ISLAMABAD: Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), has witnessed a slight decrease in Pakistan, the country’s statistics bureau said this week, after increasing for three weeks in a row.
The SPI, which comprises 51 essential items collected from 50 markets in 17 cities, is computed on a weekly basis to assess the price movement of essential commodities at a shorter interval of time to review the price situation in the country.
The SPI for the week ending on Jan. 2 decreased 0.26 percent on a week-on-week basis, according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Weekly inflation last decreased by 0.34 percent in Pakistan in the week ending on Dec. 5.
“During the week, out of 51 items, prices of 18 (35.29 percent) items increased, 10 (19.61 percent) items decreased and 23 (45.10 percent) items remained stable,” the PBS said in its report.
Major decrease was observed in the prices of tomatoes (13.48 percent), electricity charges for Q1 (7.48 percent), potatoes (5.59 percent), eggs (0.23 percent), garlic (0.21 percent), liquefied petroleum gas (0.18 percent) and wheat flour (0.09 percent).
The items whose prices increased during the week included chicken (10.28 percent), onions (4.93 percent), bananas (1.68 percent), diesel (1.18 percent), sugar (0.95 percent), jaggery (0.58 percent), vegetable ghee 2.5 Kg (0.53 percent) and petrol (0.21 percent).
Pakistan’s annual consumer inflation eased further to 4.1 percent in Dec. 2024, according to the PBS. Consumer inflation cooled from 4.9 percent in November, a sharp drop from a multi-decade high of nearly 40 percent in May 2023.
Pakistan weekly inflation records slight decrease after rising for three consecutive weeks
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Pakistan weekly inflation records slight decrease after rising for three consecutive weeks
- Major decrease observed in prices of tomatoes, electricity, potatoes, eggs, liquefied petroleum gas and wheat flour
- Pakistan’s annual consumer inflation eased further to 4.1 percent in Dec. 2024, according to the country’s statistics bureau
Top Pakistani clerics warn government against sending troops to Gaza to disarm Hamas
- Pakistani clerics raise alarm over reports of pressure on Muslim nations to provide troops for Gaza stabilization force under Trump peace plan
- Islamabad has previously said that it is willing to join the international stabilization force but ‘not ready’ to play any role in disarming Hamas
ISLAMABAD: A group of Pakistan’s top religious and political leaders on Monday warned the government against sending Pakistani troops to Gaza to disarm Palestinian group Hamas, amid discussions over a proposed International Stabilization Force (ISF) for the Palestinian territory.
The representative gathering, chaired by prominent scholar Mufti Taqi Usmani, brought together leaders from Deobandi, Barelvi, Ahl-e-Hadees and Shia schools of thought, alongside leaders of the country’s main religio-political parties, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI).
The international stabilization force, which is to be composed of troops from Muslim countries, is the cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza announced in Sept. Islamabad has previously said it is willing to join the ISF but “not ready” to play any role in disarming Hamas. Hamas’s Gaza chief Khalil Al-Hayya said this month the group had a “legitimate right” to hold weapons, while Israel has repeatedly insisted that Hamas be disarmed.
In a joint statement issued after the meeting in the port city of Karachi on Monday, Pakistani clerics raised alarm over reports that international pressure is mounting on Muslim-majority nations to provide troops for the transitional security force in Gaza, following Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
“In such circumstances, demands are being made to Muslim countries that they send their forces there to disarm Hamas,” the statement said. “Several Muslim governments have already refused this, and pressure is being increased on Pakistan.”
Last month, the United Nations Security Council approved Washington’s plan, which called for a yet-to-be-established Board of Peace as a transitional authority that Trump would head, and the stabilization force, which would be empowered to oversee borders, provide security and demilitarize the territory.
The gathering of Pakistani clerics urged Islamabad to resist any diplomatic overtures from Washington regarding troop deployment.
“This gathering, with full emphasis, demands the Government of Pakistan refrain from sending its forces to disarm Hamas and that it should not yield to any pressure in this regard,” the statement said.
The assembly expressed complete support for the liberation of Palestine and described the effort as a “duty of every Muslim.”
It said that Pakistan’s armed forces are “imbued with the spirit of jihad” and that the “notion of placing them against any sacred struggle for the liberation of Baitul Muqaddas or Palestine is impossible for the nation to accept.”
The religious leaders characterized the proposal as a “conspiracy” from which the government must “protect the country.”
Pakistani foreign office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi and the prime minister’s spokesperson for foreign media, Mosharraf Zaidi, did not respond to Arab News requests for comment on the statement.
Washington reportedly views Pakistan as a prime candidate for the ISF, given its experience in high-intensity border conflicts and internal counter-insurgency operations.
Last week, Pakistan’s foreign office said that Islamabad had not taken any decision on joining the proposed stabilization force for Gaza and had received no formal request from the US or any other country in this regard.
“I am not aware of any specific request made to Pakistan. We will inform you about any development if it takes place,” Andrabi told reporters.
He also sought to distance the government from rumors of a pending visit by Pakistan’s defense forces chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, to the US to meet President Trump.
