KARACHI: Pakistani industrialists in the country’s commercial hub of Karachi warned on Tuesday they would observe a “no export day” up to three times a week from next month to protest a hike in gas prices, saying it posed a “threat to the survival” of their businesses and could lead to the collapse of the industrial sector.
On Oct. 31, Pakistan announced a sharp increase in the price of natural gas for most households and industry ahead of the cash-strapped country’s first review of a $3 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.
Addressing a press conference, officials from the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) along with representatives from the Industrial Town and Value-Added Textile Associations said gas tariffs for industry had increased to about Rs2,600 per Metric Million British Thermal Unit (MMBtu), appealing to the government to bring it down to Rs1,350 per MMBtu, determined as the 100 percent cost of gas by the regulator.
“If the government fails to pay attention to the business community’s demand, we will intensify our protests by displaying protest banners all over the city and observe a ‘no export day’ twice and even thrice a week,” Jawed Bilwani, vice chairman of the ruling Businessmen Group (BMG) at KCCI, warned, saying the new tariffs were a way to “terribly penalize the industrial sector of the country.”
KCCI President Iftikhar Ahmed Sheikh said the government needed to find ways to increase its gas supplies, instead of re-prioritizing existing gas supplies, switching from one set of consumers to the other and raising the tariffs “to completely unabsorbable and unbearable level, which was purely against the spirit of Pakistan’s constitution.”
Sheikh said the gas tariff hike would lead to the closure of industries, trigger lay-offs and cause a huge retrenchment of the labor force which “might result in serious law and order situation, steep rise in street crimes and bankruptcy of manufacturing units.”
Last month, while announcing the hike in gas tariffs, Energy Minister Muhammad Ali said the tariff increase would generate nearly 400 billion rupees ($1.42 billion), adding that the state-run gas sector would from now on face no losses.
Energy sector debt has been the main issue that the IMF has highlighted in tackling the fiscal deficit and it has been recommending measures to deal with it.
Pakistani industries threaten ‘no export’ days thrice a week against sharp hike in gas prices
https://arab.news/rgcae
Pakistani industries threaten ‘no export’ days thrice a week against sharp hike in gas prices
- On Oct. 31, Pakistan announced hike in natural gas prices for most households and industry ahead of IMF review
- Industry leaders say gas tariffs for industry increased to about Rs2,600 per MMBtu, call for Rs1,350 per MMBtu
‘Look ahead or look up?’: Pakistan’s police face new challenge as militants take to drone warfare
- Officials say militants are using weapons and equipment left behind after allied forces withdrew from Afghanistan
- Police in northwest Pakistan say electronic jammers have helped repel more than 300 drone attacks since mid-2025
BANNU, Pakistan: On a quiet morning last July, Constable Hazrat Ali had just finished his prayers at the Miryan police station in Pakistan’s volatile northwest when the shouting began.
His colleagues in Bannu district spotted a small speck in the sky. Before Ali could take cover, an explosion tore through the compound behind him. It was not a mortar or a suicide vest, but an improvised explosive dropped from a drone.
“Now should we look ahead or look up [to sky]?” said Ali, who was wounded again in a second drone strike during an operation against militants last month. He still carries shrapnel scars on his back, hand and foot, physical reminders of how the battlefield has shifted upward.
For police in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the fight against militancy has become a three-dimensional conflict. Pakistani officials say armed groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), are increasingly deploying commercial drones modified to drop explosives, alongside other weapons they say were acquired after the US military withdrawal from neighboring Afghanistan.
Security analysts say the trend mirrors a wider global pattern, where low-cost, commercially available drones are being repurposed by non-state actors from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, challenging traditional policing and counterinsurgency tactics.
The escalation comes as militant violence has surged across Pakistan. Islamabad-based Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS) reported a 73 percent rise in combat-related deaths in 2025, with fatalities climbing to 3,387 from 1,950 a year earlier. Militants have increasingly shifted operations from northern tribal belts to southern KP districts such as Bannu, Lakki Marwat and Dera Ismail Khan.
“Bannu is an important town of southern KP, and we are feeling the heat,” said Sajjad Khan, the region’s police chief. “There has been an enormous increase in the number of incidents of terrorism… It is a mix of local militants and Afghan militants.”
In 2025 alone, Bannu police recorded 134 attacks on stations, checkpoints and personnel. At least 27 police officers were killed, while authorities say 53 militants died in the clashes. Many assaults involved coordinated, multi-pronged attacks using heavy weapons.
Drones have also added a new layer of danger. What began as reconnaissance tools have been weaponized with improvised devices that rely on gravity rather than guidance systems.
“Earlier, they used to drop [explosives] in bottles. After that, they started cutting pipes for this purpose,” said Jamshed Khan, head of the regional bomb disposal unit. “Now we have encountered a new type: a pistol hand grenade.”
When dropped from above, he explained, a metal pin ignites the charge on impact.
Deputy Superintendent of Police Raza Khan, who narrowly survived a drone strike during construction at a checkpoint, described devices packed with nails, bullets and metal fragments.
“They attach a shuttlecock-like piece on top. When they drop it from a height, its direction remains straight toward the ground,” he said.
TARGETING CIVILIANS
Officials say militants’ rapid adoption of drone technology has been fueled by access to equipment on informal markets, while police procurement remains slower.
“It is easy for militants to get such things,” Sajjad Khan said. “And for us, I mean, we have to go through certain process and procedures as per rules.”
That imbalance began to shift in mid-2025, when authorities deployed electronic anti-drone systems in the region. Before that, officers relied on snipers or improvised nets strung over police compounds.
“Initially, when we did not have that anti-drone system, their strikes were effective,” the police chief said, adding that more than 300 attempted drone attacks have since been repelled or electronically disrupted. “That was a decisive moment.”
Police say militants have also targeted civilians, killing nine people in drone attacks this year, often in communities accused of cooperating with authorities. Several police stations suffered structural damage.
Bannu’s location as a gateway between Pakistan and Afghanistan has made it a security flashpoint since colonial times. But officials say the aerial dimension of the conflict has placed unprecedented strain on local forces.
For constables like Hazrat Ali, new technology offers some protection, but resolve remains central.
“Nowadays, they have ammunition and all kinds of the most modern weapons. They also have large drones,” he said. “When we fight them, we fight with our courage and determination.”
