MUMBAI: India said on Saturday it had lodged a protest over a senior British diplomat’s visit to Azad Kashmir, saying the trip this week had infringed on India’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Kashmir is claimed in full, but controlled only in part, by nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, which have fought two wars and engaged in numerous clashes over the Himalayan region since 1947.
British High Commissioner to Pakistan Jane Marriott visited Pakistani Kashmir along with an official from the UK Foreign Office on Jan. 10, India’s Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
India’s Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra has lodged a “strong protest” to the British High Commissioner to India about the visit, the ministry said, calling the trip “unacceptable.”
Asked to comment on the Indian protest, a spokesperson for the British Foreign Office confirmed Marriott’s visit and added: “She met with the UK-Pakistani diaspora, played in a football match with street children and visited a bakery.”
This week’s visit came as both India and Pakistan head to polls for elections this year.
India protests UK diplomat’s visit to Azad Kashmir, calls it breach of sovereignty
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India protests UK diplomat’s visit to Azad Kashmir, calls it breach of sovereignty
- British High Commissioner Jane Marriott visited Pakistani Kashmir on Jan. 10, prompting New Delhi to call it ‘unacceptable’
- Kashmir is claimed in full, but controlled only in part, by nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, which have fought twice over it
Pakistan issues over $7 billion sukuk in 2025, nears 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target
- Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad says this was the highest-ever Sukuk issuance in a single calendar year since 2008
- Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court ordered in 2022 the entire banking system to transition to Islamic principles by 2027
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Finance Adviser Khurram Schehzad on Monday said the country achieved a landmark breakthrough in Islamic finance by issuing over Rs2 trillion ($7 billion) sukuk this year, bringing it closer to its 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target by Fiscal Year 2027-28.
A sukuk is an Islamic financial certificate, similar to a bond, but it complies with Shariah law, which forbids interest. Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court (FSC) had directed the government in April 2022 to eliminate interest and align the country’s entire banking system with Islamic principles by 2027.
Following the ruling, the government and the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) have undertaken a series of measures, including legal reforms and the issuance of sukuk to replace interest-based treasury bills and investment bonds.
“In 2025, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) through its Debt Management Office, together with its Joint Financial Advisers (JFAs), successfully issued over PKR 2 trillion in Sukuk,” Schehzad said on X, describing it as “the highest-ever Sukuk issuance in a single calendar year since 2008 by Pakistan.”
Pakistan made a total of 61 issuances across one-, three-, five- and 10-year tenors, according to the finance adviser. The country also successfully launched its first Green Sukuk, a Shariah-compliant bond designed to fund environment-friendly projects.
He said the Green Sukuk was 5.4 times oversubscribed, indicating investor demand was more than five times higher than the amount the government planned to raise, which showed strong market confidence.
“The rising share of Islamic instruments in the government’s domestic securities portfolio (domestic debt) underscores strong momentum, growing from 12.6 percent in June 2025 to around 14.5 percent by December 2025, clearly positioning the MoF to achieve its 20 percent Shariah-compliant debt target by FY28,” Schehzad said.
“This milestone also reflects the structural deepening of Pakistan’s Islamic capital market, sustained investor confidence, and the strengthening of sovereign debt management.”
He said Pakistan was strengthening its government securities market by making it more resilient, diversified, and future-ready, supported by a stabilizing macroeconomic environment, a disciplined debt strategy, and a clear roadmap for Islamic finance.
