A record investment package being prepared by Saudi Arabia for Pakistan will likely provide welcome relief for its cash-strapped Muslim ally, while also addressing regional geopolitical challenges, analysts say.
At the heart of the investment is a reported $10 billion refinery and oil complex in the strategic Gwadar Port on the Arabian Sea, the ultimate destination for the massive multi-billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor, which lies not far from the Indo-Iranian port of Chabahar.
Two Saudi sources have confirmed to AFP that heir apparent to the Gulf kingdom's throne, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will visit Islamabad shortly, without giving a date.
And a number of major investment deals are expected to be signed during a visit, officials from both countries have told AFP.
Riyadh and Islamabad, decades-old allies, have been involved for months in talks to hammer out details of the deals in time for the high-profile visit.
"The outcome of the talks so far has been very positive and this is going to be one of the biggest-ever Saudi investments in Pakistan," a Pakistani senior finance ministry official told AFP.
"We hope that an agreement to this effect will be signed during the upcoming visit of the Saudi crown prince to Pakistan," said the official, requesting anonymity.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that both Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, Islamabad's biggest trading partner in the Middle East, have offered Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan some $30 billion in investment and loans.
Riyadh investments are expected to provide a lifeline for Pakistan's slumping economy which was downgraded in early February by S&P ratings agency from a B to a B-, Saudi economist Fadhl al-Bouenain said.
"Saudi investment to Pakistan comes within an economic aid package aimed at relieving the stress of external debt and a shortage of foreign currency, besides boosting the sluggish economy," Bouenain told AFP.
The OPEC heavyweight also aims to achieve strategic and commercial goals with investments in infrastructure and refinery projects, he said.
Saudi Arabia and its Gulf partner, the UAE, have already deposited $3 billion each in Pakistan's central bank to help resolve a balance of payments crisis and shore up its declining rupee.
They have also reportedly deferred some $6 billion in oil imports payments as Islamabad has so far failed to secure fresh loans from the International Monetary Fund.
Khan has already visited Riyadh twice since taking office in July and in October attended a prestigious investment conference widely boycotted by other political and economic figures after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Khan also visited Saudi rivals Qatar and Turkey, as well as China seeking investments.
"One of the goals for Saudi Arabia expanding investments in refining worldwide is to secure market share and sustainable exports in the face of international competition," Bouenain said.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih visited Gwadar in January and inspected the site for the proposed oil refinery at the deep sea port, just 70 kilometres (45 miles) away from its Iranian competitor, Chabahar.
He was quoted by local media as saying the kingdom was studying plans to construct a $10 billion refinery and petrochemicals complex in Gwadar.
Like most oil suppliers, the world's top crude exporter has been investing heavily in refinery and petrochemicals projects across the globe to secure long-term buyers of its oil.
A pipeline from Gwadar to China would cut the supply time from the current 40 days to just seven, experts say.
Developed as part of China's Belt and Road Initiative with investments worth some $60 billion, Gwadar is being billed as a regional industrial hub of the future, easily accessible for Central Asia, Afghanistan, the Middle East and Africa.
"Pakistan needs a rich partner to enter as a third party besides China, capable of injecting needed cash," Bouenain said.
But so far China has rejected other partners for the corridor that seeks to connect its western province Xinjiang with Gwadar, including Saudi Arabia and UAE, said James M. Dorsey, a senior fellow at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.
This is despite calls by Khan "for the Chinese investments to be restructured to include agriculture and job-creation sectors and not only in infrastructure", Dorsey told AFP.
Any Saudi investment in Gwadar will also have geopolitical dimensions, Dorsey said.
Iran late last year inaugurated Chabahar which provides a key supply route to landlocked Afghanistan and allows India to bypass its historic enemy Pakistan.
India has seen Chabahar as a key way both to send supplies to Afghanistan and to step up trade with Central Asia as well as Africa.
But Riyadh is not expected to get involved in any Indo-Pakistani rivalry and the kingdom also has major strategic energy deals with New Delhi, where demand for oil is growing fast.
Indeed in April, the Saudis signed a $44 billion deal to build a huge refinery and petrochemicals complex in western India.
Mega Saudi Investment deals expected during Crown Prince's visit
Mega Saudi Investment deals expected during Crown Prince's visit
- The Kingdom is building a $10 billion refinery and petrochemicals complex in Gwadar
- Pakistan takes KSA as third partner in multi-billion dollar CPEC project
Over 50,000 Pakistani Hajj pilgrims to benefit from Makkah Route Initiative this year — ministry
- This year Saudi Arabia extended Makkah Route Initiative to Karachi airport, was previously available only in Islamabad
- Around 179,210 Pakistanis will perform Hajj pilgrimage this year under both the government and private schemes
ISLAMABAD: The religious affairs ministry said on Friday 26,000 Pakistani Hajj pilgrims had benefited from the Makkah Route Initiative last year, with the government planning to double the figure this year with the inauguration of the project in Karachi.
