Pakistan seizes US-made weapons worth Rs35 million at border with Afghanistan — security sources

Border security personnel of Afghanistan and Pakistan stand guard at the zero point Torkham border crossing between the two countries, in Nangarhar province on January 15, 2024. (AFP/File)
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Updated 14 October 2024
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Pakistan seizes US-made weapons worth Rs35 million at border with Afghanistan — security sources

  • The weapons were seized at the Torkham border crossing in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that has witnessed a surge in militant attacks
  • Pakistan blames the surge in attacks on Pakistani Taliban and other militants operating out of neighboring Afghanistan, Kabul denies the allegation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s custom authorities have seized a large cache of US-made weapons and ammunition worth approximately Rs35 million ($125,000) at a border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Pakistani security sources said on Monday.
The weapons seized at the Torkham border crossing in Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province included M4 rifles and magazines, according to the security sources.
The smuggling of US leftover weapons from Afghanistan into Pakistan exposes the Afghan Taliban’s struggle with weak governance and poses a “threat to regional stability.”
“The recent seizure of US-made weapons raises concerns about potential Taliban support for TTP [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan], either directly or indirectly, as a strategic move to pressure Pakistan or assert influence in the region,” the sources said.
“The rising activity of terrorist groups in Afghanistan risks destabilizing the entire region, potentially leading to increased violence, displacement, and economic hardship.”
Pakistan has seen a rise in militant attacks, mostly in KP, by the outlawed TTP and other militant groups, which have targeted security forces convoys and check posts, and carried out targeted killings and kidnappings of law enforcers and government officials in recent months.
Islamabad blames Kabul for facilitating anti-Pakistan militants and says it has consistently taken up the issue of cross-border attacks with the Taliban administration. The Taliban deny allowing the use of Afghan soil for attacks against any country.
“Afghanistan’s situation has far-reaching implications for international security,” the Pakistani security sources said. “The presence of terrorist groups and IAG’s [interim Afghan government] persistent denial of the reality could fuel global terrorism and threaten regional stability.”


Pakistanis welcome Aramco’s new Islamabad outlet anticipating quality fuel and services

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Pakistanis welcome Aramco’s new Islamabad outlet anticipating quality fuel and services

  • The Saudi oil giant opened its second outlet in Islamabad last week following the inauguration of the first in Lahore on Oct. 29
  • In collaboration with Pakistan’s GO, Aramco aims to expand its retail network and establish a foothold in Pakistan’s growing economy

ISLAMABAD: Pakistanis in Islamabad on Monday hailed the opening of Aramco’s branded retail petrol station as a valuable addition to the capital’s oil marketing landscape, expressing hopes for high-quality fuel and services from the Saudi oil giant.
This is Aramco’s second retail outlet in Pakistan, following the opening of its first station in Lahore on October 29 after the global oil giant acquired a 40 percent stake in Gas & Oil Pakistan Ltd, commonly known as GO Petroleum.
Aramco is a global integrated energy and chemicals company that produces approximately one in every eight barrels of the world’s oil supply. GO, one of Pakistan’s largest retail and storage companies, is involved in the procurement, storage, sale and marketing of petroleum products and lubricants.
The Saudi oil giant’s Islamabad outlet is located on Ataturk Avenue in the Pakistani capital, which is being frequented by a large number of customers anticipating quality fuel supply and services.
“This is a great addition to Islamabad. I hope that this global oil giant will focus on providing quality oil products, along with ensuring top-notch service and accurate fuel measurements,” Muhammad Asim, a Pakistani government employee, told Arab News, while filling up at the newly opened station.
“Looking forward to seeing the positive impact it brings to the city.”

