spending his 17th night in hospital, met ear...

QUETTA: Police barged into the Quetta Press Club on Saturday, arresting some individuals who had arrived for a press conference to air their grievances against the authorities after they appeared in a test for jobs in Balochistan Education Department. The shortlisted candidates wanted to register their protest against delays in the issuance of appointment letters. The police action drew a strong reaction from the Balochistan Union of Journalists and the Quetta Press Club (QPC). A heavy police conting­ent was deployed in front of the Quetta Press Club since early morning, along with prisoners’ vans and water cannons, to deter demonstrators. Police arrested a number of protesters who had gathered outside the QPC. When some of the protesters went inside the QPC for addressing a press conference, police barged into the club’s premises, allegedly manhandled journalists when they tried to stop them from entering the building, and detained the candidates. In a joint statement, the BUJ a...

Two people were killed on Saturday, while another was injured in separate incidents in Karachi as the death toll from traffic accidents across the metropolis rose . According to Moachko police Station House Officer (SHO) Faisal Latif, a man was killed and another critically injured after a dumper (loaded truck) hit them on the main Hub River Road early in the morning. While speaking to Dawn.com , he said that the victims were travelling when an “apparently recklessly driven dumper” hit them from the side near Quetta Maulana Hotel. SHO Latif said that the driver had escaped from the spot along with the truck, adding that the injured men were transported to the Civil Hospital Karachi’s (CHK) trauma centre. Shah Mohammed, 45, was pronounced dead after reaching CHK, while Imran — who is in critical condition — was admitted for treatment. The police have registered a case against the unknown driver on the complaint of the deceased’s cousin Mohammed Iqbal, the officer said, adding that t...