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  • Pakistan says UAE biggest trade partner in MENA region with $8 billion volume 


Pakistan says UAE biggest trade partner in MENA region with $8 billion volume 

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi (fifth left), UAE envoy Hamad Obaid Al-Zaabi (fifth right), politicians and foreign diplomats cut a cake on 50th National Day of the United Arab Emirates in Islamabad, Pakistan on December 2, 2021. (AN Photo)
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Updated 03 December 2021
SAIMA SHABBIR 
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Pakistan says UAE biggest trade partner in MENA region with $8 billion volume 

  • Pakistani foreign minister felicitates the Gulf state on its 50th National Day 
  • Shah Mahmood Qureshi says UAE's progress is result of visionary leadership 
Updated 03 December 2021
SAIMA SHABBIR 

ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been the biggest trade partner of Pakistan in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region with a trade volume of more than $8 billion, the Pakistani foreign minister said on Thursday, congratulating the Gulf state on its 50th National Day. 

The statement came during a grand reception hosted by UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Al-Zaabi in Islamabad, which marked five decades of the UAE’s formal nationalization and the start of the unification of the Emirates. 

The UAE was formally established on December 2, 1971 after an agreement was reached between rulers of the six Emirates, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Umm Al Quwain, Fujairah and Ajman. The seventh, Ras al Khaimah, acceded to the new federation the following year. Since their unification, the seven Emirates have forged a distinct national identity.  

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Islamabad and the UAE had excellent fraternal relations, underpinned by a shared heritage and multifaceted cooperation. Economic and trade ties between Pakistan and UAE were an important part of this bilateral relationship and had been growing steadily, he added.  




Pakistani ministers, politicians, Emirati officials, foreign diplomats and journalists celebrate 50th National Day of the United Arab Emirates in Islamabad, Pakistan on December 2, 2021. (AN Photo) 

“With bilateral trade of over $8 billion, UAE remains Pakistan’s largest trading partner in the Middle East and North Africa Region, while the UAE is also among the largest foreign investors in Pakistan,” he said.  

“We have also been working closely at international fora. We congratulate the UAE on its election to the United Nations Security Council for the term 2022-23 and for hosting COP-28.”  

Qureshi extended heartiest felicitations from the people and the Government of Pakistan and said the Emirates’ tremendous progress was a result of its visionary leadership.  

“The tremendous progress achieved by the UAE would not have been possible without the visionary leadership of the its founding father, His Highness Late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan,” Qureshi said, while addressing the ceremony.  




Students from Sheikh Zayed International Academy, Islamabad perform on the 50th National Day of the United Arab Emirates in Islamabad, Pakistan on December 2, 2021. (AN Photo)  

“I extend heartiest felicitations from the people and the Government of Pakistan to the people of UAE and its leadership on the Golden Jubilee of their unification. We wish them phenomenal success in all their endeavors.”  

Speaking to Arab News, UAE Ambassador Al-Zaabi said it was a double celebration as along with 50 years of the UAE’s success story, it also marked five decades of diplomatic relations with Pakistan.  

“Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan, the late founding father of the UAE, put the foundation of this strong relationship with Pakistan,” Al-Zaabi said, adding that his diplomatic mission was here to continue and build new bridges to take forward this relationship.  

Adviser to Pakistani prime minister on commerce Abdul Razak Dawood termed the formation of the UAE a remarkable experiment of visionary leadership of its founding father.  




Pakistani tabla brothers, Riyan Czar (left) and Isaac Czar (right), perform on the occasion of 50th National Day of the United Arab Emirates in Islamabad, Pakistan on December 2, 2021. (AN Photo) 

“The creation and progress of the Emirates required exemplary and visionary leadership, and Shiekh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid provided that leadership to unite all the seven Emirates,” Dawood told Arab News.  

Pakistan’s Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan congratulated the UAE on its special day, saying, “It’s a great day for Pakistan too as we are celebrating 50 years of the establishment of the UAE, which is a true friend of Pakistan.”  

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s aide on the Middle East, Tahir Mahmood Ashrafi, said Pakistan and the UAE were companions of good and bad times.  

“Pakistan and the UAE are just like one body and soul. Whenever Pakistan faced any difficulty, the UAE and other Gulf states stood with us and we also reciprocated it,” Ashrafi told Arab News, adding that the Gulf countries had played a key role in each other’s progress, prosperity and stability.  

“During these 50 years Pakistan remained at the forefront of building infrastructure and institutions like the Emirates airlines,” he added. 

Topics: Pakistan UAE Pakistan UAE

Tens of thousands flee northwest Pakistan over fears of military operation

Updated 28 January 2026
AP
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Tens of thousands flee northwest Pakistan over fears of military operation

  • More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled remote Tirah region bordering Afghanistan 
  • Government says no military operation underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province
Updated 28 January 2026
AP

BARA, Pakistan: More than 70,000 people, mostly women and children, have fled a remote region in northwestern Pakistan bordering Afghanistan over uncertainty of a military operation against the Pakistani Taliban, residents and officials said Tuesday.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif has denied the claim by residents and provincial authorities. He said no military operation was underway or planned in Tirah, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

Speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, he said harsh weather, rather than military action, was driving the migration. His comments came weeks after residents started fleeing Tirah over fears of a possible army operation.

The exodus began a month after mosque loudspeakers urged residents to leave Tirah by Jan. 23 to avoid potential fighting. Last August, Pakistan launched a military operation against Pakistani Taliban in the Bajau r district in the northwest, displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

Shafi Jan, a spokesman for the provincial government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, posted on X that he held the federal government responsible for the ordeal of the displaced people, saying authorities in Islamabad were retracting their earlier position about the military operation.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Suhail Afridi, whose party is led by imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, has criticized the military and said his government will not allow troops to launch a full-scale operation in Tirah.

The military says it will continue intelligence-based operations against Pakistani Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, or TTP. Though a separate group, it has been emboldened since the Afghan

Taliban returned to power in 2021. Authorities say many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan and that hundreds of them have crossed into Tirah, often using residents as human shields when militant hideouts are raided.

Caught in the middle are the residents of Tirah, who continued arriving in Bara.

So far, local authorities have registered roughly 10,000 families — about 70,000 people — from Tirah, which has a population of around 150,000, said Talha Rafiq Alam, a local government administrator overseeing the relief effort. He said the registration deadline, originally set for Jan. 23, has been extended to Feb. 5.

He said the displaced would be able to return once the law-and-order situation improves.

Among those arriving in Bara and nearby towns was 35-year-old Zar Badshah, who said he left with his wife and four children after the authorities ordered an evacuation. He said mortar shells had exploded in villages in recent weeks, killing a woman and wounding four children in his village. “Community elders told us to leave. They instructed us to evacuate to safer places,” he said.

At a government school in Bara, hundreds of displaced lined up outside registration centers, waiting to be enrolled to receive government assistance. Many complained the process was slow.

Narendra Singh, 27, said members of the minority Sikh community also fled Tirah after food shortages worsened, exacerbated by heavy snowfall and uncertain security.

“There was a severe shortage of food items in Tirah, and that forced us to leave,” he said.

Tirah gained national attention in September, after an explosion at a compound allegedly used to store bomb-making materials killed at least 24 people. Authorities said most of the dead were militants linked to the TTP, though local leaders disputed that account, saying civilians, including women and children, were among the dead.

 

Topics: Tirah valley

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