ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan gears up to host its first-ever Council of Heads of Government meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Islamabad, analysts warn that hopes for a breakthrough in ties with arch-rival India remain slim despite the participation of a delegation from the neighboring country.
The summit, scheduled for October 15-16, is considered significant as Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will attend the gathering, marking the first visit by a senior Indian official to Pakistan in nearly a decade. However, no bilateral talks are expected due to ongoing tensions over Kashmir. The last high-level interaction between the two nations took place during the SCO meeting in Goa in May 2023, where strained relations persisted.
“They are coming here not for Pakistan but for the SCO meeting, and given the past and the recent history of our relationship, I don’t think we can expect a significant softening, especially when it’s a minister-level official, not a leader of the country,” Dr. Nafees Zakaria, who served foreign ministry spokesman, told Arab News this week while responding a question about the Indian delegation.
The summit comes amid heightened security concerns, following the killing of two Chinese nationals in a suicide bombing in Karachi earlier this month, as well as a general rise in militant attacks across the country.
Asked about his expectations from the regional summit, Zakaria expressed a desire for the SCO to take concrete steps toward promoting peace in the region.
“It would be a significant milestone if these countries could agree on a security arrangement, making the security of this region a shared and collective responsibility,” he said.
REGIONAL INTEGRATION
Speaking to Arab News, Dr. Talat Shabbir, Director of the China-Pakistan Study Center at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad, emphasized the significance of the summit, noting the participating states would focus on trade, connectivity and security.
He stressed that member nations need to set aside their territorial disputes in order to enhance business opportunities and strengthen regional economies for the benefit of their populations.
“We increase our business, we enhance our connectivity, we enhance our economy, and we have to think for the good of the general population of our country, of the region,” he said while also highlighting the political benefits for Pakistan in hosting the multilateral forum.
“There is propaganda against Pakistan that it is being isolated by the world powers, but [this meeting] will prove it’s not true,” he continued. “Had it been isolated, a number of heads of state would not have come to our country.”
Dr. Khaqan Najeeb, former adviser to Pakistan’s finance ministry, said the upcoming SCO meeting could foster regional cooperation on economic issues while addressing shared challenges like security and trade barriers.
“The summit can help Pakistan bolster its economic standing by demonstrating its intent to integrate more deeply into regional and global markets,” he said. “Any enhanced trade agreements with SCO member states could open new markets for Pakistani goods.”
Another analyst, Shakeel Ramay, who writes on regional economic developments, agreed, noting the SCO presents multiple opportunities for Pakistan to tackle its economic and energy challenges.
“Pakistan can benefit from the vast market, as SCO member states constitute 40 percent of the world’s population and have a combined GDP of around $24 trillion,” he told Arab News. “They control 20 percent of the world’s oil and 44 percent of its gas reserves.”
He further added: “With the inclusion of Saudi Arabia and other aspirants, the market size, energy resource share and economic potential will be further enhanced.”
Pakistan has announced that the prime ministers of China and Russia, the vice president of Iran, India’s external affairs minister, along with other heads of government and representatives from multilateral organizations, will attend the regional summit.
To ensure the safety of approximately 900 delegates, stringent security measures have been implemented, with over 10,000 police, paramilitary and army personnel deployed.
Additionally, the federal government has declared public holidays in Islamabad and Rawalpindi on the two days of the summit.
No signs of thaw in India-Pakistan relations as Islamabad prepares to host SCO summit
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No signs of thaw in India-Pakistan relations as Islamabad prepares to host SCO summit
- Analysts believe high-level participation from regional states will dispel the perception of Pakistan’s diplomatic isolation
- Summit is also expected to bolster Pakistan’s economic standing, reflecting an intent to integrate into regional market
Pakistan Stock Exchange breaches record 94,000 points barrier during intraday trading
- Rupee stability, falling bank lending rates played catalyst role in stock market’s bullish activity, says analyst
- Pakistan Stock Exchange has witnessed bullish trend since last Monday when government slashed policy rate
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) soared to a record high during intraday trading on Monday, breaching the 94,000 points barrier for the first time which analysts attributed to improved market sentiments due to rupee stability and the government’s move to slash the policy rate.
The KSE-100 Index rose to a record 94,020 points, a level never seen before in PSX history, during intraday trading on Monday. The stock market has been experiencing a bullish trend since last week which was evident when it breached the 93,000 points barrier for the first time on Friday.
Ahsan Mehanti of Arif Habib Corporation told Arab News the bullish trend was led by blue chip companies after American finance company MSCI revised Pakistan’s expected standard index weight for November to 4.4 percent. The MSCI, in its latest review this month, announced the addition of eight Pakistani companies to its Frontier Market Small Cap Index.
