ISLAMABAD: Director General of Inter-Services Public Relations Major General Babar Iftikhar said on Friday the situation on Pakistan's border with Afghanistan was "under control" despite the ongoing situation in the neighboring country which recently witnessed the collapse of its political administration.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani left his country earlier this month after the Taliban captured major cities and strategic border crossings that ultimately led to the fall of Kabul on August 15.
Prior to that, the Afghan national army gave little resistance to the Taliban insurgents who intensified their military campaign after US President Joe Biden announced to pull out international forces in April.
The absence of a government and a functional military has raised concerns about border management in Pakistan since thousands of Afghans want to flee their country in the present political turmoil.
"Pakistan had already started taking those measures which we needed to take to guard the Pakistan-Afghanistan international border in the best possible way, to manage it well and to ensure security and stability on this side of the border," Iftikhar said.
He maintained his country's leaders had the "foresight" to predict the situation in Afghanistan, adding that they decided to beef up border security as early as 2014.
"Despite whatever has happened on that side [in Afghanistan], the situation on the Pak-Afghan border is normal and under control," he said.
The DG ISPR noted that several high-ranking Pakistani officials, including the army chief, had visited Kabul during the tenure of the Ghani administration, offering Afghan officials intelligence sharing mechanism and training of their forces.
He added that Pakistan was even willing to raise, equip and train a brigade level force in the Afghan national army, but its offers were spurned by the government in Kabul.
"We offered to train them several times but only six Afghan cadets came [to Pakistan]," he said. "This was despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of Afghan soldiers went for training to India and several Indian training teams were also placed in Afghanistan."
Iftikhar maintained the international community should put India "in the dock" since it had "poisoned" the minds of Afghan political and military leaders on all levels while accusing New Delhi of playing a negative role in Afghanistan.
"Whatever investment they [Indians] made in Afghanistan to develop their clout, it was done with only one intention: to harm Pakistan," he said.
Iftikhar reiterated that Indian and Afghan intelligence agencies were working together to hurt Pakistan, though India has denied such charges in the past.
Asked about Pakistan's future course of action if the Afghan Taliban failed to control anti-Pakistan Tehreek-e-Taliban militant faction, he said the Taliban had assured they would not allow the Afghan soil to be used against any country and "we should take them at their word."
Pakistani military says situation on Afghan border 'under control'
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Pakistani military says situation on Afghan border 'under control'
- As thousands of Afghans want to flee their country, the absence of a functioning military in Afghanistan has raised border security concerns
- Pakistan's military also accused India of 'poisoning' the minds of Afghan leaders and asked international community to put New Delhi 'in the dock'
Pakistan issues inaugural Shariah-compliant Green Sukuk bonds worth $106 million
- The South Asian country plans to launch innovative ‘funding products’ as its current account surplus continues to increase
- The proceeds of Green Sukuk are going to be used for key water-related infrastructure projects, the finance minister says
KARACHI: Pakistan has issued the inaugural Shariah-compliant Green Sukuk bonds worth Rs30 billion ($106 million) in the international market, its finance minister said on Friday, amid Islamabad’s plans to launch innovative “funding products” for local and foreign investors.
The Pakistani government this month approved the issuance of Green Sukuk that has been structured to support projects aligned with environmental sustainability, including renewable energy and green infrastructure initiatives, marking a milestone in sustainable finance.
The inaugural $106 million bonds, which will be listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange, has brought the percentage of the South Asian nation’s Shariah-compliant bonds to about 14 percent in our overall debt profile, according to Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb.
“Climate change is an existential threat for Pakistan,” the minister said at a gong ceremony at the stock market in Karachi. “The proceeds of this Green Sukuk are going to be used for key water-related infrastructure projects across Pakistan.”
Pakistan has seen erratic changes in its weather patterns which have led to frequent heat waves, untimely rains, cyclones and droughts in recent years. Scientists have blamed the events on human-driven climate change. In 2022, devastating floods, blamed on human-driven climate change, killed more than 1,700 Pakistanis, affected another 33 million and caused the country over $30 billion in economic losses.