An employee manages vehicles at an Aramco-branded retail petrol station in Islamabad, Pakistan, on November 4, 2024. (AN photo)

According to a statement shared last week by Corporate and Marketing Communications (CMC), which manages public relations for GO and Aramco in Pakistan, Aramco-branded stations in Pakistan will offer premium fuel, high-quality lubricants, professional automotive services, and modern convenience stores, aiming to deliver a seamless customer experience.
Together with GO, which has a network of over 1,200 fuel retail stations in Pakistan, Aramco plans to expand its retail network and establish a presence in the fast-growing Pakistani economy.
“Having Aramco in Pakistan is exciting,” said Sara Ahmed, a local business owner. “It raises the bar for fuel quality and customer service.”
She hoped that the Saudi company would set new standards in fuel quality and customer care, something that had been needed in Pakistan for quite some time.
Another customer, Ali Asghar, said Aramco is a renowned name globally and hoped the company would uphold its international standards in Pakistan.
“We need reputable global companies like this, not only to provide quality products but also to encourage competition among other companies, ultimately benefiting customers,” he told Arab News.
Pakistan and Saudi Arabia enjoy strong trade, defense, and cultural ties. The Kingdom is home to over 2.7 million Pakistani expatriates and serves as the top source of remittances to the cash-strapped South Asian nation.
In February 2019, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia inked investment deals totaling $21 billion during a visit by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Islamabad. The agreements included about $10 billion for an Aramco oil refinery and $1 billion for a petrochemical complex at the strategic Gwadar Port in Pakistan’s Balochistan province.
Islamabad and Riyadh have also been working in recent months to increase bilateral trade and investment, and the Kingdom this year reaffirmed its commitment to expedite an investment package worth $5 billion for Pakistan. Both countries last month signed $2.2 billion in agreements and memorandums of understanding during the visit of a high-level business delegation, led by Saudi Minister for Investment Khalid Al-Falih.
 


Pakistan anti-polio drive struggles against militants, mistrust

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Pakistan anti-polio drive struggles against militants, mistrust

  • Cases in Pakistan are on the rise, with 45 registered so far this year, up from six in 2023 and only one in 2021
  • Last week seven people killed in attack on police guarding vaccinators, days earlier two police escorts gunned down

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Militant attacks and suspicion stemming from misinformation are hampering Pakistan’s battle to eradicate polio, but teams of dedicated volunteer health workers are determined to fight on.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where the debilitating virus remains endemic, the disease mostly affecting children under five and sometimes causing lifelong paralysis.

Cases in Pakistan are on the rise, with 45 registered so far this year, up from six in 2023 and only one in 2021.

Polio can easily be prevented by the oral administration of a few drops of vaccine, but in parts of rural Pakistan health workers risk their lives to save others.

Last week seven people including five children were killed when a bomb targeted police traveling to guard vaccine workers. Days earlier two police escorts were gunned down by militants.

“When we hear that a polio vaccination team has been attacked, it deeply saddens us,” said health worker Zainab Sultan, 28, as she went door to door in Panam Dehri in northwest Pakistan

“Our responsibility now is to continue our work. Our job is to protect people from disability, to vaccinate children, and to make them healthy members of society.”

This photograph taken on October 5, 2024 shows a health worker (R) administering polio drops to a child during a door-to-door poliovirus vaccination campaign on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan. (AFP)

In the past firebrand clerics falsely claimed the vaccine contained pork or alcohol, forbidding it for consumption by Muslims.

A fake vaccination campaign organized by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Pakistan in 2011 to track Osama bin Laden compounded the mistrust.

More recently, militant groups have shifted to targeting armed police escorts in their campaigns of violence against the state.

Pakistan has witnessed a dramatic uptick in attacks since the return of the Taliban in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021, with Islamabad claiming hostile groups are now operating from there.

“In our area, nearly half of the parents were initially resistant to the polio vaccine, believing it to be a ploy by the West,” said local resident Ehsanullah, who goes by one name.

“There was a lack of awareness,” he said. “If this disease is spreading because of our reluctance, we are not just harming ourselves but the entire community.

From previously being blamed for the mistrust of polio vaccines, some religious leaders — who wield immense authority in Pakistan — are now at the forefront of the campaign to convince parents.

This photograph taken on October 29, 2024 shows religious scholar Imam Tayyab Qureshi speaking during an interview with AFP in Peshawar, Pakistan. (AFP)

“All major religious schools and scholars in Pakistan have debunked the rumors surrounding the polio vaccine,” said Imam Tayyab Qureshi.

“Those who attack polio vaccination teams have no connection to Islam or humanity,” he said in the provincial capital of Peshawar, where Panam Dehri lies on the outskirts.