Pakistani officials last month confirmed Saudi Arabia’s decision to expand the Makkah Route Initiative, previously available only in Islamabad, to the airport in Karachi, the country’s largest and most populous city.
Launched in 2019, the Makkah Route Initiative allows for the completion of immigration procedures at the pilgrims’ country of departure, making it possible to bypass long immigration and customs checks on reaching Saudi Arabia. The facility significantly reduces waiting times and makes the entry process smoother and faster.
“Last year, the count of pilgrims utilizing the ‘Route to Makkah’ stood at 26,000 while this year, concerted efforts have been made to double the number of Pakistani Hajj pilgrims benefiting from this streamlined process,” state-run APP news agency said, quoting Secretary Religious Affairs Zulfiqar Haider, who alongside Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Pakistan, formally inaugurated this year’s ‘Route to Makkah’ project at the Islamabad International Airport on Friday.
“Saudi immigration and customs procedures for Hajj pilgrims departing from Islamabad would now be efficiently conducted in Islamabad itself,” Haider said.
“Consequently, these pilgrims would swiftly navigate through the Saudi airport and proceed to their destinations without delay.”
This year, around 179,210 Pakistanis will perform Hajj under both the government and private schemes, for which a month-long flight operation started on May 9.
Out of 179,210 pilgrims, 89,605 each will embark on the holy journey under the government and private schemes, while a quota of 25,000 and 44,802 pilgrims, respectively, has been allocated to the sponsorship schemes.
Under the Hajj flight operation, five airlines – Pakistan International Airlines, Saudi Airlines, Airblue, Serene Air, and Air Sial – will operate 259 sorties to transport around 68,000 intending pilgrims from eight major cities of Pakistan, namely Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, Multan, Quetta, Sialkot, and Sukkur, to Jeddah and Madinah under the government scheme.
The first set of Hajj flights took off on Thursday early morning.
PM orders immediate rebuilding of girls school bombed by militants in northwestern Pakistan
- Attackers beat up school guard before setting off explosives at private Aafia Islamic Girls Model School in North Waziristan
- Pakistan witnessed multiple attacks on girls schools until 2019, especially in Swat Valley and elsewhere in northwest
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday ordered that a girls school bombed by militants this week in a former stronghold of the Pakistani Taliban should be immediately rebuild, vowing to provide women with equal opportunities for education.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack late Wednesday that targeted the only girls school in Shawa, a town in the North Waziristan district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan.
Suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban, or Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who have targeted girls schools in the province in the past, saying that women should not be educated.
The TTP group was evicted from northwest Pakistan’s Swat and other regions in recent years after successive military operations. The TTP are a separate group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan in 2021. The Taliban takeover in neighboring Afghanistan has emboldened the Pakistani Taliban, the Pakistan government says.
“Prime Minister directed to immediately identify the people involved in the incident and ensure that they are punished,” a statement from Sharif’s office said, adding that the PM had instructed that the part of the school destroyed in the attack be “immediately” rebuilt at government expense.
“The nefarious ambitions of terrorists to stop the education of girls will never be allowed to succeed,” the statement quoted Sharif as saying. “Terrorist elements who are trying to create obstacles in the education of the daughters of the nation will be brought to justice.”
Pakistan witnessed multiple attacks on girls schools until 2019, especially in the Swat Valley and elsewhere in the northwest where the Pakistani Taliban long controlled the former tribal regions. In 2012, the insurgents attacked Malala Yousafzai, a teenage student and advocate for the education of girls who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
In the latest incident, police said the attackers first beat up the school guard before setting off the explosives at the private Aafia Islamic Girls Model School, which has 150 students.
In a statement, Abdullah Fadil, the UNICEF representative in Pakistan, said the “destruction of a girls’ school in a remote and underserved area is a heinous crime detrimental to national progress.” He cited Sharif’s statement on Wednesday declaring an education emergency and pledging to work toward enrolling 26 million out-of-school children.
With inputs from AP
Pakistani police prevent pro-Palestinian protesters from moving toward US embassy in Islamabad
- Police used batons on demonstrators who briefly blocked a key road and later staged a sit-in near a high-security area
- Students from the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan party posted videos on social media, claiming they were beaten by police
ISLAMABAD: Police in Pakistan’s capital Islamabad on Friday prevented a pro-Palestinian rally by a religious party from moving toward the US Embassy, where demonstrators wanted to stage a sit-in protesting Israel’s strikes in Gaza.
Police used batons on the demonstrators, angering hundreds of rallygoers who briefly blocked a key road and later staged a sit-in near a high-security area where foreign embassies and the offices of president, prime minister and parliament are located.
Students from the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan party posted videos on social media, claiming they were beaten by police who did not allow them to go toward the American embassy for a peaceful rally to denounce the Israeli strikes on Gaza.