In November, Pakistan received $500 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as proceeds of a loan for the Climate Change and Disaster Resilience Enhancement Program, while the World Bank in January pledged $20 billion in loans to Pakistan under its 10-year framework that focuses among other things on the country’s increased resilience to climate-related disasters and better food security.
Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) also approved $1.4 billion in climate financing for Pakistan.
“This is all there for us to use vis a vis adaptation, financing but also with very concrete reform measures which are required,” Aurangzeb said.
“One should never be complacent about the financing because the gap that we talk about is a very big gap but we should at least use the financing that is available for now.”
Pakistan is in the process of restructuring and reorganizing our debt management office in line with global best practices, according to the finance minister.
The South Asian country will soon be launching various funding products in terms of the demand that it has to meet domestically as well as with international investors.
“We will continue to engage the investor community very proactively to get your feedback,” he said. “So stay tuned. You will be hearing more from this space as we go forward.”
Pakistan reported a current account surplus of $12 million in April, taking the overall surplus this fiscal year ending in June to $1.88 billion, compared to a deficit of $1.33 billion in the same period last year, according to Karachi-based Topline Securities brokerage firm.
“We maintain our FY25 current account surplus target of $2.5-3.0bn, or 0.6-0.7 percent of GDP,” it said.
Asylum-seekers from Russia, Pakistan and elsewhere arrive at US border to uncertainty
- A thicket of lawsuits, appeals and countersuits have filled the courts as the Trump administration faces off activists who argue against sweeping restrictions
- In a key legal battle, a federal judge is expected to rule on whether courts can review the administration’s use of invasion claims to justify suspending asylum
They arrive at the US border from around the world: Eritrea, Guatemala, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Ghana, Uzbekistan and so many other countries.
They come for asylum, insisting they face persecution for their religion, or sexuality or for supporting the wrong politicians.
For generations, they had been given the chance to make their case to US authorities.
Not anymore.
“They didn’t give us an ICE officer to talk to. They didn’t give us an interview. No one asked me what happened,” said a Russian election worker who sought asylum in the US after he said he was caught with video recordings he made of vote rigging. On Feb. 26, he was deported to Costa Rica with his wife and young son.
On Jan. 20, just after being sworn in for a second term, President Donald Trump suspended the asylum system as part of his wide-ranging crackdown on illegal immigration, issuing a series of executive orders designed to stop what he called the “invasion” of the United States.
What asylum-seekers now find, according to lawyers, activists and immigrants, is a murky, ever-changing situation with few obvious rules, where people can be deported to countries they know nothing about after fleeting conversations with immigration officials while others languish in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody.
Attorneys who work frequently with asylum-seekers at the border say their phones have gone quiet since Trump took office. They suspect many who cross are immediately expelled without a chance at asylum or are detained to wait for screening under the UN’s convention against torture, which is harder to qualify for than asylum.
“I don’t think it’s completely clear to anyone what happens when people show up and ask for asylum,” said Bella Mosselmans, director of the Global Strategic Litigation Council.
RESTRICTIONS FACE CHALLENGES IN COURT
A thicket of lawsuits, appeals and countersuits have filled the courts as the Trump administration faces off against activists who argue the sweeping restrictions illegally put people fleeing persecution in harm’s way.
In a key legal battle, a federal judge is expected to rule on whether courts can review the administration’s use of invasion claims to justify suspending asylum. There is no date set for that ruling.
The government says its declaration of an invasion is not subject to judicial oversight, at one point calling it “an unreviewable political question.”
But rights groups fighting the asylum proclamation, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, called it “as unlawful as it is unprecedented” in the complaint filed in a Washington, D.C., federal court.
