KABUL: The Afghan government on Wednesday rejected reports that an aircraft carrying a Pakistani parliamentary delegation was deliberately prevented by authorities from landing in Kabul last week.
Pakistan National Assembly speaker Asad Qaiser left for Kabul with a nine-member delegation on the morning of April 8 on the invitation of the chairman of Afghanistan’s lower house, Mir Rahman Rahmani, to hold wide-ranging discussions, including on Afghan peace and cross-border trade.
The plane was turned back as it was about to descend at Kabul airport, over what was reported to be a security threat.
Tariq Aryan, a spokesman for the Afghan interior ministry, said at least four other flights were also prevented from landing at the airport that day as officials had to shut the facility to disarm an “an old explosive.”
“The airport was shut because this explosive was found,” Aryan told Arab News. “There was no other thing.”
The incident led to outrage among Afghan members of parliament, who summoned the chiefs of the country’s security establishment, including the interior minister, for a briefing on the matter.
“Their reasoning and explanations were not compelling to the lawmakers because they [Pakistani lawmakers] could have been informed about this [security threat] way ahead of the departure of his [Qaiser’s] flight,” Sadiq Ahmad Osmani, a lawmaker from Parwan province, told Arab News.
“We had full preparations, high protocol for his trip here, but unfortunately the news of the security threat there totally damaged our national hospitality. There are some at the top who had created the problem. It was an improper move,” he added.
Allah Gul Mujahid, a lawmaker from Kabul, said no trips by visiting officials had been canceled in the past 20 years over minor security threats.
Nazir Ahmad Hanaif, a lawmaker from Herat, openly blamed President Ashraf Ghani for the cancelation of Qaiser’s visit. Ghani’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
“He [Ghani] wants to damage further relations between the two countries,” Hanafi told Arab News, adding that the visit could have opened a new chapter in Pakistani-Afghan relations.
Afghan government denies deliberately preventing Pakistani delegation from landing in Kabul
https://arab.news/8ugy5
Afghan government denies deliberately preventing Pakistani delegation from landing in Kabul
- Interior ministry spokesperson says Pakistani lawmakers’ plane turned back because ‘old explosive’ found at airport had to be disarmed
- Afghan members of parliament enraged, say government lost an opportunity to open a new chapter in Pakistani-Afghan relations
Pakistani stocks breach 176,000 points barrier as investors expect further rate cuts
- Pakistani financial analyst attributes surge to falling inflation, investors expecting further policy rate cuts
- Pakistan’s finance ministry said Thursday that inflation had slowed to 5.6 percent year-on-year in December
KARACHI: Pakistani stocks continued their bullish run on Thursday, breaching the 176,000 points barrier for the first time after trading ended, with analysts attributing the surge to investors expecting further cuts in the policy rate.
The KSE-100 benchmark gained 2,301.17 points at close of business on Thursday, marking an increase of 1.32 percent to settle at 176,355.49 points.
Pakistan’s central bank cut its key policy rate by 50 basis points to 10.5 percent last month, breaking a four-meeting hold in a move that surprised markets. Pakistan’s consumer price inflation slowed to 5.6 percent year-on-year in December, while prices fell on a monthly basis as per data from the finance ministry.
“Upbeat data for consumer price index (CPI) inflation at 5.6pc in December 2025 [with] investors expecting a further State Bank of Pakistan rate cuts on falling inflation data,” Ahsan Mehanti, CEO of Arif Habib Commodities Ltd., told Arab News.
The stock market witnessed a trading volume of 1,402.650 million shares, with a traded value of Rs48.424 billion ($173 million), compared with 957.239 million shares valued at Rs44.231 billion ($158 million) during the previous session.
Topline Securities, a leading brokerage firm in Pakistan, credited the surge to strong buying at the first session.
“This positivity can be accredited to buying by local institutions on the start of the new calendar year,” it said.
https://x.com/toplinesec/status/2006690862483624136
Pakistan’s Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad highlighted that the bullish trend at the stock market reflected “strong investor confidence.”
“With lower inflation, affordable fuel, stronger reserves, rising digitization and a buoyant capital market, Pakistan’s economic outlook is clearly improving--supporting greater confidence, better investment sentiment and more positive momentum for 2026,” he said on social media platform X.
