White House calls Pakistan’s Nobel nomination for Trump ‘win’ for American people

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, on July 7, 2025. (AP)
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Updated 08 July 2025
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White House calls Pakistan’s Nobel nomination for Trump ‘win’ for American people

  • Islamabad said it would recommend Trump for Peace Prize for helping resolve recent conflict with India
  • Pakistan says US intervention ended the fighting, India says it was due to a bilateral agreement 

ISLAMABAD: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Monday called Pakistan’s nomination of US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize a “win” for the American people. 

Islamabad said last month it would recommend Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, an accolade that he has repeatedly said he craves, for his work in helping to resolve the recent conflict between India and Pakistan.

In May, a surprise announcement by Trump of a ceasefire brought an abrupt end to a four-day air war between nuclear-armed foes India and Pakistan. Trump has since repeatedly said that he averted a nuclear war, saved millions of lives and grumbled that he got no credit for it.

Pakistan agrees that US diplomatic intervention ended the fighting but India says it was a bilateral agreement between the two militaries.

On Monday evening, Leavitt wrote on X that “over the past few weeks, President Trump has delivered more wins for the American people than most Presidents do in four years.”

In the list of his victories she included:

“Pakistan nominated President Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention to prevent a nuclear war between India and Pakistan.”

 

 

 

Pakistan on June 21 said it was nominating Trump as “a genuine peacemaker” for his role in bringing the conflict with India to an end, adding that he had “demonstrated great strategic foresight and stellar statesmanship.”

In a social media post a day earlier, Trump gave a long list of conflicts he said he had resolved, including India and Pakistan and the Abraham accords in his first term between Israel and some Muslim-majority countries. 

He added: “I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do.”

Pakistan’s move to nominate Trump came in the same week its army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, met the US leader for lunch. It was the first time that a Pakistani military leader had been invited to the White House when a civilian government was in place in Islamabad.

On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump he had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize, handing Trump a nomination letter during a meeting at the White House.


Pakistan’s PIA to resume London flights from Mar. 29 after six-year gap

Updated 30 December 2025
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Pakistan’s PIA to resume London flights from Mar. 29 after six-year gap

  • Newly privatized airline says will operate four weekly flights from Islamabad to London
  • PIA is already operating three fllights per week to British city Manchester, says airline

ISLAMABAD: The newly privatized Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will operate direct flights to London starting Mar. 29, 2026, after six years, its spokesperson confirmed on Tuesday. 

The PIA resumed its flight operations to the UK in October this year with its inaugural flight to Manchester. The airline is currently operating three weekly flights to the British city. 

Britain lifted restrictions on Pakistani carriers in July, nearly half a decade after grounding them following a 2020 PIA Airbus A320 crash in Karachi that killed 97 people. The disaster was followed by claims of irregularities in pilot licensing, which led to bans in the US, UK and the European Union. 

“Pakistan International Airlines has announced the expansion of its operations in the United Kingdom with the resumption of flights to London,” the airline’s spokesperson said in a statement. 

“Starting Mar. 29, PIA will operate four weekly flights from Islamabad to London.”

The airline said that the London flights will be operated from Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4, which it said is recognized as one of its most modern terminals. 

“London was PIA’s very first international destination and remains one of its most important and attractive routes,” the spokesperson said. 

Pakistan’s government succeeded in its frequent efforts to privatize the airline this month after a consortium, led by Arif Habib Group, on Dec. 23 secured a 75 percent stake in PIA for Rs135 billion ($482 million) after several rounds of bidding, valuing the airline at Rs180 billion ($643 million).

The sale marked Pakistan’s most aggressive attempt in decades to reform the debt-ridden national airline, which had accumulated more than $2.8 billion in financial losses. The government said it would end decades of state-funded bailouts and help revive the airline.

In an exclusive interview with Arab News this week, the airline’s new owner Arif Habib said he plans to renovate PIA planes, improve maintenance and flight schedule, and bring in new aircraft to revive the carrier.

Habib said he sees the region comprising the UK, the US and Canada as a “lucrative market” for the airline’s business. 

“There we can increase the frequency of the flight,” he said. “We will also try to run flights to Canada from Karachi, Lahore, and I think it’s already in Islamabad.”