Illegal border crossings, which soared in the first years of President Joe Biden’s administration, reaching nearly 10,000 arrests per day in late 2024, dropped significantly during his last year in office and plunged further after Trump returned to the White House.
Yet more than 200 people are still arrested daily for illegally crossing the southern US border.
Some of those people are seeking asylum, though it’s unclear if anyone knows how many.
Paulina Reyes-Perrariz, managing attorney for the San Diego office of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said her office sometimes received 10 to 15 calls a day about asylum after Biden implemented asylum restrictions in 2024.
That number has dropped to almost nothing, with only a handful of total calls since Jan. 20.
Plus, she added, lawyers are unsure how to handle asylum cases.
“It’s really difficult to consult and advise with individuals when we don’t know what the process is,” she said.
DOING ‘EVERYTHING RIGHT’
None of this was expected by the Russian man, who asked not to be identified for fear of persecution if he returns to Russia.
“We felt betrayed,” the 36-year-old said. “We did everything right.”
The family had scrupulously followed the rules. They traveled to Mexico in May 2024, found a cheap place to rent near the border with California and waited nearly nine months for the chance to schedule an asylum interview.
On Jan. 14, they got word that their interview would be on Feb 2. On Jan. 20, the interview was canceled.
Moments after Trump took office, US Customs and Border Protection announced it had scrubbed the system used to schedule asylum interviews and canceled tens of thousands of existing appointments.
There was no way to appeal.
The Russian family went to a San Diego border crossing to ask for asylum, where they were taken into custody, he said.
A few weeks later, they were among the immigrants who were handcuffed, shackled and flown to Costa Rica. Only the children were left unchained.
TURNING TO OTHER COUNTRIES TO HOLD DEPORTEES
The Trump administration has tried to accelerate deportations by turning countries like Costa Rica and Panama into “bridges,” temporarily detaining deportees while they await return to their countries of origin or third countries.
Earlier this year, some 200 migrants were deported from the US to Costa Rica and roughly 300 were sent to Panama.
To supporters of tighter immigration controls, the asylum system has always been rife with exaggerated claims by people not facing real dangers. In recent years, roughly one-third to half of asylum applications were approved by judges.
Even some politicians who see themselves as pro-immigration say the system faces too much abuse.
“People around the world have learned they can claim asylum and remain in the US indefinitely to pursue their claims,” retired US Rep. Barney Frank, a longtime Democratic stalwart in Congress, wrote last year in the Wall Street Journal, defending Biden’s tightening of asylum policies amid a flood of illegal immigration.
AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE
Many of the immigrants they arrived with have left the Costa Rican facility where they were first detained, but the Russian family has stayed. The man cannot imagine going back to Russia and has nowhere else to go.
He and his wife spend their days teaching Russian and a little English to their son. He organizes volleyball games to keep people busy.
He is not angry at the US He understands the administration wanting to crack down on illegal immigration. But, he adds, he is in real danger. He followed the rules and can’t understand why he didn’t get a chance to plead his case.
He fights despair almost constantly, knowing that what he did in Russia brought his family to this place.
“I failed them,” he said. “I think that every day: I failed them.”
‘My son keeps crying’: Pakistani families left in medical crisis as India cancels visas amid conflict
- India, Pakistan hold a fragile, US-brokered truce after nearly three weeks of tensions that took South Asia to the brink of war
- Despite the ceasefire, punitive measures announced by India, such as trade suspension and visa cancelations, remain in place
LAHORE/KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: As Musfira, a seemingly healthy one-and-a-half-year-old girl, plays with the toys on the floor, her mother Salsabeel Safi, 22, tries to catch her attention with a wooden toy car that has watermelon wheels.
It’s a typical picture of a mother playing with her daughter, except they are facing a medical crisis after India canceled most valid visas, including medical visas, issued to Pakistani nationals amid rising tensions between the two nuclear rivals.
“We had applied for an Indian visa in December. It has been four months now, but we didn’t get a visa. Because of the Pakistan-Indian situation our visa has been stopped,” said Safi.