“Rupee stability and falling bank lending rates following a slump in government bond yields played a catalyst role in bullish activity at PSX,” Mehanti told Arab News via text.
The bullish trend has been observed in the stock market since last Monday when Pakistan’s central bank cut its key policy rate by 250 basis points, bringing it to 15 percent. This was the fourth straight reduction since June, as the country keeps up efforts to revive a sluggish economy with inflation easing.
Pakistan continues to enjoy record gains in the stock market as its economic indicators continue to improve after Islamabad secured a $7 billion, 37-month bailout package from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in September.
Last year, Pakistan narrowly avoided a sovereign default when it clinched a last-gasp $3 billion IMF bailout program. The country has suffered a prolonged economic crisis that drained its foreign exchange reserves and saw its currency weaken amid double-digit inflation.
Pakistan beat UAE to clinch United Arab Classic Baseball championship
- Tournament featured Palestine, UAE, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and Nepal
- Pakistan remained unbeaten throughout tournament, thrashing Afghanistan 17-3, India 12-0 and Bangladesh 10-0
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan beat hosts United Arab Emirates 12-1 to clinch the United Arab Classic Baseball championship this week, state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported on Monday, with the South Asian team taking home the trophy by remaining undefeated throughout the tournament.
Baseball United Arab Classic, organized by Baseball United--a professional baseball organization in the Middle East and South Asia--took place from Nov. 7-10 in the UAE. The tournament featured Pakistan, UAE, India, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Palestine, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia and Nepal.
Pakistan qualified for the final on Sunday after thrashing Afghanistan 17-3 on Saturday. Before that, the South Asian team had beaten India 12-0 and UAE 10-3. Pakistan had also defeated Bangladesh 10-0 on Nov. 7.
“Pakistan have won the United Arab Classic Baseball championship held in the United Arab Emirates,” Radio Pakistan said. “Pakistan beat UAE team in the final by 12-1.”
Pakistan’s official baseball body, Pakistan Federation Baseball, is internationally recognized by the World Baseball Softball Confederation. Pakistan Federation Baseball was founded by Syed Khawar Shah in 1992 and has grown into the preeminent baseball federation within South Asia over the last three decades.
Prior to this, Pakistan baseball won 10 championships in tournaments across Asia over the last 15 years, including the West Asia Cup in Islamabad in January 2023.
Pakistan PM to attend Arab-Islamic Summit meeting on Gaza and Lebanon today
- Shehbaz Sharif to meet Muslim World League secretary-general, Saudi investment minister on sidelines of summit
- Pakistan has consistently criticized Israel for killing over 43,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October last year
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will participate in the extraordinary Arab–Islamic summit meeting between the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) scheduled to be held today, Monday, in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss Israel’s ongoing wars in Gaza, Lebanon and escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Sharif arrived in Riyadh on Sunday night to join various Muslim leaders in the Saudi capital who will attend the summit. Israel has waged war in Gaza since October last year, killing over 43,000 people and rendering the strip of land almost uninhabitable. Last month, it also invaded Lebanon, killing 3,000 people there since.
“Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif will attend the extraordinary summit meeting of the Arab-Islamic countries today,” a statement from Sharif’s office said.
It added that the prime minister is expected to meet Saudi Arabia’s investment minister and the secretary-general of the Muslim World League on the sidelines of the summit.
The summit today will be a follow-up to the Joint Arab-Islamic Extraordinary Summit held in November 2023 in Riyadh, according to the Pakistani foreign ministry. Sharif will reiterate Pakistan’s full support to the Palestinian cause in his address at the gathering.
On Sunday, Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Ishaq Dar, attended a meeting of the OIC’s Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) in Riyadh, wherein he called on the world to hold Israel accountable for its “war crimes” in Gaza.
“[Dar] expressed alarm at Israeli adventurism in the Middle East that is endangering peace and security in the region,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement. “[He] called on the international community to bring an end to Gaza genocide.”
Pakistan does not recognize nor have diplomatic relations with Israel and calls for an independent Palestinian state based on “internationally agreed parameters.”
Islamabad has also dispatched more than 1,300 tons of relief goods for Gaza and Lebanon, besides establishing the ‘Prime Minister’s Relief Fund for Gaza and Lebanon’ that aims to collect public donations for the war-affected people.
After attending the summit on Monday, the Pakistani prime minister will visit Baku, Azerbaijan on Tuesday to participate in a two-day World Leaders Climate Action Summit being held as part of the 29th UN Climate Change Conference.
“The prime minister will make a robust call for climate solidarity and climate justice, based on the established principles of equity,” state broadcaster Radio Pakistan reported.