For one parent in Panam Dehri, the endorsement by religious chiefs proved pivotal.

“Initially I did not vaccinate my children against polio. Despite everyone’s efforts, I refused,” said 40-year-old Zulfiqar, who uses one name.

“Later, the Imam of our mosque came to explain the importance of the polio vaccine, telling me that he personally vaccinated his own children and encouraged me to do the same,” he said.

“After that, I agreed.”

Another impediment can be that parents in impoverished areas use the government’s eagerness to vaccine as a bargaining chip, attempting to negotiate investment in water and road projects.

“There are demand-based boycotts and community boycotts that we face,” lamented Ayesha Raza, spokeswoman for the government polio eradication campaign.

“Your demands may be very justified, but don’t link it to your children’s health,” she pleads to them.

For some health workers, the battle to eradicate polio is more personal.

Hobbling door-to-door in Panam Dehri, polio survivor Ismail Shah’s paralyzed leg does not slow his mission.

“I decided in my childhood that when I grew up I would fight against the disease that disabled me,” said the 35-year-old.

This photograph taken on October 29, 2024 shows an elite police personnel (L) standing guard as a health worker (R) administers polio drops to a child during a door-to-door poliovirus vaccination campaign on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan. (AFP)

Shah is among 400,000 volunteers and health workers who spent the past week patiently explaining to families that the oral innoculation — administered in two doses — is safe.

Their goal is to protect 45 million children, but it’s far from straightforward. When Shah arrived in his patch of 40,000 inhabitants there were more than 1,000 refusals.

“Now, there are only 94 reluctant parents left, and soon I will persuade them as well,” he said.


Pakistan hires two US law firms for Iran gas pipeline arbitration — attorney general

Updated 04 November 2024
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Pakistan hires two US law firms for Iran gas pipeline arbitration — attorney general

  • Wilkie Farr & Gallagher and White & Case have been hired as Iran starts arbitration hearings before International Court of Arbitration
  • Tehran is seeking damages for Pakistan’s failure to fulfill its obligations, Islamabad reportedly faces potential penalty of $18 billion 

KARACHI: Pakistan has hired two prominent US law firms, Willkie Farr & Gallagher and White & Case, to defend its position in an international arbitration case initiated by Tehran over the stalled Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project, the attorney general confirmed on Monday.

The dispute stems from a gas sales and purchase agreement (GSPA) the neighboring countries signed in 2010 to build a pipeline to transport natural gas from Iran to Pakistan. Known as the Peace Pipeline, the project has faced delays and funding challenges for over two decades. Pakistan said in March it would seek a US sanctions waiver for the pipeline, to which the US responded publicly, saying it did not support the project and cautioning about the risk of sanctions in doing business with Tehran.

Widespread media reports this year suggested Iran had slapped Pakistan with a final notice to finish its part of the cross-border gas pipeline or face international arbitration. Iran has now initiated the proceedings before the International Court of Arbitration in Paris, seeking damages for Pakistan’s failure to fulfill its obligations. Islamabad reportedly faces a potential penalty of up to $18 billion.

Attorney General for Pakistan, Mansoor Usman Awan, confirmed the government had hired the two US law firms, Willkie Farr & Gallagher and White & Case, to fight the case.

“We believe we have a strong case to defend,” Awan told Arab News, declining further comment.

Barrister Aqeel Malik, a spokesperson for the government of Pakistan on legal affairs, also said Islamabad had a good case. 

“We are quite hopeful that we will avoid any breach of contract penalties. At the time this agreement was signed, sanctions were already in place, rendering the deal with Iran effectively an ‘unenforceable contract.’ As it was unenforceable, penalties do not apply.”


Iranian FM arrives in Pakistan to discuss bilateral ties, Middle East tensions 

Updated 04 November 2024
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Iranian FM arrives in Pakistan to discuss bilateral ties, Middle East tensions 

  • Seyed Abbas Araghchi to meet Pakistan’s premier, deputy PM during two-day visit 
  • Visit takes place amid rising tensions between Iran and Israel as Gaza war rages on 

ISLAMABAD: Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Monday for a two-day visit to discuss bilateral relations and the evolving Middle East situation, Pakistan’s foreign office spokesperson said in a statement, amid Tehran’s surging tensions with Israel. 