Musfira has no veins between her heart and lungs and her arteries are so severely constricted that she has very poor blood circulation, said Safi. Her heart also has a hole in it. As a result, Musfira’s mother says she frequently turns blue and has to be hospitalized due to insufficient oxygen in her body.
The family has sought help at several hospitals in Pakistan, but was told that the little girl’s condition could not be treated in the country. At the suggestion of doctors they consulted in Pakistan, the family decided to seek surgical intervention in India.
While treatment options for Musfira’s condition are available in other countries, the family felt India was the best choice due to its proximity and affordable health care. They could even travel there by car.
Once she learnt that treatment would cost an estimated $10,000, Safi, who’s a content creator on social media, started raising funds online.
Last December, Musfira’s family applied for their visas after an Indian hospital invited them to seek treatment there, but they were soundly rejected.
“Her condition is deteriorating,” said Safi.
Many Pakistani families have found themselves in the same predicament as India and Pakistan continue to hold a fragile US-brokered ceasefire after nearly three weeks of escalating tensions that took South Asia to the brink of war.
Mohammad Imran and his wife, Nabeela Raaz, an Indian national, traveled from Karachi to India with their 17-year-old son, Mohammad Ayan, who suffers from a spine injury on March 27. When India revoked most visas for Pakistani nationals in late April, they returned to Pakistan on April 27 before Ayan could receive any treatment. Ayan’s mother was not allowed to accompany them back to Pakistan.
“My son keeps crying,” said Imran. “Even I cry at times when my son says, ‘Please call mama here’. I can’t see her coming here anytime soon.”
In Islamabad, Shahid Ali said his two children who suffer from heart disease were forced to return to Pakistan without getting the surgery they desperately needed.
“The Pahalgam incident took place and the Indian government ordered the cancelation of visas in 24 hours,” said Ali.
On April 22, 26 men were killed in an attack targeting Hindus in Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir. It was the worst attack on civilians in India since the 2008 Mumbai shootings.
The next day, India pulled out of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty regulating the sharing of water from the river and its tributaries with Pakistan.
India also identified two of the three suspected militants in the Pahalgam attack as Pakistanis, although Islamabad denied any role.
On May 7, India launched attacks on what it said were “terrorist camps” in Pakistan, including Azad Kashmir.
Strikes and counter-strikes and a slew of tit-for-tat reprisals followed before US diplomacy and pressure helped the two nations agree to a “full and immediate ceasefire” on May 10.
Despite the truce, punitive measures announced by India, such as trade suspension and visa cancelations, remain in place, according to Indian government sources who spoke to Reuters.
For the families of these Pakistani children, some of whom are hanging on by the thinnest thread, a solution to the latest chaos cannot come sooner.
“We want India and Pakistan to resolve issues between them so that Musfira and several other children like her, whose treatment is due in India, can get visas and get treatment there,” said Musfira’s uncle, Zulkifl Haroon. “So that their lives can be saved.”
Pakistan cuts diesel rate, maintains petrol price for next fortnight
- Diesel powers heavy vehicles used to transport goods, while petrol is used for private transportation
- Islamabad regulates petroleum prices on a fortnightly basis to reflect import costs in consumer prices
KARACHI: The Pakistani government has maintained the price of petrol and slashed the rate of high-speed diesel by Rs2 per liter, the Finance Division said on Friday.
Petrol is primarily used in Pakistan for private transportation, including small vehicles, rickshaws and two-wheelers. Diesel, on the other hand, powers heavy vehicles used for transporting goods across the country.
After the latest revision, a liter of diesel will cost Rs254.64, while that of petrol will continue to sell for Rs252.63, according to a notification issued by the Finance Division.
“The government has decided the following prices of petroleum products for the fortnight starting today, based on the recommendations of OGRA (Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority) and the relevant ministries,” it read.