Militant attack on Pakistani border leaves 5 security forces dead, Iran says
- No group claims responsibility for attack that took place in Iran's Saravan city in southeast
- Sistan-Baluchestan province has been site of clashes involving militant groups, armed drug smugglers
TEHRAN: A militant attack near the Pakistani border with Iran left five Iranian forces dead, the state-run IRNA news agency reported Sunday.
The report said the dead were ethnic Baloch members of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard’s volunteer Basij force and were killed in Saravan city in Sistan and Baluchestan province. Saravan is some 1,400 km (870 miles) southeast of the capital Tehran.
No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.
Earlier in the day, state TV reported that Revolutionary Guard forces killed three "terrorists" and arrested nine others in a military operation. The report did not specify which group the suspects belonged to.
Last month, unknown gunmen killed four people, including the chief of the Revolutionary Guard in the province.
In September, gunmen killed four border guards in Sistan and Baluchestan province in two separate attacks. The militant group Jaish al-Adl, which seeks greater rights for the ethnic Baloch minority, claimed responsibility for one attack in which one officer and two soldiers were killed.
The province, which borders Afghanistan and Pakistan, has been the site of occasional deadly clashes involving militant groups, armed drug smugglers and Iranian security forces. It is one of the least developed parts of Iran. Relations between the predominantly Sunni Muslim residents of the region and Iran’s Shiite theocracy have long been strained.
Pakistan’s record smog triggers anguish and anxiety
- Lahore, a city of 14 million people on the border with India, regularly ranks among world’s most polluted cities
- Schools in main cities of Punjab province, of which Lahore is capital, have closed until Nov. 17 due to the smog
LAHORE: On the streets of Pakistan’s second biggest city, smog stings eyes and burns throats. Inside homes, few people can afford air purifiers to limit the damage of toxic particles that seep through doors and windows.
Lahore — a city of 14 million people stuffed with factories on the border with India — regularly ranks among the world’s most polluted cities, but it has hit record levels this month.
Schools have closed in the main cities of Punjab province, of which Lahore is the capital, until November 17 in a bid to lower children’s exposure to the pollution, especially during the morning commute when it is often at its highest.
“The children are constantly coughing, they have constant allergies. In schools we saw that most of the children were falling sick,” said Rafia Iqbal a 38-year-old primary school teacher in the city that borders India.
Her husband Muhammad Safdar, a 41-year-old advertising professional, said the level of pollution “is making daily living impossible.”
“We cannot move around, we cannot go outside, we can do nothing at all,” he told AFP.
According to the international Air Quality Index Scale, an index value of 300 or higher results is “hazardous” to health and Pakistan has regularly tipped over 1,000 on the scale.
In Multan, another city of several million people some 350 kilometers away, the AQI level passed 2,000 last week — a staggering height never seen before by incredulous residents.
Access to parks, zoos, playgrounds, historic monuments, museums and recreational areas will be banned until November 17 and tuk-tuks with polluting two-stroke engines, along with restaurants that operate barbecues without filters have been banned in Lahore “hot-spots.”
Air purifiers are luxury for most families, with the cheapest priced at around $90, with the added cost of replacing filters every few months in such extreme pollution.
Safdar and Iqbal do not have air purifiers and instead try to contain their children to one room.
“Preventive measures should have been taken. It’s a yearly occurrence,” Safdar said of the government.
“Obviously there is something missing in their solution.”
A mix of low-grade fuel emissions from factories and vehicles, exacerbated by agricultural stubble burning, blanket the city each winter, trapped by cooler temperatures and slow-moving winds.
The WHO says that air pollution can trigger strokes, heart disease, lung cancer and other respiratory diseases.
It is particularly punishing for children and babies, and the elderly.
Last year, the Punjab government tested artificial rain to try to overcome the smog, and this year, trucks with water cannons sprayed the streets — with no results.
Special smog counters to triage patients have been established at clinics across the province, with 900 people admitted to hospital in Lahore alone on Tuesday.
Doctor Qurat ul Ain, a hospital doctor for 15 years, witnesses the damage from an emergency rooms in Lahore.
“This year smog is much more than previous years and the number of patients suffering from its effects is greater too,” she told AFP.
Many arrive with labored breathing or coughing fits and reddened eyes, often the elderly, children and young men who have breathed in the toxic air while on the back of motorbikes.
“We tell people not to go out and otherwise to wear a mask. We tell them not to touch their eyes with their hands, especially children,” she adds.
For days the concentration of polluting micro-particles PM2.5 in Punjab has been dozens of times higher than that deemed tolerable by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Doctor Alia Haider, also a climate activist, is calling for awareness campaigns for patients who often do not know the dangers of smog.
Children from poor neighborhoods, she said, are the first victims because they live all year round with pollutants of different types.
“We are stuck in our own poison,” she said. It’s like a cloud of gas over the city.”