ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s interior minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that fencing work along the country’s porous border with Afghanistan will finish by June 30.
During an address to the National Assembly on Saturday, he added that “88 percent of the fencing work has already been completed,” according to media reports.
Pakistan began fencing its 2,600 km border with Afghanistan in 2017 to prevent militant crossings and smuggling and has frequently attributed high-profile attacks to groups based in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan, in turn, accuses Islamabad of sheltering the Afghan Taliban militants who are battling the Western-backed government in Kabul. Both countries deny the charges.
On Saturday, Pakistan’s military conducted an intelligence-based operation in the Spinwam area of North Waziristan district near Afghanistan, killing two “terrorists” which it says “were active members of the TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan].”
“[They were] involved in terrorist activities against Security Forces,” the Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military’s media wing, said in a statement.
Fencing of Pakistani border with Afghanistan to be completed this month — interior minister
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Fencing of Pakistani border with Afghanistan to be completed this month — interior minister
- Sheikh Rashid says 88 percent of the work is “already complete”
- Army conducted operation in North Waziristan on Saturday, two militants and soldier killed
Pakistan’s annual inflation rises to 7% in February, statistics bureau says
- Pakistan’s stock exchange halted trading on Monday after falling more than 5 percent due to the volatility
- IMF has urged policymakers to remain data-dependent to anchor inflation expectations, rebuild buffers
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s annual inflation rate rose to 7 percent year-on-year in February, the statistics bureau said on Monday, with fears of commodity prices volatility after US and Israel strikes in Iran.
The consumer price index of annual inflation jumped from 5.8 percent the previous month, the bureau said.
On a month-on-month basis, inflation increased by 0.3 percent in February, down from a 0.4 percent rise the previous month.
Pakistan’s stock exchange halted trading on Monday after falling more than 5 percent due to the volatility.
The central bank, which held its policy rate at 10.50 percent in January, has said inflation could exceed its 5 percent to 7 percent medium-term target range for a few months this year, even as growth gains momentum and imports push the trade deficit wider.
The International Monetary Fund, which has cautioned against premature monetary easing under Pakistan’s $7 billion loan program, has urged policymakers to remain data-dependent to anchor inflation expectations and rebuild external buffers.
An IMF mission has started discussions with Pakistani authorities on the third review of the country’s Extended Fund Facility and the second review of its Resilience and Sustainability Facility.