Fuel prices in Pakistan are reviewed and adjusted on a fortnightly basis. This mechanism ensures that changes in import costs are reflected in consumer prices, helping to sustain the country’s fuel supply chain.
The new price of diesel has already taken effect.
Pakistan observes ‘Day of Gratitude’ to honor nation’s response to Indian strikes
- India struck several Pakistani cities with missiles on May 7 amid heightened tensions over an attack in Indian-administered Kashmir last month
- Pakistan said it downed six Indian fighter jets, including three French-made Rafales, in response, a claim India has not yet officially confirmed
ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis are observing a ‘Day of Gratitude’ today, Friday, to honor a response by armed forces and the public to this month’s Indian strikes against Pakistan, with President Asif Ali Zardari describing it as “great moment.”
India struck several Pakistani cities with missiles on May 7 amid heightened tensions over an attack last month in Indian-administered Kashmir. Pakistan said it immediately responded to Indian strikes and downed six Indian fighter jets, including three French-made Rafales.
India has not officially confirmed the downing of jets, but its air force chief this week told a news conference in New Delhi that “losses are a part of combat.” Both neighbors traded air, missile, drone and artillery fire for four days before the United States brokered a ceasefire on May 10.
In his message on the Day of Gratitude, President Zardari said the success of ‘Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos’ against India belongs to both the armed forces and the entire Pakistani nation, who stood like an iron wall against “enemy aggression.”
“I am proud of our Armed forces who responded to Indian provocation with precision, professionalism, and strength. I am glad that the world witnessed and acknowledged Pakistan’s patience and restraint as well as the operational effectiveness that compelled the enemy to cease its aggression. We stood firm. We stood united. And we emerged victorious with dignity,” he said in a statement.
“Pakistan is a peace-loving country and does not harbor aggressive design against any country. However, let there be no doubt: Pakistan will never compromise on its sovereignty, territorial integrity, or its core national interests. Any aggression against our homeland will be met with full force.”
On Friday morning, a 31-gun salute was held in the federal capital of Islamabad and 21-gun salutes in provincial capitals. Several rallies, gatherings, events and visits to national memorials are expected to held, mainly after Friday prayers, across the South Asian country. Public and private institutions will hold commemorative programs as well.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistani armed forces, with their response to Indian strikes, wrote a "golden chapter in the military history," the Radio Pakistan broadcaster reported.
"Our Shaheens (PAF pilots) hammered the enemy and gave it a befitting reply," he said in his message. "This is not only victory of our Armed Forces but also success of our principles as honorable and dignified nation."
India and Pakistan, both bitter rivals who possess nuclear weapons, have fought three wars since 1947 after gaining independence from British colonial India. The root cause of their conflict is the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule only in part.
This month’s military conflict between the rivals was also triggered by an attack by gunmen on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Pahalgam town, which killed 26 people on April 22. India blamed the attack on Pakistan. Islamabad denies the charge and has called for a credible, international probe into it.
On Thursday, Pakistan PM Sharif, accompanied by Army Chief General Asim Munir and senior members of the cabinet, visited Pakistan Air Force (PAF) base Kamra to laud Pakistani pilots for successfully defending the country, hours after Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar informed lawmakers in parliament that the ceasefire agreement between Islamabad and Delhi has been extended till Sunday.
“For now, these are military-to-military communications, so obviously, then political dialogue will take place,” he said. “The resolution of all issues lies there.”
Also on Thursday, India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said a key water treaty, which governs river water critical to parched Pakistan for consumption and agriculture, would remain suspended until “cross-border terrorism by Pakistan is credibly and irrevocably stopped.” New Delhi suspended the treaty a day after the April 22 attack.
Dar responded by calling the treaty “a no-go area.”
“The treaty can’t be amended, nor can it be terminated by any party unless both agree,” he told parliament.
Militants have stepped up operations on the Indian side of disputed Kashmir region since 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government revoked the region’s limited autonomy and imposed direct rule from New Delhi.