Demonstrators held banners and posters with slogans opposing Israel and the United States and in support of the Palestinians. Organizers vowed to continue raising their voices for the Palestinians.
According to police, officers were negotiating with demonstrators to end the sit-in.
Downside risks for Pakistan remain exceptionally high — IMF
- Lender says while government has indicated intention to continue reforms, political uncertainty remains significant
- Policy slippages and lower external financing could undermine path to debt sustainability, put pressure on exchange rate
KARACHI: Downside risks for the Pakistani economy remain exceptionally high, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Friday in its staff report on the country, ahead of talks with the fund on a longer term program.
An International Monetary Fund mission is expected to visit Pakistan this month to discuss a new program, ahead of Islamabad beginning its annual budget-making process for the next financial year.
“Downside risks remain exceptionally high. While the new government has indicated its intention to continue the SBA’s policies, political uncertainty remains significant,” said the fund in its staff report following the second and final review under the standby arrangement (SBA).
The fund added that political complexities and high cost of living could weigh on policy, adding that policy slippages, together with lower external financing, could undermine the narrow path to debt sustainability and place pressure on the exchange rate.
The IMF also said higher commodity prices and disruptions to shipping, or tighter global financial conditions, would also adversely affect external stability for the cash-strapped nation.
The fund stressed the need for timely post-program external financing disbursements.
Pakistan last month completed a short-term $3 billion program, which helped stave off sovereign default, but the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has stressed the need for a fresh, longer term program.
Pakistan narrowly averted default last summer, and its $350 billion economy has stabilized after the completion of the last IMF program, with inflation coming down to around 17 percent in April from a record high 38 percent last May.
It is still dealing with a high fiscal shortfall and while it has controlled its external account deficit through import control mechanisms, it has come at the expense of stagnating growth, which is expected to be around 2 percent this year compared to negative growth last year.
Pakistan is expected to seek at least $6 billion and request additional financing from the Fund under the Resilience and Sustainability Trust.
Gang mastermind, extradited from Pakistan, jailed for life for UK police officer killing
- Piran Ditta Khan fled UK after Sharon Beshenivsky was shot at close range in Bradford in 2005
- Khan, a former takeaway boss, was said to be the ringleader of the gang involved in the murder
LONDON: A 75-year-old man who was extradited from Pakistan was jailed for life on Friday for the murder of a British police officer nearly 20 years ago.
Piran Ditta Khan fled the country after Sharon Beshenivsky was shot at close range as she and a colleague arrived at the scene of a robbery at a travel agency in Bradford, northern England, in 2005.
Although he did not pull the trigger, prosecutors at his trial said he was equally guilty of murder as he had planned the raid and knew that loaded weapons would be used.
Judge Nicholas Hilliard at Leeds Crown Court on Friday handed Khan a life sentence with a minimum term of 40 years and told him: “You will inevitably spend the remainder of your life in custody.”
Beshenivsky, 38, had only been an officer with West Yorkshire Police for nine months before her death, which happened on her daughter Lydia’s fourth birthday.
“Every birthday is a reminder of what happened that day,” Lydia said in an impact statement read in court.
“It has recently been Mother’s Day, and while my friends are celebrating with their mums, I sadly can never do that.”
She was “too young and innocent” to understand why her mother did not return from work to celebrate her birthday, the statement added.
Judge Hilliard praised Beshenivsky’s bravery in responding to the call “when she and her colleague had no way of knowing what they would be confronted with when they got there.
“Sharon Beshenivsky’s courage and commitment to duty that day cost her her life,” he added.
The rare fatal shooting of a police officer on duty caused widespread shock and revived calls for British police to routinely carry guns.
Khan, a former takeaway boss, was said by prosecutors to be the ringleader of the gang involved in the killing on November 18, 2005.
He remained in a lookout car during the robbery, played a “pivotal” role in planning the heist and knew that loaded firearms would be used.
As such he was as culpable of Beshenivsky’s murder “as surely as if he had pulled the trigger on that pistol himself,” prosecutors told his trial.
He claimed he was trying to recoup money owed to him by the owner of the travel agency but lawyers said there was no evidence for this.
The gang escaped with little more than £5,000.
Khan was arrested in Islamabad in January 2020 after years on the run and extradited in April 2023.
He was found guilty of murder as well as firearms offenses. He had admitted robbery.
Six other gang members have previously been jailed over the shooting, which also saw Beshenivsky’s colleague Teresa Milburn shot in the chest.
Milburn, who was 37 at the time, had joined the force two years beforehand.
Three of the men, including one who fled to Somalia but was later extradited, were jailed for life and told they would serve at least 35 years behind bars.
West Yorkshire Police Assistant Chief Constable Patrick Twiggs said members of the force “welcome the life sentence handed down to Khan.
“West Yorkshire Police will continue to honor Sharon’s memory, we still mourn the loss, we still miss her, she will be forever in our thoughts,” he added.