Araghchi’s Islamabad visit takes place after last month’s escalation in hostilities between Iran and Israel, with both countries firing missiles at each other. Israel carried out strikes against Iran on Oct. 26, saying it was responding to missile attacks conducted by Tehran earlier in the month.

Since the deadliest attack in its history on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has been fighting Hamas in Gaza and since late September, it has been at war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. Both Hezbollah and Hamas are allies of Iran. Pakistan, a major ally of Saudi Arabia, shares a long border with Iran.

“Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi arrives in Pakistan today on a two-day official visit,” Baloch wrote on social media platform X. “The two sides will discuss the situation in the Middle East and Pakistan-Iran bilateral relations.”

Baloch said the Iranian envoy will meet Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Daq during his visit to the country. 

Pakistan and Iran have had a rocky relationship despite several commercial pacts between them related to trade, energy and security cooperation. Both countries signed the $7 billion Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project agreement in 2004 but 20 years on, the project remains incomplete. Tehran has completed the pipeline’s construction on its side of the border while Pakistan is seeking a US waiver to go ahead with it due to sanctions targeting Iran. 

Araghchi’s visit takes place hours after an Iranian Revolutionary Guards general and pilot were killed in a helicopter crash during an anti-terror operation in the Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Pakistan. 

Pakistan and Iran are also often at odds over instability on their shared porous border, with both countries routinely trading blame for not rooting out militancy.

Tensions surged in January when Pakistan and Iran exchanged airstrikes, both claiming to target alleged militant hideouts in each other’s countries. Late Iranian president Ebrahim Raisi visited Pakistan in April on a three-day visit aimed at strengthening bilateral relations and easing tensions. The two sides also signed memorandums of understanding in the fields of trade, science technology, agriculture, health, culture, and judicial matters.


Pakistan set to deliver fourth consecutive rate cut today to revive economy

Updated 04 November 2024
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Pakistan set to deliver fourth consecutive rate cut today to revive economy

  • All 15 investors and analysts surveyed by Reuters expect the central bank to cut rates next week
  • Policymakers continue efforts to revive a fragile economy as inflation eases off recent record highs

KARACHI: Pakistan’s central bank is expected to cut its key interest rate further at its policy meeting today, Monday, with policymakers continuing their efforts to revive a fragile economy as inflation eases off recent record highs.
The central bank, the State Bank of Pakistan, has slashed the benchmark policy rate to 17.5 percent from an all time-high of 22 percent in three consecutive policy meetings since June, having last reduced it by 200 basis points in September.
All 15 investors and analysts surveyed by Reuters expect the central bank to cut rates. Two expect a 150 bps cut, twelve predict a 200 bps reduction, and one forecasts a 250 bps cut.
Economic activity has stabilized since last summer when the country came close to a default before an eleventh hour bailout by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The IMF, which in September gave a boost to Pakistan’s struggling economy by approving a long-awaited $7 billion facility, said that the South Asian nation had taken key steps to restore economic stability with consistent policy implementation under the 2023-24 standby arrangement.
While the economy has started to gradually recover, and inflation has moved sharply down from a multi-decade high of nearly 40 percent in May 2023, analysts say further rate cuts are needed to bolster growth.
Mustafa Pasha, Chief Investment Officer at Lakson Investments, said rates must drop under 15 percent and hold below that for six months to have a material impact.
The IMF in its latest October report forecast Pakistan’s gross domestic product growth at 3.2 percent for the fiscal year ending June 2025, up from 2.4 percent in fiscal 2024.
The government expects annual inflation to have come in at 6-7 percent last month and slow further to 5.5-6.5 percent in November.
However, inflation could pick up again in 2025, driven by electricity and gas tariff hikes under the new $7 billion IMF bailout, and the potential impact of taxes on the retail and wholesale sector proposed in the June budget.
Ahmad Mobeen, senior economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said that while lower rates will offer some relief to the manufacturing sector, the benefits may be limited due to “elevated input costs, driven by high electricity and gas tariffs, combined with global supply and shipping constraints.”