PESHAWAR: Since the launch of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police’s Android app on March 22, the law enforcement agency has received 164 public “complaints,” or calls, said Muhammad Imran, who helps to manage the app’s backend operations, on Saturday. Out of all those calls, he added, 127 were sent to the relevant police stations while 37 were still pending.
The app was launched to bridge the gap between police officials and the residents of the province. It’s available on the department’s website, and people can use it on their smartphones to report crimes and road accidents.
Superintendent Police (SP) Peshawar City Shahzada Kokab Farooq said the app had significantly improved the response time of his department.
“Depending upon the success of this app in Peshawar, we may also introduce it in other districts,” he added.
Farooq said: “It is much easier to manage 40 complaints that arrive through this app than handle 20 people who physically visit police stations with their grievances.”
The KP police have also set up a control room to deal with the public complaints arriving digitally. It consists of two big plasma screens, several computers, telephone lines and is managed by four staff members.
Imran, the control room operator, said that the app gave each complaint or report a unique ID.
“We copy the ID from one plasma screen and paste it in the search box of a map in the other. This highlights the area where the complaint or report has originated. It also reveals the contact number of the sender,” he added.
After this step, he said, the control room operators need to mark these complaints to the station house officer of the relevant police station, who directly receives the report.
Assistant Director at the Data Analysis Wing of the city’s police lines, Asfandyar Khan, told Arab News there were eight staff members managing the Android app. “Four of them receive public complaints in the control room,” he said. “The other four work in the data analysis section to monitor the process and get feedback from relevant police stations on the digitally received complaints.”
E-policing gradually takes off in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
E-policing gradually takes off in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Pakistani companies likely to raise over $89 million in new stock listings this year
- Farrukh H. Sabzwari says approvals for two listings already granted while 10 more Initial Public Offerings are expected over next 12 months
- Economists expect KSE-100 index to reach 208,000 points by Dec., reflecting pent-up demand, strategic expansions and broader investor appetite
KARACHI: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) expects at least a dozen new listings this year, the PSX chief executive officer said on Monday, with the new entrants likely to raise as much as Rs25 billion ($89.3 million) in funding through the equity market.
Pakistan’s benchmark KSE-100 index has rallied to new highs and recorded returns of around 50 percent in Calendar Year (CY) 2025. The market closed at 182,384 points on Monday.
Around 135,000 new investors have also joined the PSX over the last 18 months, according to Pakistani state media.
“Continuing with the momentum, in CY2026, approvals for two Main Board listings have been granted,” PSX CEO Farrukh H. Sabzwari, who has previously served as a local partner of BoA Merrill Lynch and country head of CLSA Emerging Markets in Pakistan, told Arab News.
“PSX is expecting 10 more IPOs (Initial Public Offerings) over next 12 months across various sectors.”
Pakistan’s growing stocks mirror the country’s stabilizing economy which Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government expects would expand 3.9 percent this fiscal year through June with the help of the International Monetary Fund’s reforms-oriented $7 billion loan program.
The new IPOs would cover food, pharmaceutical, real estate investment trust (REIT), engineering, technology, oil and gas marketing, insurance, auto parts, manufacturing and energy sectors of the economy, according to Sabzwari.
Last year, the PSX listed Zarea Limited, Barkat Frisian Agro Limited, Image REIT, Pak Qatar Family Takaful, Blue-Ex Limited, Nets International Communication Limited and the Pakistan Credit Rating Agency Limited. These listings helped companies raise Rs4.3 billion ($15.4 million) of funding.
In addition, the PSX debt market witnessed seven issuances, valuing Rs10.5 billion ($37.5 million). Pakistan’s finance ministry raises funds through PSX by selling borrowing instruments like Islamic sukuk.
The PSX recorded the highest eight IPOs in a single year in 2021, according to Shankar Talreja, head of research at Topline Securities Ltd. It would be a record if the market lists 12 new entrants this year.
Sana Tawfiq, an economist at Karachi-based brokerage research firm AHL, described the market performance last year as “exceptional.”
“With projected fundraising of up to Rs25 billion ($89.3 million), the upcoming pipeline reflects pent-up demand, strategic expansions, and a broader investor appetite,” she said.
Tawfiq expects the KSE-100 index to reach 208,000 points by Dec. this year.
“As we look toward 2026, Pakistan’s equity market is entering a phase defined by stability, depth, and sustainable growth,” the economist said.
“The market is now transitioning toward a more measured trajectory.”
Key drivers in 2026 would likely include sustained domestic liquidity in equities, strengthening foreign reserves and a contained current account deficit, successful completion of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) privatization alongside accelerating progress on privatization and restructuring of power distribution companies (DISCOs), continued efforts to resolve circular debt in both power and gas sectors, and supportive global commodity prices, according to Tawfiq.
In a recent note to its clients, Topline Securities said the current IPO momentum was driven by macroeconomic stability under the IMF program, improving investor confidence and a declining interest rate environment.
Pakistan’s central bank last month cut its interest rate by 50 basis points to 10.5 percent in a surprising move aimed at boosting economic growth in the inflation-hit country.
“Despite ongoing geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties, investor sentiment continues to improve,” it said.
